Tag Archives: Digital

Digitising Academic Publishing

How Should We Publish Our Research?

The Creative Conversations Project has been hosting events & panel discussion since 2015 and have decided to publish a series of books based on our findings. Our first publication will be a curated collection of articles expanding upon our research into The New Space of Publishing, which we aim to bring out this summer. One concern for the publication began to take the full attention of the team, how do we disseminate our research to the widest possible audience? To answer this question I composed a mini-project entitled Digitising Academic Publishing, which aims to:

  • Understand the best way Creative Conversations can publish our findings.
  • Contrast traditional and contemporary publishing models to provide a comprehensive understanding of the market.
  • Identify key milestones in the history of academic publishing.
  • Better understand the future of digital academic publishing.

Our publication will take two forms: a physical print (limited print run), which will allow us to explore & understand the particular logistics and aesthetics involved in producing a book as a physical commodity. From this we will gather first hand insight into traditional academic publishing models. The findings will also be published and distributed online allowing us to explore the advent of digital & hybrid publishing models, self-publishing & distribution, as well as digital design & formatting. Publishing online will also present new challenges when trying to reach the widest possible audience.

What Is Academic Publishing?

Academic publishing is the field of publishing which distributes academic findings and research. This can be done in a number of ways (for full description see the appendix at the bottom of the page).

The purpose of academic publishing is attributed to its conception. Now over 350 years old the first academic journals, The Royal Society of London’s Philosophical Transactions and the French published Journal des Sçavans aimed to capitalise and document the scientific revolution that was occurring[1]. The widespread dissemination of knowledge provided the foundation for the industrial revolution and widespread growth, fueling the overall keen interest in science, history and the arts, that preceded it.

Modern academic publishing provides much the same purpose, allowing for the growth and continued development of learned professions. However, publishing increasingly has become a symbol of status for academics. Those with a higher publishing status considered themselves to be more academically viable. This problem has seen a recent spike in journal subscription costs[2].

The Big Five?

Within any capitalist market, the reliance on continued growth and prolonged market sustainability eventually leads to dominant market powers who consist of huge conglomerates. The big five in international academic publishing are Reed Elsevier, Springer Science+Business Media, Wiley-Blackwell, Taylor & Francis, and Sage, which now control over 50% of the academic markets, with some publishers owning up to 70% of specified academic areas as of 2015[3].  In contrast, in 1973, market share of the five largest publishers was only about 20 percent. Open access was proposed as early as 1994[4] as an attempt to prevent this oligopoly, but was not immediately implemented. The ensuing result was that journal prices increased substantially and, since research institutes required access to multiple subscription services, poorer academic institutes were priced out[5].

The creation of market dominance has occurred in similar fashion to the music[6] and commercial publishing markets[7]. The sudden drop of physical consumption of academic journals in favour of digital publications caused the market to restructure and those able to offer subscription services prevail. This, twinned with a boom in research institutes and outputs, saw prices increase six fold since 1990[8]. However, a 2012 article argued that the statistics were inaccurate with regards to the rising costs of publications, due to the changing dynamic of sales within the market[9]. The article provided key areas to consider when identifying if publishing costs are really increasing at such a rate:

  • Purchasing Patterns – The application of subscription services and how these will be affected by fair usage.
  • Price Per Journal – The Increase of one journal adjusted for inflation.
  • Cost Per Article Download – Globally an article cost £0.70 in 2008[10].
  • Growth in Content – In 1990 there were 16,000 academic journals, and 26,000 by 2010[11].
  • Growth in Research – Ever increasing funding for research outputs.
  • Growth in Usage – In 2011 the number of cited references per article in major scientific disciplines had gone up by 1/3 to 1/2 from 1990[12].

Similar to the music and commercial publishing markets, the digitisation of articles has left the commodity worthless, while access to a large collection of articles is of great value. The push will leave article reservoirs to continue to grow in significance as the market overall continues to stutter.

The Future?

