Will audiobooks show paper books "The Way?" Today's LJ features coverage of BEA and the Audio Publishers Association Conference on DRM and audiobooks. Apparently industry studies have confirmed everyone's suspicion that DRM is a "speedbump," and that many people will go ahead and purchase (or lease) an audiobook without illegally ripping it.
That's not exactly what UIP's experience in making books available as webpages showed. Instead, making the digital copies available on our website seemed to erase demand of the paper copies. Of course, people were just linking and reading those books, not making their own copies. That might be the point on which the GSU e-reserve result hinges (discussed in a post earlier today). If libraries are making copies to post on their in-house webpages, it is most likely a clear violation of copyright. If they are creating pages of links to materials that they own in digital format, I can't see how that is a violation. We'll see.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
Guttenberg-e went Open Access
I don't remember seeing this announcement back in February.
The titles are pretty standard low-print-run monographs. It sounds as though they're going ahead with new titles, even though the original Gutenberg-e funding has dropped off, and the press release states that the open-access model is not sustainable without outside funding.
It always surprises me when other professionals are surprised when professional publishing (not these bloggy things) costs real money. Computers, buildings, personnel (no matter how little we work for) are not free. That said, good on them for freeing the books for other scholars and readers to use.
The titles are pretty standard low-print-run monographs. It sounds as though they're going ahead with new titles, even though the original Gutenberg-e funding has dropped off, and the press release states that the open-access model is not sustainable without outside funding.
It always surprises me when other professionals are surprised when professional publishing (not these bloggy things) costs real money. Computers, buildings, personnel (no matter how little we work for) are not free. That said, good on them for freeing the books for other scholars and readers to use.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Completely off-topic
A friend sent this link to the Speech Accent Archive at George Mason University. It's such a wonderful idea, and under a Creative Commons license.
I notice they do presume that one's accent is static, and accent's aren't, at least according to my descriptive English instructor. I know my own accent can vary from the blue-collar, small-town Central Illinois accent I grew up with ("Southern" to people from Northern Illinois) to white-collar, educated middle-class small-city Central Illinois. They're recruiting for samples, if anyone is interested in contributing.
I notice they do presume that one's accent is static, and accent's aren't, at least according to my descriptive English instructor. I know my own accent can vary from the blue-collar, small-town Central Illinois accent I grew up with ("Southern" to people from Northern Illinois) to white-collar, educated middle-class small-city Central Illinois. They're recruiting for samples, if anyone is interested in contributing.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Google Book Search Bibliography
One of the listservs I still get from my GSLIS days has semi-frequent posts of links to bibliographies. Today's is The Google Book Search Bibliography, Version 2 from Digital Scholarship.
I had forgotten (so quickly!) how much fuss was made about fair use and copyright when the project first started. The majority of the books, magazine and journal articles, and few white papers that he sites are from 2005-6, with only six from 2008.
Ironically the bibliography itself can be seen to highlight the drawbacks of Google Search. Most people, myself included, go first to Google or another search engine to find information about a subject. Unfortunately, with all Google's algorithms, they still cannot return a clear, concise list such as this one. Although if you search for Google Book Search Bibliography, this is the first return.
I had forgotten (so quickly!) how much fuss was made about fair use and copyright when the project first started. The majority of the books, magazine and journal articles, and few white papers that he sites are from 2005-6, with only six from 2008.
Ironically the bibliography itself can be seen to highlight the drawbacks of Google Search. Most people, myself included, go first to Google or another search engine to find information about a subject. Unfortunately, with all Google's algorithms, they still cannot return a clear, concise list such as this one. Although if you search for Google Book Search Bibliography, this is the first return.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
LJ Interview with Harvard's OA Architect
LJ's Academic Newswire today features an interview with Stuart Shieber, In New Job, Harvard Professor Downplays the Role of “Revolutionary”.
Highlights:
He is fostering a relationship with Harvard University Press in an effort to support the mandate. HUP is in the process of starting up an "open-access, faculty-edited journal,The Journal of Legal Analysis.
Ambiguous quote: "Authors don't get underwriting help from the library when they publish in OA journals, while they do from publishing in subscription-based journals," he explains. To put OA and subscription journals on a "level playing field," he suggests, "you'd want to underwrite OA journals just as you do subscription journals." Wouldn't a library (or journal otherwise underwritten by readers) be a subscription journal? I realize advertising, author fees, and donations are also forms of underwriting, but I found the quote confusing.
Highlights:
He is fostering a relationship with Harvard University Press in an effort to support the mandate. HUP is in the process of starting up an "open-access, faculty-edited journal,The Journal of Legal Analysis.
Ambiguous quote: "Authors don't get underwriting help from the library when they publish in OA journals, while they do from publishing in subscription-based journals," he explains. To put OA and subscription journals on a "level playing field," he suggests, "you'd want to underwrite OA journals just as you do subscription journals." Wouldn't a library (or journal otherwise underwritten by readers) be a subscription journal? I realize advertising, author fees, and donations are also forms of underwriting, but I found the quote confusing.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Microformats -- Standards by Any Other Name
From WebMonkey (via Wired).
Apparently early reports from Mozilla suggested that Firefox 3 would support MicroFormatting--the ability for your favorite calendar, contacts, and other programs to read data from websites. Unfortunately there appear to be no standards (metadata or otherwise) for this yet, so no one is sure how to make it happen.
All I can say is please. This should be so awesome when it happens (presuming it is opt-in, and companies can only mine the data with permission).
Apparently early reports from Mozilla suggested that Firefox 3 would support MicroFormatting--the ability for your favorite calendar, contacts, and other programs to read data from websites. Unfortunately there appear to be no standards (metadata or otherwise) for this yet, so no one is sure how to make it happen.
All I can say is please. This should be so awesome when it happens (presuming it is opt-in, and companies can only mine the data with permission).
Web Users "Selfish"
OnlineMediaDaily linked to this story from the BBC online: Web users 'getting more ruthless.' According to the story, Jakob Nielsen's research shows that people are distracted less by the traditional tools websites use to hold their attention.
I wonder if this isn't a function of the changing use of the web. It is no longer a novelty, and fewer of us spend time "surfing" for fun. "They" wanted the web used for commerce--"they" should not be surprised when people treat it like a business experience. Get in, get out, with as little time and money wasted as possible.
So, my lesson learned is to make it even easier for our customers to get what they want, and take a chance that they'll leave early, but satisfied, and possibly more likely to return.
I wonder if this isn't a function of the changing use of the web. It is no longer a novelty, and fewer of us spend time "surfing" for fun. "They" wanted the web used for commerce--"they" should not be surprised when people treat it like a business experience. Get in, get out, with as little time and money wasted as possible.
So, my lesson learned is to make it even easier for our customers to get what they want, and take a chance that they'll leave early, but satisfied, and possibly more likely to return.
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