tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23710637524933913752024-03-12T17:03:59.434-07:00Scrutanda - publishing & strategyA participant's views exiting business schoolPeter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-12615831397065888862014-06-05T09:00:00.000-07:002014-06-06T15:20:14.868-07:00Tech Elephants & the State of Change at SSP 36<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2014/06/someone-re-moved-my-chains.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7GRWGstI2os/U3gKm5_A4fI/AAAAAAAAAfk/g4Eiwl7ybhk/s1600/hair_ele%255Bhant.jpg" height="220" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><h5 class="credit" style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; margin: 10px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2014/06/someone-re-moved-my-chains.html" target="_blank">Photograph by William Albert Allard</a></span></h5>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
With each new software release, what's possible grows. With each new company that comes online, or new resource or material that's created, what's imaginable expands. This is simply the state of play; Heraclitus' river is now grade-5 whitewater.<br />
<br />
For those who grew up under <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law" target="_blank">Moore's law</a>, not only are more things possible; they're inevitable. Whatever you see, briefly, as missing or desirable in any device, service, product, or feature set will be corrected or added to the next build, because if you've seen it, someone is already working on it and since they will <i><b>naturally</b></i> have faster and faster processors and more and more code at their disposal, the problem will fall.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
It's a funny thing to grow up like that, or at least it's funny to those that didn't grow up like that; the outlooks and world views to come out of such an evidently or presumptively self-ameliorating iterative environment are fundamentally different from those outlooks that came before.<br />
<br />
NASA saw the change/s and adapted to them early on. (This I have on the very good and entirely irresponsible, second-hand hearsay authority of a mother of a precocious college graduate who was snatched up to work in NASA labs in Texas a decade or so ago.) Older design engineers used to take lead in design-direction decisions on their teams because they were the most knowledgeable. They knew what worked and what didn't work, what would and what would not, and could guide the younger engineers as they 'came online' out of dream-filled days of school, learned those hard lessons, and caught up with reality. Later, as the pace of change increased, they saw that increasingly younger engineers -- who didn't know any better -- were able to try things that hadn't worked a few years ago, or even a few months ago, and get those things to work, delivering different results faster in rapid iterations. Silicon Valley and other tech centers saw this trend too, back in the late nineties, and <a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2014/06/someone-re-moved-my-chains.html" target="_blank">regularly "poached" young elephants from computer labs</a>.<br />
<br />
It's always tempting to suggest that younger folks are smarter (especially for the less than superannuated among us); but perhaps it's worth while too to consider the case in less debatable terms, that they are less knowledgeable of the river that flowed before; ignorance isn't just bliss, but at times of rapid change, it is alternately enabling. Or to put it another way, when you step into rapids, regardless of your comfort level or experience with whitewater, you're going to go for a ride; it's your experience with the <i>rapidity</i> of the rapids, if you will, that determines whether the trip will be a happy and productive one for you or for your doctor.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><b>Growth</b></span><br />
<br />
In <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/erik_brynjolfsson_the_key_to_growth_race_em_with_em_the_machines" target="_blank">Erik Brynjolfsson's TED talk on the future of innovation</a> <i><b>The Key to Growth? Race with the Machines</b></i>, (TED, February, 2013) he shares stats from the second industrial revolution a hundred and twenty years ago. He notes that the real advances in productivity did not happen when the factories electrified; in fact, it took another <i><b>thirty years</b></i> for workflows and processes to be reimagined, based on the flexibility of those new eFactories, for the greatest growth to be realized. That's time enough, as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Race-Against-Machine-Accelerating-Productivity/dp/0984725113/ref=la_B001H6IZA8_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366721845&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Brynjolfsson points out</a>, for a human generation to turn.<br />
<br />
In comparison with our age, he underscored that simply applying new technology wasn't what brought the greatest returns. Redefining who we were and what we set about to accomplish <i>in light of</i> the capabilities of the new technology is, and while we have seen great advances thus far, in our age of the computer, we will see more still if, when, and as we shift from the external focus of applied technology to this more existential and categorical focus of redefining the enterprise itself; i.e., not just replacing traditional processes and products with computers and digitally-built alternatives but in a sense "teaming" with the new technology to imagine what it is capable of in order to define new systems that aspire to do more and <i>entirely new</i> things than did the systems that were in place before.<br />
<br />
<i><b>The State of Change</b></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Rick Joyce of <a href="http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/perseus/home.jsp" target="_blank">Perseus Books</a> delivered a rousing Keynote address to start <a href="http://www.sspnet.org/events/annual-meeting/2014-schedule/" target="_blank">the 36th annual meeting</a> of the SSP last week in Boston. He shared many adventures in new marketing approaches at Perseus and its imprints (e.g., Basic Books), including the first ever <a href="http://www.publishinghackathon.com/" target="_blank">Publishing Hackathon</a>, from May of last year, and a thoughtful review of future implications of mobile-publishing and content delivery; e.g., work/s regarding famous landmarks delivered or offered to visitors as they pass by. The talk was rich with suggestions for scholarly presses -- <i>such as <a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2013/09/how-to-spot-ugly-black-ducklings-next.html" target="_blank">finding new ways to leverage</a> the inherent value in and <a href="http://www.booksforunderstanding.org/" target="_blank">expertise of our scholars/authors</a></i> -- and as soon as slides/video are available, <i>all</i> scholarly publishers should check them out.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/05/the-leaked-new-york-times-innovation-report-is-one-of-the-key-documents-of-this-media-age/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PCOI3KLQBq0/U4_jbiBXcdI/AAAAAAAAAgE/w_-yxq83LII/s1600/new-york-times-nytimes-building-cc.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i><a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/05/the-leaked-new-york-times-innovation-report-is-one-of-the-key-documents-of-this-media-age/" target="_blank">via niemanlab.org</a></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Throughout Joyce stressed the growing need for publishers to stretch their definitions of their roles from producers of products such as books and eBooks to deliverers of value and wonder in new forms -- a sentiment that resonated well with the now famously <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/05/the-leaked-new-york-times-innovation-report-is-one-of-the-key-documents-of-this-media-age/" target="_blank">leaked NYT's <i>Innovation</i> report</a> from earlier in the year. Now, if we take a step back and consider the innovation discourse of just a few years ago, back when people were discussing mobile cheese and talking mice (can you imagine?), the argument was more externally focused. <i>The cheese, she is moved; let's go find the cheese. </i>Then, for a time, we heard messages about the <b><i>pace</i></b> of change and how the pace of change was accelerating; everything was about keeping up and reacting faster: be nimble, pivot to avoid disaster.<br />
<br />
These suggestions that we're hearing today, from Joyce and the Innovation team at NYT and elsewhere, are more organizationally and internally focused (less cheesy). They foreground the need to rethink and radically restructure <b><i>what</i></b> we're doing not just <i><b>how</b></i> we're doing it (e.g., developing new software programs to deliver <a href="http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2012/01/17/a-newfangled-online-bookstore/" target="_blank">our own B2B services</a>, finding new ways to leverage the expertise of our authors). I'd say that this shift in the focus of these strategic suggestions (from how can we react to a sudden change, to considering what else we can do entirely -- taking change as a given) places us somewhere down Brynjolfsson's productivity curve; we may not be running with machines, quite yet, but some of us are choosing up teams.<br />
<br />
<i><b>The 36th annual meeting of the SSP in sum</b></i><br />
<br />
It's true to say that the SSP 36th annual meeting was, as it usually is, packed with new technology and creative uses of new platforms and practices, but from Rick Joyce's shared vision for new marketing and new programming, to Delta Think's tutorial on contextual inquiry-bassed product development, and on to the closing sessions on new product releases and on augmented reality via Google Glass and via other devices yet to be imagined, it was clearly more than that; it was a proving ground, heralding things to come not only for presses but from presses in the <b><i>next</i></b> digitally expansive era that's beginning to open up for us upstream.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2014/06/someone-re-moved-my-chains.html" target="_blank">Morag and others</a> will of course tell you that there is absolutely no reasonable possibility for successful, meaningful change in the models for publishing, not yet, and they're as right as can be, in retrospect; an elephant never forgets the waters that it has stepped in. But as Joyce and others suggest, the <b style="font-style: italic;">opportunity</b> to change, for the moment, is only the greater for it. </div>
</div>
Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-63732966174751194232014-06-03T09:30:00.000-07:002014-06-05T10:15:07.921-07:00Who re-Moved My Chains - the way change has changed, taking change as read<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7GRWGstI2os/U3gKm5_A4fI/AAAAAAAAAfk/g4Eiwl7ybhk/s1600/hair_ele%255Bhant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7GRWGstI2os/U3gKm5_A4fI/AAAAAAAAAfk/g4Eiwl7ybhk/s1600/hair_ele%255Bhant.jpg" height="220" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h5 class="credit" style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; margin: 10px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<a href="http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/wallpaper/animals/photos/elephants/baby-asian-elephant/?rptregcta=reg_free_np&rptregcampaign=20131016_rw_membership_n1p_us_se_w#" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photograph by William Albert Allard</span></a></h5>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Winston the elephant was still just a baby, so he hadn't yet learned. Long exercises each morning at the hands of the elephant trainers were exhausting and strange, but they never tired him out enough to stop him from trying to escape. The ground in camp was brown and bear, and all they had to eat was soggy grass that came in dirty buckets. He pulled on his chains every afternoon, working to get free. He longed to run in the meadows across the river from the circus camp. The grass and leaves there were rich and deep and looked so delicious!!!<br />
<br />
Gaspar and the other adult elephants watched Winston with patient sympathy. Burdened with perfect memories of every pull, every failed attempt and all the wasted energy, in every afternoon, through the weeks and months of their first years in camp, they knew. Winston wasn't strong enough to break the chains around his leg. In time, he'd learn.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y0U-Fm9yyw8/U3gLmPfuFKI/AAAAAAAAAfo/DNBvGXvbxok/s1600/Circus_baby_elephant_training.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y0U-Fm9yyw8/U3gLmPfuFKI/AAAAAAAAAfo/DNBvGXvbxok/s1600/Circus_baby_elephant_training.jpg" height="212" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><a href="http://features.peta2.com/neverforget/photo-book.asp" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">© 2014 Peta.</span></a></i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the afternoons, the elephants were chained along the edge of camp, facing the river and the jungle beyond where it was said that packs of elephants roamed free. Small chains held even the largest of elephants in line, because of their perfect memories of the truth of the way things work: when a chain is around your leg, you cannot break free. Many weeks passed, many long afternoons of wild, youthful commotion and elephantine sighs: Winston pulling on his chains to exhaustion; the adult elephants watching with slightly less and less patience at having their quiet afternoons rendered unquiet.<br />
<br />
Morag was an old bull elephant next in line on the other side of Gaspar. He didn't like the constant disruption of Winston and his pulling. Several times Winston had upturned their buckets of dinner, leaving half of the herd to go hungry. He complained loudly to Gaspar that this nonsense must stop. Gaspar tried to argue that the matter would run its course in time, once Winston learned; but siding with Morag, the other elephants in line weren't satisfied to wait. Gaspar realized that it was time.<br />
<br />
"The chains are too strong, Winston."<br />
"Why don't you break them?!" Winston asked. "You are huge!"<br />
"Elephants can't break the chains that hold us."<br />
"You knock me aside with your leg, when you are not looking."<br />
"I'm sorry for that, Winston."<br />
"But, you must be strong enough to break <i>your</i> chains."<br />
"No, like you, we've tried. We could not."<br />
"But, try now."<br />
"There would be no point; we know what will happen when we pull on the chains."<br />
"Try just once; show me!"<br />
"No, Winston."<br />
Winston thought on this. He knew there would be no budging an elephant when it came to his memory. He'd have to think of something.<br />
"What if you and I pull on the chains together? Have you tried that?"<br />
Gaspar grunted somewhat angrily. He didn't like frustration in the ranks and could feel Morag growing surly next to him.<br />
"We can't break the chains, Winston. Others have tried that. I've heard many stories..."<br />
"But have <i>you</i> tried that? Have <i>you</i> tried pulling on the chains? ...with another elephant?"<br />
Gaspar had to admit the truth. "No, I haven't."<br />
Winston put his foot on top of the chain on Gaspar's leg.<br />
"We can pull together then." <br />
"Gaspar..."<br />
"Just once more. Try once more. Then, I'll stop."<br />
Morag trumpeted loudly and knocked Gaspar sharply in the ribs.<br />
"No, Winston! Stop this!" Gaspar said. "It's time for the elephants to sleep."<br />
"But..."<br />
"We must give the others peace, Winston!"<br />
Winston began to complain again, but Gaspar quickly pulled him in closely with his trunk and disciplined him sternly in hushed tones. He released him again.<br />
Gaspar's counsel seemed to work, as Winston looked defeated at the ground, kicking it several times and scraping it with his trunk.<br />
"Now go to sleep, Winston. Tomorrow will be a new day."<br />
Winston circled some, eyeing Gaspar, but then lay down his head and finally gave up.<br />
"Al last," Morag said, triumphantly.<br />
"We will have our afternoons of quiet returned to us!" the other elephants trumpeted.<br />
"Yes," Winston said. "I told you all, it would run its course. We can all get some sleep now."<br />
The elephants fell in line, one after the other, and slept content that quiet would return to the edge of camp, in the days, weeks, and months to follow.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d4LCDen9g3o/U3f45Rr3wDI/AAAAAAAAAfU/Qsuo329Jlc0/s1600/baby-elephant-and-mother.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d4LCDen9g3o/U3f45Rr3wDI/AAAAAAAAAfU/Qsuo329Jlc0/s1600/baby-elephant-and-mother.jpg" height="208" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<i>via funpic.hu</i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But in the morning, all woke a strange and unfathomable sight. As news spread of not one but two sets of broken chains at the end of the line, they saw silhouettes of two elephants in the sunrise's light, one large and one not so large, running in the meadow across the river, heading for the jungle beyond. How did camp elephants get all the way over there? the adult elephants thought, that never happens. Morag and others were even more confused by what they found at their own feet. They had never seen that before and didn't know quite what to make of it.<br />
Soon the trainers would awake, they decided. They'd know what to do.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-85952156282144127262014-05-14T08:00:00.000-07:002014-05-23T05:49:41.094-07:00Scholarly Publishing 2.0: The Wrath of KhanScholarly presses and u presses in particular have <i><b>at least</b></i> two great (macro) strategies open to them to change the game in their favor. One, I'll call the Wrath of Khan strategy (discussed herein), and the other is exploring beneficial network effects and that thing called scale of partnering on non-core infrastructural needs and services and on delivering core and neo-core D2C products and services (elsewhere discussed, though touched on herein). Both strategies are enabled by the web, but herein, we'll just consider the Wrath of Khan strategy in broad strokes (not examine its wiring). <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rpew8e0FaR0/U3NoP66izwI/AAAAAAAAAfE/THGbS68fI2s/s1600/star-trek-ii-the-wrath-of-khan-dvd-cover-43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rpew8e0FaR0/U3NoP66izwI/AAAAAAAAAfE/THGbS68fI2s/s320/star-trek-ii-the-wrath-of-khan-dvd-cover-43.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>The Wrath of Khan Strategy</b><br />
<br />
Pretty simple: in <i>Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan </i>(the first one), Kirk defeats Khan in a final battle between two space ships. How? Kirk, or really Spock, realizes that Khan is stuck in the past; his reality is defined by his "life on Earth" and ancient history where battles ranged across a physical landscape -- defined in terms of longitude and latitude, 2D. Space is 3D. In fact, from any point in space, your options are global. Yes, not unlike the web. Kirk wins by "turning around, vertically," rising up and then dropping back down -- which is far more detail than you need, but you get the point; or, you get enough of the point to smile politely, mumble "Geek," and let me continue to say: The future and the web enables 3D publishing products and services for u presses. To which, you might say: Why do I say this and what does that mean, Geek? For starters, we can consider OA.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
(c) Paramount Pictures</div>
<b>OA & 3D</b><br />
<br />
Recently, "access" to research/scholarly written output has been a hot topic in scholarly communications; specifically, Open Access or OA. Discussions around OA often center on the "pay wall" and on which side of the pay wall things reside. Two dimensions. Binary opposition; physical landscape of u presses to date: "pay-per-view" to the left of them and "OA" to the right of them. ...Rode the one hundred. OA is about "access," as is implied in the name, and yet access isn't "<a href="http://www.booksforunderstanding.org/" target="_blank">understanding</a>." Therefore, OA would leave positioning on "<a href="http://www.booksforunderstanding.org/" target="_blank">understanding</a>" wide open to u presses, and delivering understanding is, for my money and for most people's money, far more valuable than simply granting access (and is largely what publishers do, when they make thinking into a book; so, it's a core competency). However, if you think of summarizing and abstracting or distilling out the essence of arguments (and/or applying them to current events), i.e., derivative, tangential, inspired-by works for new age groups, new occasions, and new markets or modes & nodes of access, as resting above or below primary works of scholarship (the outputs from research), you can see these transformative acts as opening up a 3D space in which to operate and develop new products or create new value far above and far beyond scholarship. The research is foundational; but, if you take it as what is given or as a leaping off point, what can be made of it from there? Or, what else can researchers be tasked to do with their thinking for us as a society?<br />
<br />
<b>The 800-kg. Stakeholder in the Room</b><br />
<br />
Am I the only one that has found the "OA" moniker just a little awkward? Maybe after explaining it to friends and having them say: "You mean 'public.'" "Yeah, isn't that just 'public access,' like public media; free for everyone in the country or online: smart-stuff produced by noble, dedicated people for the general good?" Yes, I've had to admit on many occasions that we've had a word for this kind of thing, for decades, and it's public access -- like public access tv of old, but different. Really different. Yet, we don't seem to call it that, and we don't tend to hear the public interest much represented in these discussions, beyond our imagining that everyone is better off if scholars have access to scholarship for their work, and if students have access to it too for their work, without paying for it ...and the public should have access too. Is this the best we can do for the public? Given all our access to the best minds and current thinking in the world? If serving them and raising their understanding were the goals, is access the best that any of us can do? <br />
