As noted earlier, the EJS is currently viewed by academics in 39 of these countries. However we should be cautious in interpreting these various statistics. It remains an empirical question whether or not internet access is leading to expanded academic access in these countries. Still, the fact that any institution with an internet connection can have access to the EJS without cost bodes well for the expansion of access to academic material.OBSTACLESTwo years ago, probably one of the biggest difficulties associated with publishing in electronic format was the ASCII "barrier." Perhaps barrier is to strong a word. But anyone who has had to struggle through a document without the benefit of proportional font, enlarged and embolded headings, variable kerning and line spacing, and neatly justified margins knows what a difference even minimal control over formatting can make to the readability of a document. While it is not impossible, it is very difficult to make plain text in a plain monospace font look attractive. [13] Indeed, the usual result of ASCII publication efforts is a cluttered, unappealing, barely legible and often just plain dirty piece of work. As silly as it might sound, convincing someone of the respectability of a publication is difficult when the only example you have is an ASCII document. As Okerson (1994: 11) notes: Apparently, there are academics, and reputable ones at that, for whom the cost/benefit of the Mercedes Benz -- the smart cover, prestigious logo, beautiful paper, and added-value galore -- is less important than the means of quick and effective conveyance, even if it be merely a rusty old heap that runs.Now of course we have the World Wide Web and the associated Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). With its emergence and gradual evolution, the aesthetic appeal of electronic documents has improved a hundredfold. We now have all of the aesthetic benefits of the traditional paper based publication noted above and in...
