The economics of information, tekom/tcworld 2011

Sarah O’Keefe, Scriptorium Publishing

background image
ﬂickr: thelastminute

Saturday, October 22, 2011

❖ Founder and president, Scriptorium
Publishing
❖ Content strategy for
technical communication
❖ Interested in collision of
content, publishing, and
technology


❖ My ID: @sarahokeefe
❖ Scriptorium: @ScriptoriumTech
❖ #tekom11 for the conference


Flickr: arnold

Hillesund, Terje. "Reading Books in the Digital Age subsequent to Amazon, Google and the long tail"
First Monday [Online],Volume 12 Number 9 (3 September 2007). Retrieved on June 30, 2011.


reading writing

distribution production

representation storing

Hillesund, Terje. "Reading Books in the Digital Age subsequent to Amazon, Google and the long tail"
First Monday [Online],Volume 12 Number 9 (3 September 2007). Retrieved on June 30, 2011.


reading writing




reading (consumption) writing (authoring)




Flickr: theleggett

Flickr: stevecadman

Flickr: tm-tm

❖ Hand-copied manuscripts
❖ Every copy unique and usually
commissioned for a speciﬁc buyer
❖ Years-long process to make a copy
❖ Great artistic achievements


Flickr: spleeney

Flickr: munksynz

❖ Printed books
❖ Years-long process to set up press; but
unlimited copies possible
❖ Craft rather than art


Flickr: pathawks

Flickr/kellymccarthy

Rosenwald Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division (1)


Head First Java, Kathy Sierra

http://idsgn.org/posts/award-winning-print-design-from-cannes-lions-2010/

Image: hanselman.com

Flickr: bradipo

❖ Printers
❖ Literacy
❖ Information becomes
accessible
❖ Newspapers, but not
for 150 years


❖ Scribes
❖ Illuminators
❖ Censorship
❖ Political control


12,000,000

8,000,000

4,000,000

0

pre-Gutenberg
50 years after Gutenberg
http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/educator/modules/gutenberg/books/legacy/


400

300
2002
2003 200
2004
2005
2006 100
2007
2008 0
2009
2010 (through Oct)

http://idpf.org/about-us/industry-statistics

Amazon tablet announcement, September 28, 2011
Silicon Alley Insider: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-09-28/tech/

❖ iPad tablet publishing didn’t exist three
years old.
❖ Kindle publishing didn’t exist ﬁve years
ago.
❖ What can we expect?


I Love Lucy, The Candy Wrapping Job, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uztA6JCKB4s


❖ Reusable components
❖ Layers
❖ Pay attention to localization issues


Google Analytics


❖ Content storage and representation are
often tied together. Exceptions:
❖ Text-to-speech functionality
❖ Animation with layers
❖ Need the ability to separate audio and
video into cycle components


<note>
<pitch>
<step>G</step>
<alter>1</alter>
<octave>5</octave>
</pitch>
<duration>2</duration>
<voice>1</voice>
<type>eighth</type>
<accidental>sharp</accidental>
<stem>down</stem>
<beam number="1">end</beam>
<notations>
<slur type="stop" number="1"/>
</notations>
</note>

ﬂickr: pﬂy

❖ Separate roles and responsibilities
❖ Publishing velocity
❖ Customizing content


Flickr/kossy

hubblesite.org

16

12

Copy 4 8
Copy 3
Copy 2
Copy 1
4

Before Gutenberg
Gutenberg 0
XML

“There was 5 exabytes of information
created between the dawn of
civilization through 2003, but that
much information is now created every
two days, and the pace is increasing…
People aren’t ready for the technology
revolution that’s going to happen to
them.”
Eric Schmidt, Google
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_ceo_schmidt_people_arent_ready_for_the_tech.php


http://www.behance.net/gallery/Honest-logos/1222137

❖ Hand-copied books
❖ Generally commissioned
❖ Often customized for the buyer
❖ Gutenberg Bible
❖ 42 lines of standard printing
❖ Customized illumination


Geoffrey Luttrell


Flickr: kellymccarthy

google.de

❖ How do you navigate an interactive
e-book?
❖ The page number conundrum
❖ Faceted search
❖ Social search


❖ “It is hard to imagine today, but one of
the greatest contributions of e-books may
eventually be in improving literacy and
education in less-developed countries.
Today people in poor countries cannot
afford to buy books and rarely have
access to a library.”
(Bill Gates, 1999)


❖ Distribution is now free.
❖ All text cycle components are separated
for text, but not other content.
❖ Look for technical advances that
improve separation for other content.
❖ In the near term, expect an explosion of
cheap text.


Flickr: bikerjun

❖ Sarah O'Keefe
❖ www.scriptorium.com
❖ okeefe@scriptorium.com
❖ Twitter: @sarahokeefe
❖ +1 919 459 5362


The economics of information, tekom/tcworld 2011

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