Third wave writing and publishing

Now that we live in the period of the Third Wave, we need to reconsider how we do writing and publishing in the “Information Age.” Our mental models of publishing tend to align with the Second Wave (or “Industrial Age”) approach in which the product of writing is formatted pages that are mass-produced in printed books and journals. But the product of Third Wave writing is actionable information that may be published in print or published in multiple digital forms with just-in-time customization. We show that a Third Wave approach has several other advantages, including supporting archiving in a form that offers long term repurposability, allowing us to “work smarter” to increase quality and productivity, and making an incredible publishing impact possible. We also give examples which show that it is possible to write and publish in a Third Wave style today