The 2012 ALA TechSource Midwinter Tech Wrap-up was a huge success. We had great presentations from our panel, and great participation from our audience.
If you missed the event, or want to experience it again, you can view the video archive of the event here.
Again, the URL for the archive is: https://alapublishing.webex.com/alapublishing/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=EC&rID=4742212&rKey=1b36dc291d7a1f59
The slides from all panelists are below.
ALA TechSource 2012 Midwinter Tech Wrapup: Jason Griffey
ALA TechSource 2012 Midwinter Tech Wrapup: Marshall Breeding
ALA Tech Source 2012 Midwinter Tech Wrapup: Sue Polanka
Apple has decided to attempt yet another media disruption, this time focusing on reinventing the textbook market. This move was foretold in the biography of Steve Jobs, where Walter Isaacson wrote about Jobs:
“He wanted to disrupt the textbook industry, and save the spines of spavined students bearing backpacks by creating electronic texts and curriculum material for the iPad."
The details of the announcement should definitely interest anyone in libraries, but especially school libraries (and, I think, academic libraries as well). The first announcement was the simple fact that Apple is getting into the electronic textbook market, providing tools for making electronic textbooks with rich media embedded and selling them in the iBooks store for the iPad. Apple also announced that they had signed three of the largest producers of textbooks in the US to be partners in the project; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson.
There were three different software products announced as well: iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTuneU for iPad. iBooks 2 gives you access to the textbook store, as well as adding features like highlighting and note-taking, definitions, lesson reviews and study cards. The iTunes U app is a shortcut into the previously iTunes focused iTunes U portal for free curricular content from a number of colleges and universities across the world. iBooks Author is the most interesting of the products, as well as being the one that’s generated the most discussion, almost entirely because of its end-user license agreement.
iBooks Author allows for the creation of media-rich eBooks for the iBook Store, or exportable to PDF or TXT files without the fancy media embeds. Unfortunately for everyone, Apple chose to not support the emerging EPUB3 standard for import and export. This is an Apple-Only playground for the time being, with no import facilities at all. You start from a template, and build out an ebook using tools that are reminiscent of Apple’s own Keynote presentation software...it’s by far the best interface I’ve seen for creating complicated ebooks. It’s a real shame that Apple chose to restrict the output to only working in iBooks...understandable from their point of view, but overall I think the wrong call.
The real controversy comes in the EULA for Author. Included in the agreement is a section that reads:
B. Distribution of your Work. As a condition of this License and provided you are in compliance with its terms, your Work may be distributed as follows:
(i) if your Work is provided for free (at no charge), you may distribute the Work by any available means;
(ii) if your Work is provided for a fee (including as part of any subscription-based product or service), you may only distribute the Work through Apple and such distribution is subject to the following limitations and conditions: (a) you will be required to enter into a separate written agreement with Apple (or an Apple affiliate or subsidiary) before any commercial distribution of your Work may take place; and (b) Apple may determine for any reason and in its sole discretion not to select your Work for distribution.
The commercial clause is the one that has most people worried, and seems to be unique in the world of EULAs. You’d be hard pressed to find another piece of software that limits your ability to sell the output of said program...they exist, but this is far more direct and draconian than any previous license that I’m aware of. For authors who want to use the tool, this locks them into distribution via the iBooks store, which means that libraries and librarians are going to be cut out of purchasing them for collections in any real way. On the other hand, it means that if libraries themselves want to use the tool to produce tools to help users and distribute them for free, they can easily and quickly do so with iBooks Author.
Apple is starting their textbook rollout with titles designed for high school (grades 9-12 in the US), which is surprising given the intense political and educational decision-making that goes into choosing public school textbooks in the US. I had expected them to start with College and University textbooks where the decision to use or not use is almost entirely up to the professor teaching the class. This is almost certainly just a preliminary trial, and I suppose if they hook the high schoolers then the expectation of iPad textbooks might trickle up to the world of higher education.
These are far from a sure thing, but as the last 15 years shows us, it’s not a good bet to bet against Apple when it comes to selling things to consumers. Libraries should be ready to answer questions about these things over the next year or so as Apple tries to make textbooks into another conquest in their personal electronics and services empire.
We just wrapped up the second session of Sarah Houghton and Paul Signorelli’s workshop
Library Analytics: Inspiring Positive Action through Web User Data. The slides for the event are below. Have further questions or comments? Whether you participated in the event or not, feel free to chime in via the comments area below!
Paul and Sarah’s Slides
How Libraries Analyze and Act
Joe Wikert is General Manager & Publisher at O'Reilly Media, Inc., where he manages the sales and editorial groups. He is also Chair of O'Reilly's Tools of Change for Publishers conference (TOC). TOC 2012 is February 13-15 in New York City at the Marriott Marquis Times Square. ALA TechSource readers can save 15 percent by registering with coupon code AMLIB, in addition to discounts offered to librarians.
