A Digital Future

The Association of American Publishers’ Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division hosted their annual conference this past week, with discussion centering on digital publishing. Publishers feel more and more that they need to adapt to a rapidly changing textbook market, and that to do so, they must embrace the digital movement.

But while they're busy discussing the role of copyright, open courseware continues to spread with lectures being posted on Academic Earth, and with YouTube allowing free downloads of lectures. And new business models continue to develop, too. Flatworld Knowledge is now up and running, with textbooks available in business and economics courses.

New theories continue to come forward as well, and one recent suggestion does away with the current distribution model:

It's time to shift the text-selling system from one between publishers and students to one between publishers and colleges. A consortium-style agreement between the latter two groups would make it advantageous for all publishers and higher-education institutions to participate. The consortium could charge participating colleges a single price for unlimited access, based on their number of full-time enrollments, or FTE's. Each college could then pass that charge on to students as part of tuition or through a dedicated fee, or even seek private donors to help defray the cost.

This sort of system has been suggested before, but has never taken off. However, a transition period is always the easiest in getting projects off the ground, and a push by a university could make such a project possible as both universities and publishers look increasingly towards a digital future.

Of Pirates and iPhones

After a months-long cat-and-mouse chase, a notorious textbook piracy site appears to be down for good. Despite stating that his Textbook Torrents site would stick around as a means of civil disobedience against publishers, Geekman has finally given in due to the increasing pressure from publishers and the concern of legal action. In a final statement, he called for more piracy sites to take his place.

Now, it's worth remembering that not many people are on publishers' sides these days. While condemning reports continue to pile up, the alternative market continues to expand. I recently stumbled across WikiBooks, for instance, which aims to offer free material. However, sites like these aren't too likely to catch on, given concerns over the quality of academic materials provided.

Accordingly, it seems more and more to be innovative marketing practices and technological advancements that grab the textbook headlines. I alluded to the exciting Flatworld Knowledge model last week, as well as the growing open source market. The latest model comes from Columbia Business School and follows the marketing scheme used by Radiohead in the sale of their In Rainbows album: customers pay what they want to access the material online. For profit, a printed version and companion volume are also available, making this model more financially viable (and along the lines of the Flatworld Knowledge model).

Meanwhile, the iPhone seems to be attracting a greater audience to e-books, news that will likely be welcomed by all concerned, from publishers to students and even to competing e-reader creators. This, simply because it illustrates that students (and the public in general) are willing to give e-books a shot.

Time will tell whether this case of piracy is the first of many (and if publishers retain their oligopoly as books go digital, there will be plenty more) or if it is a sign of the times in a bold switch to alternative markets.

A Call to Action

"Never mind your civic responsibility... you should show up and vote out of spite, if for no other reason," Rick Mercer advises students. And although it is true that more votes will grant students a greater voice in the future, there are still some precious days left before this election.



It is with this in mind that one advocacy group has made a call to action, asking people to get candidates' attention in an effort to fight rising textbook costs. If it is true that "a federal election means that politicians are listening", then surely they're listening in Edmonton-Strathcona, where the race is seen by many as too close to call. So make your voice heard now, if only out of spite.

Be e-textBooksmart

As the Be Booksmart campaign spreads from students to faculty members, I've found myself pondering what has been a growing movement in the textbook industry. And my rumination has not been unaided.

Yesterday's Inside Higher Ed featured an article on an experiment at the University of Texas in Austin. Starting next semester, the university will make electronic materials available for over 1000 students. They're free for now, but should these e-materials prove receptive to faculty and students alike, subscriptions will be renewed and students will be charged a relatively low rate per book.

This is latest in the pursuit of e-texts, but criticism is not lacking on this front. Affordability and accessibility have each been hurdles, especially where publishers have simply provided their texts in digital format. The response has been a slate of alternatives, ranging from open courseware to self-proclaimed revolutionary publishing models.

No matter what course is followed, one thing is clear: the textbook industry is changing at an accelerating rate, and opportunities for innovation are hardly scant. Let's hope we can take advantage of this.