3. Publishing becomes an ecosystem.
Random House finds people on YouTube and turns them into
writers. They spend $500,000 on a DJ with twitter followers,
not $10,000 on a new writer. Publishers repurpose the book for
film, tv, games, comic strip, etc. An monocrop ecosystem.
Polyfoil books can be linked across subfields and subject
areas, across geographic loci, genres and traditions, concerns
and positions. They join wielders of precision instruments who
didn't know their uncommon strategies had similarities. They
bridge isolated voices with congruent messages. A rich
ecosystem.
Polyfoil generators will be navigators and diplomats, leading
readers on bridges. They'll step in the breach between
concepts that resonate, tell us why, and start 2 or 10 page
digressions to another text, a voyage of explanation. Such
linkers will be sought after by publishers, writers, and readers.
Ecosystems: Exploratory Voyages
4. An editor at Routledge may be fortunate enough to work on
"The Politics of Conspiracy" by Jeffrey Bale. The editor notices
Mr. Bale's analysis discusses information that misleads citi-
zens. These themes are in another Routledge book, Michael
Schermer's "The Believing Brain." Schermer explores Theory of
Mind, how people infer the inner dispositions of others, even in
complete ignorance. If people feel anxiety or fear of their own
imaginings, they find it difficult to change the inferences they've
drawn from them.
Routledge also has titles on Machiavelli. The Polyfoil editor
writes a bridge from chapters in Bale's and Schermer's books to
Robert Black's Machiavelli. They target his advise to princes
that fear works best to organize compliant societies. If a polit-
ician uses public fear to get support, what happens if the fear is
misplaced? Then it's a false belief. The conspiracy believer
holds false beliefs, especially when he can't evaluate sources.
Theory of Mind shows how these false beliefs strengthen. The
reader travels from Bale to Schermer to Machiavelli, then
returns to Bale, or stays at a way station. Readers explore
Schermer or Bale further, by purchasing from Routledge.
How to Make an Ecosystem
5. E Pluribus Unum Polyfoil
Three Routledge book sections that a
Polyfoil editor links:
It's hard to judge
information sources.
Leaders frighten us, fears
take hold, and we follow.Whatstirsimaginationleads
tostrongconvictions.
107
6. Although publishers have incentives to build Polyfoil ecosystems,
most lack the titles. An ecosystem connects many different
documents, but they're linked by subject and sensibility. General
publishers spread titles across many subjects. If too sparse, an
ecosystem can't take root. Any publisher with a significant fraction of
important subject titles becomes a knowledge warehouse. This is
also the definition of an academic library.
Amazon's list of top 100 books on Machiavelli contains 70 or so
translations, with the rest original interpretations. Of these 30, 12
were published in the 21st century, by 11 different presses.
Academic libraries are the natural vector for the most extensive,
authentic Polyfoil ecosystems. As editors can be elevated as meta-
editors by their bridging role, Polyfoil ecosystems offer librarians
new influence as meta-librarians. Of course libraries will determine
their function when they adopt Polyfoils. But librarians are positioned
within interdisciplinary networks. Academic libraries seek a new,
integrative role as learning platforms. Students need guidance
navigating the information tsunami. TGFP – Thank God For Polyfoils.
Polyfoil Ecosystems are Libraries
7. Academic libraries are ahead of the curve. They appreciate that
new research modes emerge, having been created by one over a
century ago. Before the 1880s students requested books rather
than browsed. Book storage was idiosyncratic. But browsing has
great research advantages. Dewey's classification system pos-
itions similar subjects in proximity, which makes browsing feasable.
Now libraries face new challenges, chief among them Google –
whose algorithm is based on a university library database system.
Libararies must be proactive. Polyfoil ecosystems can be key.
According to the ACRL1 “changing paradigms of knowledge
production, expanding sources and modes of dissemination, faster
and broader accessibility to a growing range of information – all
have the ring of entrepreneurial opportunity. Changes in technology
and modes of academic work create new kinds of needs that
libraries can help fulfill."
"Libraries and their staffs will become increasingly important as
navigational guides ... linking users to a range of digital information
available to a user community."
1Association of College & Research Libraries
Academic Libraries Await Polyfoils
8. Individual documents are independent content vehicles, of one
or many authors. To invoke a link between two documents
requires tact. While a publisher can breach document
boundaries by fiat, a library depends on good will. Over 100
years ago, Dewey, of decimal system fame, wrote “tact is 2 to
1 more important than talent” in a librarian. Tact was
“thoughtful”; today it's “mindful.”
In the 19th century Librarians enriched collections. In the 20th
they facilited the use of collections. In the 21st Polyfoil will
empower Librarians, and Librarians Polyfoil. They will create
bridges between documents, for a networked collective.
Do library Masters degree programs develop comprehensive
discourse strategies, empowering Librarians to write bridging
passages between documents? They will have to. Librarians
can work with graduate and senior students, and scholars in
various departments, organizing them to write bridges.
Librarians will supervise, mindful of knowledge levels, egos,
and patron needs.
Polyfoil Trail Blazers
9. Polyfoil Librarians' New Roles
Definition
Traditional
Librarian:
A guardian
of collected
documents.
Sign of Polyfoil
Librarian: Trailblazer
A leader of
digital con-
nections
between
documents.
Definition
Polyfoil
Librarian:
Sign of Traditional
Librarian: Lender
10. Stereotypes: Please Break
Stereotypes generate reality, as personality types gravitate towards
professions with stereotyped behavior their personality suits. In the
1960s Robert Douglass studied Librarians, and claimed they bore
“many of the traits ... that are not those most closely associated with
or productive of forceful leadership, distinguished scholarship,
imaginative research, or other highly creative attainments.”
Well, that'll change.
In the 1960s DC comics intro-
duced Barbara Gordon, Head Lib-
rarian of Gotham's Main Library,
also known as Batgirl. That lifted
librarians to journalist status
(Superman's day job.)
Then came real life Nancy Pearl,
whose fame spread as Seattle
Library's Director. A Seattle firm
made her an action figure. She
said"the role of a librarian is to
make sense of the world of infor-
mation. If that’s not a qualification
for superhero-dom, what is?"
