An interesting article available free on the web is: Marion, A. and
Hacking, E. (1998). Educational Publishing and the World Wide Web.. Journal
of Interactive Media in Education, 98 (2) available at:
http://www-jime.open.ac.uk/98/2/
Abstract: Publishers have long had an important role in education, producing
books and other learning materials. Today, the publisher's role is changing
fast with the platform evolution from stand-alone to networked computers.
Print and the Web are compared, demonstrating that they will remain
complementary. The publishers' traditional Value Chain is linear and
one-way; it is operative in a stable, predictable environment, and
accommodates mass production. This traditional Value Chain is evolving into
a new Value Circle, which is iterative, with shorter product cycles,
interaction between customers, authors and publishers to develop products
and services, and "mass customization". Today, custom publishing efforts are
already well underway. However, critical solutions are required for handling
rights, royalties, and intellectual property protection; publishers are
developing the Digital Object Identifier, new licensing standards, and
experimenting with copy protection technologies. Key opportunities in
emerging technology are discussed, including Metadata and query enhancement;
work flow analysis and new tools that capture pedagogy; and contact
management systems to capture and support customers. The emergence of
repositories of software such as the Educational Object Economy are
critiqued, with recommendations made for facilitation of electronic
commerce. We review some basic business considerations. Our perspective is
based on college publishing, the focus of the E/W Consortium on Authoring
Tools, but all segments of publishing face similar concerns.
Keywords: education, publishing, textbook, college, licensing, copyright,
faculty authors, faculty development, custom publishing, Digital Object
Identifier (DOI), community, technology adoption, learning platform,
networked computer, learning architecture, authoring tool, community of
practice, Educational Object Economy (EOE), Value Chain, component
architecture, interoperability, metadata, work flow, pedagogy, and contact
management system.
Cybercollegially,
Charlie Wankel
St. John's University--New York City
listmaster mg-ed-dv
wankelc@stjohns.edu