The mediums discussed at the 1996 convention ranged from floppy disk distribution of hypertext publications to CD-ROM subscriptions to an online interactive collection. Once the decision to go online had been unanimously supported, the Board of Director's next hurdle was to agree upon how to proceed with this project. This was to be an experiment, an expansive journey into both Cyberspace and the labyrinthine political and practical aspects of the academic publishing infrastructure.

Four resolutions emerged from the early discussions: One, the journal would be free of cost to the reader. Two, the readership would be comprised of a synthesis between academic, private, and public sectors. Three, articles would conform to high standards of proof and rigor. Four, authors would be required to fuse the converging online media into their research, adding an interactive component to the usual journal reading experience. Save one, all are very unconventional resolutions, to say the least. Bulgarian writer Elias Canetti's sentiments in The Secret Heart of The Clock drove us to see this project through: "It doesn't matter how new an idea is; what matters is how new it becomes."

After the convention, we (the Editor and Associate Editor) were faced with what seemed to be an insurmountable task: make the vision of an American Communication Journal a working reality. The challenge was to make our ideas fecund in the midst of very open and honest criticism from our peers, colleagues, and even mentors. Question after question began to present itself: Upon what disciplinary approach(es) should this new journal focus? Should this journal concentrate primarily upon new communication technologies? What daring scholars would be brave enough to associate themselves with such a nontraditional proposition? Furthermore, would the journal be predominantly qualitative or quantitative in nature? Gads, what about a copyright policy befitting this new beast?

Day by day, each substantive question raised seemed to carry an equally substantive solution. In the end, we determined that the denominator in each of these solutions was rooted in a comprehensive paradigm shift. Whereas a complete break from our disciplinary tradition of publishing was required, we had initially constrained our logic and creativity to the limits of paper itself, completely out of habit. To borrow Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan's line, we were "driving forward while looking in the rear-view mirror." We have since learned that this harbinger model would require a mental state of tabula rasa to sustain innovational success. The publishing conventions and practices common to print, were not, are not, conducive to this new enterprise. Anubis had come for his dead, and we began life anew.

Within our new paradigm, our first move was to explode the very concept of what constitutes a review board. Appreciating the fact that human energy drives all publishing efforts, our first step was to recruit a review board that would harmonize character and credibility and then infuse this mix into the new journal. While deciding the composition of our review board, the issues of quality and methodological orientations began to cloud our thoughts; surely Scylla and Charybdis lay just ahead. Be that as it may, we resisted the urge to recruit a small network of friends and colleagues researching kindred foci.

We decided to begin by using Comserve's white page directory. With directory on screen, the ACJ Editors and the ACA Board of Directors collaboratively sought out and culled a list of actively publishing scholars in every facet of the communication discipline, and we invited those involved and not involved with the American Communication Association to serve. In fact, most of our editorial board members had not even heard of our organization. All, however, are established specialists in their field of inquiry. Once we had pinpointed these specialists, our next move was to ensure that the Editorial Board would be geographically representative of the United States. Once the journal is more firmly established, we plan to expand ACJ's vision beyond the fifty states to include our neighbors throughout the Western Hemisphere. At that time, all articles published will be translated into French, Portugese, and Spanish.

We believe that the seventy-four scholars associated with our journal represent the most qualified and diverse team of reviewers available in the communication discipline today. In addition, such a massive collection of specialists allows us, the Editors, to deliver a specialized submission to an authentic specialist, while at the same time not overburdening our reviewers with a barrage of assignments.

We further believe that this directly translates into evaluations based more upon subdisciplinary substance than removed conjecture; meaning that the article receives a germane review. A high degree of quality is, therefore, inherent in our reviewing structure. However, as we embark upon this great experiment into online publishing, this structure could be either beneficial or detrimental depending upon one's perspective. For instance, the reader will notice that Volume 1, Issue 1 sports only one piece of original scholarship. This was unexpected since we had a respectable number of submissions from various areas of interest. The precision of the reviews by our Editorial Board have been of exceptional quality, and thus somewhat curtailing.

Importantly, the reader and potential author of a submission must understand: We are committed to release only those studies that are worthy of publication in a national, soon to be international, journal. While this online journal does not possess the financial restrictions placed upon paper publications (i.e., we can literally publish twenty articles per issue in an online context if such an event is warranted), we are resolved that the wishes of our reviewers will not be ignored. Our purpose as editors is to serve as the intermediaries, intervening only when necessary. In short, quality outweighs other considerations: to wit, we offer only one article for this issue.

More scholars have asked questions about our format than have submitted works for review. This is to be expected since we are dealing with a perceptually speculative publishing model. Frankly, the idea that textual references, graphics, video, and sound can be cited online by literally linking them into the removed eye of the browser creates an additional burden for the researcher. We concede this can either augment or reduce the intrinsic value of the arguments presented in a given study. However, it is our opinion that over time the additional burden of finding information online will become as compulsory as drafting a bibliography. As the wealth of information available in Cyberspace continues to expand, creating places for voices and data that were otherwise sidelined from the marketplace of ideas, thorough researchers will have little choice but to include Cyber based resources in their projects. To this end, we argue that the online journal will then represent the best model available for the proper delivery of such knowledge.

One question that has been frequently asked concerns the promotion and tenure value of an article published in an on-line journal. We feel that one need only look so far as the members of our editorial board to see the scholarly value of one of our on-line articles. These scholars accept the new medium; these scholars define the level of quality of the articles in our journal. One need only ask, if such an editorial board were to review for a print journal, would the question of value even need to be asked? We think not.

What will ACJ become? What digital forms will it assume? What issues will it face? The answers to these questions remain unknown to us. Veritably, as we ponder the problems we now have we are reminded of Lord Buckingham's words in Shakespear's Henry VI:

"Tut, these are petty faults to faults unknown, Which time will bring to light..."

Which, in retrospect, is the beauty of this entire expedition. ACJ is nothing short of a journey into the unknown; a voyage into the nebulae of online information that surrounds the researcher who finds increasing amounts of research effort consumed with on-line pursuits. Without the starry-eyed plunges into that vast and unknown territory of the mind, without a cunning demonstration of exactly how our new communication technologies truly accentuate the learning process, the rationality engendered along the timeless human conversation stalls. We now move into the unknown, ignoring petty faults. Yes, there may well be other faults lurking beyond the pale of this, our initial effort. We are confident they may be overcome and that our harvest will be rich and bountiful indeed.

Perhaps you, the reader, are moved by ACJ's vision; if so, join us. We call for quality research. Those answering this call may take the opportunity to unleash their ideas into a new and expressive environment. Technical sophistication is not required; an expressive, imaginative, and pioneering spirit is. The cosmos are ours for the experience, if we dare.