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Peter Brantley: May 2008
Long-Term Questions Around Google and Content
Peter Brantley
May 28, 2008
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Martyn Daniels offers long-view questions around Google's copying of content from publisher books:
Publishers have in many cases argued it is healthy to give them [Google] content as they drive up sales, others that they are stealing it. Whatever your viewpoint the question that must be answered is what do they intend to do with it tomorrow? Will they always us it as they do today? Can they re assign it to others, either in part or whole? Can the copyright owner revert rights, given or taken, if the copyright ownership of the original work changes? Can the originator object? History is littered with cases where the result was not what people expected to happen at the beginning and where market dominance created a new venture not previously envisaged.
Publishing is a rights business yet we often seem to struggle managing them and the older the content the murkier rights become. Today is the right time to revisit the question of Google's Book programme and not continue to go blindly forward as if nothing has changed.
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Digital Change: "Disruptive and Imminent"
Peter Brantley
May 28, 2008
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Adam Hodgkin lists five reasons why books might go digital, among them: Moore's Law, energy needs, and positive perception of digital content. Hodkin then concludes:
At the moment CEO's and captains of publishing houses feel the need to be cautious and to reassure their markets and their audience that change will be gradual and not disruptive. But if the change is disruptive and imminent the publishing houses who have already geared up for digital distribution and marketing will be at an advantage. I think most CEO's in the business know that, and they also know that they are not too well prepared for it.
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IDPF: Boundaries of Participation
Peter Brantley
May 20, 2008
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I wanted to add a few of my own thoughts to Andrew's last post on the AAP and the IDPF. I agree that there is too much emphasis on a replication of the print page, and too little engagement in re-envisioning the product so that it supports a diversity of distribution channels and ultimately, product conceptualizations. For that matter, many of us will still opt for some form of print manifestation, for some classes of this content. But regardless, publishers are aware at least cognitively of these transformations, as Sara Lloyd of Pan Macmillan witnesses in her recent manifesto. Indeed, DAISY is not the only actor that is encouraging IDPF to adopt a more profound engagement with newer presentation technologies and a greater diversity in the expectations for interaction, collaboration, and sharing.
One of the harder equations to solve is where the support for some of the features Andrew mentions should actually be located -- are they format bound? What is the value in specifying an explicit framework that supports (e.g.) OpenID and OpenSocial for collaborative reading of texts (viz. texts broadly defined)? How much of that should be a normative consideration of the application environment, vs. how much in a schema? Perhaps we rather need to participate more outbound such that libraries and publishers more actively engage in efforts like OpenSocial and DataPortability, to bring the changing needs of our served communities into those dialogues.
Organizationally, how do publishers and libraries become the type of enterprises where that kind of open technical and policy engagement is not only tolerated but endorsed as a normal run of business, instead of being perceived as a perfidious seduction?
I don't have either cleverness or answers, but I do wonder what goes into the IDPF's court as a work product, and what goes into the court of our community as a responsibility to redefine and rescale the boundaries of the world of participation.
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The Rise of "Found" Media
Peter Brantley
May 20, 2008
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Alissa Quart's editorial in the Columbia Journalism Review compares "Lost Media" (magazines, newspapers) with "Found Media" (blogs, Web efforts, etc.), and how different generations interpret journalism's current standing:
Right now, journalism is more or less divided into two camps, which I will call Lost Media and Found Media. I went to the Nieman conference partially because I wanted to see how the forces creating this new division are affecting and afflicting the Lost Media world that I love best, not on the institutional level, but for reporters and writers themselves.
To be a Found Media journalist or pundit, one need not be elite, expert, or trained; one must simply produce punchy intellectual property that is in conversation with groups of other citizens. Found Media-ites don't tend to go to editors for approval, but rather to their readers and to their blog community. In many cases, they disdain the old models, particularly newspapers, which they see as having calcified over the decades, and, according to generally youthful Found Media logic, in deep need of a re-think, using all of youth's advantages: time and the ability to instantly summon a crowd. For Found Media's young journalists and bloggers, the attitude toward our craft tends not to be one of mourning for the ashram gone. Rather, it is of not needing a guru at all.
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Will Apple Challenge the Kindle?
Peter Brantley
May 20, 2008
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Rex Hammock re-launches consideration of why Apple would give Amazon a run for ebook readers and content distribution:
Apple won’t stand still and let Amazon have this market [e-readers] all to itself. As I’ve written about ad-naseum, a slightly larger iPod Touch [view concept image] linked to eBooks distributed via the iTunes store would match and raise the game with Amazon. At that point, Amazon would be competing with the iTunes distribution channel, but with Amazon hardware that looks and feels like it was designed in Soviet-era Russia.
Also, with Apple in the game, its eBook format would be readable via the Mac or iPhone, as well. The Kindle format is locked into a Kindle device.
