Computer‐based communications

Three major forms of communication are publishing papers, books and the like; participating in conferences; and informal, usually verbal, contacts. Electronic or computer‐based communication, which is an effective method of maintaining interpersonal contacts, can be included in this latter category, although it can, in fact, be considered to cut across all three categories. For example, the formal submission, refereeing, editing and publishing of scholarly papers can be carried out via computer networks (eg Blend); and the posting of notices on electronic bulletin board systems can be considered akin to the placing of notices in the small ads columns of newspapers. Meeting and conference participation can be effected by teleconferencing systems (eg Adonis — a Soviet system, not the CD‐ROM journal document delivery system) or by joining, for example, the computer conferences which exist on say The Source or EuroKom; and, of course, electronic mail (such as DataMail or Telecom Gold) can be used for the informal communications.