<br />
<b>Speaking for John Q. Public</b><br />
<br />
I am an evil capitalist, by training and inclination; but, speaking for John Q. Public, I could see wanting a little more. Were I JQP, I'd want works that are built <b>on top of</b> (3D) this research and these nuanced intra-dsciplinary arguments, to teach our kids and lead intelligent debate in the public sphere -- actively -- not just on a shelf, and not just in classrooms and academic conferences, and not just for those who are motivated to access and take part (i.e., the 'converted'). For my money, I'd want media that undertakes and completes the higher-order communications objective or raising "understanding" in the country and the world (www) by direct actions and interventions of publishers and editors; that complicates and disseminates what they are given. More plainly put, I'd want content generated for me and mine: where I want it and in forms that I want to access when I feel like accessing it. <br />
<blockquote>
I just downloaded an info-graphic from NPR, related to a video I saw, elsewhere on NPR, for a band they talked about on Morning Edition three weeks ago that I'm currently streaming in a podcast from my phone in my pocket. </blockquote>
25 years ago, that's an ambulatory schizophrenic talking. Now, what we "see" synthesized on or download/stream from NPR is taken in stride. What comes next?<br />
<br />
If u presses are allowed to continue to stretch beyond traditional academic functions of effecting scholar-to-scholar communications and minting coins for tenure accounting, to the higher-order cultural global value of advancing public understanding directly, actively (as engaged participant agents; i.e., co-creators and engaging readers to be the same), they may continue to discover and build new forms, new models, and vistas for that thing called publishing that used to require glue and sutures. <br />
<br />
<b>E.g., </b><br />
<br />
<b>More media</b> - maybe presses working together can field <a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2013/09/how-to-spot-ugly-black-ducklings-next.html">a networked online news magazine, blog, or other digital 'source' that applies the best thinking and the best writing by the best minds to current events</a>. There's an app in that. <br />
<br />
<b>More popular</b> - maybe the web is license to make scholarly research and conclusions OA; but then, maybe it's also <a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2014/04/university-presses-have-world-by-tail.html">mandate to do more besides to create new, expanded, premium/trade derivative titles/value</a>. <br />
<br />
<b>More public</b> - maybe there's room for something transformative, synthetic, and diversely engaging like NPR/PBS (i.e., public programming). SPOILER ALERT: Take multimedia mixed with digital delivery, evolve it, and whether paid for or free or both, we may see emergent roles née editors functioning not unlike producers. ...if we're fortunate. <br />
<br />
<b>More funding</b> - to the enabling crowds of scholars and libraries add: everybody in the country. Network effects apply to funding global/public projects. "<b>The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one</b>." (That's Spock and/or Kirk, depending on which reel and/or timeline you're in.) Maybe public-centric programming and/or centralized functions of any kind will win the hearts and pocketbooks of more hearts and pocketbooks. <a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2011/06/exploring-new-business-models-for_27.html">Centralized, concentrated presence in space often results in increased [critical] mass and with it an enhanced attractive force of gravity</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>More SALES</b> - u presses have unique products and unique, premium markets of consumers, yet they rely on third-party strategies, leaving customers to navigate the wilds of maddeningly crowded third-party vendor sites to find their content, and worse: abandoning the best behavioral, conversational, and market-intelligence gathering (data resulting from said navigating) and <b>chances to engage and collaborate with the world of interested consumers </b>to said third-parties. <a href="http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2014/03/24/a-survey-of-university-presses/" target="_blank">They could capitalize more on and deliver more value to consumers based on what they have to offer with a networked D2C all u press site</a>.<br />
<br />
The 3D and Wrath of Khan analogy and attendant e.g.s are only <i>delivered</i> mildly tongue in cheek; they are in earnest framed around freemium and premium thinking that the u press network should feel leave to "go digital" not only in form but also in function, and such new functions could be at the title/book/project level or at the institutional level of the u press/u press network itself, to continue to invigorate and to explore the multiple ways the united federation of u presses <i>can</i> generate and receive value in society. <i>...to boldly go where no one has gone before.</i><br />
<br />
A collective presence on the web furthers such new revenue and new value generating interests and building one or more <i><b>virtual</b></i> networks to effect such a presence (or presences) is a smuggled presumption herein. In other words, and to be clear, having a unified u press presence on the web will be beneficial to all presses and align with both enhanced sales and content development goals. As far as funding the societal enterprise of making the most of university-based textual <i><b>ideation transfer</b></i> goes, this certainly applies: <b>We don't need a university press; we need all of them</b>. However, such a centralized presence or space (the final frontier) does more: as an umbrella, it will allow presses to "get vertical" to create new, living value for the public and for scholars, on top of the world-class scholarship that they already deliver, it will explode the sales and marketing potential for their rare and wonderful products and services therefrom derived (<a href="http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2014/05/13/build-a-better-mousetrap/">in ways Joe Esposito regularly brilliantly describes</a> and more), and throughout it will enable u presses's own "research" and development of this expanding new space between authors and readers, to continue to refine, experiment with, and improve the ways in which we access and reach ideas and the ways in which these ideas reach us to the greater benefit of our collective understanding.Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-26625044560223922412014-04-23T09:30:00.000-07:002019-12-05T06:23:36.438-08:00Google & University Presses: On U Presses Cashing in on the Potential of the Web, Potentially<blockquote>
“My company and I would like to give folks a nigh-infinitely scalable digital map of every street in the world that they can 'fly' around in like a video game, and after that we’ll build eyeglasses that surf the web and self-driving cars.<br />
<br />
“So, naturally, our first step will be to put a new search algorithm up on the web, in a single framed search box, so folks can find webpages better.”</blockquote>
<br />
Google had a good idea and a fine algorithm. But, no one short of shaman-grade crazy saw web-enabled eyeglasses and self-driving cars as likely later/next steps–or as their ultimate goal when first they set out.<br />
<br />
Do what you can do now; find out what you can do next, after. Then, do that.<br />
<br />
It’s how we learn to walk, run, and build unimaginable things like driver-less cars.<br />
<br />
When considering <b>U Presses building a collective immersive online environment</b>, folks often ask "key questions" that only focus on one aspect of what might have been a partial near-term goal (back in the days of the newness of the web); e.g., how will that succeed in selling books (i.e., specifically on such a site that U Presses might build; because all we can imagine are real-world things reconstituted online, such as an "online" bookstore).<br />
<br />
However, key questions of strategy depend on what strategic intent/s and ends might be in the near term, in the long term, and beyond. And, in so far as some of those goals may be open ended or a matter of positioning for an unknown future, key questions of strategy can be manifold or moot, in current terms.<br />
<br />
For now, I’d suggest that raising customer awareness (no matter where the purchases of those things called books take place) would bring value to the U Press network. Purchase intent is constrained by lack of brand/product awareness; by similar measure, it is often enhanced by increased brand/product awareness. Down the road, being in position to build new models, set new goals, expand into a web-based world (in ways no one else will for presses); that may well be priceless.<br />
<br />
In sum: for talented folks in a swiftly changing landscape, landmarks may be less helpful than they used to be; direction may be key. The web is a good direction.<br />
<br />
{this is a shameless rehash of a <a href="http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2014/03/24/a-survey-of-university-presses/">comment</a>, I posted originally on Scholarly Kitchen; but, I like "shaman-grade crazy" so refurnished it here.}Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-14573084740356086462014-04-09T08:00:00.000-07:002014-04-09T21:48:13.726-07:00University Presses have the world by the tail - twice: outside-the-books thinkingI'm going to put you in business. I'm not going to tell you what that business is, or what you sell, but, I'll describe some moving parts, and ask you how you like your chances. <br />
<br />
It's a not-for-profit business (NFP), but one that engages with customers in open, global retail space to generate revenues in multiple streams; so, market returns are important and good for business: good^2. Your business is well established, not a new concept. You work in media. Your customers are uniformly well-heeled, all earning fine salaries, some extraordinary salaries, they go to live theater, attend museum openings, visit art galleries, they hold respected places in society, they consume mass quantities of media like yours, and they are required to work with your offerings and your competitors' offerings, under penalty of death (publish or perish), for the rest of their professional careers. How do you like your chances? <br />
<br />
Before you answer, let me add that some of your expenses and infrastructure will be paid for/provided by a nearby laurelled institution (a university), and, because you're a NFP, you will be held exempt from paying taxes. How do you like your chances now? <br />
<br />
Wait: In addition to this customer pool, thanks to your NFP status, you can fund raise to support operations. How do you like your chances now? <br />
<br />
The answer to everything in business is, of course, That depends... It depends on what you're selling and if anyone is willing to pay you for it. But, before you get your 'depends' on, you have to stop and take stock of the moving parts described above: that this is a freakishly favorably stacked deck. No entrepreneur gets a play like this, to that kind of customer base, with that kind of support. Most would say, it really doesn't matter what your product is (or are), with a stable bid for the rapt attention of folks like these, you can't miss. <br />
<br />
VANS<br />
<br />
I've said before that folks contemplating the future of the university press network, branding, and revenues "slash" sustainability should have a look at Vans, in the period described in the Harvard Business Review case study, VANS: Skating on Air. And I'll say it again here: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2013/05/scholars-and-skate-punks-if-vans-fit.html">...Folks contemplating the future of the university press network, branding, and revenues "slash" sustainability should have a look at Vans, in the period described in the Harvard Business Review case study, VANS: Skating on Air. </a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mIu2VHAVg2s/USGLy-g0MVI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/DckGkW7aiu0/s1600/vans_surfing.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mIu2VHAVg2s/USGLy-g0MVI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/DckGkW7aiu0/s320/vans_surfing.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
In brief, it describes Vans' decisions to produce the skateboard movie, Dogtown and Z-Boys, to sponsor myriad extreme sporting events, and develop a line of video games. None of which are shoes. Vans is a shoe company. The answer, for Vans to continue to grow, however, lay outside the shoes. <br />
<br />
Monetizing on scholarly content alone is fraught and fragile these days. If a publisher is a book company, with "book" understood broadly as all content the company produces, then maybe it's time to think outside the books. Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-76004923348216844882014-03-27T09:00:00.000-07:002014-04-08T06:13:25.466-07:00Profitability for scholarly books - overhead allocation in the world of small numbersHow much overhead does each project (or product) at a small press consume relative to other projects, and how many sales are needed to reach break-even? Why would a scholarly press, in its right mind, ever consider doing a distribution deal (for 40-50% of net revenue), when it can do an original publication (for 90% of net revenue); isn't that roughly half as much money? <br />
<br />
I adapted <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7JqbduyLkhTRF9zTG9nX2dncW8/edit?usp=sharing">an activity-based costing approach (ABC) to model "average" list dynamics at a fictional press</a> to explore rough answers. After looking at them and living with them in the realm of small numbers (a.k.a., today's sales figures), and as applications of new capabilities advance into the new century, next questions may also include: "What comes next?" I.e., post content-monetization alone; what new products and/or services can be added to a firm's offerings to cover overhead? <br />
<br />
ABC is used in high-overhead or high-fixed-cost industries to examine performance across product lines to inform R&D, pricing, and production. I added per-product and total contribution and sales figures to model front-list contribution and Return On Assets (ROA) for the year. <br />
<br />
Method: For illustration purposes, I used four "product lines" as examples of titles with different "financial footprints" in a press: 1) Average, 2) Complex, 3) Distribution, and 4) FTPB (first-time paperback). Average is a basic monograph or edited volume; Complex might be a coffee table book or a photography or textbook; Distribution is an inventory-only title, for sale in territory; and, FTPB is a paperback edition for a title that came out in hardback in a prior year. Co-pubs could be added, but four types are enough for illustration purposes. Electronic editions are accounted for by lowering the average per-unit variable costs and adjusting average sales and revenue figures for the line. What we're after here is changes in developmental overhead to publish the list. <br />
<br />
Each product line spends more or less time on different desks in a press (on average); so, each will consume more or less overhead at different stages. Which are more profitable; which less; and when? <br />
<br />
When scholarly presses sold thousands and thousands of copies of any given text, almost any set of choices was financially viable. These days, a press needs to be mindful at a more granular level. So, after modeling ROUGH list dynamics, I take a look ROA and break-even for sales of 200 copies to 1,500 per product type. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7JqbduyLkhTRF9zTG9nX2dncW8/edit?usp=sharing">Additional charts are on the attached</a>. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7JqbduyLkhTRF9zTG9nX2dncW8/edit?usp=sharing"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZVPu7DS0tbg/UzQV_u6joDI/AAAAAAAAAd8/Kzwx5IE163I/s3200/ROA+per+title+type.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZVPu7DS0tbg/UzQV_u6joDI/AAAAAAAAAd8/Kzwx5IE163I/s400/ROA+per+title+type.png" /></a></div></a><br />
Numbers for a real-world press will have slightly different break-even points for each product line, but the relative stature of these categories will be consistent; e.g., a chart of data from our mock press shows that Distributions have higher ROA than original titles, all sales being equal. It also reflects the greater ROA of FTPBs, relative to other products; both Distributions and FTPBs are "in the money" at lower sales volume than other titles. These trends suggest answers to our initial questions. <br />
<br />
To estimate average ROA per product line, the sheet linked to above apportioned overhead as a measure of fixed assets consumed by each product, and so shows average overhead per project and per product line, or just how "expensive" one project is relative to another. <br />
<br />
This can be an important consideration as a press reaches capacity; with resources stretched thin, adding an "expensive" project that will consume many internal resources could overtax capacity and that could result in delays in times to market across all projects. When a press is at or near capacity, it might be time to add a few "inexpensive" projects in order to add revenue without driving [as many] costs. It is also time to consider which projects tax resources specifically in pipeline departments (EDP) where delays can have the greatest enterprise-wide effects. <br />
<br />
However, ROA and margins alone don't tell the whole story. A firm needs volume to cover costs. It also needs original publications, before it can offer FTPBs. <br />
<br />
On a tool like the attached, a press can see that projects can have a higher contribution margin but be less profitable than other projects with lower margin (they can deliver lower sales volume, less revenue, and/or have lower return on the assets they consume). <br />
<br />
Publishers can also note that Distribution titles have small and fixed contribution margins (fluctuation of contribution margin is largely a result of including a fixed cost like copy-editing in COGS), and yet Distributions deliver very high ROA and have a low break even. These figures in aggregate contribute to the ROA for the front list. <br />
<br />
A firm needs to look at all the above when considering profitably of a portfolio of product lines: margin, sales volume, project volume, project compliment (how many of each kind of project), and of course overhead. <br />
<br />
The sheet linked to herein, includes measures of per title and total contribution and overhead, and so shows several of these "moving parts" of profitability at a glance for planning purposes. With real-world data and structural enhancements to such a sheet, similar ABC approaches can help model impact of changing "product mix" and sales targets to achieve optimal gains for stakeholders. <br />
<br />
That said; at a glance, the current mock-up does provide some insight to questions above and shows that various product lines at a given press can have their own metrics and margins contribute their own value to front-list success. Lines can be sub-divided for greater analytic clarity, and new lines and services can be added to deliver new Rs for the Is. <br />
<br />
<b>Caveats</b>: <br />
<br />
1) Changing numbers of titles published at the fictional press in the mockup would impact total overhead, and visa versa; so these numbers should not be altered in the attached independently. Sales figures, on the other hand, can be; variable costs are set at an average rate and so will adjust with changes in sales. The attached includes sales-figure data tables and charts like the above. <br />
<br />
2) The attached has only four, gross categories (Average, Complex, Distribution, and FTPB); product lines and metrics can and should be added/subtracted to reflect a current portfolio at a press. <br />
<br />
3) The attached has grossly simplified numbers, as it is for illustration purposes only; more detail would be added in any real-world analysis. <br />
<br />
4) One very important thing that <b>this sheet does not model</b> is the impact on the pipeline or on time to market for adding or subtracting certain titles; as suggested above, adding/subtracting some products has more impact on average time to market than it will for others. E.g., Average and Complex titles drive workload in EDP. Distributions and FTPBS do not. So, as the EDP pipeline fills, opportunity costs rise for each Average and Complex title added; delays increase and sales revenue lost would be accounted for as added costs. These costs could include delays in time to market for all front-list titles. Additional Distributions and FTPBs, on the other hand, largely "skip" EDP and could have other resources such as marketing "spread thin" to cover their launch/soft launch. Another tool would be needed to model relative "next title" impact across product lines at or near capacity. <br />
<br />
5) <b>Most importantly</b>: best practices for activity-based costing is to utilize a cost driver to allocate overhead in each department. The most common cost-driver is line-worker hours. Herein, one product was used as a baseline "single-unit" of work. Experts familiar with a process can do an excellent job of "ball parking" relative workload for major product lines, compared to a baseline product; however, data reveal more granular detail, and this detail can be surprising. The adapted model attached will reveal trends in list dynamics. It is also advisable to collect data on hours worked on various products (on average) and re-run the analysis to confirm and explicate trends. <br />
