Publishers! What Are They Good For? Part Deux: The Debate
The participants in the recent SSP session debating the value of publishers reflect on the session, the audience interactions, and their talks. And, of course, the Romans.
Ask the Chefs: "What Is the Most Important Advance Publishers Have Made in the Past Decade?"
[…] the last decade in STM and scholarly publishing might have looked something more akin to the dismal times had by newspapers (thank the STM gods our industry didn’t hang its hat on online advertising), magazines (you know you are in […]
From Stuff to Clouds
Image via Wikipedia We used to surround ourselves with stuff: books, newspapers, journals, music CDs, and video tapes. They filled our shelves, our filing cabinets, and our libraries. Increasingly, these media are not held by us — not even stored […]
Lumpers, Splitters, and Policy Debates in Scholarly Publishing
Lumping concepts and players in scholarly publishing together — or merging them with analogs outside — may be confusing us in our policy debates. Can the splitters do better?
Publish-or-Perish Culture Promotes Scientific Narcissism
[…] other scholars the most rewarding element in their job. Writing referee reports and making insights visible by writing articles for newspapers rank among the least appreciated elements of their work. Scientists, however, are not fixed to their first place of […]
Will We Be Ready When That Other Type of Disruption Comes?
Disruption has at least two flavors. We’ve dealt well with one, but may be blind to the second. Are those footsteps I hear?
Ask the Chefs: "What's the Biggest Elephant in the Room?"
[…] poverty to focus the mind). Understandably, that leads to a fair amount of frustration (and opinion pieces in major international newspapers). But here’s the thing: we aren’t therapists. We are publishers, and unlike Clay Shirky and others, I firmly believe […]
Digital Disorder — Losing the Signal of Priority and Selection
We used to have editorial selection and ordering as a natural result of editorial control. With algorithms and news feeds dominating, where are the signals of priority and linked information? Did we really need the packaging?
Ask the Chefs: "What Is the Future of Copyright?"
[…] and give it away for free. This can lead to further confusion, such as the BBC and certain UK tabloid newspapers deciding that because somebody has distributed a picture “for free, to the public” via Twitter, they don’t have to […]
Experiments in Free Education: The Audacity of Udacity
A new education initiative seeks to shift students away from academia. Is this the shape of things to come?
Tea Party-led Super PAC Coalition Seeks to Limit US Research to US Taxpayers
A surprising new coalition of Tea Party and US-first activists begin an effort to limit US taxpayer-funded research to US taxpayers. Will it succeed?
Suicidal Subscriptions
[…] the American magazine scene. Just days after returning from an overseas trip where I enjoyed seeing and buying magazines and newspapers that charge real prices for their content, I received an e mail from Hearst Magazines inviting me (being the […]
Ask the Chefs: "What Do You Think Is the Most Important Trend in Publishing Today?"
[…] industry to shift to an online-centric business model without the hemorrhaging and disruption seen in other adjacent information spaces like newspapers and music recording. And given that print subscriptions did not go away but rather started a steady but slow […]
Uninformed, Unhinged, and Unfair — The Monbiot Rant
[…] scholarly publishers to Rupert Murdoch. This is a clear misunderstanding of the economics of publishing. Murdoch publishes hundreds of daily newspapers, runs television networks, and owns movie studios. His operation is about scale and reach, about the lowest common denominator. […]
The New Face of Social Media
Social media continue to evolve, with Google Plus being the most recent conspicuous entry. Scholarly publishers may find these new platforms can be useful in evolving new forms of communications.