if you changed your name from Bill to Sebastian or from Mary to Esmeralda, would it change your worldview? Would you think differently? Act differently? Would it change how others react to you? I can't speak for personal name changes, but I can address the issue from the perspective of a magazine name change. We've been EContent since August 1999 and are finding more and more companies, products, technologies, and excitement in the electronic content industry space. Since the name change, the quantity of press releases I've received has increased greatly. The information in the press releases contributes to my expanding definition of econtent. At the same time, I find a logical progression from the original tenets of the online world. The first issue of DATABASE, the prior name of EContent, featured reviews of and techniques for searching abstract and index databases. These databases primarily resided on Dialog, BRS, and/or SDC. Interestingly, all of the databases still exist, while BRS perished and SDC transmogrified to Questel*Orbit. I thought bizarre spellings of product names was an offshoot of the dot com economy, but the first issue of DATABASE had a mention of Mead Data Central's new (this was 1978, mind you) news database, titled at that time newsMeadia. Thankfully,the name didn't stick and Mead Data Central became LEXIS-NEXIS. PROGRESSION OF INFORMATION Since 1978, the magazine has tracked the progress of databases from being ASCII abstract and index files to HTML full text to Java-enabled Web sites replete with images, sound, and movement. Searching then was done on dumb terminals. Now it'spersonal computers, which have been steadily shrinking in size while increasing in power. Wireless is on the way, with even MEDLINE being offered to physicians by Doctors.net.uk.
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