Who Is the Mook Among the MOOCs?
Who will be the winners and losers in the world of MOOCs? It may be that the decision by prominent universities to partner with online venues may undermine their own activities.
The Fall and Rise of Market Segmentation
Recent court rulings concerning copyright have put an end to traditional market segmentation practices, but new forms of segmentation will arise based on the analysis of data about individuals.
Stick to Your Ribs: Skeuomorphic Publishing — How to Fit a Square Peg Into a Round Hole
Digital publishing continues to borrow its shape from its predecessors in print. Truly creative individuals are necessary to work with new media on their own terms.
The Digital Publishing Revolution Is Over
While many technologists continue to demand a publishing revolution, the precepts of such a revolution are already incorporated into the strategic thinking of most publishing companies. To further the adoption of more digital practices, what is needed are practical solutions that are expressed in dollars and cents.
Open Access 2.0: Access to Scholarly Publications Moves to a New Phase
A reprint of an essay from 2008, which attempts to describe the evolution of open access publishing, Written before the astounding success of PLoS ONE, it outlines the link between open access publishing and the still-persistent traditional model.
What Scholarly Publishers Can Learn from Bookish
Bookish is a new online bookstore and discovery service. It is a joint venture of three publishers and presents a useful model for what scholarly publishers could do in building their own online bookstore.
What Consumer Media Can Teach Us About Professional Publishing
Consumer media sets expectations for how professional media will develop. The new production of “House of Cards” is an example of this.
The New Face of the Professional Society
The professional society is becoming unmoored from its publication benefits. Will publication benefits in an open access environment become a centerpiece of a new breed of membership organizations?
A New Publishing Ecosystem Emerges
A new publishing ecosystem is emerging that includes among its participants O’Reilly Media, Pearson, Safari Books, Barnes & Noble, Microsoft, and Liberty Media. This new ecosystem may come to challenge the proprietary ebook networks of Amazon and Apple.
The Results Are In — A Survey of Book Purchasers
The results from a recent survey on book discovery and purchasing are now available. Print is declining, but still an essential component of the business.
Intellectual Property Is a University’s Best Friend
Universities should seek to retain control of their copyrights and develop mechanisms to monetize them to ensure the financial health of the institutions. This is a proposal that sides neither with open access advocates nor with the interests of commercial organizations.
Dancing with Myself — The Principal Impediment to Change and Innovation
The principal impediment to changing or developing an organization is the view of the management that they already are doing a good job. Thus all new initiatives are measured in terms of past successes.
The Slow But Steady March Toward Paid Content
The New York Times is now publishing short e-books, another step down the path to monetizing content directly instead of through the sale of advertising.
A Call for Participation — A Survey on Book Discovery
A call to participate in a survey on how books are discovered and ultimately purchased. The survey is being conducted in cooperation with O’Reilly Media.
Theory of the E-book
There is an unstated theory of the e-book, which assumes that a book consists only of its text and can be manipulated without regard to the nature and circumstances of its creation. This is only one theory of many, but it is now the prevailing one.