<br />
<b>Disclaimer</b>: <br />
<br />
This sheet, linked to herein, merely models relative product-profitability dynamics for a MOCK company; this in order to demonstrate a managerial accounting approach to overhead allocation by product line for strategic purposes. A bona-fide tool for an actual firm can be built for any company; however, this sheet is for entertainment and illustration purposes only. Please contact me if you have quesitons on the limitations of this sheet. Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-37180127840864286142013-12-04T06:06:00.001-08:002013-12-05T04:53:44.065-08:00SSP = recommended for 2014Reflecting on all that I am thankful for from 2013, I’d say that getting a chance to attend <a href="http://www.sspnet.org">the annual meeting of the Society <i>for</i> Scholarly Publishing (SSP)</a>, meeting all the folks I met, and learning all that the SSP is about – and learning all that attending the SSP’s annual meeting entails for an individual scholarly pub professional – is near the very top of the list. Attending the SSP changed my worldview and enhanced my understanding of the industry. <br />
<br />
The SSP comprises leading industry consultants from around the world, heads and key staff of libraries, executives from all the major commercial presses, directors and staff of university and other not-for-profit presses, as well as professionals from third-party vendors (B2B providers). Having diverse populations from the communications ecosystem so well represented makes the SSP meeting <b>a richly flavorful melting pot</b>; not only are expert panel sessions informed and thought provoking, but all conversations in the halls, around exhibits, and in receptions are charged with brains and knowledge of multiple perspectives. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PMKLjYrF6BQ/Up82SfNIbZI/AAAAAAAAAb8/bLHgeHOXfOE/s1600/leader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PMKLjYrF6BQ/Up82SfNIbZI/AAAAAAAAAb8/bLHgeHOXfOE/s320/leader.jpg" /></a></div>Moreover, in keeping with the principles of the founding members, the SSP is compellingly democratic; each professional, regardless of the “rank” of the individual or the focus of the individual’s firm, is able to and indeed expected to contribute to the SSP, to serve on the board of directors, and <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W5DBXSJ">to participate in keeping up the high standards of networking and the sharing and development of best-practices in scholarly communication</a>. (Deadline this Friday, 12/6.) This democracy of membership emulates (and accelerates) the cross-pollination and cross-strata flow of ideas that is in keeping with today’s best practices for competitive idea generation in successful firms. <br />
<br />
My experience in attending this year’s meeting may have given me a uniquely swift and thorough view into what the SSP is all about: I won one of several Student Travel Grants offered by the SSP, and as a first-time attendee, I was paired with a “Meeting Mentor.” I was also grouped with other first-time attendees, for peer-to-peer networking, and as a group we were all under the further wing of the First-time Attendee Coordinator. My Meeting Mentor was <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherstaines">Heather Staines</a>, VP of the Stanford-born startup SIPX, past board member of the SSP, and long-time industry pro. My fellow first-time attendees and grant winners were similarly diverse professionals from library sciences and publishing programs across the country and overseas (I was the only MBA in the mix and the first one to participate in the program, thus far.) Our First-time Attendee Coordinator was none other than <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/will-wakeling/9/516/619">Will Wakeling</a>, Dean of University Libraries, Northeastern University, founding member of the SSP, and industry/meeting icon. <br />
<br />
The SSP meeting is huge, the orgs in attendance cover the globe (and all the walks of life above-mentioned); it might take several years to learn where the ropes are, let alone learn how to use them. Having a meeting mentor and first-time attendee coordinator accelerated the process for all of us and, for me, having a Meeting Mentor so versed and experienced as Heather Staines and a First-time Attendee Coordinator so knowledgeable and widely respected as Will Wakeling meant that I got to chat with international professionals at every level of the ecosystem, meet nearly all the past presidents of the SSP (and a host of the Chefs from the Scholarly Kitchen), and learn about the founding principles and history of the organization. <br />
<br />
The sessions and conversations I had at the meeting were amazing; each more informative and eye opening than the last, and I could go on at dizzying length (as is my apparent wont) about the best-practices I learned of and the ideas I came away with – many of which have informed new initiatives I’ve begun since – and I will no doubt post some thoughts born of those takeaways. However, this post is about what I am truly grateful for from this experience, and that is getting to learn what the SSP is about: the people I met. <br />
<br />
In the SSP logo, it says: “innovative people advancing scholarly communication.” I can say that the emphasis there is on “innovative people.” I met a dynamic, driven, and welcoming worldly horde of people. I’ve been to a number of meetings and attended some “schooling” here and there. In the first few minutes of the SSP, I met dozens of folks from a host of organizations and backgrounds, all of whom I look forward to seeing again and continuing to learn from, as we advance in our careers. <br />
<br />
<b>CENTRAL TAKEWAY/LEARNING</b>: <br />
<br />
The wealth and diversity of backgrounds and perspectives (commercial execs, consultants, vendors-as-members!, librarians en masse, and not-for-profits), the democratic nature of the organization (a focus on you as an individual professional), and the generous disposition of the members (founders, Presidents, attendees, mentors, and colleagues) are what distinguishes the SSP at heart; these elements make the SSP exceptionally welcoming and engaging and make discussions at the meeting uniquely generative of new thinking and opportunities. <br />
<br />
<b>THANKSGIVING</b>: <br />
<br />
I am thankful for getting to meet all my fellow grant recipients, and for getting to meet so many of the best and brightest in scholarly communications (the many chefs, heads, and execs). I owe special thanks to Heather and Will and other SSP stalwarts who all took such a personal interest in our experience – I can’t thank you enough! On that broader front, I would be remiss if I didn’t back up and say thank you to the SSP itself for giving me the opportunity to attend this year’s meeting and to everyone I met who made the experience so rewarding. <br />
<br />
Given my experience, I would be further remiss if I did not say to all my fellow colleagues in scholarly communication, whom I have not met yet (and likely already talked your ear off in this regard) and who are planning professional development activities for the coming year: I’m <a href="http://www.sspnet.org/community/join-ssp-now/">renewing my membership in the SSP</a> and making plans for Boston. I recommend, whole-heartedly, that all seeking new ways to advance scholarly communication do the same and <a href="http://www.sspnet.org/events/annual-meeting/event-home/">join the polyglot discussions at the SSP next year. When you do, I look forward to meeting you there! </a>Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-83680677225344346772013-09-11T08:50:00.000-07:002013-09-12T08:57:39.680-07:00How to Spot Ugly Black Ducklings: next competitive frontiers in scholarly publishingThis is a pre-print version of a piece I wrote for the upcoming issue of Learned Publishing, LEARNED PUBLISHING VOL. 26 NO. 4 OCTOBER 2013<br />
<br />
<i>[It] reviews events of SSP 2013 and AAUP 2013 within the context of Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s notions of Black Swans (unexpected game changers) to anticipate the formation of competitive arenas (i.e., new models and revenue streams) for scholarly communications. It examines Tim O’Reilly’s keynote address at SSP 2013, the advice of Michael Schrage from the opening Plenary at AAUP 2013, and Tim Sullivan’s discussion of Harvard Business Publication’s use of a topical blog network as new publishing platform to access global digital communications networks, in the Reaching the World session at AAUP 2013. The essay extrapolates from the case studies presented in these sessions to overlay the strategies of successful practitioner presses and the advice of sought-after business consultants on the work of academic houses, to imagine the next competitive frontier/s in scholarly publishing.</i><br />
<br />
We are all familiar with a Black Swan (capitalized). A Black Swan is categorically unexpected; contrary to all experience and thought likely not to exist or ever have impact on anything we hold dear—like our business models—but it comes along and has impact: massive impact. Simply put, it is an unexpected game changer. Could be good; could be bad; it depends how close you are to the volcanic vent on the ocean floor when it opens. <br />
<br />
So, how do you launch your own Black Swan event—that changes everything for the better/in your favor? More importantly, how do you spot the potential for doing so in the world around you, when, by the very definition, a Black Swan is wholly unexpected and unpredictable? <br />
<br />
The short answer is to read Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s latest book, <i>Antifragile</i>, apply its tenets to your situation, and shape your fate and business model to be improved by all the challenges it faces; i.e., to exist in a state beyond robust and resilient, in a state that actually “feeds” on shocks to the system. <br />
<br />
The other answer (hard to say which is longer) is to learn how to spot Ugly Black Ducklings, spare them from the day-to-day ducks, and wrangle and raise them as your own Black Swans. Important to note, however, that a Black Swan can never be anticipated or predicted; so, an Ugly Black Duckling is doubly-unrecognizable. This brief piece is therefore about doing the impossible; assaying the latent outsized potential in the rightfully dismissed. <br />
<br />
Suggesting that we can develop aptitude for spotting what might lead to an unpredictable game changer is seemingly irresponsible; but, fielded here for an important reason: Amazon constituted a Black Swan event for brick and mortar bookstores (and later publishers). Importantly, founders of and investors in Amazon had reasons to believe they could reshape the world in their favor, and they were right. So, somewhere amid the noise and chatter, quacks and squawks, someone saw or heard the Black Swan that could be …someone spotted an Ugly Black Duckling. <br />
<br />
If I had one of those fancy things called a thesis, it would be very near to some of Taleb’s thinking: namely, that game-changing opportunities (Ugly Black Ducklings) are all around us; the world is lousy with them. (E.g., Amazon found one; Twitter too.) That’s the good news. Bad news, according to Taleb, we are naturally disposed never to notice them. <br />
<br />
<b>Two Ugly Black Ducklings for scholarly presses</b><br />
I was fortunate to have attended two, outstanding, international conferences this summer: SSP 2013 and AAUP 2013. Across both, at least two Ugly Black Ducklings waddled. I’ll discuss the moments in the meetings when I saw them waddle, and latter imagine the Black Swan/s that might come from them. You can draw your own conclusions and see what ducklings you see in each of the following: <br />
<br />
1. <b>O’Reilly Media</b><br />
The first Ugly Black Duckling waddled across both conferences; I will move back and forth across both sightings. <br />
<br />
Michael Schrage got backs up in the opening Plenary at AAUP 2013 by saying that university presses were too focused on “publishing,” (e.g., how to publish books better, how to sell more of the books published, and promoting the value of the work of publishing generally); as an organizing principle, “publishing” is limiting, and Schrage felt that university presses should find a new organizing principle. He pointed to a phrase in the mission statement of the AAUP for starters: “…to advance scholarship.” Advancing scholarship, he noted, is broad enough to yield new vistas over old terrain; it would be more likely to lead to new products, services, and profitable moves in the market.<br />
<br />
Two weeks earlier, Tim O’Reilly had given the keynote address at SSP 2013. Interestingly, he had similar advice for all scholarly presses. In his address, he stressed innovation and experimentation with new models. He quoted a Silicon Valley investor who said: “only invest in <b>solutions that close the loop</b>;” i.e., that provide complete solutions to a given set of needs. His example of an approach that is working to close a loop: <b>Google’s self-driving car</b>. Organizing need: helping people to get from point A to point B. Example of a publishing solution: a road atlas; specifically, the Rand McNally Road Atlas. Example of the evolution of a more complete solution—of closing the loop: MapQuest and Google maps; mobile GPS with real-time updates and synthetic voice directions; next, a self-driving car. Obvious to all: the obsolescence of the publishing solution. <br />
<br />
What Schrage pointed to at the AAUP was just such a broader notion of the set of needs to be addressed; one that might carry a business forward in such an evolutionary progression, to help safeguard it and its products from obsolescence, if not help it to be the one to finally deliver the goods and close the loop. <br />
<br />
In the panel sessions at the SSP, we were also reminded by an exec in O’Reilly Media, Allen Noren, of what Tim O’Reilly said to his management team to spur them to innovation: “In five years, if all we are is publishers, we’ll be out of business.” That was decades ago. They became more than publishers and are increasingly innovative and successful today. <br />
<br />
I caught Schrage after his talk at AAUP 2013, and told him of O’Reilly’s remarks. He said, “O’Reilly gets it.” He also told me that they had worked together in the past; so, this isn’t too surprising that they agree on everyone targeting being more than just publishers. But, what is it that we should get from this, exactly; what can we make of it in scholarly publishing? <br />
<br />
2. <b>Harvard Business Publishing </b><br />
The second Ugly Black Duckling started waddling back in 2011 (possibly before) and appeared again at AAUP 2013 …not a day older! <br />
<br />
Grant McCracken was the lead plenary speaker of AAUP 2011. He spoke on “Innovation and Organizational Change,” summarizing the state of strategy in business today and emphasizing the need for radical creativity in the face of new challenges, especially in scholarly publishing. Then, he offered a modest suggestion: In addition to standard forms of peer-reviewed journals and books, scholarly presses should consider including a new form of publication, a new platform for ideas, without peer review; in this format, presses should base approval on an editor’s sense of the author’s work and the need in the popular discourse for the information it contained alone—and go straight to market with it. <br />
<br />
Mayhem ensued; editors armed themselves with pitchforks and throwing-cats, monsters sang show tunes, frogs fell from the ceiling; McCracken barely made it out alive. Things didn’t settle down until champagne was uncorked at the reception.<br />
<br />
Tim Sullivan, editorial director at Harvard Business Publishing (HBP), spoke in the Reaching the World panel session at AAUP 2013. The session was inspired by Peter Dougherty’s speech as President of the AAUP in 2012; a later version of which appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education: “The Global University Press.” In it, Dougherty advised university presses two capitalize on “two converging trends: the growth of international scholarship, and expansion of digital communications networks.” Sullivan and others in the session spoke on HBP’s use of the latter. <br />
<br />
HBP operates three market groups: Higher Education (coursework), Harvard Business Review (the journal/magazine we know as HBR), and Corporate Learning (management training). HBP and HBR manage a blog network to support all of its publishing programs. <br />
<br />
Sullivan stressed that the blogs are not a promotional tool/s; they are one of several, integrated publishing platforms; 100% editorially driven and strategically knit with other offerings. HBP/HBR simply utilizes the web as part of its publishing program. Posts are not peer reviewed and they are not always tied to or inspired by other HBP/HBR publications. Sullivan and other editors acquire content directly for the blogs, from researchers or specialists in interesting areas. The blog network even has its own published submission guidelines, inviting unsolicited submissions to the blog. These posts can develop into articles or book projects, but that is not always the goal; the goal is to publish good blogs. <br />
<br />
Of course, the reverse happens as well; authors of articles or books are approached by HBP/HBR editors or offer to write for the blogs on their own. In these cases, posts have links that tie the reader to a HBR article or HBP book (and sometimes to books published by scholarly presses).<br />
<br />
Regardless of the content’s origins, Sullivan noted that through the original, topical content of the blog network, HBP/HBR engages the world and culture at large by delivering instant real value in the form of original, shareable insights from leading experts in the field—and then connecting readers through links to more resources/products. <br />
<br />
At a glance, three things are unique about the HBP/HBR use case of accessing global digital communications networks, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, via its blogs: 1) as stressed above, the blogs have all original content and are wholly editorially driven, without peer review or exclusive marketing input, 2) because all of HBP/HBR content focuses on management and leadership, the content across the blog network is topically cohesive; i.e., all posts are relevant to the HBP/HBR target audience, and 3) the topical “tags” on the blog tie out to all HBP/HBR content – across all HBP/HBR platforms: e.g., journal articles, books, book chapters, online tools, cases, audio CDs. <br />
<br />
How can, and perhaps more importantly why should, the strategies and advice of these largely practitioner presses be applied to the work and business models of the more scholarly presses? <br />
<br />
<b>To spot the ugly & black amid the yellow & cute</b><br />
New product strategy is like hosting a dinner party; specifically, it’s like planning the menu for a dinner party. I have it on good authority that you are an excellent host/hostess; so, you know that what you do NOT do is set out to make the very best dish you are capable of making. This can be expensive and it can kill your guests, and killing your guests, as it turns out, or sending them home with swollen hands and feet, shoes in a sack, and lips and eyelids that look like cooked shrimp, has a deleterious and lasting impact on your reputation as a party thrower. <br />
<br />
Of course, you check what’s new in the markets, what’s in season, and maybe what’s on special, if cost is an issue. Of course you think of your best recipes, and what wines you have on hand to pair with everything. You also take into account the likes and dislikes of your guests, if you want them to return. Most of all, however, you make sure to ask if anyone has any food allergies, and if you can’t shift the whole menu to accommodate, you make sure you have something in the works for everyone to enjoy the bash and make it home in good spirits, without recourse to epi-pen or ER room. <br />
<br />
The ugly & black duckling (an antifragile business model) takes such things into account.<br />
<br />
Scholarly publishing’s guests are displaying an allergy to copyright. Like it or not, folks are using more material more freely and preferring not to pay for it. Downside for publishers: copyright undergirds most all publishing revenue streams. (In a traditional SWOT analysis, this would show up as a W.) Therefore, scholarly presses would not regret having a revenue stream (b-model) that was not copyright-dependent; it would diversify their portfolio/s and decrease aggregate risk. <br />
<br />
Further, guest are displaying allergies to peer review, to the protracted periods between completion of their research (submission of new ideas) and our publication of them (sharing of their ideas with the world), and to the burden – especially on junior scholars – of having to generate an instant, wide-reaching, and vibrant blog following, on top of all other research and teaching responsibilities. Scholarly presses would not be unpopular for helping to alleviate the discomfort of these allergies; doing so would further help turn the press’s Ws into Os that could lead to more Ss. <br />
<b><br />
The Black Swan/s</b><br />
<br />
1. <b>O’Reilly Media</b><br />
One of the first ways O’Reilly Media became more than publishers was by hosting conferences in the subject areas in which they published. Much of their content addressed emerging topics with nascent communities; the conferences provided hubs around which the subject-oriented communities could turn and grow. O’Reilly Media benefitted. <br />
<br />
Many scholarly communities (societies) and conferences are long-established. Nevertheless, as a service to societies and the scholars who run and participate in them, scholarly publishers could (and many already do) lend their centralized and highly-specialized organizational strengths to offer conference-hosting services: event planning, post-meeting video, audio, and slide deck posting, registration and project management on down. Just as with journal publishing services, centralized investment in conference hosting services would lead to economies of scale. <br />
