Well, That About Wraps it up for Clayton Christensen
Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation is critically examined by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker. If he is wrong, why is the idea of disruption such a compelling one?
HighWire Press Moves Out of Stanford and Becomes an Equity-funded "Inc."
On Friday, Highwire Press announced that it has received a “significant equity investment to support its strategic growth from Accel-KKR” and that it would be spinning off from the Stanford University Library, which has been its home for nearly 20 years. This post explores the implications of the transition.
Well, That Went Fast! A Few Last-Minute Reflections on a Year as President of SSP
Serving as President of SSP for a year let me see how uniquely beneficial this organization is for scholarly publishing.
Identity Crisis — Does Print Need to Die for Online to Flourish?
The bias against printing has a technological basis and some business rationale, but are we underserving our role as “content marketers” by shutting down this option out of hand?
Keeping It Real — Are Our Technology Expectations Out of Whack?
While we fuss over our interfaces and capabilities, we often forget how difficult software is to create and sustain, how easy it is to imagine otherwise, and how scarce engineering and programming resources are across the board.
The Expert
The intersection of vague business plans and practical implementation is often a frustrating process.
Bitcoin and Flash Traders — Leveraging Scarcity Within the Internet's Infrastructure
Two ways to leverage scarcity in the computer world are worth examining, because they represent baffling new ways for the rich to get richer.
This One Doesn’t Scale — One Big Reason Why Online Advertising Is Comparatively Limited
Online advertising fails to match print advertising in its scalability, slowing the transition to online for major journals and capping the potential for online subscription prices to be offset in a manner similar to print’s legacy business.
The Legal Hot Zone — The Hidden Role of Publishers in Academic and Scientific Legal Disputes
Legal issues are an inevitable part of publishing cutting-edge information in a world as political as academic research. However, the role of publishers in these matters, and their important contributions, are often concealed within necessary discretion.
Can Mega-journals Maintain Boundaries When They and Their Customers Align on "Publish or Perish"?
The “publish or perish” culture has created a major mega-journal. But are its boundaries and standards built properly to avoid becoming an enabler of that culture?
Scale Rewards, Scale Punishes — Is the Future of Scholarly Publishing Already Determined?
The Internet rewards scale and creates clear competitive disadvantages for niche businesses. Now that a long-term economic downturn has made for starker realities, the effects of this basic set of facts seem inevitable.
Will 2014 Be the Year of the Individual Paywall for Publishers?
As revenues from alternatives decrease and digital revenue sources prove insufficient, publishers are finding that straight-up asking readers to pay may be the best approach going forward.
Observations from the SSP Annual Meeting — Dogma, Domination vs. Disruption, and Working to Scale
As Day 1 of the SSP Annual Meeting draws to a close, a few ideas seemed worth sharing.
True Innovation Requires Knowledge — The Myth of the Naïve Disruptor and the Marginalization of Staff
The myth of the naive outsider is persistent and powerful, but even expert outsiders aren’t the only possible source of knowledge. What about the expert insider? What if most of your insiders are experts in some surprising way?
Are We In a Rut? Explaining the Increasing Homogenization of Scholarly and Scientific Publishing
The Internet promised a revolution, but we may have only deepened our rut as a number of factors have combined to constrain innovation and change our customer focus.