Some members of the list may be aware that I've tried to start
distilling information from the list into written form in the past. It's
not until you try that you see exactly how much information has come
across this list in over two years. It requires a lot of editing to get
it down to anything readable in paper form (electronic form is a
different matter - far easier to search).
What I would propose, and which may be a lot more practical, is that
people contribute short (1 page, maybe 2 max) "articles" on very
specific topics. This means people don't have to worry about writing a
journal paper on a topic. When it comes to very broad subject areas
(like comparing different papers), longer articles might be required.
Copyright would remain with the author (as is normal). There might be a
small editing team to go over the submission (which would be in
electronic form), and then it could be typeset and distributed in
electronic form.
Personally, I would recommend using Adobe Acrobat format (PDF). There
are public domain PDF viewers for just about every platform there is
(mac, windows, OS/2, unix). You can then print it if you wish, or search
it electronically (it will print on any printer you have a driver for).
You can even view it directly from the web.
I don't mind typesetting it (I hack TeX/LaTeX all the time). I'll even
be able to generate PDF in a few weeks. And I don't mind helping with
the editing. (And there are TeX tools for generating indexes and the
like fairly easily.) If you supply diagrams in postscript format, I can
even distill them into the PDF document directly.
However, I don't think you all know what you're getting yourself into.
Writing articles isn't as easy as you might think. It requires a lot of
work to be lucid and succinct. And it takes a lot of time to write
anything worth reading. There are people on the list (Carson, Luis,
Maxim, etc) who would probably back me up on this and have a lot more
experience.
Similarly, there are other forums for such articles. Maxim has his
"Maximum Monochrome" newsletter (and he has told me that he is looking
for people to write articles for him). Ed Buziak has his "Darkroom User"
magazine out of the UK, which regularly features alternative processes
(most recently Kallitypes). The is the "Alternative Process" journal,
also out of the UK, which many here are aware of. There is "Photo
Techniques" in the US which has featured members of this list on
alternative processes. And there is the soon to be released "PhotoWork",
also from the USA, which is the revival (in some part) of "Camera and
Darkroom."
I think it would be wise to solicit comments from those that have trod
this path before (Luis, Maxim, Carson - where are you?). If the
consensus is to still go ahead, then I'm happy to help.
cheers
-steve