An end to the end

Laura Cohen, The Coming End of Completed Publications, Library 2.0, November 20, 2006.  (Thanks to allan's library.)  Excerpt:

The prospect of publishing books and articles on wikis has got me thinking about the future of scholarly research in a world in which publications need never be completed....

This concept seems particularly compelling in the scholarly world. Scholarship never ends. There is never a last word, even about established facts. What we've had up till now in published works are static snapshots. Sure, there may be follow-up articles, second editions and corrections, but each work stands alone as a completed product. I find myself wondering if researchers - and writers - will continue to be content with snapshots when the technical barriers to revision are so low and readers' comfort level with edited online works is growing.

It occurs to me that we expect more of Web sites in terms of staying current, and staying current quickly, than we do of peer-reviewed or edited scholarly publications. Can this scenario last? ...

PS:  In parts that I've omitted, Laura focuses on wikis.  But note that keeping online documents open to continual revision and updating needn't be the same as keeping them open to editing by any comer.