Entertext

An interactive interdisciplinary e-journal for cultural and historical studies and creative work

About EnterText

EnterText does what few paper journals do: it brings together scholarly writings in diverse disciplines, together with cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary pieces, usually on a themed topic. It also, unusually, includes creative works.

Its aim is to foster dialogue and enable collaborations across traditional disciplinary boundaries. Discussion and interaction is integral to the journal, and there is a forum for posting comments and conducting debate on the issues raised in both the scholarly and creative pieces in the journal.

The editors regret temporary difficulties of access to EnterText arising from major changes to the University's website. We hope to have the journal back to normal shortly.

EnterText has five main sections

• refereed articles on topics in the arts, humanities and social sciences, such as are found in traditional academic journals. It will also publish interviews with writers, artists, and other key cultural figures.
• a forum for readers' responses and discussion.
• creative writing, work in progress, and other kinds of creative text, verbal or visual, within the capabilities of the medium.
• short reviews of interdisciplinary publications and cultural events, as they happen.
• a bulletin board for the listing of events and publications, and the exchange of notes and queries.

EnterText's advantages are numerous

There are few forums where scholarly work in cultural studies, history and the social sciences is given equal weight and where scholars can make connections going beyond the traditional boundaries that most journals sustain. EnterText will circumvent systems which compartmentalise by classification.

Critical engagement and reviews will be up-to-date, published immediately instead of lagging months or years before publication. Some sections will be updated monthly. Reader-response sites will be constantly changing.

Open access: readers everywhere will be able to read or print any item without charge.

Instant international access and exchange of views, news, and texts will be the norm.

Readers will become contributors: refereed publication sites will go hand in hand with sites where readers can post views and responses, and enter into discussions.

Some paper journals carry both critical and creative work, but since EnterText will have a much larger capacity, it will be able to carry a wider variety of material, serve more functions, appeal to more tastes, and be more fun to use.

Refereed sections and those for readers' postings will be clearly differentiated. Users will be able to select with ease the section they want.

Regular readers will check often to see what's new, bringing much wider readership to the refereed critical articles and creative work than is usually the case with paper journals.

The editors are committed to the exercise of scholarly standards in the refereed sections of EnterText. The academic prestige of the journal will depend on the protection of this. In the clearly demarcated non-refereed sections, reader contributions will be required to adhere to the journal's code of conduct. The editors reserve the right to delete material unrelated to the journal's interests. The bulletin board will include a section for the free advertising of cultural events, conferences and scholarly and creative publications, submitted through the postmaster for the site.

The inaugural edition, EnterText 1.1, was published online in December 2000. The journal will have three main issues a year. The Forum and Listings sections are open for contributions at all times. Access is free.

Mission

EnterText's mission is to use the technological revolution to open up serious and creative engagement with cultural, social and historical issues in ways not hitherto possible. In particular the e-journal partners the texts it publishes with forums for reader-response and ongoing discussion: readers are invited to enter their own text.

It aims to break down traditional classifications which limit the style and range of discussion. The old compartments and categories are here replaced with interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, trans-generic and experimental discourse. A distinctive feature is that the journal gives equal weight to both rigorously refereed academic studies and textual or visual creative work.

It will be able to respond much faster than traditional journals to unfolding events and ideas. Its scope is not limited by the cost implications of length which constrain traditional publications. Above all, it transcends the barriers to access associated with paper journals, which are part of a financial market affected by shareholders, geography, and academic and library funding, and often reach only a tiny elite.

Access is free, instant, and international. EnterText will be able to reach anyone anywhere with access to the internet. Founded in the millennium year, its message is that it is interested to hear what they have to contribute - that the era of the ivory tower is over.