As Book Warehouses Vanish, Is It Time for Librarians to Stop Running Libraries?
Are librarians making the same mistake railroads made — forgetting their purpose to remain tied to their physical heritage?
Mobile Reading REALLY Comes of Age — An Information-packed Slide Deck Worth Viewing
The facts and context for e-reading show strong trends of demand and expectations.
Is Piracy Really the F**king Answer?
A viral book sensation’s obvious story may not be as obvious as some think, harder to replicate, and indicative of a strong counter-trend.
"The Making of a Scholarly Journal" Video — Perhaps Inducing More Nostalgia Than Intended
A nice video documenting how a humanities journal is made inadvertently hits on some other themes, almost by exclusion.
The Power of Curation — "The Drudge Report," Connectedness, Serendipity, and Simplicity
The Drudge Report provides a useful service and drives a disproportionate amount of news traffic. Could academics be disciplined enough to emulate it?
Fear-Mongering, Confusion, and Paranoia About Privacy — Are We Sweating the Small Stuff?
Privacy concerns seem aimed at the small stuff, but could expand into a system of censorship.
Mourning the Printed Book — The Aesthetic and Sensory Deprivation of E-books
Nostalgia about the book will be upon us soon enough. But we’ve been down similar paths before, and so have prior generations.
"Beyond Bin Laden" — A Hint at a New Way Forward for Long-form Journalism
A new “instabook” about Bin Laden hit the Kindle store about a week after the events. What might this mean for that space between books and magazines?
Brand, Context, and Containers: Publishing Into and Across the Digital Network
Established publishers don’t have the luxury of start-ups of ignoring existing operations, which makes it harder to fully engage with the Web. But an established brand can help create an extended marketing network.
Tweeting Bin Laden — The Power of a Single Tweet and Serial Trust Networks
The power of Twitter was on full display on May 1, as one tweet alerted an audience of mass-media proportions about the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
The Making of a Magazine — The Movie
How Business Week is made, via a short video montage.
Digital Texts in Education — E-Readers Still Have Limitations, But the Path Forward Is Clearer
While e-readers continue to fail crucial tests for academic utility, the alternative hints at more robust devices, not a return to print.
"Page One" — The New York Times Documentary Is Coming
They’ve made a movie about a newspaper’s travails in the Internet age.
Plan vs. Path — Which Is Better for Innovation?
Planning is a centerpiece of corporate behavior, but to encourage innovation, blazing a trail is perhaps a better approach.
A Parable of Innovation in Publishing — A Mostly True Story
This is a parable of the role in innovation in publishing and makes the case that we should not criticize companies that try and fail to do new things.