Grab and Go and the Gravitational Pull of Discovery
A look at Facebook’s Instant Article initiative and what it means for discovery and for publishers.
The Ubiquitous Bookstore
There is much discussion now about creating new online bookstores, especially for academic publishers. Some of these discussions, however, are not aligned with overarching trends on the Internet and risk creating something that appears to be out of date the moment it is launched.
Our Surveillance Society: If Only We'd Listened to Jim Rockford
James Garner’s television detective warned us about Google and Facebook way back in 1978. If only we’d listened…
Social Media And Its Impact on Medical Research
A social media campaign may have little (if any) effect on article readership, a recent study reports.
Altmetric’s Top 100: What Does It All Mean?
Altmetric’s annual top 100 list provides an opportunity to see what science reached the general public and to think more about what information altmetrics really provide.
Build a Better Mousetrap
The best way to increase D2C sales is to work in increasing the traffic to your site. Without traffic, there can be few sales. Unfortunately, the university press community has paid little attention to building Web traffic.
+1 Deer: The Latest Trend in Social Media via The Onion
The Onion’s ever-entertaining fake news service offers up this perfect explanation of the current state of social media, as the established companies scramble to remain relevant.
Marketing in the Stream
Social media presents a new set of marketing opportunities for publishers, the most important of which is a new paradigm for thinking about the world of digital media, which now is the world of the social stream instead of the world of cyberspace.
The Web-scale University Press
This is an essay on what it would mean to create a university press that operates at Web scale. It speculates about what such an endeavor would look like and probes some aspects of the financial model.
Scholarly Kitchen Podcast: Mitch Joel on Rebooting Your Business, and Your Life
Mitch Joel talks about how to survive and thrive in the current era of technology-driven change.
Stick to Your Ribs: Science and Web 2.0: Talking About Science vs. Doing Science
Revisiting the subject of social media and scientific research–have we made much progress in the last few years?
Spoilers, Social Media Feeding Frenzies and the Need to Connect
Back in 2009, I wrote a post about the death of the television schedule. In the post, I discussed shelf life versus participation value for content, highlighting the rare entertainment events like sports that continue to offer a semblance of […]
The Limits of Crowdsourcing in the Scientific Disciplines
Social networking and crowdsourcing have attributes that may make them both incompatible with the goals and process of science. Can we accept that?
SSP Launches Sharp, Redesigned Web Site
The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) launches its new Web site — a sharp, usable, and useful update that makes it easier to take advantage of SSP resources.
The Slow But Steady March Toward Paid Content
The New York Times is now publishing short e-books, another step down the path to monetizing content directly instead of through the sale of advertising.