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The Reinvention of the Book Club
Peter Brantley
May 20, 2008
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The Economist has a story on the decline, and partial resuscitation, of book clubs, with a focus on Europe and America:
There is one kind of book club which could have a bright future: specialist clubs that harness the internet. Two successful new clubs in recent years have been Bertelsmann's Black Expressions in America, aimed at black women, and Mosaico, a Spanish-language club. For specialist titles, bookstores cannot compete for range with a book club, and the internet lacks the personal touch of a trusted team of editors.
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Analyst: Kindle Could Add $750 Million to Amazon by 2010
Peter Brantley
May 16, 2008
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Silicon Alley Insider reports on an analysis of Amazon's potential income from the Kindle:
The Kindle could contribute 3% of Amazon's overall revenue in two years, argues Citi analyst Mark Mahaney, who has a born-again relationship with the device. Combining device and book sales in an iPod/iTunes-like model, Mark says, the Kindle could add $750 million to Amazon's top line in 2010.
These projections seem aggressive, in part because the Kindle requires consumers to significantly change their current behavior (Start building an e-book collection--vs. the iPod's ability to play music consumers already owned). But most of Mark's individual assumptions seem reasonable.
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Looking at EPUB's Flexibility and Fidelity
Peter Brantley
May 16, 2008
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Jon Noring at TeleRead discusses the fundamental importance of the AAP's endorsement of the EPUB specification and format:
The following two points in AAP’s letter are germane to this article:
1. AAP sees retailers selling EPUB directly to consumers ... as well as selling derivative formats converted from EPUB. Publishers understand the great flexibility that EPUB provides.
2. AAP uses the phrase “high-fidelity” to describe EPUB. This mention means presentation quality is important to AAP, and thus should be important to everyone else in the ebook industry. It also acknowledges that indeed EPUB is “high-fidelity."
It is clear that publishers consider “flexibility” and “high-fidelity” in ebook formats important, for themselves, for the rest of the industry, and for consumers. And EPUB is a format that meets these requirements.
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A Google-Amazon Mobile Application?
Peter Brantley
May 15, 2008
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Android Scan, one of the winners from the Google Android Developer Challenge, uses cell phone cameras and barcode recognition to tap into Amazon's review database. From Silicon Valley Insider:
Scan barcodes on any book or CD when you’re in a store and your phone will pull up Amazon reviews and check local library listings to see if the book is in stock.
Why it's cool: Google’s been pushing mobile barcode scanning, so they might dig this app, too. We assume the developers have included their Amazon referral code in the app so they get a 5%+ commission on any purchases you make, too.
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Orphan Works Legislation and Copyright Conundrums
Peter Brantley
May 14, 2008
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Kenny Crews at Collectanea says the orphan works bills in the House and Senate impose hurdles for scholarly/research/casual uses. Crews offers a real but slightly absurd example to illustrate the point:
I visited the Grand Canyon with the family not too long ago. After cajoling family members into several snapshots, I kindly handed the camera to a total stranger, requesting a photo of the whole gang. The stranger complied, took a picture, and handed that camera back to me. I might own the camera and stored image, but the tourist who just drifted back to Iowa composed the picture and evidently under the law owns the copyright. Now I am nervous! If I post the picture to my website or blog, or even include it in my holiday newsletter, will it eventually fall into the hands of the stranger, who still owns the copyright? Will I get a stiff lawyer letter? I do not know the name of the photographer. I have an orphan work problem!
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A Look at Book Publishing's Opportunities in Digital Marketing
Peter Brantley
May 9, 2008
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Richard Bawden and Mark Harding from KPMG discuss future scenarios for book marketing and product enhancement:
With virtual worlds like Second Life and social networking destined to splinter into hubs focused on shared interests, publishers and retailers are in a strong position to leverage people's love of books ... Publishers must also consider how books on screen can enhance the reading experience, with sound and vision adding extra dimensions. Think of the crunch that the snow could make as Lucy walks through the wardrobe and enters Narnia for the first time, offering extra sensory pleasure to younger readers.
Experiences like these will trigger behavioural shifts from generation to generation and will bring on the slow decline of traditional business models. If publishers choose to embrace innovation and lateral thinking, such experiences can prompt new revenue streams which will sustain their businesses. If, on the other hand, they choose to deny the digital future or fail to prepare adequately, they will hinder growth.
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Path to Web Retail Getting Easier for Independent Music Labels
Peter Brantley
May 9, 2008
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This is an interesting story from the music world. The implication is that the barrier to retail is dropping in music, which has different hurdles than publishing.
The Independent Online Distribution Alliance, better known as IODA, launched itself in 2003 to help independent labels, artists and others in the music industry make the leap from physical to digital. One of its functions has been to act as a conduit to online retailers, such as Apple's iTunes Store, eMusic, Napster and Rhapsody. Now it's giving its members the option of being retailers, too.
Specifically, IODA is supplying labels and artists the technology to plug downloadable music stores into their websites. Unlike some earlier efforts to sell downloads, the stores integrate seamlessly into the sites with other e-commerce efforts ...
