The O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference raises the level of technology knowledge and discourse in the publishing industry, and provides a meeting ground for everyone involved in the future of publishing.
Kassia Krozser’s post on the JK Rowling proceedings has started a vigorous conversation. She also cites a presentation made at TOC 2008:
Last week’s JK Rowling/Warner Brothers versus RDR Books trial made me very uncomfortable. On one hand, I completely support an author’s right to protect copyright. It’s time this nation (world, really) learned serious lessons about copyright — what it is, how it’s applied, fair use (yes, kids, fair use is part of copyright). But there’s something, well, chilling about how this case has played out…Rowling is famously protective of her copyright, to the point that her zealousness has backfired. As Kirk Biglione noted in his “Tools of Change” presentation (download PDF), Rowling’s refusal to release an ebook version of the “Harry Potter” series due to fear of piracy (among other reasons) lead to, you guessed it!, increased piracy without a single legal alternative for consumers. Demand existed for the ebook — small demand, sure, but demand — yet only the pirates met it.
Bill Kasdorf has posted a thoughtful article on the conference:
The recent O’Reilly Tools of Change conference (February 11-13 in New York) - whose catchy acronym, TOC, belies its focus on books - was, as advertised, all about change. (Tools, not so much.) Although there wasn’t one standout bowl-them-over demonstration or announcement like the one that captivated attendees at the inaugural TOC last year in San Jose (a book that enabled you to interact with the Web via its “print” pages), there was plenty of buzz. And that buzz frequently threatened to escalate into a rumble or a roar. Arguably more significant than any dazzling demo could be, it was the recurring theme that packed the most punch: The world of publishing is changing in fundamental ways that can be ignored but not avoided - and ignored only at serious peril to some of publishing’s most firmly established paradigms.
It’s not just for students anymore. In an interview recorded at the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference held in New York City on February 11, 2008, Beyond the Book’s Christopher Kenneally talks with Dan Gillmor, Director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University.
Kermit Pattison references TOC in this Fast Interview with Harlequin’s Brent Lewis on how romance novels are being read–and writte–on cell phones and why size really doesn’t matter.
Kassia Krozser has posted two very thoughtful pieces about TOC 2008 over on Booksquare:
Peter Osnos posted this piece on the event:
In New York last week there was a three-day event in a midtown hotel called the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference, organized by O’Reilly Media, one of the leading digital information companies. These occasions have a particular rhythm of keynotes, breakouts, and networking designed to feature the new products of supporting vendors and panels or speakers evangelizing for their take on the next big thing. Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail, for example, and The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell were seminal in defining the phenomena of media delivery and popular preference. For all the brouhaha around the digital revolution, I should add, both of these were read in very large numbers in printed books. In any case, the goal of Tools of Change and similar occasions is to find coherent ways to explain change in the media world and to supply the apparatus and services these systems make necessary.
Andrew R. Albanese devoted two sections of the February 12 issue to TOC articles, “Publishers Look Warily to the Future” and “Publishers: If You’re Not Failing, You’re Not Trying Hard Enough.”
Dave Kellogg, CEO of Mark Logic Corporation, posted some notes and thoughts on Tim’s TOC presentation.
On February 12, 2008, Near-Time and O’Reilly Media announced the prepress launch of Software Craftsmanship on the Near-Time platform. The site features the entire book contents and includes interactive components powered by Near-Time.
Ron Hogan posted several entries on TOC:
More notes from participant George Walkley, on talks by Bob Young of Lulu, Tim O’Reilly, and Kirk Biglione.
“The second O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing conference ends today,” wrote Caroline Vanderlip last week, “and it is remarkable to see how much more vibrant this conference was compared to the first last summer. Yes, the first was in CA - close to the tech world that is supplying many of the ‘tools’ but not to the greatest number in the publishing community, for whom these tools are meant. But I also believe that the publishing world has started to embrace the digital era more energetically, recognizing that it will transform the industry in untold ways, and attention needs to be paid.”
At Authorlink, Doris Booth has posted two stories:
Calvin Reid has posted a thoughtful piece wrapping up the last day of the conference, opening with “Although this year’s O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference may have lacked the keynote star power of last year’s event, the conference’s move from San Jose to Manhattan clearly reaped benefits.”
We pre-recorded an interview for TOC with Kathy Sierra of Creating Passionate Users and O’Reilly CEO Tim O’Reilly to show on the opening day. We’ve just posted it on blip.tv with the keynote presentations from 2007.
Today marks the conclusion of the second annual O’Reilly TOC (Tools of Change) Conference for Publishing,” writes Michael Drew. ” As you might expect, virtually every discussion that took place at that conference revolved in some way, shape, or form around how technology is evolving the book industry.”
TOC participant George Walkley has written the first in a series of posts with his notes from the conference, bullet-point style.
