Electronic Publishing of Forestry Information for Developing Countries

摘要

The paper provides an overview on the possibilities for publishing in electronic format. A comparison of electronic publishing versus publishing in printed format is made. CD-ROM, communication networks and on-line services can serve as media for electronic publishing. Advantages and constraints of these media are discussed especially in the light of the situation in developing countries. An introduction is given to the physical and logical structure of a CD-ROM and their historical evolution. An overview of potential applications of CD-ROM in forestry is presented. Applications are categorized according to the categories: databases, electronic libraries, training and education, and archiving. For each category, examples of CD-ROM publications are given. CIFOR has taken first steps to introduce CD-ROM technology into its activities. The author describes the approach that was selected and the infrastructure installed to publish on CD-ROM. Internal institutional requirements are considered as well as possibilities for including this media into its partnership research programmes in developing countries.