<br />
This is common practice among commercial houses, but again at least Schrage was addressing university presses, when the Ugly Black Duckling waddled. In their ranks, it is rarer. This subset of scholarly presses could move to offer top-services to the smallest of conferences and, in time, offer to shoulder infrastructural burden for larger conferences. <br />
<br />
In fact, a few university presses do already offer such services, having made the investment in doing so many years earlier. So, the true Ugly Black Duckling, and perhaps Uglier and Blacker for it, would be for university presses to partner with one another to offer these services; thus partnered they could hazard scale of nigh-commercial status and achieve greater market penetration. <br />
<br />
Though there are many primary and ancillary benefits to such a move in the market, an immediate effect will be to expand revenues beyond content-monetization and to expand the suite of services the organization offers scholars/scholarly societies, thereby expanding the role of the publisher in scholarly communications. <br />
<br />
2. <b>Harvard Business Publishing</b><br />
The suggestion to be inferred from Sullivan’s presentation of the HBP/HBR case study was more direct: If it hasn’t done so already, a scholarly press could move to host a thoroughly integrated and editorially-driven, topically cohesive (disciplinary) blog – with 100% original, directly acquired content that is linked to all other published offerings – as HBR has; however, a few caveats. <br />
<br />
- <b>HBP/HBR has a proverbial lock on the practitioner space in management</b>. It certainly is the market leader. More importantly, it doesn’t publish in any other areas; e.g., how to knit is not often a subject of HBR articles. So, the HBR brand is both nigh-synonymous with AND dedicated to one subject area. Presses that publish in several subject areas – or enjoy a less-than-authoritatively-dominant position within a discipline – will either need to publish one or more separate blogs (branded by subject) and/or explore a partnering strategy with other presses to cover one subject persuasively well enough to attract dedicated users and achieve similar results. <br />
<br />
- <b>HBP/HBR blogs are clearly editorial, not institutional</b> – and they have been that way for some time. As a result, HBR blogs have independently acquired original content. As with any other publication, the focus of the blog/posts in such a network must not be on the publisher or on the business interests of the publisher (e.g., fund raising, sales, and events); that’s what an institutional blog is for. They also must not be limited to the published authors of one press or another. The focus of a disciplinary blog must rather be purely on ideas and dedicated to the discipline or topics of interest to the community at large. Scholarly presses that have blogs with an institutional focus (i.e., that post promotional announcements or limit themselves to only the ideas of the press’s published authors) will have to reconceive the blogs’ role in the press’s publishing strategy (engaging with the community) and/or launch a separate blog or blogs under topical branding and with the new focus.<br />
<br />
- <b>HBP/HBR blog posts are integrated with all other content offerings</b> – the topical tags on HBP/HBR blog posts link to every other “chunk” of HBP/HBR informational products (e.g., journal articles, books, book chapters, online tools, cases, audio CDs). Many beneficial network effects of the HBP/HBR blogs use case stem from the centralized hosting of all HBP/HBR products and content. For similar benefits, scholarly presses with third-party hosting services may have additional planning to do to allow for similar, dynamic access. <br />
<br />
Though this move would have many primary and ancillary benefits as well, one immediate effect would be to expand the platforms the publisher offers authors in a given discipline. Perhaps more importantly, such a new dis-intermediated platform would not have the delays associated with peer review and other traditional publishing platforms, thus, shortening the timeline from authorship to publication for the author, and undoing the unflattering correlation, for the publisher, with exclusively slow times to market and under-networked media. <br />
<br />
<b>Black Swan effects – inspecting the plumage</b><br />
For these moves to be part of or give rise to a Black Swan they would have to lead to events that might ultimately change the game; so, what would some related fallout be: How could they be used? <br />
<br />
1. To engage: Kathryn Fitzpatrick says in Planned Obsolescence (NYU Press, 2011): "We too often keep our work as scholars hidden away from the cultural mainstream, pointing toward a pervasive anti-intellectualism that disqualifies the public from engaging with our ideas." She urges that scholars seek open forums for their work to engage readers—who are increasingly called upon to fund the research. Such open forums and platforms as blogs would engage not only other scholars and but through sharing and open submission the public as well. <br />
<br />
2. <b>To delight</b>: Marketing strategist, and frequent TED talk speaker, Seth Godin points out two things regularly in his work: ideas that spread win, and the best way to get people to spread your ideas is to be remarkable and delight them. Adding such expanded services and dis-intermediated platforms for scholars to work in would be remarkable. <br />
<br />
3. <b>To drive sales</b>: Authors the of Spreadable Media (NYU Press, 2013) note that when publishers utilize spreadable forms they, in effect, turn each blogger, retweeter, sharer, reposter, and mashup person of Pinterest into sales reps; blog posts and conference events could be “spreadable” sales channels. <br />
<br />
4. <b>To close the loop</b>: O’Reilly endorses “only investing in solutions that close the loop;” i.e., those that more completely address an organizing need or set of needs for your customers. With words like “trending” thriving in contemporary culture, traditional outputs of formal scholarly publication are increasingly over-and-done-with before they see their pub dates; publishers of traditional forms are not wrongly seen as presenting research that “happened,” in preparation for its entering the archival record. That worthy function notwithstanding, each of the above approaches expands the publisher’s role from covering what “happened” (after individual research is complete) to presenting what’s “happening” (in discussion at conferences and in open forums). If hosting the academic discussion, encouraging debate and the spreading and improving of ideas with and to the public, is the organizing need – rather than simply publishing research – than approaches like these could begin to close the loop. <br />
<br />
Publishers working on the frontlines of research, in nearer to real time with scholars, and accessing a networked culture on its own terms to engage the public in dis-intermediated forums would constitute a broadening of the traditional role of the publisher in scholarly communications (for the better; W → S) and could therefore be seen as at least elemental of a game changer for scholarly publishers—giving rise to new strengths and new competitive frontiers. <br />
<br />
In other words, though other moves and complementary business model components (the right exercise and nutrients) will be needed for maturity to be reached, our Ugly Black Ducklings could grow into a Black Swan for scholarly presses. <br />
<br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
The above, is not intended to be an exhaustive explication of the latent potential in any of the conference sessions or business models referenced. It is not intended to prove beyond doubt or alteration that these extrapolations will be part of a looming Black Swan event or that academics are “allergic” to peer review, necessarily – any more than to suggest that scholarly presses are allergic to operating out from under it. Nor is it meant to prove what these speakers were imagining as likely and advisable next moves for scholarly publishers: e.g., it would be hard to say that disciplinary blogs, hosted by scholarly presses, was exactly what McCracken had in mind, back in the summer of 2011. That said; while I’m thinking of it, for any who are interested in McCracken’s work, his new book, Culturematic, came out in May of last year (HBP, 2012). He can be read on his blog (cultureby.com) and on the HBP/HBR Blog network; last seen at the time of this writing posting to the HBP/HBR blog on: “Is Timex Suffering the Early Stages of Disruption?” <br />
<br />
Getting back to our Ugly Black Ducklings: their extrapolation into an alternate future for scholarly publishing – that hath such favorable creatures in it – is intended to illustrate and underscore the doubly-unrecognizable nature of what might lead to an unprecedented game changer; i.e., the fact that ideas presented at conferences or in case studies from other industries and markets may not seem fit in with the other ducklings of a publisher’s past strengths and traditional practices, does not disqualify them from the consideration and formation of viable future models. Rather, it qualifies them as potentially being part of game-changing, new revenue sources and platforms, which in turn could lead to more and better models and ultimately to a Black Swan for the home team. Therefore, such odd notions and left-field advice may be worthy of further reflection. <br />
<br />
<b>Sources</b>:<br />
Dougherty, Peter J. (2013). “<a href="http://chronicle.com/article/The-Global-University-Press/132927/">The Global University Press</a>." Chronicle of Higher Education; (Accessed on July 5, 2013). <br />
<br />
Fitzpatrick, Kathleen. (2011) <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Planned-Obsolescence-Publishing-Technology-ebook/dp/B005TIGKSY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1378872297&sr=1-1&keywords=planned+obsolescence"><i>Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy</i></a>. New York, NY. NYU Press <br />
<br />
Godin, Seth. (2009).<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Purple-Cow-Edition-Remarkable--Includes-ebook/dp/B00316UMS0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1378872322&sr=1-1&keywords=purple+cow+seth+godin"><i>Purple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable</i></a>. New York, NY. Portfolio Hardcover; Penguin USA. <br />
<br />
Jenkins, Henry, Sam Ford, and Joshua Green. (2013) <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spreadable-Media-Networked-Postmillennial-ebook/dp/B00B1Q88EW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1378872354&sr=1-1&keywords=spreadable+media"><i>Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture (Postmillennial Pop)</i></a> New York, NY. NYU Press<br />
<br />
Harvard Business Publications. <a href="http://hbr.org/">Harvard Business Review Magazine, Case Studies, Articles, Books, Pamphlets – Harvard Business Review</a>; (Accessed on July, 5, 2013).<br />
<br />
Harvard Business Publications. “<a href="http://hbr.org/guidelines-for-authors-web ">GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS/HBR Blog Network</a>.” (Accessed on July, 5, 2013).<br />
<br />
O’Reilly Media, Inc. O’Reilly Media – Technology books, Tech conferences, IT Courses, News. http://oreilly.com/; (Accessed on July 5, 2013). <br />
<br />
Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. (2010) <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Black-Swan-Improbable-ebook/dp/B00139XTG4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1378872609&sr=1-1&keywords=black+swan"><i>The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: with a new section: “On Robustness and Fragility.”</i></a> New York, NY. Random House Trade Paperbacks<br />
<br />
Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. (2012) <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Disorder-ebook/dp/B0083DJWGO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1378872579&sr=1-1&keywords=antifragile"><i>Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder</i></a>. New York, NY. Random House Inc.Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-80591379920856371242013-05-29T12:00:00.000-07:002013-05-30T11:36:34.258-07:00Scholars and Skate Punks: If the Vans Fit...When refocusing these posts to include b-school coursework and case studies, I mentioned that scholarly press and especially u presses should read the HBR business case <a href="http://hbr.org/product/vans-skating-on-air/an/502077-PDF-ENG"><i>Vans: Skating on Air</i> (Harvard Business School, 2002)</a>. <br />
<br />
Vans (the company) is a great example of the lateral thinking many companies use to develop new businesses (plural) and several-fold new revenue, from a single core expertise/product/brand; the HBR case is a great study of how a discrete brand can be leveraged and expanded to stage a major turnaround and spur new products, new revenue, and new businesses. <br />
<br />
Yes, I'm equating scholars with surfers and skate punks. They will be flattered. <br />
<br />
And, yes, I'm suggesting u presses have something to learn from what was once a one-model, mono-coastal, skate shoe company, <a href="www.vans.com">Vans</a>. <br />
<br />
<b>THE CASE</b>: A few things will leap out on any reading:<br />
<br />
1. Vans was built on the simple model of delivering skate and surf gear for hardcore skaters and surfers: a handful of products for a small, dedicated market. Though Vans moved out to new markets and new models, they maintained that key, strategic commitment (to the best extreme athletes). <br />
<br />
2. By the time of the case, Vans grew to finance a <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275309/">major movie (Dogtown and Z-Boys), narrated by Sean Penn, </a> to sponsor extreme sporting events (<a href="http://vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com/">triple crown of surfing)</a> and other alternative events (concerts), to open their own <a href="http://www.vans.com/eventsites/pool2013/">skate parks</a>, and begin developing video games. <br />
<br />
3. A truly tiny percentage of total domestic revenue came from sales of its key product (extreme sports apparel) to its core demographic (extreme athletes), in specialty skate shops: 10%. Most of its apparel revenue came from sales of less-than-professional versions sold to kids in the suburbs, and large amounts of revenue come from the above various "cultural" events or side products. <br />
<br />
4. Most importantly, as may be news to some, Vans had been dying. It staged a 540 degree turnaround, fueled mainly by the extensions into new areas beyond the skate shoe market; e.g., the triple-crown sporting events, music concerts. <br />
<br />
Vans leveraged its brand (operational license in extreme sports and with the youth market the followed them) to move into new areas, and in turn these new areas led to growth that allowed Vans to stay in business -- and even to grow to serve its original core market better than ever. The wealth and health of all the other business (e.g., skate parks, extreme sporting events, concerts, a record label, film production, video game development) allowed Vans to over-serve the hardcore surfing and skating markets and to sponsor star athletes as they reach new heights in their discipline -- a market so specialized that serving it alone would not generate enough revenue to support the effort. <br />
<br />
<b>THE COMPARISON</b>: For years (100+), scholarly publishers have sold books; they grew beyond books (once) to offer journals. Now, with new initiatives like UPPC and Project Muse, u presses are repackaging and delivering these core products differently; but, these initiatives aren't new businesses, just new modes of delivery. <br />
<br />
More businesses could be grown alongside the development and delivery of scholarly content, ones that leverage the historic strength/s of u presses and serve <b>new </b>needs not only among the "extreme" market base of academics, but also among those who would be fans and amateurs of culture. <br />
<br />
E.g., would it be an unacceptable stretch for presses to publish blogs for scholars and dedicated readers to access (dedicated to a discipline or subject); i.e., not a press blog -- of which there are many (one for each press) -- but a disciplinary or topical blog published by a u press -- of which there are none ...yet. <br />
<br />
Much, much more importantly... <br />
<br />
What new businesses could u presses build that would be as distant from yet supportive of scholarship as skate parks, surfing tournaments, and a record label are from and of a simple skate shoe? <br />
<br />
<b>THE POINT</b>: The point of this extreme comparison is not to make a recommendation/s -- we'll save that for another post or two -- the point is to note that in many industries, especially where growth and increasing revenue are needed, <b>considerable lateral thinking and experimentation </b>is put forth to build new business units, entirely new business units, and these new units are often what keep the company and the brand alive. <br />
<br />
Scholarly publishers are doing great things to monetize content; but, even if it were enough to support scholarship -- which it currently is not -- why stop there? Why not explore growth into new arenas? Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-39098754524611310872013-04-23T09:30:00.000-07:002013-04-30T18:12:40.195-07:00R. Barthes on branding the u press network - conclusionOne path to branding is: <br />
<br />
attributes -> points of difference (PODs) -> sustainable competitive distinctiveness. <br />
<br />
...with <a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2012/10/r-barthes-on-branding-u-press.html">generous amounts of narrative and myth-making thrown in</a>. <br />
<br />
This series of posts reviewed a number of attributes of u presses:<br />
<br />
• <b>Arm’s length </b>= tied to research institutions but not beholden to them<br />
• <b>Ameliorative </b>= increasing the communicative power (impact) of texts<br />
• <b>Multidisciplinary </b>= rendering arguments across the disciplines <br />
• <b>Premium (and Open) Access </b>= impact-driven; market-facing <br />
• <b>Active in the marketplace </b>= impact-driven; market-facing <br />
<br />
Let's add two to these that may seem obvious, aspirational or historic:<br />
<br />
• <b>Future-facing </b>= being the source of forthcoming, original work <br />
• <b>Not for profit </b>= non-commercial <br />
• <b>Hosting the academic discussion </b>= res ipsa loquitur; however, less loudly than res used to <br />
<br />
Let's also add a salient, unique asset that is nearly a corollary of some attributes above:<br />
<br />
• <b>University and faculty-facing </b>= on a collegial basis with most scholarly authors and their institutions<br />
<br />
Choosing from among these attributes or adding to them further to make up a list of leverage-able points of difference (PODs) -- on which to position or brand -- can be complicated. You'd have to decide which strategic Other (category of competitor) was the most important to position against; PODs might change for each, and if you choose more than one strategic Other, you'd have to select varying attributes for different reasons.<br />
<br />
For example:<br />
<br />
A) To position against Commercial publishing houses, u presses could stress/leverage their <b>Not-for-profit </b>status and their being on a collegial basis with most scholarly authors and their institutions, <b>University and faculty-facing</b>. <br />
<br />
B) To position against (or as complementary to) Libraries, u presses should stress/leverage their being <b>Future-facing </b>and <b>Active in the marketplace (public facing)</b>.<br />
<br />
C) To position against Amazon/Google, u presses should stress/leverage their being on a collegial basis with most scholarly authors and their institutions, <b>University and faculty-facing</b> and further stress and leverage their <b>Not-for-profit </b>status. <br />
<br />
D) To position against (or as complementary to) Authors, u presses might stress/leverage their being <b>Multidisciplinary </b>and their <b>Hosting the academic discussion</b>.<br />
<br />
Who should u presses position against (or seek to complement) in the changing landscape? Commercial publishing houses? Amazon/Google? Libraries? Authors? Each of these strategic Others has increasing publishing resources at its disposal and together (in aggregate, not conspiracy) they can and will wipe out large swaths of demand for publishing services, unless u presses can assert a brand with sustainable competitive distinctiveness -- in the eyes of the beholder. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/88737364/branding-iron-letter-e"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e-9A9Nvz5V0/UXScbcTIiII/AAAAAAAAAYI/B4QWX6Krdec/s1600/il_fullxfull.296129485.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e-9A9Nvz5V0/UXScbcTIiII/AAAAAAAAAYI/B4QWX6Krdec/s320/il_fullxfull.296129485.jpg" /></a></a><br />
<br />
The answer, of course, is: E ) All of the above. <br />
<br />
The best play for the u press network will be to brand on all of the attributes and assets listed in competitive examples A through D: they need to leverage their <b>Not-for-profit </b>status and their being on a collegial basis with most scholarly authors and their institutions or <b>University and faculty-facing</b>; their being <b>Future-facing </b>and <b>Active in the marketplace (public facing)</b>; and their being <b>Multidisciplinary </b>and their <b>Hosting the academic discussion</b> to strategically align with Authors and Libraries and even Google/Amazon and position against Commercial publishing houses. <br />
<br />
Many of these potential brand attributes go without saying; e.g., <b>Not-for-profit </b> and <b>Multidisciplinary </b>. However, they are strategically moribund; they provide strategic upsides that could be leveraged to significant and lasting advantage. <br />
<br />
