Will Video Inject New Revenue Into Venerable Kiplinger
August 17, 2012
Why just read advice when you can watch it? According to MSN Money’s article “blinkx Partners with Kiplinger for Personal Finance Wisdom” Kiplinger wants to go viral with their well-respected advice.
Most people think YouTube when they hear video, but blinkx has more than 35 million hours of audio and video content available with a customized search platform. Now they are combining with a company that holds the prestige of a well preserved antique in the world of finance wisdom.
Kiplinger is broadening blinkx’s financial horizon in hopes of expanding their viewer range:
“Kiplinger’s is one of the most trusted and well-respected sources for consumers seeking financial advice. Whether you’re a recent graduate coping with student loans or a parent looking for tips on tax breaks, our video library has helpful personal finance advice for you. We’re pleased to partner with blinkx to increase our exposure to new audiences and to make our video reports easily searchable for consumers around the world.”
Will video inject new revenue into the venerable Kiplinger? This noble company publishes the longest running newsletter in the US and is only one decade from the century mark. The print newsletters are not what they use to be and more presses collect dust every year.
This gosling does not think Kiplinger will receive any monumental renown via blinkx, but we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, Kiplinger does deserve a 12 Honk salute for reaching antique status.
Jennifer Shockley, August 17, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Some Countries Still Prefer to Read the Newspaper
August 13, 2012
Science Daily recently posted the article “Online News Takes Off in US and UK While Most Germans Prefer a Newspaper” shines a bright light on traditional publishers. Unfortunately for American journalists, Germany seems to be the only country left that prefers print news.
According to the article, a recent study published by the University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, based on surveys in UK, US, France, Germany and Denmark, found that While the majority of Germans prefer print news over online, US and UK residents prefer to access their news online. More specifically. 28% of UK and US residents access the news from their mobile phones and 60% of tablet users in the UK regularly access online news.
Report author Nic Newman, a Research Associate at Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, said:
“For many people digital news is now the first place to go for the latest news, rivaling television as the most frequently accessed type of news in the UK and the US. Of those surveyed, nearly eight out of ten people accessed online news every week, but the transition from print to digital is much slower in other European countries. The report suggests that the Germans were the least likely to access news online of the five countries studied with almost seven out of ten, of those surveyed, saying they still read a newspaper.”
As online news continues to thrive in some western countries, it is interesting to see that others remain attached to traditional media forms.
Jasmine Ashton, August 13, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Elsevier Ethics?
August 8, 2012
Ah, pay to play. That’s the way to stimulate objective information, all right. A blog out of the Unilever Cambridge Centre for Molecular Information rails against such a move in the long-windedly titled post: "Elsevier Replies About Hybrid #openacess; I Am Appalled About their Practices. Breaking Licences and Having to Pay to Read ‘Open Access’."
As many of our readers know, scientific authors pay traditional publishers hefty "processing charges" to have their work made available to readers for free ("open access"). An outdated and, some say, unfair system, this way of doing business is at least transparent and well understood. Now, Elsevier’s Division of Universal Access has come up with the "hybrid open access."
Blogger Peter Murray-Rust, wondering exactly what sort of creature this hybrid could be, asked the Division’s director for clarification. Among his discoveries: obfuscation is alive and well. Also, Elsevier is clearly refusing commercial re-use and distribution of these works, violating, according to Murray-Rust, the authors’ Creative Commons CC-BY license. (There is some debate in the blog’s comments section about whether this is indeed a legal violation; clearly it is a moral one.)
Murray-Rust reproduces the director’s answers and comments on each—well worth checking out. He concludes with this analysis:
"Elsevier’s appalling practice speaks for itself. There are only the following explanations:
- Elsevier break licences knowingly and deliberately charge for ‘open access’. (Readers will remember that Elsevier also created fake journals).
- Elsevier are incompetent or uninterested in running Open Access properly.
"I predict that Universal Access will plead ‘this was an isolated mistake; forgive us and we’ll correct it’. Rubbish. It is not acceptable to charge people for things they have no right to charge for. It is unacceptable to break licences. Whatever the motives it shows that at best they don’t care. It’s morally the same as ‘sorry I knocked you down because my brakes didn’t work.’"
Elsevier certainly got this blogger’s hackles up, and for good reason. Creative Commons licenses exist to benefit society, and it is more than a little irritating for a publisher to play fast and loose with the rules.
