2 results
2 - The digital information marketplace and its economics: the end of exclusivity
-
- By Richard Withey, Richard has recently stepped down as global director of interactive media for Independent News & Media PLC (INM), a position held since May 2002.
- Edited by David Nicholas, Ian Rowlands
-
- Book:
- Digital Consumers
- Published by:
- Facet
- Published online:
- 08 June 2018
- Print publication:
- 23 August 2008, pp 13-34
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Summary
The digital change does not just concern information. It permeates every aspect of life, from the way we study, learn and educate, to the way we shop, acquire information, gossip, interact, find partners and accumulate wealth. So why not take into account all aspects of communication in deciding which way to go with the services being provided? Business models that have long supported the information industry by creating an audience and methods of delivery are undergoing seismic (some would argue cataclysmic) change, so those who ignore it do so at their peril. Too many years ago, the author, as a fresh-faced library school student, was required to study the workings of the book publishing industry, even to the extent of setting up and printing pages from a hand-press, and learning the meaning of terms such as verso, flyleaf, copyright and perfect binding. The recipients of these black arts were then known as readers, united by a commonality of interest largely unchanged since the days when Wynkyn de Worde, from his press below St Brides, published 25 books in a single year (1509, a year of uncommonly good gossip). The exclusivity created by the ownership of the printing press is over and gone forever. This chapter explains why that matters.
The changing world of publishing
The current threats and opportunities faced by traditional print news and media publishers in the face of digital delivery and content generation systems and applications are becoming well documented, though still subject to some dispute within the publishing industries. Notably, the same debates are taking place in the magazine, broadcasting, book and music publishing markets with equal ferocity. One thing characterizes all of these industries, however, and that is the level of structural change being brought about by the changing nature of the consumer. These industries, having flourished for many decades by understanding very well their own market segments and exploiting their differences, are looking more and more like each other, and the effects of these market breakdowns will prove to be seismic. A student of any of these industries, when asked the fundamental question: ‘What is broadcasting?’, ‘What is consumer publishing?’, ‘What is music publishing?’ or ‘What is book publishing?’ would find it much more difficult to answer that question in 2008 than they would have in, say 1988.
1 - The digital consumer: an introduction and philosophy
-
- By David Nicholas, David is the Director of UCL SLAIS. He is also the Director of the UCL Centre for Publishing and a Director of the CIBER research group. He is a member of the British Library Research Board and editor of Aslib Proceedings., Ian Rowlands, Ian is Reader in Publishing at UCL SLAIS and an active member of the UCL Centre for Publishing and CIBER., Richard Withey, Richard has recently stepped down as global director of interactive media for Independent News & Media PLC (INM), a position held since May 2002., Tom Dobrowolski, Tom is a senior lecturer and Head of Postgraduate Studies at the Institute of Information Science and Book Studies, Warsaw University, the largest Information School in Poland.
- Edited by David Nicholas, Ian Rowlands
-
- Book:
- Digital Consumers
- Published by:
- Facet
- Published online:
- 08 June 2018
- Print publication:
- 23 August 2008, pp 1-12
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
We have chosen the title of this book with care, adopting the more general ‘digital consumer’ rather than the more specific ‘digital information consumer’ descriptor in recognition of the fact that, although the book focuses on the behaviour of people visiting the virtual space for information, the internet has redefined and widened the information domain. Because the internet is an encyclopedic, multi-purpose platform that people use, rather like a superstore, to obtain a whole range of things (often at the same time), it is now almost impossible to say what information is and what it is not, what is information seeking and what is not. Being a digital consumer does not simply mean choosing or buying e-documents or information services. Information is also fundamental to the process and success of e-shopping. As Chris Russell in Chapter 3 explains, first a person is a digital information consumer and then an e-buyer. Thus people shopping at the John Lewis e-store will be using the internal search engine to find what they want, navigating through the site employing browsing menus and opening another window on a cross-comparison site to make sure they are getting value for money. It is not surprising therefore that looking for information is one of the two most common web activities – the other is e-mail; the digital consumer is essentially an information consumer. There is another reason for employing the more general form of the descriptor and it is because information seeking is not conducted in a vacuum and many factors shape it. Therefore it is important that it is embedded in a wider world of epublishing, e-shopping and communication theory.
Why this book now?
Because this book is a first, it fills a yawning gap in our professional knowledge and shows us how we can overcome an insularity that is plainly an obstacle to professional development. Amazingly, despite the fact that we are ten years into an information consumer revolution occasioned by the arrival of the internet, which is changing society, education and commerce on a massive and global scale, this is the first time, as far as we can discover, that information or digital consumers have figured in a book title issued by a publisher providing books for the information professions.