Regardless of the current state of the academic publishing market, the recent application of Open Access in the UK has seen a sudden opening up of the market with the introduction of new university presses and legitimately ranked self-publishing platforms. We have seen a resurgence in independent market control and competition.

Things we’ve covered:

  • The different types of academic publishing models.
  • The importance of academic journals to human development.
  • The effects of dominance in the academic publishing market.
  • How information reservoirs will become more significant.

http://blogs.gre.ac.uk/creativeconversations/2017/03/09/introduction-two-new-mini-projects/

 

Appendix – Types of Academic Outputs

Monographs:

A study of a single specialised subject or aspect of it – usually highly detailed on a limited area of a subject or field of enquiry.

Research Papers:

A written record of insight into a particular academic discipline. Research papers follow strict formatting. They rely on the referencing of other papers, books or original source materials.

Academic Journals:

A specific area publication intended for professionals. Usually compromised of multiple writings from several academics, they are published regularly and are regarded as one of the main sources of authority in academia. The academic journal was created to help academics disseminate research to a larger audience in a coherent and competent way. Peer review provides that the development of knowledge remains consistent and competent. Journals are now distributed through a mix of physical and digital subscription services. Journals are normally numbered to allow professionals to easily refer back to.

Magazines:

A magazine is a collection of stories, articles or news on particular academic studies. They are produced periodically to keep their readers updated with breakthroughs and the latest news in their specific fields. Usually available through subscription services.

Did you know that before the 19th century books were referred to as ‘magazines’?

The original origins of magazine referred to storage of a ‘collection’ of goods and materials, hence why people called books magazines.

Books:

An academic book is an extensive publication. Normally a collection of papers by one or more people, or collection of papers & other materials. The scope of a book can range from area introductory texts to advanced understandings, which deconstruct specific academic areas.

References –

[1] C, Costa. The Participatory Web in the Context of Academic Research: Landscapes of Change and Conflicts. (2013).

[2] Mabe, Michael. Ware, M. The STM Report (2015)

[3] Larivière V, Haustein S, Mongeon P. The Oligopoly of Academic Publishers in the Digital Era. (2015).

[4] Harnad, S. A Subversive Proposal. (1995).

[5] Habib, A. How Academic Journals Price Out Developing Countries. (2011).

[6] IFPI. Digital Music Report. (2015).

[7] Wischenbart, R. Global Trends in Publishing 2014. (2014).

[8] Bosch, S., Henderson, K., & Klusendorf, H. Periodicals Price Survey 2011: Under pressure, Times are changing. Library Journal. (2011).

[9] Gantz, P. Digital Licenses Replace Print Prices as Accurate Reflection of Real Journal Costs. Volume 11, No. 3, (Summer/Fall 2012).

[10] Research Information Network. E-journals: their use, value and impact final report (2011)

[11] International STM, ALPSP and the Publishers Association. Scientific Technical and Medical (STM). (2010).

[12] Research Information Network. E-journals: their use, value and impact final report (2011)

creativity, transmedia

A Transmedial Tale: Beauty and the Beast

“I think the core of it, is confidence in storytelling.”– Chris Sizemore Editor at the BBC [1]

Storytelling is the creative’s greatest tool. Everyone and everything has a story, but it’s the way in which a story is told which gives it the ability to capture our imaginations. A great story can make you laugh or cry. It can bring us together or make us feel alone. The most important stories are the ones we learn at a young age. They teach us right from wrong, and how to behave in this new and exciting world we find ourselves in. Transmedia is a form of multimedia storytelling conceptualised by Henry Jenkins [2]. It is defined by the way creators use technology to expand upon their narratives [3], using ‘multiple delivery channels‘ to create ‘a unified and coordinated entertainment experience [4]’. With storytelling entering a digital age and Disney’s new live adaptation of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ arriving in cinemas soon, it’s important to ask how transmedia could be used to better educate children and adults, why ‘Beauty and the Beast’ would be a perfect vehicle for this and whether Disney should be taking a greater advantage of transmedia storytelling?

