Entries tagged with “services” from Tools of Change for Publishing

BBC Shifts Conversation Style: Go Where They're Already Talking

Peter Brantley
October 13, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

I think this deserves to be pondered. BBC News is moving away from merely hosting comments to inciting discussion in a variety of formats and locations. From Reportr.net:

For the US presidential debates, it [the BBC] has opened channels on video services Qik, 12Seconds and Phreadz. Some of the videos were subsequently edited and posted on the BBC News website.

The purpose, explains [BBC Editor] Matthew Eltringham, is "to join in conversations wherever they were happening rather than expect people to come to us and host them on the BBC's platforms."

This is a major change in the BBC's approach to user-generated content. It signals a shift away from the idea that the BBC should host the conversation. [Link added]

Related Stories:

• Tricky Relationship Between Mainstream Media and Citizen Journalism
• Cautious Optimism for Britannica's Hybrid Web Community
• Web Community Management Tips
• Maintaining a Web Community is as Hard as Building One
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Open Question: Digital Ownership vs. Digital Subscriptions

Mac Slocum
October 1, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (12) | Listen

Two tips in Dear Author's recent post "10 Things Epublishers Should Do for Readers" caught my attention:

1. Eternal Bookshelf. An eternal bookshelf means that every purchase you have bought can be downloaded at any time. Most of the larger etailers have this feature but not all.

2. Mass Downloads. Along with the eternal bookshelf should be the ability to re-download all of your books. This is necessary in the case of a computer crash or some other computer related malfunction.

The focus on ownership is interesting, particularly since the concept of "owning" a digital file is inherently quirky. You can purchase and download books, music, TV shows, movies and software, but the tangible qualities of ownership don't apply in the digital realm. You don't categorize your digital movie collection on a DVD shelf and you don't thumb through a just-purchased ebook.

There's a weird dichotomy at play here. Many people (myself included) have come to terms with the ambiguous aspects of digital purchases, but a significant portion (again, myself included) gravitate toward digital ownership over digital subscriptions (e.g. the iTunes model vs. the Rhapsody model). The only clear difference between these models is access: purchased files are accessed from your local storage, subscriptions are accessed from a company's servers. But if your chosen material is available through your chosen device at your chosen time, does ownership really matter?

I'm interested in hearing how members of the TOC Community view the differences between ownership and subscriptions. Here's a few questions toward that end:

• Do you purchase digital content and store it on your own devices?
• Do you expect retailers to allow you to download additional copies of your purchased content?
• Do you subscribe to digital content?
• What would it take for you to switch from ownership to subscription?

Please share your thoughts in the comments area.

Related Stories:

• Commentary: Apple Could Own the Ebook Category
• Science Publisher Offers Digital Subscription to Books
• Amazon Ups the Ante on Platform Lock-In
• The Kindle, the Cloud and Mixed Signals
• Cloud Computing's Potential Impact on Publishing

Science Publisher Offers Digital Subscription to Books

Mac Slocum
April 15, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Life-sciences publisher CABI is making its front-file titles (2005-2008) available through an annual digital subscription. The PDF-based collection is launching with 140 titles and CABI expects this to increase to 200 by the end of the year.

Digital subscription services have already been well received in the tech and business industries: Safari Books Online is O'Reilly's third-largest reseller. (Disclosure: TOC is a division within O'Reilly Media.)