Paper and Screen…

Paper and Screen . . • This is the first issue of the journal where we have used the online manuscript review system of the Berkeley Electronic Press (http://www.bepress.com). which has made my life as an editor easier. However, I do think about how such changes have affected, and will continue to affect, scholarship. The days of paper submissions via the postal service seem to be long past. Yet we may still cling to old habits, much as I find it hard to cease putting two spaces after a period, the residue of long ago typing lessons. Though I still send out manuscripts electronically to anonymous reviewers, I now gather these re­ views more quickly and cheaply online. I review for another journal that used to send all submissions out electronically to the editorial board, and then the editor would let us know when he had received a sufficient number and quality of re­ views. Some journals for which I review have a mixed method, where manu­ scripts may come to me in hard copy, while I enter my review into an online sys­ tem. At E&C, manuscripts are submitted online, and the editors and reviewers all conduct their evaluations online. Of course, there are some of us, such as me, who have difficulty reading long manuscripts online, and thus, granted, we have shifted the cost of printing and paper to authors and editors. Old habits such as reading paper and ink die hard. Perhaps more importantly, there may be subtle shifts of attention and fo­ cus when an article is only dealt with in paperless form. Is the author more, or less, careful and cautious with such a submission than one that has to be printed, photocopied, and sent by post? Or, freed from such burdens, do authors concen­ trate more on research and writing? Still, I don't see us going back to the old system. I rejoiced the day the American Educational Research Association (AERA) did away with its cumber­ some paper system of index cards, self addressed envelopes, and such for its an­ nual conference submissions. There are other cost advantages to being online, of course. Not only do authors and editors save on paper, toner, and postage, but editors may do away with extra offices and file cabinets (though an editor should be aware of possible enhancements to the journal's image at the institution for having an actual "journal office.") Digital printing too saves at the other end. This journal is available both online and in paper, so members of the society still get the paper copy, while others may access articles online. We continue to move forward and experiment with changes to the journal's production, and welcome your comments on our efforts. E&C/Education and Culture 21(2) (2005): 1-2 • 1 2 • Editor's Note • • • Two special features grace this issue. Jeanne M. Connell writes a remembrance of Louise Rosenblatt, a pioneer in literacy and the reading of literature, who died this past spring at age 100. Leonard J. Waks considers K. Anthony Appiah's new book at length in an essay review. Waks indicates how Appiah hearkens back to Dewey, especially Democracy and Education, though Appiah does not explicitly speak of the connection. In other articles, Cindy Finnell-Gudwien presents a critique of the No Child Left Behind Act from the perspective of an active classroom teacher and notes how such legislation differs from what Dewey would recommend for our schools. Kenneth A. McClelland writes about Dewey's aesthetics to underscore the larger philosophical context of his thinking, a context within which his edu­ cational writings form an important, though not comprehensive, place. Jay W. Roberts discusses experiential education in its present guises and argues for a particular form of such pedagogy that is both transformational and democratic. In "Design Bearings," Margaret Macintyre Latta draws upon the early aesthetic essays of Bakhtin and the later works of Dewey to explore the artistic roots and traditions of design and the act of designing. We continue to work to get E&C listed with major indexing projects. I am pleased to report that Project MUSE will provide the complete electronic text of the journal starting in...