The most important attributes for u presses to successfully project going forward (i.e., the things that u presses will benefit most from being seen as unimpeachably owning in the eyes of the beholder in the next few decades) will be <b>Future-facing </b> and <b>Hosting the academic discussion</b> -- i.e., what's happening now everywhere, rather than what has happened here and there of note. The u press network's ownership of these characteristics (operational license) is often questioned. If the network can shore up its collective brand in these two key areas, it will improve/secure its sustainable competitive distinctiveness into the future and therefore the lot of all u presses. <br />
Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-39374501090837166052013-01-10T09:30:00.000-08:002013-01-28T19:30:11.542-08:00The SWOT that Roared — The 3 Strategic Business Units of a Scholarly Book Publisher An academic press has three main customer-facing business centers—where goods or services are traded with an external party for a return. 1. <b>Acquisitions </b>(acquiring rights to authored content — B2C), 2. <b>Channel Sales and Licensing </b>(deriving revenue from authored content through third parties — B2B), and 3. <b>Direct-to-consumer Sales </b>(deriving revenue from authored content and rights to authored content through direct sales to an end user; e.g., author events, conferences, via “mail order,” fax, telephone, and on the web — B2C). These 3 Strategic Business Units (SBUs) are unique; they have different answers to fundamental questions such as: What do they sell? To whom? And how do they sell it? <br />
<br />
It’s important to hold units with separate customers, markets, and approaches to markets apart (at least sometimes in our thinking). Each will have separate Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT). Each will have separate Points of Difference (PODs) and Points of Parity (POPs) with its competitors in its category. Each will have its own changing landscape — meaning that the SWOT, POPs, and PODs are changing in different ways and at different rates for each. Most importantly: Large SBUs will eclipse the needs of smaller SBUs — resulting in lost opportunities for the org. <br />
<br />
Since new opportunities and threats emerge at “times of their own choosing,” successful orgs continually review SWOT, POPs, and PODs for each unit to defend against and capitalize on threats and opportunities before (and/or in step with) the competition. <br />
<br />
<b>Acquisitions – SWOT Events </b><br />
<br />
The Acquisitions SBU trades developmental, publishing, and/or distribution services for rights to authored content. Customers are authors and other publishing houses (e.g., co-publishing, translation, and distribution agreements). A salient change in the Acquisitions landscape is the explosion of alternatives. Authors can publish in a huge number of new journals — mostly at commercial houses; they can publish in an increasing number of OA platforms; and, they can publish themselves through Social Media (SM) platforms, or directly with prior channel partners (E.g., Amazon). This explosion changes the game, it isn’t going away, it is growing and certain competitors (Amazon and SM) are accelerating in their offerings of alternative publishing solutions. <br />
<br />
Acquisitions SBUs need to position against these alternatives as competitively distinct and as “a better choice,” for at least some segment of the market. In the past, Scholarly Publishers only had to position against Commercial Houses. PODs were clear and, more importantly, they were static. Now, with the changing landscape, houses must protect against both the explosion of alternatives and the future. <br />
<br />
A publishing program itself (the titles under contract and those that have gone before) is its own best representative—followed by a publisher’s presence at conferences, in the world (author events and traditional media), and on the web. The website is key “storefront” for the Acquisitions SBU to tout its publishing services and past accomplishments. The “online bookstore” is a display of both of its marketing efforts (on behalf of its authors) and the breadth of past, current, and future titles. The blog is a vital new tool for drawing attention to all of the above with past and potential Acquisitions customers (would-be authors). <br />
<br />
<b>Acquisitions – Consortia Solutions </b><br />
<br />
In the university press ranks, we have examples of whole presses merging to form consortia publishing houses: sharing resources and markets to achieve economies of scale. e.g., U.P.N.E. and Colorado University Press. <br />
<br />
More recently, and more intriguingly, ad hoc collaborative publishing projects (Mellon-funded) have also been explored between several groups of autonomous houses. Examples include: <a href="http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/saad/index.html"><i><b>South Asia Across the Disciplines</b></i></a>, <a href="http://www.firstpeoplesnewdirections.org/"><i><b>First Peoples</b></i></a>, <a href="http://www.earlyamericanplaces.org/"><i><b>Early American Places</b></i></a>, and <a href="http://www.americanliteratures.org/">the <i><b>American Literatures Initiative</b></i></a>. Herein, a new series of book projects was fielded by a group of houses working together to form an ad hoc virtual consortium. <br />
<br />
In each of the Mellon-funded projects, houses committed to working on one series, in an underserved area of the humanities—specifically, in areas where the houses weren’t receiving enough projects separately to field a list on their own. In effect, they took on a new list and partnered on marketing and design. Acquisitions were carried out separately. <br />
<br />
These Mellon-funded virtual consortia have benefited scholarship greatly; the series would likely not have been started without the seed money form Mellon and collaborative support from partner presses. In the end, these underserved areas of the Humanities were given world-class publishing support. But, did the houses benefit? <br />
<br />
Partner houses were able to take on something they wouldn’t have been able to take on otherwise, but it brought with it many new challenges and did not lighten their existing editorial load. One wonders if “a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B” might also be worth a try. <br />
<br />
Could <b><i>existing </i></b>segments of Acquisitions programs at a number of houses, all serving the same market segment (discipline) but at a less-than-dominant position, partner to present themselves to that market segment in similar fashion, to achieve a greater presence and greater returns (while in fact lightening their fiscal load)? <br />
<b><br />
Channel Sales and Licensing – SWOT Events </b><br />
<br />
The Channel Sales and Licensing SBU brokers relationships with vendors, aggregators, agents, distributors, other publishers (e.g., electronic publishing, reprints, and course packs) for the ongoing distribution of finished content or rights and permission to use content through their platforms, channels, and services in exchange for a reduced rate (discount), royalty, fee, or permission to add fees to later sales. A major change here is the collapse of the vendors and channel partners market for print sales. The number of individual book stores has dropped significantly, and major players have consolidated. Additionally, total sales of books across the sector have dropped, just as journals subscriptions collapsed in years prior. <br />
<br />
Channel Sales and Licensing must do its best to expand remaining network and replace lost channels. As above, presence at trade shows (sales conferences), use of the Publisher’s website, “online bookstore,” and blog are all key communication tools. However, the decreasing number of vendors calls for more than communications can offer. <br />
<br />
<b>Channel Sales and Licensing – Consortia Solutions </b><br />
<br />
Several consortia solutions have been fielded here to respond to changes in the Channel Sales and Licensing SBU landscape, primarily in the licensing and aggregation space. <b><a href="http://www.copyright.com/">Copyright Clearance Center </a></b>(CCC) was an early-moving third-party solution that stepped in to provide the stone for the stone soup of centralized rights and permissions clearance for presses and authors alike. In similar fashion, JHUP stepped in to build <b><a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/">Project Muse </a></b>for scholarly presses, aggregating journals content into topical “bundles” for libraries to buy under a subscription model — simplifying acquisitions and payments for libraries and returning lost revenue from many years of declining journal subscriptions to publishers. <b><a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/about/UPCC.html">UPCC </a></b>is a new consortia-based solution, built by JHUP and others, to provide similar aggregation and ease to the sale of electronic university-press-based book content to libraries (and hopefully lost revenue from many years of declining book sales to publishers). No attempt has been made to reclaim lost channel sales, from the collapse in the number of book stores (online and brick and mortar), with a consortia solution, as of yet. <br />
<b><br />
The Tiniest of SBUs: Direct-to-consumer Sales – SWOT Events </b><br />
<br />
Direct-to-consumer Sales include sales of print and electronic copies of books and rights (translations and course packs) to individual end users. These sales at author events, conferences, via “mail order,” fax, and telephone (later email and Skype), wouldn’t really have been profitably isolated and considered as an SBU, traditionally speaking, as most all events were ad hoc: intermittent, short-lived and limited to a tiny minority of the org’s offerings. <b>With the advent of the web</b>, however, presses put out their full-list sales shingles for all print and electronic copies and all rights 24/7—all around the world. <br />
<br />
This is a fascinating development. <br />
<br />
A) Since the offerings are comprehensive and supported by ongoing operations, it must be considered a sustaining unit of the org and can’t be left out of strategic thinking. So, <b>the move represents the birth of a new SBU! </b>(That is a sizable development, for what some consider a traditionally-minded industry.) B) <b>What’s it for exactly? </b>C) Way more importantly <b>…what could it be? </b><br />
<br />
There’s a lot happening on an academic publisher’s website. Both other SBUs have a presence on it. As mentioned: For Acquisitions, it’s a major storefront for touting its publishing services and showcasing the results of its wares, in the “online bookstore.” For Channel Sales and Licensing, likewise, it’s a showcase and source of contact information for potential vendors, agents, and partners. <br />
<br />
Holding Acquisitions and Channel Sales units apart (from other publishers' websites) on an isolated single-publisher or dedicated website makes <i>some</i> sense—for the larger and older SBUs—but, does it make optimal or really any kind of sense for the new kid on the block, Direct-to-consumer Sales? <br />
<br />
<b>SWOT analysis for the Direct-to-consumer Sales SBU</b> with respect to the web is one word long: <b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/books-used-books-textbooks/b?ie=UTF8&node=283155">Amazon</a></b>. By comparison, that word describes the potential Strengths and Opportunities as well as the current Weakness and Threats of, for, and to online Direct-to-consumer Sales for scholarly presses. <br />
<br />
We know from the success of Amazon and our own experiences as online shoppers, browsers, and researchers that end users want more to choose from, rather than less; they want platforms that approach one-stop shopping. Aggregate websites enjoy many times the traffic of balkanized sites. Academic presses have participated in consortia solutions, to offer content to libraries, for the same reasons: customers prefer more choice and greater access. We also know, by comparison to Amazon and Barnes & Nobles, academic publishers’ websites are not small; they are microscopic. <br />
<br />
Holding Direct-to-consumer Sales sites apart, exclusively as one-publisher’s wares websites, restricts exposure to the market and therefore restricts revenue for the Direct-to-consumer Sales SBU and publisher. To answer the Q above: <b>What is it for exactly?</b> A: The online bookstore on a publisher’s website, as it stands, is mainly functioning as showcase for the publishing-services wares of acquisitions (to encourage folks to submit new projects) and to entice vendors to contact a press representative: it’s a visual aide for the other two SBUs. <br />
<br />
Direct-to-consumer Sales – Consortia Solutions <br />
<br />
To answer the other Q above: <b>What could it be? </b>A: It could be more. New SBUs need time to grow and mature to support their other SBUs in new ways. Simply replicating the Direct-to-consumer Sales portions of scholarly publishers’ websites together on one dedicated site (though there are <b><i>many </i></b>better things that can and would be done with it) would give the publishers’ Direct-to-consumer Sales unit access to far greater traffic and allow them to give growth a try. <br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2012/01/17/a-newfangled-online-bookstore/">As Joe Esposito well notes in his frequent supports for such a move</a></b>, it would yield access to valuable data among other things. <b>It would also provide a well-trafficked, shared platform for value-added services and new business opportunities (new models). </b>I’d also point out that for the Channel Sales and Licensing SBU, which has lost so many major partners (e.g., Borders), it would provide a major new, freestanding vendor for the their titles — which is no small matter. And for the Acquisitions SBUs, across all participating scholarly publishing houses, that are facing an explosion of alternatives to the publishing services they offer, it would provide the single most comprehensive showcase of the strength, breadth, and depth of their collective publishing programs. <br />
<br />
It would be like a <b><a href="http://www.aaupnet.org/events-a-conferences/university-press-week/university-press-week-2012">year-round University Press week</a></b>, highlighting what it means to publish with established and laurelled academic houses. It is all about the company you keep. <br />
<br />
As mentioned above, the event of scholarly presses moving out onto the web to host their own, individual online “bookstore” sites was and is a fascinating development. Technically, when this happened, they <b><a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/forwardintegration.asp#axzz2GlmIbIGC">forward integrated </a></b>into the marketplace to compete with their own partners and other online retailers (most notably, Amazon). To reiterate: each academic publisher’s standalone “bookstore” website currently completes for sales and customers with Amazon. <br />
<br />
Now that the ground has been taken and held, the move begs at least two questions: why would you do such a thing, and why stop there? <br />
<br />
Way back in 2005, <b><a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/11/understanding_l.html">Seth Godin described what he called the “local max” and the “big max.” </a></b>These notions could provide some explanation; big maxes are much bigger but further away from local maxes and often across a span of risky ground that is lower than the local max. Many firms stay put at local maxes because they’re currently-held ground and familiar. His point brings a Russian proverb to mind: “He, who doesn't risk, never gets to drink champagne.” They serve champagne at the big max. <br />
<br />
<b>Summary</b><br />
<br />
Firms review SBUs out of context from one another, from time to time, to examine each unit’s opportunities and threats on their own merits; to be sure each unit is taking best advantage of the terrain. As terrains are always changing, it’s important to “make the rounds” regularly to imagine and discover new opportunities and later to exploit them in the order of greatest strategic value — especially important to make moves that give or will likely give rise to new opportunities. Only then can you be sure that a firm’s SBUs are working in concert with one another to the greatest collective advantage of the organization. <br />
<br />
University Presses are hotbeds of experimentation these days. Scholarly publishers are moving smartly to explore consortia (scale-able) solutions for each of their longstanding SBUs. The relatively new Direct-to-consumer Sales SBU has yet to be tested at scale and is well positioned, perhaps best of the three, for life on the web (where scale lives). <br />
<br />
As examples of what scale can do: <a href="http://mashable.com/about/"><b>Mashable </b></a>and <a href="http://pinterest.com/about/"><b>Pinterst </b></a>and <a href="https://twitter.com/"><b>Twitter </b></a>didn’t exist a few years ago (Amazon ‘didn’t exist’ a few years before that). Each has many millions of users now fulfilling needs they didn’t know they had in ways they never knew they would. <br />
<br />
It's easy to imagine strategic investment in consortia solutions for the tiniest SBU of a scholarly publisher resulting in similar upticks in exposure to university press-developed books, journals, and accomplishments. <br />
<br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
<br />
Traditional focus on the larger SBUs at a scholarly publishing house is holding the customer-facing, Direct-to-consumer Sales SBU back from its potential by keeping it tied to an individuated site. This is especially true for university presses; most of which will not draw enough traffic for this unit to be independently viable. The growth potential for a consortium-based solution for the customer-facing SBU is better than that of an average press site. <br />
<br />
We would expect university presses to expand their reach and profits through an investment in a consortia based customer-facing website.Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-61820182312537554012013-01-03T09:30:00.000-08:002013-01-06T08:35:04.422-08:00Managerial Accounting thru the I's of the OtherIn addition to deeply thought provoking and insightful, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Lacan"><b>Jacques Lacan </b></a>is hilarious. If you haven’t spent some time with his works, I highly recommend it! He’s constantly cracking inside jokes of language and is wonderfully obsessed with Freud. He’s the Woody Allen of French theorists. <br />
<br />
Freud was a systemic thinker. His theories were rigid, interdependent, and all had to add up to the bottom line of his overarching thinking — usually tying out to your mother and/or father in some rigidly unpleasant way. <br />
<br />
Lacan was a Freudian, but what he did with and for Freud was, in a way, anti-Freudian. Lacan reclaimed Freud’s work by treating it as metaphorical rather than literal. The rapport of elements within the system was more important than their absolute value or nominative location. To reference the thinking of <b><a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/">another noted Frenchman</a></b>, it was as if he said there’s “truthiness” to Freud’s thinking; so, let’s not dismiss it entirely without first taking another look at it — looking at it sideways and in broad stokes (letting lines blur to the abstract) might yield new structures and give rise to alternate understanding, and indeed it did. <br />
<br />
Lacan reified Freud’s truthiness. His work yielded insights well beyond superficial readings of story and character (of the subject and her family) to the deeper structures of the making of meaning in society: the very building blocks of understanding. <br />
<br />
<b>Lacan : Freud : : Managerial Accounting : Financial Accounting </b><br />
<br />
Financial Accounting (FA) is what we all grew up with (and what many believe is the full story of accounting) with debits and credits and everything adding up to the red or the black bottom line. FA = Bean Counting. There are two versions of FA in an organization, Tax Accounting (for for-profits forms) and Balance Sheet Accounting (for everyone). One version breaks down financial transactions to assess the taxable change/s in value over a period. The other version breaks down financial transactions to assess change/s in overall value over the period. Both are purely interested in …financial transactions. <br />
<br />
Managerial Accounting (MA) may be the best kept secret in modern <i>bidness</i>. It is strategic and it is not at all interested in counting beans. It is metaphorical, subjunctive (i.e., future-facing and <i>what if…? </i>in nature), and as a result IMHO Humanities Majors probably have a greater ability to grasp the thinking behind it than most CPA-style accountants — which is pretty huge. <br />
<br />
One downside – the results of MA are useless to FA purposes, so it must be undertaken adjunct to FA duties. The upside/s – MA tools, once built, are brilliantly useful to managers!!! <br />
<br />
<b>The contextual recipe for profitability </b><br />
<br />
It’s a shame, but understandable, that accountants often get a bum rap in the humanities. Many loss-leaders are needed to find one gem. Humanities majors (who probably dated painters, poets, and band members in college) will get this. A Financial Accountant will blow a gasket when multiple loss-leaders (financial losers) hit the books. This alone will set many humanities and FA folks at odds. <br />
<br />
MA, on the other hand, can take loss-leaders and almost any “fuzzy logic” that you can describe into account — in fact, creative application of MA tools such as Activity Based Costing analysis can reveal not only what prices would support projects of a certain type and maintain success for a firm (or describe and defend needs for subventions), but with the help of a little FA and modeling it can also reveal how many must be undertaken in the next season specifically (of each type, selling at varying rates, and into uncertain markets, and given the ongoing performance of the last several lists, back- and mid-) to give rise to the increasing overarching success of the firm — with that success being defined as progress toward any number goals (financial and/or missionary).<br />
