This list of resources is necessarily even more selective than it was in the first edition, partly because there’s so much information available now on the Web itself. We’ve updated the resources that have held up well since 2000 and added new ones worth familiarizing yourself with.
We’d all do well to keep up with the ongoing research, scholarship, and reporting on three of this book’s core topics: new reader expectations, effective and accessible information design, and the future of books.
So contributors Jessica deGraffenreid (chapter 3), Roy Jacobsen (chapter 6), and Mary Fumento (chapter 11) have listed the sources they used in their discussions, for you to pursue in more depth.
Then, to help you keep up with changing usage, tech terms, and computing style conventions, we’ve updated the listings of online resources for editing; glossaries, thesauruses, and acronyms; and tech terms and style.
In the information-sharing age, there’s only one way to learn enough. Keep sifting critically through what’s out there, but occasionally read an article, blog posting, or book excerpt that seems irrelevant to the publishing work you’re doing today. The odds are good it’ll be germane and even come in handy sooner than you think. And when you’ve found an analysis, essay, or overview that hits home, please let others know about it. In fact, let us know about it for the companion Web site to this book by sending your favorite publishing-related resources to eye@eeicom.com.
Friess, Steve. “Yo, can u plz help me write English?” USA Today (April 1, 2003).
Howe, N., and W. Strauss. Millennials Go To College. American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers and LifeCourse Associates (2003).
Howe, N., and W. Strauss. Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation. Vintage (September 2000).
Lancaster, L., and D. Stillman. When Generations Collide: Who They Are. Why They Clash. How to Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work. HarperCollins Publishers (2002).
Mello, John P. Jr. “Millennials Pose Challenge for Marketers.” E-Commerce Times (June 28, 2006). ecommercetimes.com/story/Vkg5rbmxp1YTSu/Millennials-Pose-Challenge-for-Marketers.xhtml.
Olsen, Stefanie. The Millennials Usher in a New Era. CNET News.com (November 18, 2005).
Raines, Claire. Beyond Generation X: A Practical Guide for Managers. Crisp Publications (1997).
Raines, Claire. Connecting Generations: The Sourcebook for a New Workplace. Crisp Publications (2003).
Zemke, R., Claire Raines, and B. Filipczak. Generations at Work: Managing the Clash of Veterans, Boomers, Xers, and Nexters in Your Workplace. American Management Association (2000).
Krug, Steve. Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. New Riders Publishing (2005).
Nielsen, Jakob. Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. New Riders Publishing (1999).
Norman, Donald A. The Design of Everyday Things. Basic Books (2002 reprint).
Wurman, Richard Saul. Information Anxiety 2. Pearson Education (2000).
iainstitute.org. The Web site of the Information Architecture Institute, “a nonprofit volunteer organization dedicated to advancing and promoting information architecture.”
understandingusa.com. The companion Web site to Richard Saul Wurman’s book Understanding USA, understandingusa.com exemplifies many of the principles of information architecture he discusses in Information Anxiety.
useit.com. Jakob Nielsen’s Web site features an archive of weekly “Alertbox” columns on Web usability and other resources, including in-depth research reports for purchase.
usability.gov. A collaborative repository of information on usability and user-centered design, usability.gov includes contributions from many US federal government agencies.
Berinstein, Paula. “The Book as Place: The ‘Networked Book’ Becomes the New ‘In’ Destination.” Searcher Magazine (November 2006). infotoday.com/searcher/nov06/Berinstein.shtml.
Coyle, Karen. “Mass Digitization of Books.” Journal of Academic Librarianship 32, no. 6 (November 2006): 641–645.
Dougherty, Carter. “As Books Go Online, Publishers Run for Cover.” International Herald Tribune (October 8, 2006). iht.com/articles/2006/10/08/business/ebooks09.php.
Ekman, Richard, “The Books Google Could Open.” Washington Post (August 21, 2006). washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/21/AR2006082101149.html.
Gnatek, Tim. “Libraries Reach Out, Online.” New York Times (December 9, 2004). nytimes.com/2004/12/09/technology/circuits/09libr.html?ex=1260248400&en=bc31f3 ce53fcf024&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland.
Huanxin, Zhao. “Restoring Books an Age-old Problem.” China Daily (April 17, 2006). chinadaily.com.cn/home/2006-04/17/content_568936.htm.