Mark Coker, a speaker at TOC this year, made this announcement at the conference about his company, Smashwords:
NEW YORK, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire/ — O’Reilly Tools of Change — Smashwords, a new digital publishing startup, today previewed a breakthrough ebook publishing platform for authors and publishers at the O’Reilly Tools of Change publishing conference in New York City. The company began accepting applications today for a limited number of beta testers at https://www.smashwords.com .
TOC committee member Jeff Gomez muses on the idea of content vs. context vs. contact:
During this morning’s opening keynote sessions of the second O’Reilly Tools of Change conference, which is being held this week in Manhattan, a number of the speakers did their best to kill the age-old (well, maybe not age-old, but certainly decade-old) notion that “content is king.”
TOC sponsor LibreDigitial made this announcement at TOC today:
New eCompile Services Allows Publishers to Deliver Custom Book Content Offerings On-Demand
NEW YORK - February 12, 2008 - At the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference, LibreDigital, a division of NewsStand, Inc., today announced the availability of its next-generation eCompile Service, a technology enhancement to the LibreDigital Internet Warehouse for Publishers that empowers forward-thinking publishers to provide consumers with book “mash-ups” - or custom books made from content compiled from different book titles in publisher portfolios.
Calvin Reid provides an overview of some of the first-day highlights at TOC:
O’Reilly’s second annual Tools of Change for Publishing conference opened yesterday in New York City with a series of keynote speakers who challenged publishers to embrace opportunities in a new digital era that has fundamentally transformed the nature of reading, the delivery of content and, indeed, the role of the publisher altogether.
Conference-goer Patrick Nielsen-Hayden blogged some of his favorite lines of the conference so far:
In case any Making Light readers happen to be here, I should mention that I’m at the O’Reilly Tools for Change for Publishing conference in New York all day today, as I was most of yesterday as well…it’s been pretty interesting. From my erratic notes, some favorite moments so far:
Stephen Abram: “What does it mean to deal with a world with too much information? By 2020 your iPod will have enough storage for all the information ever created in all media. Formats die; human social needs trump everything.”
Ben Vershbow: “Curating the conversation will be a whole new kind of editorial job.”
Abram again: “Context, not ‘content,’ is king. If you don’t know the context in which your users are inhaling your information and making use of it, what their goals are, you’re not there.”
One of our TOC participants is blogging TOC:
Today and tomorrow, I’m at the Tools of Change for Publishing conference, for work. I’m here to understand how the publishing industry is using technology, and how I can help them get their digital content on site faster and more effectively.
The conference started with the message that the biggest challenge facing publishers isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity. Following that were many keynotes and sessions that focused around the idea of creating and engaging with community.
Over on his Publishers Weekly blog, David Rothman writes about a new tool for small publishers:
Tizra, Inc., a new company based in Providence, R.I., which is putting on a demonstation Monday at around 7:30 p.m. at the Tools of Change Conference in New York, is aiming for customers like you. The same demo link will lead to info on other five-minute presentations from organizations ranging from the accessibility-oriented DAISY Consortium to Tipjoy (”supporting free content through micropayment tipping”).
Carlie Fairchild, publisher of Linux Journal, lists some highlights of the first day of TOC:
I’m in NYC for the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing conference. Here we have a chance to meet like-minded publishers, albeit most here are in the book, not magazine business. Regardless the attendees here say words like “XML”, “RSS” and “long tail” and we’re just giddy to hear our little techie language spoken.
Program chair Andrew Savikas announced two new features to further the conversation around the future of publishing: Tools of Change for Publishing blog and the TOC Job Board.
Seybold’s John Parsons has written an overview of TOC (pdf), picking out some of the sessions and topics he finds most meaningful.
Here is the official registration is open release for the Tools of Change Conference:
2008 TOC Conference Will Turn the Page on Publishing Technology
Here is an official copy of the “call for participation” news release for TOC:
Call for participation is now open
This national organization, who organizes it’s own conference on publishing, included a very nice mention of TOC in their newsletter:
NFAIS Enotes, July 31, 2007
Jill O’Neill, NFAIS
Buzzwords and Bemusement
Six weeks ago, I attended the O’Reilly Tools of Change (TOC) conference in San Jose, an event aimed at the book publishing community. I came away with a reinforced sense that publishing as an industry is changing at very different rates of speed, depending upon the sector in which one operates. TOC was, in many respects, a practical meeting with tutorials on XML, discussions of intellectual property and business models, and featured keynote segments that covered widgets, wikis, and Web 2.0. That’s publishing as it exists today - buzzwords and bemusement.
Underneath the buzzwords and bemusement, however, I believe that I came away from the event with some idea of emerging discussions in the book publishing world (and, by extension, our own).
Information Today’s Don Hawkins attended our inaugural version of the Tools of Change conference and filed the following story:
TOC Coverage