Written by French author Madame de Villeneuve in 1740[5], ‘La Belle et la Bête’, tells the tale of a handsome prince who is transformed into a beast, due to his spite and hubris. The curse can only be lifted if, before his 21st birthday, he finds someone who loves him despite his appearance. Constructed through magical realism, the narrative conveys a warning of the danger of preconceptions. The beast becoming the physical manifestation of his own prejudices taught the reader a cautionary tale [6] of the consequences of prejudice towards others. Such moral questions provide the perfect foundation for expansion through transmedia storytelling. The immersion and interactivity of apps, social media and VR, combined with this universal tale could create limitless learning opportunities.

Transmedia Literacy is a programme set up precisely to explore this potential. Funded through Horizon 2020, the programme is headed by Carlos A. Scolari[7], Associate Professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra[8]. The author of 15 books on digital media, Carlos wants to explore the possibilities of immersive educational tools. The project aims to bridge the, ‘cultural and technological gap between today’s youth and [the] school system[9]’, which has been caused by advancing technological integration in our lives, as well as to encourage schools to do more to implement, ‘transliteracies’ into the classroom. The programme is a collaboration piece with scholars all over Europe working together to develop a greater understanding of child learning behaviours through technology. The program will redefine classic storytelling blurring the lines between ‘offline and online’.

The Walt Disney Company was built upon the foundation of redefining storytelling, adapting classic fairy tales like Robin Hood and Snow White into new and exciting animated films, with unforgettable musical numbers and vibrant artworks. By using tried and tested analogue devices Disney encouraged ‘participation,’ and, ‘loyalty’ [11] from its audience. These early adaptations, and this era of Disney we will call ‘analogue transmedia[10]’.

The 1991 animated film [12] introduced Beauty and the Beast into the Disney cannon. As an instant success it lead to the Broadway adaptation which ran from 1994 to 2007, becoming Broadway’s 10th longest running show. The new live action adaptation [13] is once again another opportunity for Disney to expand upon this story. The retelling provides a chance to update the original, for instance the casting of Emma Watson, an actress known for challenging traditions and subverting gender roles, is a sign of societal progression.

Disney’s ability to retell classic literature and develop pre-established worlds with care and attention, provides the perfect foundation for expansion through contemporary transmedia. The Beast feels he needs to act like a monster because of his appearance, but it’s only when he realises that Bella loves him despite his looks that the curse is lifted. These are contemporary issues. In an age where the fundamentals of identity can alter within the merits of social-media, it’s easy to become manipulated by social expectations.  With social media’s heavy focus on appearance it’s easy to feel we need to be someone else, someone more successful, someone more loved. Looking at Beauty and the Beast through a transmedial lens would allow Disney to use multiple delivery channels to deliver a story critiquing society’s perceptions of appearance. They are well set up to do this. The Marvel and Star Wars acquisitions should have shown them how to expand a universe to have cross media potential, since these properties were already well established in popular culture. Star Wars before its acquisition in 2012 was regarded as one of the largest transmedial cannons of any franchise [14].

As Disney steps into a new year it would be exciting to see them use these modern transmedia techniques to expand age old stories, deconstructing these messages and applying them within a modern context. Disney has confidence in storytelling, but do they have the confidence to innovate it?

Frederick C Lampen

Links:

For more on Transmedia:

http://blogs.gre.ac.uk/creativeconversations/2015/09/03/the-hyper-connected-audience/

For more on Writing:

http://blogs.gre.ac.uk/creativeconversations/2016/07/25/the-writer-as-collaborator/

 

[1] Smith, S. Transmedia storytelling, BBC Academy (BBC 2017)

[2] Jenkins, H. Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture (Postmillennial Pop). NYU Press (January 21, 2013)

[3] BBC Academy, Transmedia storytelling 101, BBC Academy (BBC 2017)

[4] Jenkins, H. Transmedia Storytelling 101, Confessions of an Aca-Fan, the Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins. March 22, 2007

[5] Madame de Villeneuve’s. The Story of the Beauty and the Beast: The Original Classic French Fairy tale CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; Unabridged edition (27 Oct. 2014)

[6] Dr Tehrani, J. Durham University News, The Department of Anthropology (Durham University, 4th February 2016)

[7] Associate Professor at the Department of Communication at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, in Barcelona  and author of 15 books on digital media

[8] A. Scolari, C. Transliteracy – 645238 / Horizon 2020 – Research and Innovation actions (2017)

[9] Castells, M. The Rise of the Network Society (Oxford, Blackwell, 1996).

