Annual Review of Information Technology Developments for Economic and Social Historians, 1995

Abstract

abbreviated survey seeks, instead, to highlight a few interesting products and services that suggest the direction of future developments in this area of information technology. The full annual review will return next year. The growth of the network of discussion lists sponsored by Humanities OnLine (more commonly known as H-NET) has been mentioned in earlier reviews.' Currently, over 35,000 subscribers around the world participate in 49 H-NET discussion lists.2 These and 2i affiliated lists cover a wide variety of topics ranging from African history, through diplomatic history and iO lists sponsored by the Cliometric Society, to H-MMEDIA, a list for discussion of 'high-tech teaching, multimedia, and CD-ROMs'.3 Having pioneered the open and easy exchange of information, opinion, advice, discussion, and, occasionally, gossip that characterizes discussion lists, H-NET's new venture marks a return to, and a reinterpretation of, more traditional scholarship. H-REVIEW collects reviews of books and other materials and distributes them to subscribers via electronic mail. Reviews are commissioned by the editors of one or more of the specialized lists under the H-NET umbrella who also distribute the reviews on their own lists. In addition H-REVIEW has its own editorial team whose members ensure that overall standards are met.4 H-REVIEW promises several improvements over traditional reviews. One strength lies in the speed with which material can be published. Unlike those in paper journals, which can take over a year to appear, electronic reviews can be published across the world in a matter of days after the final draft is received. With none of the publication costs of a printed journal, reviewers can be freed from artificial limits on the length of their work, although electronic mail is not ideally suited to extended text. The economics of electronic publication makes it easier to justify multiple reviews of more