<br />
In a word, <b>Managerial Accounting reifies bean-counting's truthiness</b>. It yields insights beyond superficial readings of the bottom line (of debits and credits with respect to the budget) of what happened yesterday in the business to the deeper structures of creating and adding value in society, how the firm can contribute more to the top line in a meaningful and lasting way on into the future: the very building blocks of profitability. <br />
<br />
Perhaps most importantly, MA tools can be used to illustrate (to the more FA-minded members of staff) that the firm is in fact <b>right on track and making the desired progress toward its broadly agreed-upon goals </b>when that next wave loss-leaders or seasonal slumps in sales hits the books — so those discussions don’t have to begin again. <br />
<br />
Admittedly, though they are pretty simple to master, Lacan’s concepts can seem complicated to get a hold of the first time you see them. Likewise, MA tools can seem complicated to build when you look them over, though in the end, as with most things, they’re not. <br />
<br />
Lacan is hilarious and highly recommended, but I've found MA reading thoroughly enlightening as well. I'd say add some to your wish list, and even if you don't ever get to it, it's worth keeping in mind that there is another kind of accounting out there, a future-facing accounting, for measuring the strategic potential for the creation of value (financial and/or missionary) by a firm beyond the typical postmortem approach of an FA breakdown of how value was destroyed (and should rather be destroyed less--duh) in the comparisons of budgets with debits and credits. Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-84010270714263960162012-12-08T13:31:00.000-08:002012-12-12T07:16:21.018-08:00Rakestraw Books – my first job & Alfred the catIt does my heart all kinds of good to know that <a href="http://www.rakestrawbooks.com/">the small bookstore where I grew up </a>is still in business. I say “where I grew up” advisedly, as it is the independent shop in the small town where my family lived when I was young, and it is the place where I grew to love books and writing; i.e., the place in which I grew up most. <br />
<br />
<b>Sunday mornings, open </b><br />
<br />
Sunday mornings, I’d open the shop early. The delivery guy left stacks of <i>New York Times</i> and <i>Wall Street Journals </i>just inside the door. He had a key too. I’d throw one NYT onto the counter as I passed, set the remaining NYTs and WSJs on the spinning rack near the front desk, and prop open both sets of double doors on either side of the store. I’d put the handmade, grumpy-old-man life-sized doll into the director’s chair out front, with the slate tablet sign in his lap that read: “<i><b>Please don’t pet the cat. Thank you.</b></i>” Put the matching, kindly-old-lady life-sized doll, with similar slate tablet, in a director's chair outback. Flip on the light over the coffee table near the small wall-mounted sign that read: “A clean, well-lighted place, for books.” Review new arrivals, so I could answer questions; people always asked after the new arrivals on Sundays. Flip the <a href="http://www.bang-olufsen.com/en">Bang & Olufsen </a>on low, tuned to classical. Kick on the registers. Read through notes from Brian and/or Mary, the owners. Scan special orders to fill. Walk the aisles quickly to find where the beast was lurking and then settle in behind the counter with the <i>New York Times</i>. The goal was to get thus ensconced for a moment before the customers began coming in. <br />
<br />
The truly enlightening crowds (for even their questions were edifying) would descend with a just a few folks at first; eventually scores of delighted people were roaming the aisles. The owners would join for the active hours, and I’d watch them work the store, saying Hi to new and old friends, dispensing advice on all fronts, until the afternoon shift arrived. Then I was off for the day. <br />
<br />
<b>Try harder</b><br />
<br />
Brian Harvey had a thriving law practice in the financial district of San Francisco which he sold to open a bookstore in the East Bay suburbs. He was clearly insane in the best possible way. <br />
<br />
He and his wife Mary were the nicest people I’ve ever known, and I think everyone who knew them could say the same. Their shop was the mythic stuff of films and legend, like most every independent bookstore founded on a love of literature. Everyone came and went with a “Hi, Mary” and “Bye, Brian.” Families bought gifts and joined reading groups. They sought Mary and Brian’s and other staff’s advice on books, films and theater; It was alive with people sharing culture. <br />
<br />
Mary was an archetypal Berkeley grad, down to Birkenstocks with socks and bangs clipped to one side with a simple barrette. Brian was Mark Twain-esque in his laughter, wit and delivery; the embodiment of a wicked-smart jocular curmudgeon: starkly opinionated about what constituted a worthy book and author and quite free with recommendations for and against anyone on his shelves or throughout history. Mary would just shake her head. <br />
<br />
My mother found the Harveys and Rakestraw Books shortly after we moved to town. She dragged me through on weekends, after visiting the health food store next door, for hours. Eventually, I’d leave the nuts and vitamins early to roam the aisles in the bookstore and wait for her. Natural perhaps, too, that when time came for me to get a part-time job, if I ever wanted to pay for gas or have a car, it was in the bookstore.<br />
<br />
Brian and Mary were brilliant to work for. Brian handled staff. Mary handled Alfred. Besides endless insight into the book business, good writing, good film, theater, and literature, Brian taught me several important things for an awkward teenager and future lit-major to learn: “Don’t lean,” and “Keep your hands out of your pockets.” He was a man of few words in this arena (all of them above) and relentless: I was cured of slouching, at least in the shop, within a week. …I have to say, books and literature were easy; these lessons were the toughest for me at the time (I also grew taller by several inches while working for the Harveys.) If I am ever mindful of good posture now, I owe it to working for Brian Harvey. <br />
<br />
<b>Two other things stick out about Brian's handling of staff</b><br />
<br />
One day I mistyped something on a special order or a return airway bill (yes, mistyped; yes, airway bill). I think I swapped the shop’s street address for that of Little, Brown and Company—a curse of inattentiveness has plagued me throughout my life. Brian pointed out the mistake. I began to explain what led to it, and Brian raised a hand to stop me. He said simply, “<b>Try harder</b>,” with a laugh and we moved on. <br />
<br />
I recall on my first day, Brian had announced my training schedule similarly; he raised a hand to prevent me from stepping behind the counter and pointed out into the store: “Walk the aisles; <b>commit every book to memory</b>.” That was it; for two weeks, I was paid to come to the store, after school, and inspect every book in inventory, from one end of the shop to the other. His reasoning was simple, “I can teach how to use the cash register in fifteen minutes; …how else are you going to learn about the books?” Apparently I was ahead-of-the-curve; he'd had other new hires roam the aisles for a month. It was a good of couple weeks. <br />
<br />
<b>Several nights a week, early evening, to close </b><br />
<br />
I’d arrive at the tail end of the last rush. For this bedroom community, dinner time on was a fairly quite time in all the shops. I’d help with the last evening customers, say goodbye to the afternoon staff (often Brian or Mary) and manage the store until close. <br />
<br />
Having already heard news (mostly on MTV), newspapers held less interest in the evening than they did on Sunday. Brian and Mary had devoted a short wall, below the counter, to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Work-Is-Hell-Matt-Groening/dp/0394748646/ref=pd_sim_b_1">works by a syndicated cartoonist featuring a family of bunny rabbits and a pair of fez-wearing twins.</a> I did read all of those, start to finish. They were and are hilarious. (I presume everyone has read them all; if by some chance you have not, stop and do so. Your life and the life of those around you will be better for it.) The artist went on to have some success on TV. His name was and is Matt Groening (like complaining). <br />
<br />
I was through those pretty quickly, and the shop was usually nearly silent; one or two customers at a time. So, I read. I picked up books that I’d heard Brian and Mary and customers talking about. Classics, I’d heard everyone talking about. Books that were clearly college-aged material. I read, several nights a week, early evening, to close. <br />
<b><br />
Alfred the cat</b> <br />
<br />
Brian and Mary eventually retired (again) and sold the shop to some folks from the next town over. New owners had worked for a major chain and had a notion of employing a “personal computing machine” or maybe two to track inventory. Brian was a bit old fashioned, refused to let a computer in the store, and still had all books inventoried on a series of index cards that filled a recessed space and ran the length and breadth of the iron-black counters—just out of sight of the customers and in easy reach of staff. Some folks say the switch to computers with the new ownership helped gird the shop for the battles ahead (plummeting national sales and closings of small shops everywhere); however, I know it was Alfred the cat. <br />
<br />
Alfred the cat’s actual name: Alfredo Arthur William Horatio Ralph Edgar Cicero Nathaniel Cappuccino William (different William) Henry Ernest Boccaccio Samuel…the cat (you get the idea), a beautiful black, long-haired feline with thick fur and greenish golden eyes. The flat-iron-black modern floor-to-ceiling shelving units held all books at angles for easy viewing and had flat shelves at just better than waist height for lay-flat displays. Alfred lounged on the shelves throughout the shop, mostly on the lay-flat space. <br />
<br />
A few tough coincidences here: Children loved Alfred. The lay-flat display space was roughly at kid-head-(or face)-height. Alfred didn’t like children. <br />
<br />
So, you know where this goes. After working there a while, you could feel the rhythms even from across the shop: children run in…(beat)…scan shelves, find their section, and run around the corner (beat) “There’s a cat, Mom!” (beat) (sometimes another beat) and unfortunate sounds and tears followed. <br />
<br />
I asked Brian if he ever thought of taking Alfred home. “I value my face too much!" he'd say. "No, Mary loves Alfred, so he stays; but he stays in the shop.” I’d like to say Alfred stayed on when they sold the shop, but I’m sure they did take him home then ...or drove slowly while he followed the car. <br />
<b><br />
The survival of the shop</b><br />
<br />
The shop was in the beginning of decline when they sold, but its fortunes did turnaround somewhat and level off (I believe) even through the toughest of years. No doubt the computerized inventory tracking and new management systems helped guard profits. Clearly the goodwill that Mary and Brian built up over the years with the larger Rakestraw community helped sustain it. <br />
<br />
But, in the deeper analysis, behind the scenes and statistics, I think it was the generation of kids like me that were mauled by the dwarf, long-haired puma they kept in the shop that made it last. We grew tough. If customers can have significant, repeated facial lacerations (some of us are slow to learn) and keep coming back to your store, you know you have them for life! <br />
<br />
In all seriousness, sticking with literature and the arts has always been tough, and in the toughest times it is toughest among us who dig in and find new ways to hold the fort. So I am glad that when Brian and Mary wanted to retire, and as bookstore fortunes were clearly uncertain, noble souls chose to invest in such an enterprise, others followed, and a community never stopped frequenting it, keeping it alive with people sharing culture. <br />
<br />
I always think of <a href="http://www.rakestrawbooks.com/">Rakestraw Books </a>around the Holidays. I hope everyone thinks about visiting their ‘Rakestraw Books’ this season, and I invite all who do to reflect on the simple lessons of my first job: Try harder, commit every book to memory, and please don’t pet the cat. <br />
Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-203355540648069272012-11-29T06:30:00.000-08:002012-12-12T07:21:18.868-08:00Internal Bullwhip Effects (& how to lessen them) – improving time-to-market for scholarly pub – part 1 (of 2)We played <a href="http://hbsp.harvard.edu/list/3101-demo-page-basic">the root beer game </a>in an ops class this semester. I’d heard of bullwhip effects, but it was the first time I’d ever played the game or run a simulation. Interesting game, it made me wonder about implications for scholarly pub.<br />
<br />
Basically, the bullwhip effect is a supply chain concept that grew out of research in manufacturing environments: e.g., root beer factories. Relatively recently, (1960s on) researchers found that tiny <b>changes </b>in demand at one end of the pipeline will send destructive shockwaves up the supply chain; the shockwaves increase in amplitude—interfering with and giving rise to other shockwaves—as they travel to the factory, resulting ultimately in complex delays and skyrocketing costs for the organization. <br />
<br />
The complex delays and high production costs (overhead) that result are often a mystery to firms suffering these effects. Bullwhip effects can occur externally (originating with the customer) or internally (between divisions or departments). They can also occur in service industry organizations. <br />
<br />
My first thoughts ran to books and returns: How much more complicated does “supply” become in a world of “Gone today, here tomorrow” inventory? But again, the bullwhip effect also applies to service industries; e.g., a scholarly press offering publishing services to its authors. <br />
<br />
If we look at these <b>“other customers,” </b>authors and manuscripts (mss.), then the supply chain inverts. Rather than printing and warehousing being the “factory” with the customer-facing endpoint being tablets, Amazon, websites, or bookstores, the “factory” would be the production department itself, or the “bookmaking operation” as a whole, and the customer-facing endpoint would be upstream in acquisitions. <br />
<br />
Again, organizations can also experience internal bullwhip effects; so from this, the game, and some reading, I had a few questions: <br />
<br />
a) Could some scholarly pub houses experience internal bullwhip effects (that might cause fitful delays in delivery of bound books), <br />
<br />
b) Could others (that get books out quickly) have procedures in place that coincidentally dampen bullwhip effects, and <br />
<br />
c) Could some of the “fixes” developed in other industries shed light on paths to shortened operational timelines and enhanced profitability for u and other scholarly pubs? <br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Traffic-Engineering-Applications-Understanding/dp/3540207163">Traffic patterns </a></b><br />
<br />
Proofs for the bullwhip effect are very cool but can be complicated; however, we live through a simple illustration of a <i><b>linear </b></i>bullwhip effect whenever we drive through a “backup” on a freeway. <br />
<br />
A backup can be caused by a bottleneck or accident. It can also be (and is more frequently) caused by concern over a <b><i>potential </i></b>bottleneck or accident or more simply still from merging traffic; i.e., slowing down to observe something unusual or slowing down to avoid another vehicle. In heavy traffic, the car following a car that slows down must slow down a little longer than the car ahead of it, to be sure that the first car resumes speed before continuing on. The car following that car must slow down longer still, and so on down the line. (Each car is over-estimating the need to pause and, in a sense, "asking" for an overestimate from the next car; building in not only a delay but a small multiplier of the delay at each stage.) Fifteen cars back, what began as a 10-second delay for car one has grown to a two and 1/2 minute slowdown for car sixteen, and what's more, the amount added at each stage is increasing: a backup is born. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.smartmotorist.com/traffic-and-safety-guideline/traffic-jams.html">On the flipside of backups is the world of the “high-speed merge.” A beautiful freeway to drive on, but how to get there? ...and, is it a toll road?</a><br />
<br />
<b>Simple sources and general fixes of bullwhip effects </b><br />
<br />
Per considerable research and <a href="http://hbsp.harvard.edu/list/3101-demo-page-basic">many rounds of the root beer game</a>, <b>changes </b>in levels of service or “boom and bust” periods of requests for resources/production cause destructive bullwhip effects. Several general approaches help dampen them: A) keeping service or production levels constant, as much as possible, B) maintaining spare operational capacity (extra room between cars) to absorb the changes that can’t be controlled for — so they don’t translate from one project to the next — and, C) in all cases, sharing information from customer-facing endpoints to supplier-side materials- and services-providers helps managers control against (i.e., lessen) the deleterious impact/s of the shockwaves and bullwhips. <br />
<br />
<b>Scholarly pub</b><br />
<br />
Looking within a publishing house, we can see the production department as the “factory” and acquisitions as the “retail store” or customer-facing endpoint; i.e., where the requests of work from the factory begin (e.g., contracts for services, receipts of final mss.). Managing editorial could be lumped in with the “factory” or seen as an intervening “distribution center.” In either case, acquisitions would be a value-added and customer-facing service center leading ultimately to the “factory” beyond. <br />
<br />
Together these departments constitute a supply chain of publishing services, resulting in the published work of its customers (authors) landing online and in the warehouse. The receipt of a final ms. and transmittal into the pipeline from acquisitions is the same as an “order” being placed for those services. <br />
<br />
(Marketing is part of the publishing services offered; but, delays are already “mature” enough in production, for illustration purposes.) <br />
<br />
Treating the “fixes” above in reverse: A) we’d expect any fluctuations in the rate of transmittals from acquisitions to the rest of the house, at the start of the process, to add to scheduling delays and increased overhead costs in the “factory,” per the bullwhip effect, B) we’d expect the absence of spare operational capacity to worsen these effects, and C) any restrictions on the flow of information on future needs for services to send managers through multiple <i>ad hoc </i>rounds of scheduling revision — themselves further consumptive of resources and generative of delays. <br />
<br />
<b>Surprises leading to variations in the rates of requests for service (service levels)<br />
</b><br />
Acquisitions, as a “customer-facing endpoint,” contends with considerable variations and surprises in its dealings with authors; e.g., the contracting for and delivery of final mss. 1) Some projects are on a short timeline, sent through peer review and contracted not far in advance of final delivery, as the manuscript is complete. Others are on a longer timeline, as they have yet to be written; i.e., they are contracted on proposal basis. 2) Across both of these categories, some projects arrive late, past their contracted delivery date, while others are on time. <br />
<br />
Four general categories of variances and their resulting impact on scheduling are noted below, with projects on short timelines that arrive late offering the most potential surprises ( + + )—and therefore the greatest change in scheduling—and projects on long timelines arriving on time offering the least potential surprises ( – – ). <br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aDlE2RIiwc4/ULWYtDlLFpI/AAAAAAAAAWs/6LrHnTxWOMw/s1600/Picture1.png" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="287" width="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aDlE2RIiwc4/ULWYtDlLFpI/AAAAAAAAAWs/6LrHnTxWOMw/s400/Picture1.png" /></a><br />
<br />
These fluctuations in scheduling and arrivals <b><i>can </i></b>translate to irregularities in transmittals from acquisition to managing editorial and impact scheduling in the production “factory” beyond. That said; some firms may have several steps or other procedures in place that effectively spread ms. arrivals and their transmittals out through the calendar. Such steps or procedures would normalize variations in requests for service and dampen would-be bullwhip effects before they start. Absent these measures, variations in arrivals would translate to variations in requests of later departments in the pipeline. <br />
<br />
<b>Divide and accelerate</b><br />
<br />
Isolating groups of projects that characteristically lead to variations in requests of production/requests for resources or present other scheduling challenges (surprises) allows organizations to make managerial decisions to address each group separately, restricting such variations (from getting out of hand) and thereby minimizing costs and maximizing profitability. <br />
<br />
There would be many ways to isolate such groups for scholarly publishers; above is just one example. But where would you go from there? <br />
<br />
