The BLEND‐LINC project on ‘electronic journals’ after two years

This paper describes the progress after 2 years of a 3½ year experimental programme organised jointly by two Universities as the Birmingham and Loughborough Electronic Network Development (BLEND). The aims of the programme are to explore and evaluate alternative forms of user communication through an ‘electronic journal’ and information network, and to assess the cost, efficiency and subjective impact of such a system. After summarising the background leading to this research, the project is described which involves the development of various types of ‘electronic journal’ with a community of initially about 50 scientists (the Loughborough Information Network Community—LINC). In this project, the journal procedures involving authors, editors and referees are being studied, up to the point at which editors accept pages for publication. The scientific subject area of this experimental programme is ‘Computer Human Factors’. Each member is expected to contribute at least one research article and one shorter note in each year of the project, and may also use other forms of communication such as messages, newsletters, annotated abstracts, workshop conferences, co‐operative authorship, etc. Considerable problems have been experienced with the hardware available to LINC members, with communications equipment, with modifying and developing software to obtain an acceptable operating system, and with various unexpected bureaucratic and organisational difficulties. These problems and the results to date will be reviewed. Nevertheless, more than 20 papers are in the system and the first number of the ‘Computer Human Factors’ experimental electronic journal was open to LINC members on 1st October 1982.