ABSTRACT
This chapter raises the specific question whether it is any longer feasible to speak of the "viewpoint" of editors, publishers, and scholars as if they are each distinct windowless monads. The cost of entry into the publishing business is, historically, relatively cheap, and the new technology makes it even more so: the price of a computer, stationery, and a few titles may comprise a first list of essentials. Large-scale publishing is the difficulty involved in changing current operating modes, the critical dilemma for smaller publishing operations is the inability to maximize distribution of the product. The new technology shows us all the face not only of the future of author-publisher relations, but of individual-societal relations as well. The impact of new technology on the system of scholarly communication has raised a host of issues that are as volatile as they are intriguing. The processes of scholarly communication, and its linkages to the new technology, are not simply mechanically correlated.