Perhaps (and before addressing operational capacity and information flow) we can look to other industries that manage "controlled chaos" under similar circumstances for inspiration; to see how they cope, survive, and thrive. Many do, in fact, cope, survive and thrive, often with fewer resources and sometimes to quite winning and even profitable effects ...which are categorically better than bullwhip effects. <br />
<br />
I'll take a stab at looking for inspiration in one such industry in a followup post.Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-37082324580739545682012-11-26T06:00:00.000-08:002012-12-12T07:11:38.086-08:00R. Barthes on branding – the u press network—part 3 – the frame of reference for u presses – what do u presses sell and to whom?Scholarly presses produce books and journals in many forms; e.g., digital, print, audio, databases. They work with many channel partners and vendors for distribution. <br />
<br />
<b>What do they sell?</b><br />
<br />
Not books and journals. Or at least, not only books and journals. Books, journals, and all other market-facing products are, in fact, secondary business moves based on a primary sale of services. The sale occurs by quid pro quo under contract. The performance of which includes the production (and distribution) of the aforementioned market-facing products. Scholarly presses primarily sell publishing services<br />
<br />
<b>To whom?</b><br />
<br />
Scholarly presses sell publishing services to scholars, experts, and researchers. U presses in particular segment the market (of authors) to serve humanities scholars, experts, and researchers. Many u presses also serve regional trade and special interest authors. <br />
<br />
<b>Importance – today </b><br />
<br />
The Frame of Reference for u presses, therefore, is everything that allows these authors to publish their content; i.e., anything to offers those services or anything can be used as a substitute for those services. The participants within this Frame of Reference have changed drastically, over the last two decades; we’ve seen an explosion of competitors and alternates in the market-space. Many customers (authors) are faced with these alternative and competitive choices—many more than in years past. <br />
<b><br />
New and improved performance</b><br />
<br />
New publishing models (eBooks, databases) would be new, competitive offerings of performance to attract and maintain customers (authors) and revenue. As such, they would not constitute new business models. I.e., while the secondary performance may change, the primary model of selling or trading publishing services to scholars, experts, and researchers remains the same. <br />
<br />
<b>Caveat – new frame/s</b><br />
<br />
In light of the recent explosion in competitors and alternates, the current frame of reference is potentially over-served. New frames could lead to new models, and new business models could attract new business and new revenue; but, new models would need to be extrapolated from current and emergent needs of the targeted customer base—or on a new or expanded customer base—and would have to be presented as an alternate to or in addition to the sale of publishing services. <br />
<br />
<b>POPs and PODs – based on the current Frame </b><br />
<br />
Given the customer base and model above, the frame of references can be altered slightly or “tightened” to attract and maintain customers (authors) and revenue. <br />
<br />
This tightening of focus is achieved by leveraging both Points of Parity and Points of Difference to best advantage; i.e., clearly defining and communicating the competitively distinct value proposition of publishing with u presses to the customers (authors). Subsequent posts under the R. Barthes heading address competitive positioning by sketching the leverage-ability of certain attributes based on the current frame. <br />
<br />
NEXT POST = <b>Internal Bullwhip Effects (& how to lessen them) </b>– improving time-to-market for scholarly pub Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-10869919913781636782012-11-22T07:08:00.000-08:002012-12-12T07:06:17.485-08:00R. Barthes on branding – the u press network—part 2 - the communicative impact "engine" of u pressesAs mentioned previously, <a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2012/10/r-barthes-on-branding-u-press.html">a brand’s value exists in the eye of the beholder</a>; i.e., the customer. A true review of the current value of the u press network and gauge of current trends (future value) would call for market research (with authors). But, a few attributes (and how they might lead to points of parity and points of difference) are worth considering before and after such research. <br />
<br />
<b>Premium Access<br />
</b><br />
To admit of a bias up front: I believe that the premium access component of many not-for-profit scholarly publishing, specifically herein u presses, brings unique value to the mission. <br />
<br />
To admit of another: monetizing content is fraught, these days, and publishers will want to diversify away from monetizing content alone; nonetheless, commercial underpinnings of attracting use with content (enhancing the attractive and communicative impact of content) remains, is relevant, and brings unique value. <br />
<br />
This post lists several attributes of u presses, in search of Points of Parity (POPs) and Points of Difference (PODs) with/from free publishing (OA): Arm’s Length, Ameliorative, Multidisciplinary, Commercial, and Active in the Market. <br />
<br />
The hypothesis here is that the premium access component amplifies the aggregate impact on the focus of the publishing process (content), just as a sling swung around and around over one’s head, accelerates a small rock (idea) to be hurled at a giant or a target. Relevant metaphor, yes: David and Goliath; u presses were built, on premium access footing, to hurl bolts at giants (for-profit presses, popular readership, and world markets). In so far as these remain targets, u presses’ premium access status would be a value-added component of their publishing programs. <br />
<br />
<b>Slings & slingshots</b><br />
<br />
Before vulcanized rubber, slingshots were made with a long, non-elastic, usually leather, strap or sling. A “shot” was achieved by whirling a bolt held in a small pouch at mid sling, around and around over your head, usually at arm’s length, until effective velocity and best trajectory was reached, whereupon one side of the sling would be released for a shot at the target. It took a lot of practice, professional-type practice, to hit the mark. <br />
<br />
<b>Premium Access & Missionary as Compound-Attribute and POD</b><br />
<br />
Several attributes of u presses are listed on <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3EjKtoDyI1pR0VNUlRUM1pXQzQ">the info graphic below</a>. <br />
<br />
• <b>Arm’s length </b>= tied to research institutions but not beholden to them<br />
• <b>Ameliorative </b>= increasing the communicative power (impact) of texts<br />
• <b>Multidisciplinary </b>= rendering arguments across the disciplines and to the public<br />
• <b>Premium Access </b>= impact-driven; market-facing <br />
• <b>Active in the market </b>= res ipsa loquitor—<i>but marketers do it better </i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BndhExHgBhU/ULWJDwazJ5I/AAAAAAAAAWE/ly63NRAbR8s/s1600/the%2Bcommunicative%2Bimpact%2Bengine%2Bof%2Bu%2Bpresses_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="309" width="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BndhExHgBhU/ULWJDwazJ5I/AAAAAAAAAWE/ly63NRAbR8s/s400/the%2Bcommunicative%2Bimpact%2Bengine%2Bof%2Bu%2Bpresses_.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Each attribute is worth examining in detail; but a salientcompound-attribute holds u presses uniquely apart from exclusively Open Access (OA) and for-profit publishers, and that is the oft mentioned and oft under-appreciated combination of “Missionary + Premium Access.” <br />
<br />
• <b>OA publishers</b> = Missionary (communicatively passive)<br />
• <b>For-profit publishers </b>= Premium Access (communicatively active)<br />
• <b>U presses </b>= Missionary + Premium Access (communicatively active)<br />
<br />
Decision making is different across the two camps. <b>Missionary </b>= importance. <b>Premium Access </b>= impact. Members of each camp have slightly different criteria for selection of works to be included in their specific programs (simplified here for illustration). <br />
<br />
• <b>Librarians </b>= will patrons need access to it?<br />
• <b>Archivists </b>= will someone need access to it someday?<br />
• <b>Scholars </b>= will we need access to it for teaching or study? <br />
• <b>For-profit publishers </b>= will it have impact?<br />
• <b>U presses</b> = could its impact change discussions; does it matter?<br />
<br />
Though born of missionary parents, u presses were built on a Premium Access structure like that of for-profit publishers. As such, u presses consider both importance and impact at all stages in the publishing process. I.e., u presses are largely impact-driven, professional across all services, and uniquely (with respect to other members of the missionary community) promotionally-minded, championing ideas in the marketplace, and not just to scholars and students but also to the public. <br />
<br />
<b>Why is this?<br />
</b><br />
We live in a commercial society. For good and ill, commerce is an engine unto itself, in that it improves the tools it needs to improve its outcomes. <br />
<br />
As the info graphic attempts to illustrate, the Premium Access component to the publishing process cycles both the selection and the “Amelioration” of texts on notions of impact; i.e., the communicative power of ideas/stories are both selected for <b>and enhanced </b>during Premium Access project development. Once that optimal trajectory of topical scope, attractive reason, and persuasive explication and packaging is reached, the material is released from development to be championed and consumed in the marketplace. <br />
<br />
For-profit commercial presses select and develop projects on impact alone (subjects are taken into account, but impact is the governing criterion). For-profit commercial presses also not only influence popular discourse, but they tend to dominate it; they change discussions and encourage exploration. <br />
<br />
Long ago, scholars, researchers, libraries, and universities realized that if popular motivations lead individuals away from new ideas and research, then granting access (alone) to new ideas would not be enough; new ideas and research will not achieve their full potential or do the most (or potential any) social good, if they are overlooked. <br />
<br />
Academics also realized that the communicative impact of ideas is uniquely enhanced during Premium Access project development: I.e., for-profit publishers were not only dominating discourse, but they were also refining, hoarding, and continually evolving (through dint of engagement with the marketplace) best editorial, production, and marketing practices. <br />
<br />
<b>Why the slingshot? </b><br />
<br />
U presses were charted to give researchers <i><b>competitive </b></i>access to popular markets. I.e., they were charted to give scholars access to the full complement of professional publishing services; namely, the Premium Access development of their ideas through discriminating selection, development, production, and marketing. <br />
<br />
To this end, U presses were chartered with missionary objectives, to treat the best of ideas with the potential to do the most social good, and they were built on a Premium Access structure to reach into the popular markets and develop and refine the best practices to do so — on a continuing, self-improving basis — so that those best ideas could compete most successfully on the giant, for-profit publisher’s turf. <br />
<br />
<b>In sum</b><br />
<br />
Testing ideas in a classroom is one thing. Testing ideas with your colleagues, another. Testing ideas in the marketplace, before the whole world, is quite another; it calls for specific and evolving skills, focus, and commitment. It all comes down who do you want to reach, when, and how well do you want to do it. As we experiment with and transition to new models we will need to be sure to safeguard, replicate or improve on this engine.<br />
<br />
<b>…</b><br />
<br />
Further on Why the slingshot, yes, if you’re wondering; right hip pocket, for several weeks after reading the novel. I was the Huck Finn of Wilton, CT, walking the forests along the NY/CT state line for most of a summer; tin cans, tree trunks, and mailboxes trembled at my approach. <br />
Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-35059230727048815992012-11-14T05:49:00.000-08:002012-11-22T06:59:55.459-08:00Max Planck Institute Librarin, Urs Schoepflin, on OA and the future of humanities researchLibrarian from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), Urs Schoepflin, gave a talk on the IU campus on Monday, 10/22/2012. The talk was titled “Challenges for the Humanities: Scholarly Work and Publishing in the Digital Age.” Schoepflin presented the MPWIG’s European Cultural Heritage Online (ECHO), an Open Access Infrastructure to bring Essential Cultural Heritage Online. His talk was part of the History and Philosophy of Science Colloquium Series at IU. <br />
<br />
ECHO is a framework for bringing Humanities research and scholarship online; it hosts primary materials, enables peer review, empaneled an editorial board, and brings forth finished works online, for download, and POD. I think they’ve completed 5 books already. Schoepflin discussed the history of the project, the creation of the pilot platform, and the likely road ahead. One thing that stood out: researchers and librarians at the MPWIG largely eschewed the assistance of IT professionals in its creation; they opted instead to have Humanities researchers with specific aptitudes for technology define and build what was needed to best facilitate research for the online community. They held to simpler-is-better model and made sure everything could work through a browser. <br />
<br />
It is a fascinating infrastructural and professional approach; many institutes are participating; materials are of the highest quality. It is truly part of a new era in research. Schoepflin summed it up—specifically referencing the part about Humanities researchers learning online programming tools—by saying simply: This is the future of Humanities research. <br />
<br />
He’s right. I had to think about it; but, he is right. What’s most right about what he said is the fact that the researchers and librarians are doing it for themselves; they learned the IT tools to build a contemporary research solution. That didn't happen in the past. It's seems it will in the future. <br />
<br />
We’ve seen this in other industries; e.g, marketers and graphic design software. The web is informational software. It is only natural for workers to source their own skills and solutions. I’m not versed enough in OA platforms to know how common this is yet or when exactly we reached its advent; but, it’s in the past. <br />
<br />
Schoepflin is right about OA being the future of Humanities research in the larger sense as well; it’s unlikely that we would see a future without OA in it. OA is a wonderful thing. What does this mean for scholarly communications on the whole? Could we see a world of all OA all the time an only OA all the time, everywhere? <br />
<br />
Unlikely, as we live in a commercial society, and if we did, the resulting communication/s would be less robust, and a great deal of value would be left on the table for consumers, institutions, and publishers. However, we will see more OA, as it does certain things well. <br />
<br />
E.g., Social Media & Marketing (that other kind of Communications): Social Media has become a huge focus of Marketing. It’s better than traditional media for certain things. Mainstream advertising was dominant to universal (an exclusive mode of communication). Social media and online advertising has bucked the old trends. Now we live in a world with both. <br />
<br />
But, we still have mainstream marketing; its role has simply changed and refocused—in concert with the new platforms’ messaging. I.e., traditional, mainstream marketing remains part of the marketing/cultural discourse or the “marketing mix,” alongside the new, online marketing, and in many ways, the one “plays off of” the other. <br />
<br />
Similarly, OA is changing old models. Publishing/communications programs will naturally look to make the most of OA. But, if we look at Marketing (with a capital M) responding to Social Media, we see the presence and actions of the one, "new" channel increased and altered the prospects for the other; value was ultimately found in fielding a coordinated approach that capitalized on the strengths, reach, and efficacy of each. <br />
<br />
The scholarly communications/publishing market will seek an advantageous and complimentary equilibrium point or strategic "mix" in a similar way, if not to a similar degree. Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-9436617154778034932012-10-29T18:05:00.000-07:002012-10-29T18:06:23.692-07:00Funding the Future: Free riders and Friends(I promise not to use the word <i>plummeting </i>in the following post. Thank you for reading)<br />
<br />
We didn’t have national health care, because we didn’t have it. It wasn’t already in place when we came along. It wasn’t right (that we didn't have it). It just wasn’t. <br />
<br />
A) We mostly do what we’ve done before. B) We mostly don’t do what we’ve never done before, because we are committed to a course of action that is well outlined in A. <br />
<br />
Here’s the thing. <br />
<br />
Currently, we have: JIT acquisitions in libraries; myriad, able new rivals (calling themselves “publishers”) entering the market, from all sides; online vendors backward integrating to join them (i.e., threaten us), and we are certain that it was always meant to be right that we don’t have a national university press foundation? Not one for the ongoing advancement of publishing excellence for the public good? We’re positive of that? No value whatsoever to the American people?<br />
<br />
A national u press fundraising entity (centrality)—even one that didn’t accept donations—would bring valuable to the u press network as a strategic hub alone for the sharing of: best practices, resources, enhanced buying power, enhanced negotiating power (chachkies and DVDs to give away), and many other things to be named/discovered later. <br />
<br />
95% of donations ($) come in from 5% of donors. “Friends of the Press” programs are largely PR. U presses would realize more $ in donations, under aegis of Friends of U Presses fundraising at a national level than they do now flogging after it endlessly on their own + the brand equity of university presses would rise, significantly, due to attendant, regular national promotion. <br />
<br />
+ + Individual presses would still keep their 5% of highly motivated donors; i.e., 95% of current $s raised. <br />
<br />
I have thought that universities without presses could be moved to pay into the u press network with such a centralized system, and they could; but, that would more <a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2011/06/exploring-new-business-models-for_27.html">likely be under aegis of Membership </a>rather than as Friends of the Presses. <br />
<br />
+ + It would also be better done commercially with centralized services offered through <a href="http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2012/01/17/a-newfangled-online-bookstore/">an online, customer-facing site. </a>Or, words to that effect.Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-66083524688558276482012-10-24T11:05:00.000-07:002012-12-12T06:59:41.868-08:00R. Barthes on branding – the u press network—part 150 years ago, a brand was almost like a product that you sold to consumers. Now, it’s a story you partner with them to create. <br />
<br />
We all know this pretty well. Branding thought leaders focus on this concept across every industry: Ongoing meaning-making in collaboration with communities of stakeholders. Customers reject and select narrative/s more than they ever had before. They contribute more narrative/s scraps than ever before. Nutshell: Brand is in the eye of the beholder. <br />
<br />
It always was in the eye of the beholder, but great strides are made by companies these days when their Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) stops to find out what the beholder is beholding, first. Successful firms track and guide conversations to capture a gestalt of needs (met and unmet) in order to assess current brand value and to find new opportunities. <br />
<br />
<b>Roland B.<br />
</b><br />
Each intro text to branding (e.g., <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mythologies-Roland-Barthes/dp/0374521506">Mythologies</a></i>, I say with tongue only slightly in check) covers the basics of the making of meaning; i.e., how a single word or symbol (a “logos,” logo, or brand) is tied to myriad narratives/beliefs about that word or symbol. Added all up, all the stories we know about X defines X …for us. Expand the group to include everyone in a market or industry, and shift X to a brand, and the meaning or value of the brand is the sum total of all narrative/s that relate to the brand in the market. <br />
<br />
In the most extreme sense, the brand itself is meaningless, until we bring meaning to it, like stone soup. (One caveat: stone soup without flavor doesn’t exist; categorically, that’s just a rock in a bucket.) Some call this flavor- or meaning-making <i>signification</i>; others call it branding. <br />
<br />
The important part is that <i>signification </i>or branding (meaning-making) is ongoing and never stops; the stone soup is always changing flavor—depending on who’s adding narrative scraps to it. Meaning is always being created (except in <i><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=godard+alphaville&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=4o&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=98mEUMHVA8WTyQHh2YDgCA&ved=0CDUQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=661">Alphaville</a></i>). <br />
<br />
