JBBUS: Dissertation Tips: 11. No Publisher

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11. No publisher

It's a shame that it took 10 pages to get to hear this, but 'no publisher' is not such a problem.

In fact, many websites which you access may not have a 'publisher'. When dealing with websites, you have to ask yourself a basic question:

Is this site the online/virtual presence of an organisation which has a physical and geographical location in the real world, or
Does this site only exist as an electronic source, with no organization or other body to represent it in the real world or
Is this site a 'virtual organization' - in other words, an community of people with an managed and organized structure, with stated aims and a name, but which only exists on a computer network?

An example of (1) is Guardian Unlimited, which, while having a definite identity as a web newspaper, is demonstrably a division of Guardian Newspapers, which has offices in Manchester.

You might think that an example of (2) is Project Gutenberg, an online library of texts. However, when you select a text from Project Gutenberg, they very kindly show you what the correct reference for it should be, and - would you believe it - there in the city & publisher field is Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg.

An example of (3) is Ballet.co, which is an online magazine. One of the ways to tell if something is a 'virtual organization' is if, as in Ballet.co's case, they have a name which is not just the same as their web address.

In nature, (2) and (3) are similar, but as you can see from the Project Gutenberg example, some research is needed to find out the relationship between concrete, humanoids and cyberspace. As always, the question is one of attribution. Research and study has everything to do with finding out about the nature of the world. If you find problems with Internet referencing, it is probably more to do with the changing nature of human communities, communication systems and organizations than with referencing itself. We've had books for a long time - it's easy to know what a book is. We haven't had virtual libraries, magazines and communities for very long - our attempts to reference Internet sites are also attempts to define the world. No wonder it's hard!

Updated Sunday November 11, 2001 4:29 PM

© Jonathan Still 2001 You may quote from these pages, but if your selection includes a reference I have made to someone else's work, please make sure that the attribution is clear. By not doing so, you may implicate me in plagiarism.

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Internet Referencing
Introduction Principles Structure Additional information required Q: Too much information? A: Identify the nature of the document Q: Too little information? a)No author b) No title c) No date d) No publisher Links to other citation guides FAQs		11. No publisher

		It's a shame that it took 10 pages to get to hear this, but 'no publisher' is not such a problem. In fact, many websites which you access may not have a 'publisher'. When dealing with websites, you have to ask yourself a basic question: Is this site the online/virtual presence of an organisation which has a physical and geographical location in the real world, or Does this site only exist as an electronic source, with no organization or other body to represent it in the real world or Is this site a 'virtual organization' - in other words, an community of people with an managed and organized structure, with stated aims and a name, but which only exists on a computer network? An example of (1) is Guardian Unlimited, which, while having a definite identity as a web newspaper, is demonstrably a division of Guardian Newspapers, which has offices in Manchester. You might think that an example of (2) is Project Gutenberg, an online library of texts. However, when you select a text from Project Gutenberg, they very kindly show you what the correct reference for it should be, and - would you believe it - there in the city & publisher field is Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. An example of (3) is Ballet.co, which is an online magazine. One of the ways to tell if something is a 'virtual organization' is if, as in Ballet.co's case, they have a name which is not just the same as their web address. In nature, (2) and (3) are similar, but as you can see from the Project Gutenberg example, some research is needed to find out the relationship between concrete, humanoids and cyberspace. As always, the question is one of attribution. Research and study has everything to do with finding out about the nature of the world. If you find problems with Internet referencing, it is probably more to do with the changing nature of human communities, communication systems and organizations than with referencing itself. We've had books for a long time - it's easy to know what a book is. We haven't had virtual libraries, magazines and communities for very long - our attempts to reference Internet sites are also attempts to define the world. No wonder it's hard!
	Updated Sunday November 11, 2001 4:29 PM © Jonathan Still 2001 You may quote from these pages, but if your selection includes a reference I have made to someone else's work, please make sure that the attribution is clear. By not doing so, you may implicate me in plagiarism.