How Meaningful and Reliable Are Social Article Metrics?
New publishing initiatives link concepts like “importance” to social metrics like popularity and sharing. Is this logical? Can these metrics be easily gamed?
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?
We Are All Cyborgs Now — The Humans At the Center of Technology
Extending our mental lives and creating communication wormholes — in addition to carrying more than we ever thought we could — is all the result of becoming cyborgs.
Why Is the Internet Considered to Be "Artificial"?
The artificiality of Internet inventions and experiences is about novelty, not artificiality. We’ve always been pretenders.
Wikipedia Turns 10 — Let's Celebrate It!
Wikipedia’s 10th anniversary must be acknowledged, and its seismic, worldwide redefinition of the reference work recognized.
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.
Will Your Next Editors Be Cyborgs or Robots?
As new analytical tools emerge, editors can harness them to advance their craft — or find their craft automated out of their hands.
Diverging Content Preferences: Is Baby Bear's Disappearance Cause for Worry?
Short-form and long-form content are flourishing, while that “just right” middle ground is vanishing.
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.
Howard's Pick for 2010: The Tablet Enters the Information Fray
Four days with the iPad became 8 months with it. Meanwhile, friends like the Android tablets joined in.
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.
Michael's Pick for 2010: The Disruption (or Not) of Scientific Publishing
Why hasn’t scientific publishing been disrupted? The question created one of the year’s most-read posts.
Two Publishers — One Old, One New — Square Off Without Knowing It
The publisher of Harper’s proves himself an anachronist, while O’Reilly scolds other publishers to wake up!