QR Codes in a Journal — Printing Little Computer Programs for Mobile Integrations
A renowned surgery journal experiments with QR Codes to leverage the mobile Web. Will it work?
The Journal of Universal Rejection, and Suggestions for Improving It
While the JofUR may represent a culmination of many trends in publishing, there’s still room for improvement.
Darnton, Coppola, and the Impossibility of Free Information
“Free” is an illusion and an insult. All information we want costs money, and we as creators want it to cost money.
Apple's New Mac App Store, the Individual, and the Integration Expectation
Launched just weeks ago, the Mac App store is elaborating on themes the iPhone started, bringing product integration to a new level.
Vestron's Law: The Propensity for Rights to Revert to the Original Publisher
Vestron’s Law refers to the propensity for the rights to content to revert to the original publisher. The Law applies to all media types and accounts for some of the industry’s structural changes.
E-books and Their Containers: A Bestiary of the Evolving Book
Books take the shape of their containers, and the containers in turn shape the kinds of books we create. The new ebook containers have different affordances, which must be studied to develop a successful ebook program.
Low-Hanging Fruit and the Re-Ordering of the Value Chain
As new business models emerge and funding sources change, can professional societies and not-for-profits respond? Or will they keep their heads buried in the sand?
Nature's Foray Into Full Open Access Journals
When Nature goes head-to-head with PLoS, will non-profit society publishers take the hit?
Morality and Economics: Is a Trapdoor Opening Beneath Open Access?
With the economic benefits of open access open to reinterpretation, will the moral benefits prove sufficient to withstand the coming scrutiny? And will it all begin a race to the bottom?
Poor Comparison Leaves Darnton's Journal Price Jeremiad in Jambles
It’s time to abandon the library-as-victim narrative and write a new story.
10 New Business Models in 2010 — A Primer on Innovation
Want to see the business models behind PatientsLikeMe.com, Groupon, and Spotify? Here they are, along with 7 others from 2010.
Prediction for 2011 — The Individual Rules!
In 2011, the power of the individual consumer will set your strategies.
Year One: The Born Digital Publisher
New publishers today are all Born Digital in their outlook, eschewing print strategies as expensive and difficult to break into.
Responding to One of Darnton's Three Jeremiads — the Google Books Settlement
An essay in the New York Review of Books about the Google Books Settlement is based on flawed reasoning. Here’s why.
Ann's Pick for 2010: Print Isn't the Technology of Today . . . or Tomorrow
Our ease with print makes inertia feel natural. But the winners will have facility with many more information technologies than just paper and ink.