Post AZ8aG0zF1AzIosgc6a by tomkalei@machteburch.social
(DIR) More posts by tomkalei@machteburch.social
(DIR) Post #AZ8aFpEOizyuMPgY40 by tomkalei@machteburch.social
2023-08-24T19:38:28Z
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For accessibility reasons, arXiv is starting to publish HTML versions of papers. https://info.arxiv.org/about/accessibility_html_papers.html 🧵#math #papers #openscience #academia #arXiv @brembs @lambo I think this is interesting and welcome, especially on mobile devices. It is not without problems to want to quickly check some fact on your phone, download the PDF, go to landscape mode, find the right location in the paper, zoom in, etc.1/4
(DIR) Post #AZ8aFyffcy91dbVxK4 by tomkalei@machteburch.social
2023-08-24T19:39:10Z
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The promise would be that in HTML, everything is reformatted to look great on any line length.But there is a kind of integration attack going on: Once we have the HTML version, why not enhance the paper with things PDF can't do? After all, HTML5 offers limitless possibilities to make the 3D figures interactive, run simulations, have the examples to be toys you can play with, etc.Once these seemingly harmless new features are there, who would want to go back to the PDF version, which is a2/4
(DIR) Post #AZ8aG0zF1AzIosgc6a by tomkalei@machteburch.social
2023-08-24T19:39:38Z
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static, cumbersome and arcane? Once we are there, we will definitely need versioning of publications because if papers become software, they will have bugs and need bug fixes. I feel very insecure about this future. I am unhappy with how static and old-fashioned it is of us, to stick to this A4-PDF-paper format, for documents which are consumed on laptop and iPhone screens, and it never really fits and scrolling and zooming and whatnot.3/4
(DIR) Post #AZ8aG8dYZgOaXwbPPs by zuphilip@openbiblio.social
2023-08-25T06:34:59Z
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@tomkalei I don't see much differences. LaTeX is also some kind of programming resp. markup language similar to HTML. Scripting plots or diagrams is not unusual. Putting the LaTeX source files under version control is common, especially if you work collaboratively on a paper. Publishing the final version is similar too.
(DIR) Post #AZ8aGB39bU3k1uasam by tomkalei@machteburch.social
2023-08-24T19:39:55Z
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On the other hand, I want to be done with a paper at some point. If publications turn into software, they will just need a lot of maintenance, forever. Maybe it can be solved with open-source culture, maybe future generations will take care of the bug fixing for my papers, but why would they and how would the get credit for this work in an academic system that only rewards new things and not the maintenance?So what do you think about HTML arXiv papers?4/4
(DIR) Post #AZ8aGGs1xkj859R55U by tomkalei@machteburch.social
2023-08-25T06:39:08Z
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@zuphilip my point is not the mode of presentation or production, but rather if there exists such thing as a “final version”. How would #academia change if all research was published like software, release 0.11a_p2 etc. And then it’s a new discussion for super conservative fields like #math. We have some state of the art papers that are 50+ years.
(DIR) Post #AZ8aGGsNwR0i6FbMdk by zuphilip@openbiblio.social
2023-08-25T06:42:04Z
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@tomkalei Probably submissions would then not be any HTML website, but ones following a predefined template or more common some Markdown file from where the HTML can be generated. ArXiv is generating the HTML files from the LaTeX files.
(DIR) Post #AZ8fcZiV4a2sfsQt96 by veer66@mstdn.io
2023-08-26T23:43:14Z
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@tomkalei @brembs @lambo This is the greatest news in academic in my entire life.
(DIR) Post #AZ9n1p5TxJukQG81jM by locagainstwall@detroitriotcity.com
2023-08-27T13:08:05.496493Z
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@tomkalei @brembs