Abstract:
The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) recently finished migrating the "Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program" from archive-quality books to electronic publication formats for CD-ROM and the World Wide Web. We will showcase the new ODP publication formats, address issues ODP faced when designing cross-media publications, and review customer feedback about the new products. We will also highlight other ODP online products, including a relational database containing drilling and scientific data from each cruise and mirror sites established to improve publication distribution worldwide.As a cost-saving measure, ODP was mandated to cease publication of printed volumes by 1999. The Publications Department was instructed to publish short-form booklets containing one summary chapter with an accompanying CD-ROM containing the complete volume in PDF format, and also to publish the volumes on the Web. Unlike journals that replicate their print products on the Web, ODP redesigned the "Proceedings" to maximize their functionality as electronic publications while also working well as print products. This process presented many technical challenges, and every component of volume design and editorial style was scrutinized. Questions addressed included: What is the "archive" version of the publication once archive-quality books are not produced? Is a manuscript prepared in different mediums the same publication? How can text be worded so that it is effective for both CD and Web versions? What links should be added to improve electronic publication navigation? How should errata be handled for CD and Web versions? The new publication formats necessitated the development of related resources, such as a user guide and cruise-related citation lists. And, links were created that bridge online publications to other scientific resources on the Web, including digital images of more than 100 miles of core and ODP's online database. Though some authors will always prefer books over electronic publications, the cross-media formats contain many useful features unavailable in books and allow for a much wider distribution of the "Proceedings" volumes throughout the world. And, ODP fulfilled its mandate to reduce the publishing budget.