Cynthia Murrell, August 9, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
The Future of Libraries
August 8, 2012
The Republic perceives the inevitable winds and encourages us to adjust our sails in “The Bookless Library.” No matter how much some of us would like to believe otherwise, the traditional library with its stacks upon stacks of wood pulp tomes is on its way out. In a lengthy article that is worth a read, journalist David A. Bell suggests we proactively manage the shift in a way that will best benefit society.
This paragraph was particularly poignant to me:
“Specialized scholars will always have reasons to consult the original paper copies of books. Marginalia, watermarks, paper quality, binding, and many other features of the physical book that digitization cannot always capture offer valuable clues about how the books were produced, circulated, and read, how they created meaning. But this sort of research . . . involves a small number of readers. Far more readers, of course, appreciate physical books for their aesthetic qualities: the feel of the paper, the crisp look of print on the page, the elegant binding, the pleasant heft of the volume in the hand, the sense of history embedded in a venerable edition that has gone through many owners. But this sort of pleasure, real and meaningful as it is, is harder to justify financially, as resources grow increasingly scarce.”
Sigh. Yes, it will only get harder for libraries to justify buying and housing physical books when the electronic versions are widely available. But, as Bell notes, libraries are more than shelves of books. They are, as he puts it, “grand temples of learning,” and without them, much study, communication, and inspiration will fall by the wayside. What, then, should we do?
Bell’s advice hinges on revisiting the original purposes of the library: public outreach and public instruction, both of which were, at the time, best met by providing access to the printed word. Libraries, he says, should adjust by expanding on efforts many are already making, like hosting seminars, book clubs, art and film exhibits, and study centers. That way, even as their stacks dwindle, libraries can remain relevant and continue to serve their communities.
Cynthia Murrell, August 8, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
A Periodical for Linguists?
August 8, 2012
What would a linguistics magazine look like? Back in 2007, Language Log’s Mark Liberman created a spoof cover of the hypothetical “Linguistics Today,” which he reproduces in his recent post, “Linguistics: the Magazine.” He shares two other parody covers for magazines that might be aimed at language nerds, Mignon Fogarty’s “Grammarian” and Jon McWhorter’s “Werd.” Lots of fun, but Liberman isn’t entirely kidding. He proposes:
“Jokes, parodies, and illustrations aside, I really do think that this is a good idea. A semi-ironic supermarket-magazine approach might work — especially for cover stories — but the most plausible core market, I think, would be more a upscale and intellectual one. In addition to those cover stories about the juicier aspects of interpersonal communication, there could be sections dealing with language variation and change, speech and language technology, literary analysis, political language, usage advice, language and gender, linguistic history, advertising language, forensic linguistics, scrabble, whatever . . .”
The write up mentions that the online publication option would probably be “easiest, cheapest, and sanest.” I, for one, would subscribe to such a publication, online or in print. Our burning questions: What system will be detailed in the Road&Track-style exploded diagram? And, more importantly, who will be the person featured in the foldout?
Cynthia Murrell, August 8, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
eBook Royalty Tangle
August 5, 2012
It all hinges on the calculation of net receipts. We learn that the ebook phenomenon seems to have prompted some creative accounting in techdirt’s “Harlequin Authors Sue Publisher Over Creative Royalty Calculations.” The class-action lawsuit against Harlequin alleges that the publisher created a legal entity in Switzerland specifically to manipulate the math, reducing the amount the company paid ebook authors from the negotiated 50 percent of the cover price to three or four percent. Writer Zachary Knight observes:
“There was once a time where such a tactic would not have reached the point of a lawsuit. There was a time when publishers actually had a strangle hold on publishing and could force any terms they could conceivably get away with. However, with the introduction and proliferation of self publishing, that stranglehold is weakening. As authors are looking at the deals they are getting from publishers vs. the deals self published authors are getting from the likes of Amazon and even Apple, they are beginning to lash out.”
Yes, many changes have followed the transition of all sorts of media to the Internet. Companies that can responsibly navigate the change and, I submit, act rather than react will stand the best chance of success. There’s no turning back now.
Cynthia Murrell, August 5, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Public Domain Ebooks Now Harder to Find at Amazon
August 5, 2012
Would Amazon hide free content? Nah, never. . . except that TechDirt reports, “Amazon Hides Classic Free Public Domain Ebooks.” It seems that Amazon recently changed its site so that these free ebooks are now much harder to locate. The article cites a blogger’s account:
“The explanation, by Morris Rosenthal, is a bit confusing, but apparently Amazon reassigned ASINs (identification numbers) for most of the public domain classics that were available on the site. In doing so, all of the historical sales info, reviews, comments, etc., were lost. That means that the works, no matter how popular, get pushed way down in searches and in ‘related’ items. It also means tons of links are now dead. . . .
