Terry Jones TOC 2011 slidesPresentation Transcript
The Futureof Publishing is Writable Terry Jones terry@fluidinfo.com @terrycojones
A talk in four acts I. working with information II. A writable book API III. Hugh & Brian IV. Food for thought
Act IWorking with information
Information in the wild Think as generally as possible about publishing: not just print, not just digital Information publication and communication in natural systems Books as a special case
An asynchronousinformation storeWith a wonderfuluser interface!
Cross-building communication via Post-it notes
unanticipated
http://twitter.com/novaspivack/status/4999653280
terry/rating 89 books/title The Sound & The Fury books/author William Faulknerterry/i-own books/ISBN 0075536668terry/read tim/current-page 224no owner! barnesandnoble.com/price $18 amazon.com/price $19alexlines/opinion One of his classics!
With an openly writable object for everything augment personalize search filter share organize
Image credits• Disparity http://www.flickr.com/photos/layos/2380773810/sizes/o/• Matilda http://www.flickr.com/photos/evelynishere/2680876172/• Bookmark http://www.flickr.com/photos/s3a/4081809238/• Topless http://www.flickr.com/photos/bearpark/2741212476/• Message http://www.business-supply.com/tops-duplicate-important-message-book_2005839.html• Portcullis http://www.flickr.com/photos/pablobm/101259169/• Toilet http://www.flickr.com/photos/adelcambre/4533404029/• Hand http://www.flickr.com/photos/exalthim/2049427002/• Cross building communication http://www.flickr.com/photos/schill/5416710009/• Dog http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccord/15875561/• Switch http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwichary/2356651346/• Locks http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiaramarra/1048662923/• Unanticipated http://www.flickr.com/photos/broaddus/3545402148/• Silo http://www.flickr.com/photos/kahala/2922931033/• Bulletin board http://www.flickr.com/photos/24593687@N02/4923883743/• Twitter bird http://www.flickr.com/photos/methodologie/4371620010/• Encyclopedia http://www.flickr.com/photos/bostontx/4461314652/
books/title The Sound & The Furyterry/rating 9 books/author William Faulknerterry/i-own books/ISBN 0075536668terry/read vintage.com/epub .... tim/current-page 224 andy/current-page 17no owner! amazon.com/price $19 barnesandnoble.com/price $18alexlines/opinion One of his classics!
Flui!nfoAn object for everythingPermissions at the level of the tagDomain names on dataUniversal metadata engineA bit like Wikipedia, but for data
Act IIa writable book API
Act IIIHugh & Brian
Book APIs & Containers The line between book and Internet will disappear Hugh McGuire http://oreil.ly/hugh-line Context first Brian O’Leary http://j.mp/brian-context
Book APIs “The inevitability of truly connected books and why publishers need APIs.”The line between book and Internet will disappearHugh McGuire http://oreil.ly/hugh-line
Book APIs “An API is ... what smart web companies build so that other innovative companies and developers can build tools and services on top of their underlying databases and services.”The line between book and Internet will disappearHugh McGuire http://oreil.ly/hugh-line
Book APIs “We are a long, long way from publishers thinking of themselves as API providers -- as the API for the books they publish. But we’ve seen countless times that value grows when data is opened up (sometimes selectively) to the world ... That is where book publishing is going. Eventually.”The line between book and Internet will disappearHugh McGuire http://oreil.ly/hugh-line
Book APIs “I don’t know exactly what an API for books would look like, nor do I know exactly what it means. I dont know what smart things people will start to do when books are truly of the Internet. But I do know that it will happen, and the ‘Future of Publishing’ has something to do with this. The current world of ebooks is just a transition to a digitally connected book publishing ecosystem that won’t look anything like the book world we live in now.”The line between book and Internet will disappearHugh McGuire http://oreil.ly/hugh-line
Context, containers & APIs “the current workflow hierarchy – container first, limiting content and context – is already outdated. To compete digitally, we must start with context and preserve its connection to content ... We must start to open up access, making it possible for readers to discover and consume our content within and across digital realms.”Context FirstBrian O’Leary http://j.mp/brian-context
Context, containers & APIs “In a limited market, our editors became skilled in making decisions about what would be published. Now, in an era of abundance, editors have inherited a new and fundamentally different role: figuring out how ‘what is published’ will be discovered. To serve that new role, we must reverse our publishing paradigm. We need to start with context and develop and maintain rich, linked, digital content.”Context FirstBrian O’Leary http://j.mp/brian-context
Context, containers & APIs “In a digital realm, true content solutions are increasingly built with open APIs, something containers are pretty bad at. APIs provide users with a roadmap that lets them customize their content consumption. Open up your API, I contend, or someone else will. Many current audiences (and all future ones) live in an open and accessible environment. They expect to be able to look under the hood, mix and match chunks of content and create, seamlessly, something of their own.”Context FirstBrian O’Leary http://j.mp/brian-context
Context, containers & APIs “Stories like this one ... have led me to see piracy as the consequence of a bad API. 16 years olds expect access, or they invent it. The future of content involves giving readers access to the rules, tools and opportunities of contextually rich content, so that they can engage with it on their own terms. And whether they say it just like this or not, readers WANT good APIs.”Context FirstBrian O’Leary http://j.mp/brian-context
Context, containers & APIs “Context can’t be just a preference or an afterthought any more. Early and deep tagging is a search reality. In structural terms, our content fits search conventions, or it will not be referenced. And in contextual terms, our content needs to be deeply and consistently tagged, or it will face an increasingly tough time being found. We can’t afford to build context into content after the fact.”Context FirstBrian O’Leary http://j.mp/brian-context
Act IVFood for thought
Bullets!The awkwardness is (ubiquitous) in thedigital world tooThe solution is not another applicationInstead: openly-writable storage (cf thenatural world & concepts)Data vs metadata: a dead-end in informationarchitecture; non-existent in the real world
Bullets!Evolution trumps ontology (in informationarchitecture)Asynchronous data protocolsPersonalization & customization: should bein our hands, not on our behalfOpenly writable objects change many things(e.g. information organization)
A little math(Read-only) containers < APIs (Brian)
A little math(Read-only) containers < APIs (Brian)APIs < writable APIs (Terry)
A little math(Read-only) containers < APIs (Brian)APIs < writable APIs (Terry)
A little math(Read-only) containers < APIs (Brian)APIs < writable APIs (Terry)Writable API = Writable container (Peace on earth?)
The Futureof Publishing is Writable Terry Jones terry@fluidinfo.com @terrycojones
Flui!nfo Inc. NYC start-up Fantastic set of investors making the world writable http://fluidinfo.com
Nicola Cavalli