Slides from "The Future of Publishing is Writable" talk by Terry Jones of Fluidinfo at the O'Reilly TOC conference, New York, Feb 15 2011.

1. The Future
of Publishing
is Writable
Terry Jones
terry@fluidinfo.com
@terrycojones

2. A talk in four acts
I. working with information
II. A writable book API
III. Hugh & Brian
IV. Food for thought

3. Act I
Working with
information

4. 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

10. disparity & opportunity
terry@fluidinfo.com
@terrycojones

14. Post-it notes are blank
But it wasn’t always so

16. An asynchronous
information store
With a wonderful
user interface!

18. Cross-building communication via Post-it notes

22. unanticipated

26. http://twitter.com/novaspivack/status/4999653280

27. terry/rating 89 books/title The Sound & The Fury
books/author William Faulkner
terry/i-own
books/ISBN 0075536668
terry/read
tim/current-page 224
no owner! barnesandnoble.com/price $18
amazon.com/price $19
alexlines/opinion One of his classics!

28. With an openly writable object for everything
augment personalize
search filter
share organize

30. 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/

31. books/title The Sound & The Fury
terry/rating 9
books/author William Faulkner
terry/i-own
books/ISBN 0075536668
terry/read vintage.com/epub ....
tim/current-page 224
andy/current-page 17
no owner! amazon.com/price $19
barnesandnoble.com/price $18
alexlines/opinion One of his classics!

32. Flui!nfo
An object for everything
Permissions at the level of the tag
Domain names on data
Universal metadata engine
A bit like Wikipedia, but for data

33. Act II
a writable book API

34. Act III
Hugh & Brian

35. 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

36. Book APIs
“The inevitability of truly connected
books and why publishers need APIs.”
The line between book and Internet will disappear
Hugh McGuire http://oreil.ly/hugh-line

37. 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 disappear
Hugh McGuire http://oreil.ly/hugh-line

38. 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 disappear
Hugh McGuire http://oreil.ly/hugh-line

39. Book APIs
“I don’t know exactly what an API for books
would look like, nor do I know exactly what it
means.
I don't 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 disappear
Hugh McGuire http://oreil.ly/hugh-line

40. 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 First
Brian O’Leary http://j.mp/brian-context

41. 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 First
Brian O’Leary http://j.mp/brian-context

42. 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 First
Brian O’Leary http://j.mp/brian-context

43. 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 First
Brian O’Leary http://j.mp/brian-context

44. 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 First
Brian O’Leary http://j.mp/brian-context

45. Act IV
Food for thought

47. Bullets!
The awkwardness is (ubiquitous) in the
digital world too
The solution is not another application
Instead: openly-writable storage (cf the
natural world & concepts)
Data vs metadata: a dead-end in information
architecture; non-existent in the real world

49. Bullets!
Evolution trumps ontology (in information
architecture)
Asynchronous data protocols
Personalization & customization: should be
in our hands, not on our behalf
Openly writable objects change many things
(e.g. information organization)

50. A little math
(Read-only) containers < APIs (Brian)

51. A little math
(Read-only) containers < APIs (Brian)
APIs < writable APIs (Terry)

52. A little math
(Read-only) containers < APIs (Brian)
APIs < writable APIs (Terry)

53. A little math
(Read-only) containers < APIs (Brian)
APIs < writable APIs (Terry)
Writable API = Writable container
(Peace on earth?)

54. The Future
of Publishing
is Writable
Terry Jones
terry@fluidinfo.com
@terrycojones

55. Flui!nfo Inc.
NYC start-up
Fantastic set of investors
making the world writable
http://fluidinfo.com

56. Image credits
Ignite http://www.flickr.com/photos/avianto/5165236237/
Tuesday http://www.layoutchef.com/Images/Weekday/
Tuesday/
February http://alexbellos.com/
15 http://www.pistachiofestival.info/Vendors.html
Bullets http://www.flickr.com/photos/amandalynnl/
4689474346/
Many bullets http://www.flickr.com/photos/ayton/
36538786/