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Early Look at HarperCollins' Social Network for Writers
Peter Brantley
May 8, 2008
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HarperCollins' social network for burgeoning authors, Authonomy, is now in private beta. Booktwo.org provides an analysis:
The real challenge, of course, is to persuade wannabe writers to post their work at all -- in my own personal experience, unpublished writers are terrified of their work being 'stolen', enough to be suspicious of publishers themselves, let alone your average web surfer ... Authonomy’s FAQs wisely address many of these concerns ... As they put it, "if someone really wants to pass off your efforts as their own they'll probably find a way" ... Their real attitude to the problem is more sensible: "here at Authonomy, we believe that your talent is better displayed than kept hidden -- and that the chances of good things happening are more likely the more hands your manuscript passes through, and the more people you enlist in your support."
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Internet Archive Wins Push-Back Fight with U.S. Government
Peter Brantley
May 8, 2008
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The Internet Archive has successfully pushed back against a federal national security letter (NSL) request for Archive member records. Brewster Kahle, Internet Archive co-founder, director and digital librarian, discussed the NSL process and outcome with the San Francisco Chronicle:
Kahle ... was appalled when his volunteer lawyers told him in November that the FBI was demanding records of all communications with one of his patrons as part of an investigation of "international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities."
The FBI document, called a national security letter, told Kahle he could be prosecuted if he discussed the subject with anyone but his lawyers, and allowed him to speak with his attorneys only in person. Kahle said his Internet Archive, which has 500,000 card-holders, doesn't even keep the records the FBI was seeking.
He was allowed to speak publicly Wednesday [5/7/08] under a rare settlement in which the FBI agreed to withdraw its letter and lift the gag order. That should show other librarians, and members of the public who receive any of the nearly 50,000 national security letters the government issues each year, that "you can push back on these," Kahle said.
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Lessons for Publishers in IDG's Digital Success
Peter Brantley
May 7, 2008
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PersonaNonData talks about the recent story in the New York Times on IDG's transition to digital publishing:
Since their [IDG's] market is technology they have some advantage over other types of magazines; however, their navigation of this transition is instructive and predictive of the manner in which publishers will ultimately become successful.
... In IDG's case they have remained faithful to the mission of providing content their core market wants, aggressively managing the performance of their titles and shutting down those that don't perform and they have combined staff into cohesive and focused groups. Companies that make this transition early and successfully will establish difficult to surmount positions relative to their competitors ...
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Amazon POD: Friend or Foe to Indie Publishers?
Peter Brantley
May 5, 2008
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An interesting editorial by Lloyd Jassin from the NY Center for Independent Publishing relating to the Amazon print-on-demand (POD) move:
Physical distribution of books is largely the preserve of large conglomerate publishers and a handful of large independent distributors. It’s not a pretty business. It employs the equivalent of Yankee peddlers who hand-sell books to brick and mortar stores, with full return privileges for oversold books. If we extrapolate, the BookSurge gambit may be seen as a relatively painless first step in managing the digital distribution of titles to e-tailers and licensees. Amazon has the amazing ability to manage and organize content. It also offers a painless online experience for the consumer.
Instead of Amazon merely being the recipient of digital assets, it’s easy to imagine Amazon providing comprehensive consultancy services to our members, helping them prepare their content for digital distribution for and beyond the traditional Amazon platform. Is the Book Surge gambit a disguised opportunity for indie publishers? Perhaps. Indie publishes are the small furry mammals scurrying around the legs of large dinosaur publishers. The digital meteor has hit. To survive, indie publishers need to be able to present content in a variety of digital formats. Is Amazon a friend or a foe? Only time will tell.
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Faber Brings Out-of-Print Titles Back Through POD
Peter Brantley
May 5, 2008
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Faber & Faber is launching Faber Finds, a print-on-demand (POD) imprint specializing in out-of-print titles. From The Guardian:
The new titles, which will retail at about £9, and be printed with automatically generated cover designs, will not be stocked in large quantities by booksellers, but will be available to order through most major booksellers and the majority of internet-based book retailers ... The publisher aims to publish up to 20 new titles every month, after the launch list of 100 books to be made available this June. Faber is the first mainstream non-academic publisher to invest heavily in the POD model, and actively to source material previously published elsewhere for a POD imprint.
The Guardian also asked a number of writers which out-of-print books they'd like to see return.
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Adobe Eyes Interactivity in Ebooks
Peter Brantley
May 2, 2008
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Adobe just launched the Open Screen Project, an initiative designed to easily move content and applications across devices:
This initiative provides one more motivation for adopting Flash for rich media and interactivity to take eBooks beyond static paper-like experiences and make digital content more compelling to consumers ... More and more, digital publications -- whether downloaded or consumed online -- are going to incorporate interactivity and rich media in order to deliver more value to their readers. Digital textbooks are going to integrate eLearning experiences, such as simulations and assessments. Trade books are going to incorporate value-added elements, a la DVDs, such as video interviews with authors and socially-networked play-along whodunits.
As TechCrunch notes, Google, Apple and Microsoft all have their own interests and initiatives in this burgeoning mesh/cloud/interactive space.
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