“Rosenthal doesn’t think there’s anything nefarious going on here — just a sign of a company that doesn’t much care about these public domain works.”
Oh, well that’s a relief. Rosenthal may be willing to give Amazon the benefit of the doubt, but it is worth noting that the change could result in users being directed to fee-based versions of an author’s work over public-domain ones. I somehow doubt Amazon would be sorry to see that happen.
So, what’s a lover of classic works to do? Well, you could use that magnificent Amazon search engine to locate them. Just a thought.
Cynthia Murrell, August 5, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
A Different Take on Google and Its Cost Problem
August 3, 2012
How much pressure are the Googlers feeling? You can get details about the looming financial crunch in the Honk’s feature “Google’s Revenue+Cost Problem.” The ArnoldIT analysis is not available in any of ArnoldIT’s Web logs. To get this analysis, you need to sign up to receive the opt—in, limited distribution personal newsletter from Stephen E Arnold. To get your copy each Tuesday, write thehonk@yandex.com. The information in the newsletter represents the personal views of Stephen E Arnold, and it is intended to provide a view of important subjects not available in his lectures, for-fee articles, and public writings.
Donald C. Anderson, August 3, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
News Corp., Paywalls, and Online Economics
August 1, 2012
Most businesses are simple. Buy low. Sell high. When I worked at Booz, Allen & Hamilton in the pre-azure chip days, a joke was popular. I jotted down its particulars and it resonated with me when I read “The Daily Lays Off a Third of Its Staff.” The Daily was one of those digital innovations which would pump much needed revenue into a real journalistic operation owned by the News Corp. I know should have a more open mind, but when I hear “News Corp.”, I associate the firm with allegedly inappropriate methods of information collection. I will work on becoming more open minded and understanding. Really, I promise situationally right this instant.
A happy quack to Image source: Tainted Pen at http://taintedpen.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-form-breadline.html
And the joke:
A graduate of an Ivy League MBA who worked as a manager at a financial services firm walked out of her building in Midtown. Waiting to cross Lexington, a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce pulled up. The window slid down. A voice said, “Remember me? We were in MBA school together.” The Ivy Leaguer said, “Yes, but you quit during the first semester. Nice car. What are you doing now?” The limo’s occupant said, “I buy those little paper cocktail umbrellas for one cent each in Shanghai and I sell them to bars worldwide for 10 cents each. That 10 percent mark up produces a lot of dough.” The window slid up and the limo took off.
Yep, pretty good income but not so good math. When something works, apologies and Excel speed skating don’t make much difference in my opinion.
The News Corp. story of the staff cutbacks at the News Corp.’s The Daily is an example of a company unable to generate income. Good math or bad, when a good idea produces lots of revenue, the exact math does not matter too much. When a business cannot generate revenue, then I watch cutbacks, fancy dancing, and ostrich-like maneuvers. Like my beloved boxer Tess. If she turns her head and cannot see me, she thinks I cannot see her.
Here’s the passage I noted in the “real” journalists write up about his employer company engaged in “real” journalism:
News Corp. officials have publicly defended The Daily, which News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch thought would serve as a template for newspapers’ transition to the tablet era. Murdoch’s team worked closely with Apple and its late CEO Steve Jobs to produce a publication initially tailored for the iPad. But while Daily executives say they now have more than 100,000 paying subscribers for its iOS and Android editions, the paper hasn’t been able to live up to Murdoch’s expectations, and the money-losing publication has been under scrutiny since launch.
XML Specialist Explains Google Book Settlement to Publishers
July 10, 2012
Advertising Profits recently reported on the results of a March webinar poll by the enterprise software company MarkLogic in the article “Mark Logic Delivers Educational Webinar on Google’s Settlement with the Publishing Industry.”
According to the article, attendees of the webinar (with record setting registrations) learned practical ways that organizations can exploit the landmark settlement between Google and book publishers as an extraordinary business opportunity in online publishing.
When highlighting the results from the webinar poll, the article states:
“When asked if their company’s content was in the appropriate format for Google Book Search to ingest/index, 68 percent of respondents said no or not sure. As for how the audience views Google Book Search, 51 percent of respondents saw it as an opportunity for their business and six percent deemed it a threat. 35 percent stated that Google Book Search was both and just eight percent replied neither.”
In addition to the webinar, MarkLogic has made resources available for continued education on the Google Book Search settlement on the company’s Web site.
The is certainly an interesting marketing angle to use XML professonals to explain the intricacies of the Google settlement with publishers.
Jasmine Ashton, July 10, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
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