Page 418 - Green - Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook. 2nd ed

Chapter 15: Reports and Publications 397
erencing conventions, the style for the layout of the typing, preferred spellings, etc. When a particular problem occurs, the decision can then be added to the style sheet for future reference.
IV. PUBLISHING
The final form a written work takes depends on how it is to be published. A commercial publisher or journal will generally require a draft and illus- trations, and they will do the rest. They will usually indicate how the text should be presented and marked up, and it is only necessary to follow these guidelines. To produce a report yourself, an electronic copy will be required. There are now two options: either print the pages on high-quality paper using a high-quality printer and take these to a copying service, or take the electronic version to a pre-press, get the copy converted to film, and then go to an offset printer. There are economics involved in this decisionwhich depend on the size of the publication and the number of copies to be printed, and you will need to investigate these options carefully.
The alternative is to publish your work on the Internet. To do this a site is required which will be the place where you material will reside. Here, you need to be careful. Although it is possible to open your own site and publish the material there, you have to consider how long you will keep this site open, what happens if you can no longer afford to pay the Internet service provider (ISP), and what happens if the ISP goes bust. It is important there- fore to try and find a location that will have some expected permanency and to try and distribute copies over a number of sites. This will help to ensure that the work remains available. This of course is a very new area and standards and protocols are still evolving. It should always be remem- bered that, unlike hard copy that can reside in multiple libraries in perpe- tuity, the Internet is volatile. Although publishing material on the Internet gets the material to new and diverse audiences, it does not necessarily mean that it will be there forever.