Joe follows new developments in publishing technology and emerging platform. ALA TechSource asked a few questions to get his perspective on public libraries.
ALA TechSource: Some public libraries are looking at ways they can be developers of content, helping people in their communities publish content of interest to their communities. The "hyper-local" approach. Drawing from your knowledge of start-up publishing platforms, what opportunities do you see for libraries?
Joe Wikert: Just as publishers are being forced to reinvent themselves in the digital age I think it's important for libraries to do the same. Part of that means being prepared to completely abandon any/all of the services you provided before. I like the thought of libraries helping their patrons learn how to effectively develop content, but it shouldn't end there. I think they should also serve as a resource to help them distribute that content. This is a big hole that's missing in the self-publishing space, and libraries have an opportunity to step in and do something about it. Authors who want to self-publish are scratching their heads over which platform to use (e.g., Lulu, AuthorHouse, etc.) Wouldn't it be great if your local library morphed into a resource that helps authors figure that out? And let's not forget about the workshop opportunities that could result from this. Local libraries could have regular sessions covering all aspects of content authoring and distribution (e.g., contracts, rights, writing skills, hiring an editor, cover design, etc.) Thanks to the self-publishing phenomenon we're seeing a lot more people get into the area of content creation and libraries are well-suited to play an important role in it.
ALA TechSource: What is your perspective on the state of social reading? Some libraries are using Goodreads for book clubs, for example. Do you think startup social media platforms might be useful tool for public libraries?
Joe Wikert: I see three issues currently with social reading. First, prospective users need to be convinced there's a reason for it. There's a lot of skepticism out there. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say, "reading is a solitary activity...I don't want it to be social!" There's no question that a great deal of anyone's reading should be out of the social sphere, but what about the rest of their reading activity? There are plenty of times when I'm reading a book about WWII where I'd like to ask someone what they might know about a certain battle or leader. I'd love to be able to ask that question right within the book I'm reading and not be forced to hop out to a browser and search Wikipedia, for example. At other times I'd love to ask someone else who's reading the same book for clarification on something. Nothing beats being able to ask a classmate for help with a problem and the same applies to reading a book. I'm convinced social has a role in reading but we're not there yet. Second, there are too many option. Do I go with Goodreads, as you suggest or Librarything, for example? I've used both and there are plenty of other ones out there. Finally, one of the biggest obstacles I see with social reading now is that it's not built into the ereader app. I read a lot on my Kindle and for me to really engage with social activities while reading I'd need it to be built into the app or device.
ALA TechSource: O'Reilly publishes its ebooks without digital rights management (DRM) and offers subscriptions to a collection (including other publishers' books) in the Safari Books Online. Can you offer a general perspective on this model, its rationale, and results? As a publisher, what's your view of the library marketplace?
Joe Wikert: First of all, I love the library marketplace. As I noted earlier, I think this is a great opportunity for libraries to reinvent themselves and I truly hope they succeed in doing so. Regarding DRM and the Safari model, I'm obviously a big fan of no DRM and digital content subscriptions.
Publishers who are using DRM are saying they don't trust their customers. What an awful message to send. And let's not forget that a DRM model that can't be cracked has yet to be built. DRM is nothing more than false security. Look around at all the ebooks available on torrent sites. Most of them were originally "protected" with DRM. Many others were never even officially released as ebooks but someone took the time to scan in the print version and create an e-version. So even if an uncrackable DRM could be developed, and it can't, illegal ebooks would exist thanks to simple scanning technologies. Given all this, why should publishers use DRM? Not only does it say they don't trust their customers but they have to pay extra for the feature and they limit what the customer can do with that content. What an awful formula. I'm sure you now see why I think DRM needs to completely go away!
Safari is a great model for content subscription. It's mostly based on technology and business content but I could see the same model being successful for other genres too. Amazon is testing this out with their Kindle Owner's Lending Library program. It's a great deal for Amazon and their customers but an awful one for publishers and authors. Why? Amazon has acknowledged in their own press release about the service that they're paying most publishers a simple flat fee for use of their content. So regardless of how popular a given book is in the program that publisher/author's income is capped. I'm as opposed to revenue and royalty caps as I am to DRM. Amazon's model should be like Safari's, which is a pay-for-performance one. The more use a particular book gets the more income that publisher/author receives. It's uncapped, like it should be.
Note: The O'Reilly Radar blog recently posted on web discussions around the mertis of publishers' DRM srategies and the possible threat of being beholden to Amazon. See also Joe's post "The problem with Amazon's Kindle Owners' Lending Library." and his Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog.