Johnson, Bobbie. “Will We all be Switching to Ebooks?” Guardian (April 6, 2006). technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1747329,00.html.
Kaufman, Wendy. “Using the Wiki Method to Write a Business Book.” National Public Radio (November 28, 2006). npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6545252.
Kingsbury, Alex, and Lindsey Galloway. “Textbooks Enter the Digital Era: High-Tech Options can Save Money and Boost Learning.” U.S. News & World Report (October 8, 2006). usnews.com/usnews/edu/articles/061008/16books.htm.
“Library of Congress to Digitize Brittle Books.” CNN.com.
“New Idea to Cut Textbook Costs—Sell Ads.” Associated Press (August 15, 2006). msnbc.msn.com/id/14362735.
Naze, Nathan. “New Ways to Browse Books.” Google blog. googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/new-way-to-browse-books.html.
“Publishers OK Online Book Browsing.” CNN.com.
Roush, Wade. “A Good Read: The New Sony Reader is the Coolest E-book Device Yet—for those who can Stomach the Price of E-content.” Technology Review (November 08, 2006). technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17766&ch=infotech.
Rubino, Ken. “Self-Publishing: The Internet Makes It Easier to Go from Idea to Print.” Information Today (January 15, 2006). infotoday.com/linkup/lud011506-rubino.shtml.
Rose, M. J. “Stephen King’s ‘Plant’ Uprooted.” Wired (November 28, 2000). wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,40356,00.html.
Meddings, Luke. “School Says Goodbye to Books.” Guardian Weekly (July 21, 2006). education.guardian.co.uk/tefl/teaching/story/0,,1825847,00.html.
“Students Shirk Cursive as Keyboard Rules in Third Grade.” CNN.com. /2003/EDUCATION/06/08/cursive.keyboard.ap/index.html.
Wayner, Peter. “Real Books, Made on the Web.” New York Times (July 20, 2006). iht.com/articles/2006/07/20/business/ptbasics20.php.
“What is HDVD.” Tech-FAQ. tech-faq.com/hvd.shtml.
“Wiki and Writing Books.” wearesmarter.org/Default.aspx?tabid=78.
Wilson, William L. “High Density, High Performance, Holographic Data Storage: Viable at last?” Paper presented at THIC Meeting at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (October 3, 2000). thic.org/pdf/Oct00/lucent.wwilson.pdf.
Wray, Richard, and Dan Milmo. “Publishers Unite against Google: Search Engine’s Plans could Revolutionise Book Industry as much as Gutenberg Did.” Guardian (July 6, 2006). business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1813439,00.html.
Wyatt, Edward. “The Bottom Line on E-Textbooks.” New York Times (April 23, 2006). nytimes.com/2006/04/23/education/edlife/innovate.html?ex=1172811600&en=d68b2341189033b6&ei=5070.
Google Book Search. books.google.com/googlebooks/about.html
International Children’s Digital Library. icdlbooks.org
Lulu.com. Books, artwork, CDs, and other products from a million creators on what has been called the number one self-publishing Web site. The site has 500,000 weekly visitors and is distributed to 60,000 retailers, schools, and libraries.
NetLibrary.com. An e-content provider for libraries and publishers that prides itself on being “most versatile” and supporting “the most content from leading publishers, the most types of media—including eBooks and eAudiobooks—the widest audience of users, and the most types of libraries,” including academic, community college, public, and others.
OpenLibrary.org. Created by the Internet Archive to demonstrate how to make important book collections from around the world accessible online in an easy-to-use interface. “If they’re in the public domain, the books can be downloaded, shared and printed for free. They can also be printed for a nominal fee by a third party, who will bind and mail the book to you,” according to the site. The Internet ve offers all media: text, audio, moving images, Web content, and software for public use.
TheEuropeanLibrary.org/portal/index.htm. Searches the content of European naArchitional libraries. “Users can gain access to the catalogues and digitized objects of the national libraries who are full partners of the service. The terms for access to individual objects by members of the public [under stated terms and conditions] are in accordance with international copyright law,” according to the site.
American Dialect Society. americandialect.org. ADS bills itself as “the only scholarly association dedicated to the study of the English language in North America.” The site features rare finds such as the American Dialect Society’s official list of “words of the year, decade, century, and millennium.”
A.Word.a.Day. wordsmith.org/awad. Subscribers are a community of word-lovers 600,000 strong from 200 countries. This service, which encourages more precise and adventurous word choice, has been called by the New York Times “the most welcomed, most enduring piece of daily mass e-mail in cyberspace.”
