Since we've raised the online collaboration issue (wikis, swikis, twikis, all things nice and cuddly), plus the shipping/binding/collecting/distributing issues, I think it's time we thought about the format. Practicality is an issue, of course, as is simplicity, but to my mind the online and offline formats are radically different.
A wiki can allow us to have an open forum, everybody adding their recipes, etc., but there's something about a _book_ which makes it different. Surprisingly, it _is_ an issue of practicality. A book is, first and foremost, an object, something you can pick up, carry with you, leaf through, spill your coffee on, etc. It's a particular device for dealing with written information. Somebody, a long time ago, had the idea to pick up a scroll of writing, cut it in equal parts, bind them together, then number the pages. Suddenly reference, search, etc., became much faster, as did storage and organization. Good. The question is, the electronic text format is a step back in this sense. We're back to the scroll, moving up and down a text with no reference to specific parts or elements. We still can't beat the comfort of a book, its high-definition, etc. So, whatever we choose to do, a wiki and a book are two radically different projects, and each would fulfill a different purpose, issues of ease of completion and practicality aside. In my own humble opinion, a cookbook brings to my mind the idea of a book, i.e., something stuck between the toaster and the coffee-maker. �? Kamen --- http://6digit.tripod.com http://sixdigit.swiki.net See Dave Matthews Band live or win a signed guitar http://r.lycos.com/r/bmgfly_mail_dmb/http://win.ipromotions.com/lycos_020201/splash.asp
