As Canadian Social Studies joins the realm of the web based magazine, it is appropriate to examine both the development of the "e-zine" and the ways in which web-based publishing has changed both reading and writing.
The e-zine, or electronic magazine, seems to have had its root in the alternative press. R. Seth Friedman (nd) has written a short history of the "zine". The term comes from the word "fanzine". Science fiction magazine of 70 years ago included the mailing addresses of those who submitted letters to the editor which encouraged direct correspondence. This evolved into the "fanzine". Mimeograph machines were replaced by inexpensive offset printing, itself replaced by photocopying. As computers became less expensive and desktop publishing came to the fore, "zines" developed a more "professional" look, and narrow issue and single issue magazine began to proliferate.
As the electronic, digital communication began to growth in popularity in the 1980, the publishers of "zines" realized they could reach a much wider audience for a greatly reduced cost by using this new medium. With the Internet available primarily within academic circles, bulletin board systems (BBSs) became a medium of inexpensive publishing.
As the Internet became more available to the public the early protocols such as FTP (file transfer protocol) and Gopher (a hierarchical organization of the Internet developed at the University of Minnesota) permitted an easier exchange of information. In 1989 Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web and released it two years later. The first versions of the WWW were text based with no graphics. The first graphical interfaces for the Web, such as Mosiac, were followed by Netscape. Internet Service Providers included space for personal home pages. The e-zine was now available to the millions of users of the Web.
In 1993 John Labovitz began a compilation of the e-zines available. At last count it included 4392 entries. The list can be examined by title or by keyword. It is located at <http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/> Not all of the e-zones are web-based; some are available as a subscription through email. For example, if you request Bruce H.G. Calder's This Day In History, you will receive a description of events from that day in history. Relying on this for daily lessons plans would be a risk as the mailing range from once per day to once per week. Some old gems of the alternative press can be found on the web. Finding the Evergreen Review <http:// www.evergreenreview.com> came as a pleasant surprise; it brought old memories when I was a subscriber to the print version. Among some other historical sites were Fashion Flashbacks < http://www.fashion-flashbacks.com/>, a look at fashions from the '60s and '70s, and Blue Ridge Traditions < http://www.brtraditions.com>, an e-zine dedicated to preserving the history and traditions of Southwest Virginia. As some of the e-zines may not be appropriate for all age groups, some precautions should be taken before recommending Labovitz's site to students. Unfortunately, Labovitz has stopped updating the e-zine list. Fortunately a search engine for e-zines has been developed. Infojump http://www.imfojump.com has both a listing by category and a search. Again some of the journals and magazines, such as Current History, are by subscription only.
References
Landow, George (1997). Hypertext 2.0: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Friedman, R. Seth (nd). A Brief History of Zines.
Available online: http://www.factsheet5.com/History.html.