Since the invention of the printing press, scholarly articles have been printed on paper. Many scholars today still print out articles on paper, but this practice currently limits the richness of scholarly communication.
In scientific research, much more than text is used to commuicate. So-called "figures," which include images, diagrams, graphs, charts, and more, have enriched scholarly articles for hundreds of years. Today, when scientists communicate face-to-face, as in talks or small discussions, these figures are often the focus of the conversation. In the best discussions, scientists have the ability to manipulate the figures, and to access underlying data, in real-time, so as to test out various what-if scenarios, and to explain findings more clearly.
This short article explains--and shows with demonstrations--how scholarly "publications" can morph into long-lasting rich records of scientific discourse, enriched with deep data and code linkages, interactive figures, audio, video, and commenting.