BuzzWhack.com. Created by veteran editor and former editorial director of UPI John Walston, this site is dedicated to demystifying business, government, and tech jargon and euphemisms (people with low incomes don’t go hungry, they just have Very Low Food Security). Readers are invited to nominate terms. Free Buzzword of the Day service.
The Chicago Manual of Style Online and Q&A. chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/qatopics.html. Search a topical index for answers by Chicago Press editors to readers’ specific editorial questions—and pose your own. A guide to citation style is also free, but the online style guide is available only to subscribers.
TimeandDate.com. Next time you’re scheduling an overseas conference call or trying to decode the time zones in a non-US-based report, remember this site. Based in Norway and run by Steffen Thorsen, timeanddate.com includes an index of time zone acronyms and abbreviations used in North America; a world clock; a personal clock customizable to show times in selected cities; an international meeting scheduler; a time zone converter; and a fixed time calculator (“If it’s 3 pm in New York, what time is it in the rest of the world?”). The site also provides international dialing codes, a distance calculator, and New Year countdowns for every country.
World Wide Words. quinion.com/words. Michael Quinion’s site features a British perspective on the evolving language. His Web site and free, engaging, monthly e-mail newsletter explore the quirks, curiosities, and evolution of the English language.
Use these sources freely but wisely. Glossaries differ not only in spelling and punctuation advice but, at times, are at odds in definitions. The consensus approach is highly recommended. When researching a word, search several of these sites and look for points of intersection.
AcronymFinder.com. By Mountain Data Systems, this is a comprehensive database of English-language acronyms (not limited to tech terms) with sophisticated search capabilities.
Babel: A Glossary of Computer Oriented Abbreviations and Acronyms (version 00A). geocities.com/ikind_babel/babel/babel.html. By Irving and Richard Kind, this site features extensive lists of technology-oriented acronyms.
CNET Glossary. coverage.cnet.com/Resources/Info/Glossary/index.html. CNET is a major Web-based source of information on computers, the Internet, and digital technologies. This is a nice, tidy glossary.
Dictionary.com. English dictionary and directory of Internet reference sites. One of the better dictionary sites on the Web, it enables word searches in references such as Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Roget’s Thesaurus, and Princeton University’s WordNet. Another section of the site features an online translator that translates text and Web pages from English into several foreign languages.
Onelook Dictionaries. onelook.com. By Bob Ware, this site enables rapid searches of hundreds of online dictionaries, glossaries, and acronym lists.
SpellWeb.com by Clear Ink. This site cleverly automates a technique for looking up words on the Web that has become commonplace. It features a form for entering a word, spelled two different ways (such as antialiasing and anti-aliasing). SpellWeb submits the two different spellings to a major search engine, such as WebCrawler, and returns results on how many times each spelling of the word was used on the Web. While this technique still doesn’t ensure that the word is spelled correctly, it is a reassuring populist opinion poll.
Thesaurus.com. Online version of Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.
Webopedia.com. This was one of our favorites, a very detailed, extensive technical glossary, though as a generic term, webopedia ranks right up there with webrary as sadly lacking euphony.
Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, 3rd ed. Microsoft Press (2004). The newest edition of this industry bible advises on writing for a global audience and accessibility concerns, and defines new technical terms and acronyms. It also contains sections on usage, grammar, punctuation, tone, formatting, and style problems common to print documentation, online help, Web content, and other communications. A CD contains the complete e-book.
Microsoft Press Computer Dictionary, 5th ed. Microsoft Press (2002). Over 10,000 technical terms, acronyms, and concepts of home and office technology defined and illustrated.
Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry, 2nd ed. Sun Technical Publications/Prentice Hall (2003). The update of this industry classic is a favorite of EEI Press editors because of its focus on writing and structuring content. Includes chapters on online writing style (including for an international audience), link construction, creating a technical glossary, and indexing. Also, four immensely useful appendixes on developing a publications department, checklists and forms, correct use of terms, and recommended reading.
Walker, Janice R., and Todd Taylor. The Columbia Guide to Online Style, 2nd ed. Columbia University Press (2006). This guide gives advice on “locating, evaluating, translating, and using the elements of citation” for citing electronic sources regardless of the specific bibliographic style you may be required to use—whether humanities or scientific style.