Some add and attract narrative; others have narrative thrust upon them. That’s what we call culture. You can guide it and influence it, but you can’t make it hold still. <br />
<br />
<b>The U Press Network <br />
</b><br />
All these ideas apply to the brands of individual u presses. Brilliant marketers across the network are applying them famously with great success. I’ve been thinking about the network as a whole. And not about the AAUP, which is also guided by brilliant marketers. But if you dig down a little deeper you get to the network itself: what is it; why is it; and what are all of the narratives about it currently adding up to; i.e., what is the existential value of The U Press Network—in the eyes of the beholders? <br />
<br />
This would be the subject of a fascinating market research study, and an exhaustive approach would call for complex voice of customer. If any know of such a study having been completed, or would like to partner on one, please let me know. Meanwhile, I am going to hazard some summary analysis of adducible trends or views shared in the media. <br />
<br />
The U Press Network has experienced tectonic change/s of late (last few decades); just for starters, the category that it belongs to has been altered. The U Press Network has had narrative/s thrust upon it. We can’t hold things still, any more than we can go back and un-change the category; but, we can influence them, and we should. <br />
<br />
Whenever a traditional landscape experiences tectonic shifts, Black Swan opportunities arise. Good and bad things can happen—and they usually do; but, strangely enough, the good things only happen when you go after them; the bad things walk right up, bite you on the bottom, and say We’re here. <br />
<br />
Many are discussing Points of Parity and Difference these days, across the category. I thought I’d wrangle a few to see if they reveal ways to avoid the bad and target the good. I’ll cover individual attribute in separate posts to see what compelling PODs they suggest. <br />
Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-67707041773953686052012-09-30T19:53:00.000-07:002012-10-15T20:10:20.522-07:00expanded coverage: including mba coursework and case studiesThis is “scrutanda 2.0” = expanding the focus of posts to include current MBA coursework, the myriad case studies, texts, and lectures, as well as extracurricular readings, random related cultural events, and observations—as they might pertain to and benefit scholarly publishing and the pursuit of new business opportunities. <br />
<br />
I will share insights from case studies in other industries and share some of the experience of diving into the multidisciplinary coursework of a highly ranked MBA program (managerial accounting, corporate finance, operations, and marketing management) equipped with extensive communications experience and a diverse humanities background in literary and cultural analysis, including but not limited to a working knowledge of Wittgenstein, Chaucer, and Sallust. <br />
<br />
Scrutanda was started to share notes from workshops and panel sessions at the AAUP annual meeting. It was mainly for colleagues who were unable to participate in person or who wanted additional perspective/s. Sharing new learning and discussions of best practices seemed a natural extension of the professional development activity of attending a national conference. <br />
<br />
MBA coursework is the largest professional development activity I’ve ever engaged in. It is a privilege to be able to pursue advanced studies in corporate strategy and management at such an august and innovative business school, as it is a privilege to be schooled in the ins and outs of scholarly publishing from colleagues at my institution and across the AAUP. So, I thought, likewise, that I’d share what I learn as I go, for any who might be interested.<br />
<br />
Just a couple semesters in, I have had many eye-opening and unexpected discoveries; the Harvard Business School case study, <i><a href="http://hbr.org/product/vans-skating-on-air/an/502077-PDF-ENG">Vans: Skating on Air</a></i>, yielded fascinating insights into brand, and I believe it could be important reading for everyone interested in the brand of the u-press system. <br />
<br />
Given the rate of change in the industry and the potential wealth of upheaval and new opportunities that change can bring, I will do my best to share what I see as potentially relevant in as timely and as candid a manner as possible. I will focus extra attention on key topics (e.g., brand, new products and services, entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, change management) and to admit of a bias early on: I may beat a drum on the polyvalent strategic benefits of a unified AAUP customer-facing online product, from time to time. <br />
<br />
Scholarly pub will find unprecedented profitability and stability in new technology. That is inevitable. The real trick will be safeguarding what’s important through this period, so that the most can be made of that profitability once it’s achieved. <br />
<br />
Specifically, the u-press system is a valuable intellectual national asset. Protecting the diversity of all that constitutes it (positions and institutions) may well be complexly important, for it to compete most effectively in the new era; therefore, one would need to take care that the nature of change itself isn’t dictating the selection for survival of constituent elements alone; survival of the fittest in the short term upheaval could leave the system less fit for survival (profits) in the long run, when things settle down. <br />
<br />
That is what’s drawn me to MBA coursework; a desire to leverage the latest skills and best practices to bring added value to future projects. I.e., the standard definition of professional development; shared herewith in the same spirit. Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-955319908471872012-07-13T08:00:00.000-07:002012-07-18T20:04:00.133-07:00plenary 2—collaborating with users...building communityRes ipsa loquitur, modo possunt convenire in quinque minuta. Or, as Shakespeare said, “The gestalt is the thing.” You really had to be there—though luckily <a href="http://vimeo.com/45919102">this session was videotaped, available here, if you weren’t</a>. <br />
<br />
Brilliant session! Each speaker abided the <a href="http://igniteshow.com/"><b>Ignite</b> </a>format of using 20 slides on automatic rotation, 15 seconds per slide, to share stories of successfully collaborating with users, curating content and building community via succinct, targeted messaging, across a WIDE variety of platforms, circumstances, and industries—I’ve already gone over. <br />
<br />
Wonderfully inspiring and thought provoking. Check out the video and each of the speakers’ sites <a href="http://aaupwiki.princeton.edu/index.php/2012_Plenary_2:_IGNITE%21_Collaborating_with_Users%2C_Curating_Content%2C_Building_Community">via the Wiki</a>, especially: Daniel <a href="http://kibblesmith.tumblr.com/">Kibblesmith</a>, Groupon = hilarious; Christina Kahrl, <a href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com/"><i>Baseball Prospectus </i></a>= impressive; and Tony Sanfilippo, <a href="http://toekneesan.blogspot.com/2012/06/book-places-in-digital-age-ignite.html">Book Places in the Digital Age</a> = evil genius. <br />
<br />
Sanfilippo gets earns evil genius stripes twice over; first, for fitting <a href="http://aaupdigitaldigest.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/book-places-in-the-digital-age/"><b>his May 9 piece in The Digital Digest</b>, here</a> into quinque minuta, and second, for crafting a viable narrative for <a href="http://toekneesan.blogspot.com/"><b>metadatarium</b></a>-styled print b-stores in the digital age. It would be good to see such narratives built into a detailed and scalable b-plan/s. <br />
<br />
Every one of us who grew up working in bookstores should read both versions—and check out <a href="http://toekneesan.blogspot.com/">Tony’s blog, here</a>. Don’t miss/revisit his repost of <a href="http://toekneesan.blogspot.com/2012/04/old-man-and-sea.html">The Old Man and The Sea, here</a>. <br />Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-19187479877833891622012-07-12T05:30:00.000-07:002012-07-20T05:43:12.732-07:00fundraising in a tough economyI heard several people remark that this session was one of the best fundraising sessions they'd attended. Sheila Leary is terrifically frank and open. So too, were her panelists. Together they delivered a rich session covering practical advice for expanding fundraising programs, effective strategies for approaching grants and donors, and a few recent success stories from across the sector. We were also given a thorough presentation of Utah’s analysis and thinking leading to their decision to join the Colorado University Press consortium. Video = recommended viewing.<br />
<br />
<b>Key advice</b>: Always be mindful that <b>5% of donors deliver 95% of dollars</b>. Always build an endowment contribution into each major grant application. Major endowment builds take significant vision and long-term commitment—10 years to 15/20 years to complete. However, as architect David Burnam once said: “<b>Make no little plans</b>.” Big plans get folks excited. Seed monies for major projects/endowments are the hardest; but, once giving begins, behavior gives rise to behavior, more get involved, and targets are reached in accelerant fashion. Flexibility and creativity are key in crafting grants; tying salient aspects of current and future plans, programs, and operations into donors’ targets for support/giving = priceless.<br />
<br />
The most impressive part of the session was Michael Spooner’s (Utah) breakdown of Utah’s scenario analysis leading to their decision to merge with Colorado. Faced with closing operations, Spooner and his managers worked up no fewer than six post-funding scenarios, projecting likely requirements and outcomes for each, and then weighed all options. To think most strategically under the circumstances, Spooner and his team realized early on that they needed to keep in mind that a u press does not belong to its staff and as a corollary that a press in fact belongs to its parent institution (the u). Keeping mindful of these parameters opened Spooner’s team up to greater adaptability amid quickly changing circumstances and allowed them to flesh out more options. Spooner’s explication of the scenario analysis gives us an amazing, clearly presented example of strategic thinking, analysis and leadership in difficult times. Any interested should check out the video.Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-9171636639552490762012-07-11T05:30:00.000-07:002012-07-11T17:43:07.397-07:00chunking contentOur content is being actively solicited at the chunk level by commercial publishers targeting large revenues. [This wasn’t in the session, but I can add it from the Rights and Permissions perspective.] For years, commercial pubs have attempted to “tack on” custom pub platform use to reprint permission requests. Now, we are seeing a rise in direct requests from commercial publishing houses to place our chunks into their custom pub platforms. [This too has been going on for some; but, it is becoming more common.] By analysis of the requests, discussions, and trends, they are projecting considerable growth and revenues from the custom pub/chunk segment. This conclusion was supported by Michael Cairns’ presentation. Chunking our own content more creatively will provide additional channels for increased dissemination, course adoption, and revenue. This session provided a gloss of current examples how u presses are working to access direct-to-consumer platforms and chunking their content in new ways. <br />
<br />
<b>Custom Pub</b><br />
<br />
Michael Cairns (<a href="http://academicpub.sharedbook.com/academicpub/">AcademicPub</a>) gave an excellent overview of market trends and prospects for custom pub. Major takeaways: Custom pub is a growing source of revenue for commercial scholarly presses. Permissions revenue will be a larger portion of overall revenue than ever before. In this space, survival will be a matter of the fittest metadata, i.e., chapter-level metadata. <br />
<br />
All commercial houses and some institutions are fielding custom pub platforms of their own. Custom pub fits the changing needs of universities and faculty. It is growing at a faster rate than the overall market. IU, MIT, and UC are all leaders in this space. <a href="http://www.courseload.com/">IU and UC platforms are powered by <b>Courseload </b>in Indianapolis</a>. MIT has worked with Open Courseware since the later nineties. AcademicPub allows scholarly presses to host their own content, in aggregate and on their own sites—direct-to-consumers. NB: AcademicPub allows scholars to self-publish works into the platform. <br />
<br />
Research has indicated a correlation between improved metadata and increased sales. Permissions/chunks will likely be a greater portion of publishers’ revenue in the future. With each university press and each commercial press currently publishing thousands (and in some cases many thousands) of new “chunks” per season, chapter-level metadata (key words, abstract/summary) will be key in increasing the amount of revenue generated within custom pub platforms. In a separate context, Nic Newman, BBC, is quoted as having said: “You can’t afford to create a piece of content for any one platform. Instead of crafting a website [book], you have to put more effort into crafting the description of the different bits of an asset, so they can be reused more effectively, so they can deliver [generate] more value.” Early movers can gain leverage with enhanced, chapter-level metadata. E.g., Duke, who already has chapter-level metadata for all of its books. <br />
<br />
<b>Shorts & Briefs</b><br />
<br />
Alan Harvey (Stanford u press) and Marjorie Fowler (UNC press) shared experiences with and views on eShorts and Briefs. Major takeaways: Both the UNC eShorts and the Stanford Briefs programs are driven by editorial and marketing working closely together; editorial makes final decisions. There is no clear answer as to whether either approach will drive sales & revenue; however, both presses are continuing the projects, and Stanford expects the new form may be attractive to certain disciplines, especially Philosophy and Lit Crit, providing a new product category for academics and u presses in the long run. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.uncpress.unc.edu/browse/books?page_type=series&page_type_id=38"><b>UNC eBook Shorts program</b></a>: Though UNC has started with Shorts (excerpts/chapters from UNC books), they are looking to original shorts as well (a.k.a., Briefs). Editors have been discussing the approach with authors for a long time. They felt shorts would be the easier to bring forward as finished products, and strategic goals include driving book sales; so, excerpts again seemed a best fit, in the short term. To maintain a connection between short and long forms, “Excerpted from…” is included in the subtitle to each UNC eShort. <br />
<br />
As to the question of whether this is all worth it = no clear answer. 100 total Short units have sold to date across all 7 titles. Not clear if Shorts have increased long-form sales. There was some thinking that shorts could be adoptable as texts. No results. They are looking at marketing them as such; but, value remains in question here as well. Selection of chunks from texts = the editorial department/director makes the final decision. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=22641"><b>Stanford Briefs digital imprint</b></a>: SUP noted that while long-form sales plummeted, rights/permissions revenue spiked. They started experimenting in-house with what else might be done to access “chunk-level” sales/revenue. Acquisitions editorial (Harvey in particular) observed that if one removes all the interstitial bits from a monograph: long intro; summaries; references/treatment of existing literature; traverses between sections of the text, you are left with a Brief draft of an argument. Here one hears faint echoes of both <a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2011/06/opening-banquet-thoughtful-advice-and.html">David Simon </a>(The Wire) and <a href="http://scrutanda.blogspot.com/2011/06/plenary-1-innovation-organizational.html">Grant McCracken </a>(Transformations and Culturematic) from last year’s meeting. <br />
<br />
Business was seen as the most remunerative subject area and so is where they started: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Business-Growth-Mindsets-Processes/dp/0804784779/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341877857&sr=1-1&keywords=the+physics+of+business+growth"><i>The Physics of Business Growth: Mindsets, System, and Processes</i></a>. As mentioned, SUP feels Philosophy and Literary Studies lend themselves well to such lengths; Philosophy in particular might be receptive as a discipline. <b>The form might also lend itself well to “updates” to an existing book</b>.<br />Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-23827837531200511342012-07-10T05:07:00.000-07:002012-07-10T05:42:25.482-07:00beyond eBooksThe ineluctable modality of the digital is just getting started. Where it will go from here was the subject of this panel. Authors and colleagues at other u presses experimenting with new ways to create and interrelate scholarship; Harry Potter-style daily newspapers, with freely embedded videos in text taken as read, portal books and animated archives taken up for discussion. <br />
<br />
Chair David Schiffman’s description and opening remarks framed the session well. Schiffman reminded us that following any fundamental shift, there is a period of an “evolutionary” reaction. eBooks are such an example. “Revolutionary” adaptation begins a pace beyond. We are entering the revolutionary period of adaptation: digital education, digital scholarship, primary interactivity. Per Schiffman, the revolution will be digitized or rather the digital will lead to revolutionized temporality and forms of scholarly publishing and revolutionized roles for authors and scholarly publishers. The changing landscape requires new skills; however, higher value (ROI for academe) rests in new solutions. We should equip ourselves accordingly. <br />
<br />
Quotable moment: “Many eBooks are trivial interpretations of the medium of e.” – <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/jschnapp">Jeffrey Schnapp</a><br />
<br />
Schnapp was a great addition; having an active scholar on hand, who is both participating in and analyzing the phenomena of change being discussed, contextualized and grounded presentations. Schnapp is “writing to the design” of digital environments. He feels roles are increasingly porous, collaborative scholarship is on the rise, and the notion of authorship may need a revisit. He emphasized the fundamental shift in the temporality of publishing. And finally, noting the nascent trends and the infrastructural (institutional) commitment required, Schnapp says there is a need for a “risk-friendly approach to scholarship” moving forward. <br />
<br />
Marguerite Avery, Senior Acquisitions Editor, MIT Press, and Sylvia Miller, Project Director “Publishing <a href="http://">the Long Civil Rights Movement</a>," University of North Carolina Press, illustrated much of what Schiffman and Schnapp with detailed reports on the moving parts of their digital initiatives. <br />
<br />
All participants invited contact. For further reading, the AAUP Digital Publishing Committee publishes important e-pub news on <a href="http://aaupdigitaldigest.wordpress.com/">The Digital Digest, here</a>. <br />Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2371063752493391375.post-84055172727720844642012-07-09T05:35:00.000-07:002012-07-20T06:20:54.676-07:00PDA Mellon studyWe’re not the only ones rowing this boat. Marketing minds and revenue stream strategists go to great lengths to know what their customers are thinking/where markets are heading. In this session, we had a seasoned acquiring librarian breakdown PDA from the library's perspective and a serial CEO/high-level industry consultant analyze how best to take advantage of the current and future situations from the publisher's point of view. A must-see set of slides and video recording ensued, covering this important opportunity in the academic library space: <br />
<br />
Rick Anderson, University of Utah Libraries, <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/aaupny/aaup-2012-pda-and-libraries-r-anderson">provided the libraries perspective, here</a>. Joseph J. Esposito, Publishing Consultant, shared results of a Mellon-funded study of <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/aaupny/aaup-2012-pda-and-the-university-press-j-esposito">the impact of PDA on book publishers, university presses in particular, here</a>. Thank you, Terry Ehling, Associate Director, Content Development, Project MUSE, for chairing the session and providing salient framing commentary. <br />
<br />
<b>Not in the slides </b>= Mellon study findings suggest that we will see ubiquity of PDA programs (across all research library collections) in 5 years. <br />
<br />
<b>Gist </b>= if we are to steer this ship toward the best possible win-win (to maximize profits on sandy beaches), we’ll have to understand all oarsmen and row this boat in concert with them. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org//?s=pda">Articles on PDA at the scholarly kitchen, here,</a> are recommended for further reading<br />
<br />
Esposito closed with another plug for scholarly presses to field their own unified, <a href="http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2012/01/17/a-newfangled-online-bookstore/">customer-facing website, previously mentioned here</a>. Why? This session, as with many others this year and last, is another discussion of managing a <b>shift in leverage </b>away from publishers (over the last twenty+ years). Archimedes is purported to have said: “Give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth.” A unified, customer-facing website is such a place to stand.Peter Froehlichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11102944251476432781noreply@blogger.com