[10]  Lee, N. Madej, K. Disney Stories: Getting to Digital. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012 (Page 72)

[11]Beuder, P. People’s Insights Annual Report. (he MSL Group’s Annual Report, 2013)

[12] Woolventon, L. Chapman, B. Beauty and the Beast (1991) (The Walt Disney Company, 1991)

[13] Chbosky, S. Spiliotopoulos, E. Beauty and the Beast (2017) (Walt Disney Pictures, 1991)

[14] Hood, B. Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon (Bloomberg 1th 2015)

 

creativity, Markets and Communities, The New Space of Publishing, Uncategorised

The hyper-connected audience

It feels as though Henry Jenkins observations on the potential for participatory, collaborative and convergent media has never been truer. The entertainment properties I find interesting have a life beyond any narrowly defined medium, in fact reaching out into the other media to develop a story gives the work nuance and richness and, of course, further emotional investment from me.

‘In the world of media convergence, every important story gets told, every brand gets sold, and every consumer gets courted across multiple media platforms’

Anyone wishing to create or publish anything now has an eye to other media as an outlet. Naturally, as Jenkins suggests, this has led to not just telling stories through a transmedia experience, but to marketing these brands as worlds to be explored. The Blair Witch Project did this, famously, extremely effectively.

The mainstream media industries were always aware that new audiences could be developed by reaching out to them in a comic book for example after a film success.  The decision to develop and fund entirely new  content in order to grow an audience and keep them engaged is relatively recent marketing decision; showing that consumer behaviour analysis and an attempt to understand the deeper motivations behind consumer decision making is being taken more seriously. Jenkins terms this ‘affective economics’.

Ubisoft , no small industry player, released Watch_Dogs, an open world action game, in 2013. The protaganist that we were to identify with was Aiden Pearce, a vigilante who spent his time hacking into the city’s Central Operating System (CTOS). To market this game BETC Paris created Watch Dogs WeareData experiential website revealing a 3D interactive map in which we could explore the cities of London, Paris and Berlin the website through the visualisation of publicly available data, reading people’s live tweets, watching the metro go from station to station, looking through instagram posts. A person could lose themselves for hours in this ground-breaking piece of content that was arguably more interesting than the game it was marketing. And you could join in, adding your own data to this live stream.

More recently Faber & Faber published Capital, by John Lanchester, a story of post-crash London. To market this book Storythings created Pepys Road which  tells the story of the ten years leading up to the world described by Lanchester. Over the course of ten days, they send emails asking questions about your attitudes to various public policies and send you ten new mini-stories written by John Lanchester. These stories reveal a period of public sector cuts and economic upheaval in which we become a part. James Bridle‘s data illustrations position your data within the rest of the accessible live data. Storythings have created ways to tell mini-stories about the decisions both you and the rest of their audience make.

Both marketing activities make use of our own digital shadow, created by our hyper-connected lives, to situate us within these created worlds, these branded worlds. This however doesn’t feel intrusive rather it feels intuitive, captivating and above all interesting. For me the most interesting thing about big data is when it contextualizes our small data, our personal data. We relate to stories and brands when they feel like they have a place in our lives. More and more we are asked to imagine ourselves in these branded worlds, it is a forward-thinking marketing approach, but how much easier is it to do so when we see how we are connected to these worlds and others in them? And how interesting it is when our data is seen through a different lens, one in which we are adventurers, or spies or hackers, or inhabitants of Capital. Media convergence and accessible data streams allow us to inhabit these other worlds easily and convincingly.

