Computer technology has radically changed the face of publication production. Today many of us take word processing and desktop publishing software for granted, and yet as little as 10 years ago few of us had access to personal computers, let alone sophisticated software. Changes continue in how publications are taken to the printer and are distributed.
For example, most of Bulletin 160-93, California Water Plan Update, a 700-page full-color document, went to the printer on disc. The bulletin has since been through a hypertext markup process and placed on the World Wide Web.
Online publication procedures will be added to this section as DWR gains experience in the process. In the meantime, a memo spelling out DWR's general policy for Web information sites is shown on the following page. Style guidelines and technical guidelines for DWR Web sites have been developed and are accessible on the Web at http://hawkeye.water.ca.gov. They will no doubt be modified as technology and use change.
The Web is a seamless world in which all information, from any source, can be accessed in a simple and consistent way. Once information is made available, it is accessible from any type of computer in any country, as long as the reader has a program (called a browser, such as Mosaic or Netscape) to view it. As a report preparer, there is one concept you will have to master in order to put your documents online: HTML.
HTML stands for hypertext markup language. There's a lot of technical reading you can do about HTML, but it is basically a set of tags that tells the browser how to display your document on the computer. HTML also allows you to create links within and between documents. Links are similar to using traditional literary devices such as text references, footnotes, indices, bibliographies, etc. HTML allows readers to escape from the sequential organization of a document to pursue threads of their choice. HTML also allows you, as an author, to make your material open to active exploration.
For more information about the World Wide Web, see the W3 Concepts papers at http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Talks/General.html. (There is no "." at the end of html when you are typing in the address.) For more information about how to HTML your document you can access "A Beginner's Guide to HTML" (http://www.ncsa.uiuc. edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html).
Other helpful links include "Publishing on the World Wide Web" (http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/gdr11/publish.html) and "A WWW Style Guide" (http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/StyleManual_Top.HTML) from Yale University. (Note: All http addresses are case sensitive.)
Research Writers Nancy Ullrey (916 653-8138, CALNET 453-8138) and Susan Tatayon (916 653-8017, CALNET 453-8017) in Reports Administration have experience in the HTML authoring process and will be happy to discuss your project with you.
Typically, each division will maintain its online reports on its own server. A division's reports page should include a link to Reports Administration's home page and information on how to order a hard copy of the report.
In addition to maintaining Division of Planning reports online, Reports Administration will include on its home page links to all other divisions' reports accessible via the Web. If an originating division so requests, Reports Administration will assist in marking up reports produced in Reports Administration. Reports Administration will host a report on its server if the division in question does not have a server of its own or does not have a reports webmaster to maintain the report online.
Every report released to the public must follow the report approval procedure outlined in the Director's May 19, 1994, memorandum (see the approval-to-print discussion in Sections 1 and 2). Placing the document on the Web will not change that requirement. A report should not be placed on the Web until the printed report has been approved for release.
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