The online journals included in The NEXT are among the first to recognize the publishing potential of the web and are highly regarded for their contributions to the field.
They were founded by communities, networks, and organizations, like the trAce Online Writing Centre's frAme, but just as often they were founded by individuals—scholars and artists who were curious about the future of writing in what Jay David Bolter identifies in his book, Writing Space, as "the late age of print" (2) and took on the challenge to experiment with new approaches and forms.