We are ourselves and not at the same moment. perfect.

Markets and Communities, The New Space of Publishing, Uncategorised

Top 5 trends changing the world of publishing

Guest post by independent marketing consultant, Katrina Hopewell

 Let’s turn the clock back five years. A time when the large publishing houses were controlling the industry. A time when printing presses were regulated. A time when there was no public access to retail distribution. A time when the publishing process was kept a secret and only known by a select few. A time when the books you ‘chose’ to read were actually carefully selected and curated for you.

Fast-forward to today and the lines are now blurred. The conventions and preconceptions that were the ‘norm’ for books have been challenged. Technology has democratised the industry. Self-publishing platforms have arrived giving everyone the creative freedom to publish their own work, on-demand printing giving us an affordable copy of one. How we consume content has changed, we read using our mobiles, eReaders and iPads. Brands now have to compete against everything that demands people’s time and attention. We live in a 24/7 fractured media environment. Content vs. apps vs. gaming vs. video. Constantly choosing and consuming content in bite-size chunks. We now take ownership of what we want to read and are able to fund exciting and diverse stories. Our digital lives have taken over. And publishers are no longer essential to the process.

  1. Technology is still democratising the industry

Self-publishing is now mainstream thanks to the growth of independent digital publishing platforms like Createspace, Lulu and Blurb enabling the creation of eBooks, making the process simple, efficient and affordable. E-readers have got consistently cheaper and better since the first Kindle shipped in 2007, giving customers instant access to millions of titles. And the behemoth that is Amazon has made retailing these titles too easy. The launch of sites like Goodreads, has assisted the industry in becoming more social with over 43 million reviews on the platform to date, helping help people find and share books they love.

  1. Opinion of self-publishing is changing and progressive

Have you heard anyone say, ‘I will only read that book if it’s published by Penguin?’ Thought not. Readers are led by reading commendations and reviews, and they more often than not, will give a new author a go if the price is right, regardless of whether it’s been traditionally published or self-published. This mind-set is also changing for writers too – we’re continually seeing traditionally published authors becoming open to exploring self-publishing – to generate revenue from their ‘out of print’ backlists or to publish work that falls out of their traditional genre. New York Times bestselling author Eileen Goudge self-published Bones and Roses last year after she failed to find a publisher for her novel. And now authors are looking to social media to help them connect with their readers, reach new audiences and promote their work too.

  1. Arrival of content serialisation has revitalised how we consume content

The ‘on-demand’ generation has changed how we consume content. Readers have new expectations about the content they wish to read and how they want to read it. Out go printed books; in come mobiles, eReaders and iPads to suit our lifestyle. Wattpad has carved out an incredible niche for itself in the online reading market and become the world’s largest community of writers and readers, with over 40 million members and an average of 30 minutes reading per visit. 85% of users access the platform via mobile, promoting reading on the go, and writers have adapted to this, releasing their work a chapter at a time to serialise their content, keeping their readers hooked and in turn increasing the revenue they make from fans. Serial, a real-life crime story turned podcast, completely captured the zeitgeist last year, after it was released on a weekly basis and downloaded over 20 million times on iTunes. The Pigeonhole take a different approach, commissioning and serialising fresh digital content and classic novels from authors like Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations through their app. Audible, has a library of over 150,000 audiobooks accessible across multiple devices. We not only read, but also listen and interact socially with the content we consume and this will only increase as we multitask through our day-to-day lives.

  1. Crowdfunding is enabling diverse content to find an audience

We now find ourselves overwhelmed by a massive abundance of content and we have entered a period that is all about content relevancy. The digital revolution is all about finding your niche and capitalizing on it – and publishing your own content enables you to become an influencer in your chosen space. Until recently, books that fell out of the mainstream were rejected because they would only appeal to a niche audience. A traditional publishing house with big overheads would not be able to sell enough copies for that book to pay for the overhead costs they would invest. For those who need funding or want to test an idea out to captive audiences, platforms like Unbound and Indiegogo are available to help surface and fund great books that we wouldn’t ordinarily get the opportunity to read. Love obscure 80s and 90s video games? Check out Stuart Ashen’s synopsis. This book will be a must have on your shelf.

