BrambletyePublishing

I’ve been asked to talk to the MA Publishing students at the University of the Arts in London again. In the past I’ve focussed more on the mechanics of digital publishing, outlining what the process of putting content online looks like and that has gone down very well. This time, though, I’m thinking that it might be interesting to address other angles as well.

One way of coming at it could be by looking at what issues are we trying to solve by making it available digitally in the first place. Of course it’s about protecting revenue streams, and of finding new ones, but there’s also the opportunities to enhance the offering, through linked data, other media, better pedagogical support, and by working with the community of users. Each of these force us to look back at the objectives of the publishing project, perhaps modify them, and assess whether we can get the technology to deliver.

I’m also mindful of the changes in the way that the spaces we work in are being re-described. Not only does “publishing” as an activity now seem to cover a much broader range of people and content than was the case, say thirty years ago, but I know I’ve described myself as an “information professional” on occasion, and we attend trade shows which focus on “Online Information” and “Knowledge Management”. While these labels have their purpose, they’re not synonymous with “publishing”; not all publishing is informational and fact-based. There’s the whole evaluative and narrative side to content as well, and that doesn’t respond to the same kind of digital treatment as patents, dictionaries and pharmaceutical data.

Furthermore, in thinking about the transition from print to online, though the benefits can be considerable, what are we in danger of losing? Is it important? If we wind the clock back a bit further, in previous transitions, be it from manuscript to print, or indeed from oral culture to the written, what was lost then? And, if they might be important, could those features too be reinstated in some form in a digital universe?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, and if you know of some useful materials that I could read around this whole area, please let me know or add a comment.

I’m not at all surprised by the news item in today’s Bookseller¹ that the move to digital technologies has revealed a major skill gap in the publishing industry. It feels like that has been the case for a long time. Over the past few years, I’ve often commented on the limited extent of the expertise in digital technologies in some major publishing houses, who tend to outsource almost everything.

Outsourcing is no bad thing; it’s what publishers do, and it works well. But, in the digital domain, if done to excess it can feel as though the publisher abdicates responsibility for their digital business, placing in the hands of a third party technology company, thereby letting the technology drive the business, rather than the other way round.

I’m certainly a beneficiary of that outsourcing, and my current clutch of clients tend to be among those publishers who have a good range of skills for electronic publishing, but even they would admit that there are always holes and gaps in understanding and practice that get pushed to one side amid the daily routine of getting new products to market.

I can understand some of the gaps. After all, why would many publishers want to get too heavily involved with XML schemas, but at least some basic XML knowledge should be mandatory these days, if only for fixing typos.

So, I’d be interested to know where you see the gaps, either in your own skill-set, of your business, or of some of your competitors?

1. Neilan, Catherine. “Digital skills gap now ‘critical’ for publishers.” 14 August 2009. The Bookseller. http://www.thebookseller.com/news/94322-digital-skills-gap-now-critical-for-publishers.html.rss. The Skillset report was also the basis of a piece in the Guardian, though its headline seems to have somewhat misrepresented the substance of the findings: Holmwood, Leigh. “Literacy level of recruits now a major concern for media, report finds.” 13 August 2009. The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/13/literacy-concerns-media-recruits-skillset-report