  1. Long live the printed book

The argument over the last few years seems to always be about the proclamation that ‘print is dead.’ It really isn’t. We’re increasingly using different mediums dependent on the content that we read – for fiction, we typically go digital, downloading content onto our eBooks and iPhones to read at home, on the move or away on holiday. We leave print for the content we wish to keep: mementos, memories and personal keepsakes. And brands are increasingly using the medium to create limited editions. My bet is that our bookshelves will increasingly diversify over the coming years and include a wealth of different content, the classic stories we’re unable to tear ourselves away from as well as photo books from major events in our lives, and perhaps even an autobiography of our own life to pass onto future generations too.

Katrina Hopewell, Independent Marketing Consultant

www.katrinahopewell.com

@kat_hopewell

 

creativity, Markets and Communities, Research, The New Space of Publishing, Uncategorised

Experimental publishing, copyright laws and Mix03

 

I have had a fascination with publishing and its potential most of my life, so much so that I was Head of Art for a small publishing company for nearly four years alongside my teaching commitments. I am very interested in the new space opened up by the advent of digital publishing and all of the new business models that are emerging.

It could be argued that everything nowadays is publishing: the social streams in which we document every part of our lives for a variety of audiences as well as our blogs. We need to be careful about what we write in these digital spaces as we are just as responsible for the comments we make, defamatory statements or intellectual property infringement as the traditional and mainstream press. As Alex Newson with Deryck Houghton and Justin Patten point out, we can’t cite ignorance of these laws as our defense. Even high profile comedian Alan Davies had to pay £15,000 in damages to Lord McAlpine to settle a libel action over a tweet relating to false child sex abuse allegations in 2013. We are all fast becoming published authors, even if we are not very good ones.

It was with this interest and an awareness of the published nature of our modern lives that I went to Mix03. Co organised by one of our key Creative Conversations  The New Space of Publishing speakers, Kate Pullinger, the Mix Digital Conference at Bath Spa was held over 3 days and explored the various worlds of publishing looking at transmedia, ambient literature, reader participation, moving from analogue to digital, pedagogy, interactive forms and digital poetry to mention only a few areas.

Mix03 had speakers that explore and innovate in this fast growing sector. I was able to listen to exciting key note speakers, such as award winning novelist and game creator Naomi Alderman, Anna Gerber and Britt Iversen of Visual Editions and Ju Row Farr from Blast Theory. There were also interesting projects presented such as Colin Thomas’s Making Digital History and Claudio Pires Franco‘s research on new media forms of the book: both experimenting with the more interactive components in the digital publishing space.

It is the copyright laws, and their relationship with fan fiction and participatory writing projects that I find particularly interesting and while not under the remit of this conference, as it was more experimental and creative, they have an impact on all of us amateur journalists/authors/commentators/artists.  In particular Fan Fiction as described by Ciaran Roberts has interesting and complex issues around copyright. For experimental participatory writing projects such as Sarah Haynes’ The Memory Store mutual respect and recognition is a pre-requisite as the project requires participation in order for it to evolve  ‘Participatory projects are about both process and product.’ and so the copyright laws need to evolve in order to protect and not hinder these new projects and participants. 

The great joy of such conferences is not only to meet like minded people but also to meet people that have a viewpoint at odds with your own, or come at a subject from an entirely different angle. This allows you to reflect and think more deeply about your subject. For me new collaborations and new projects were sparked and new ways to think about existing projects were suggested. I came away feeling wonderfully invigorated, as though my brain had taken a much needed holiday to somewhere new and exciting. It is a conference that I would heartily recommend and I will be booking myself in for next year’s when the option arises.