Sometimes words really do matter
Category: Library Leadership NetworkPosted on: June 30, 2009 12:31 PM, by Walt Crawford
Here's another little post about the Library Leadership Network (LLN)--naturally suggesting that you might want to go look, but also thinking about how it develops and some of the recent content.
Some weeks, most new content goes into existing articles. Some weeks--this past one, for exmaple--most goes into new articles. And some weeks (also including this past one), a new article emerges from pieces of old ones.
For the record, the new articles for the week ("week" being last Monday-Friday, June 22-26, 2009):
Advocacy and marketing begins with thoughtful commentaries on advocacy from Leigh Ann Vrabel and char booth.
In the interests of coherence and article length, commentaries on problems with ebook readers now appear in Ebook reader problems and issues--including a major new section on DRM and how it's biting some Kindle fans.
Charging for services offers a new take on a long-standing issue, along with a fair number of comments on "Freemium" services.
What makes an innovative idea actionable? Nina Simon offers a thoughtful new perspective on that issue in a new addition to Innovation and control.
That's three new articles and one updated article. What does this have to do with words and their meaning?
Advocacy, marketing and ebooks
In the case of the Charging... article, not much. Discussions of whether and how public libraries can or should charge for "premium" services date back many years. I've always had the same response: "Premium" is a slippery slope for a public institution, with "standard" likely to become worse and worse as tax dollars get scarce--and that worsening baseline hurts the people most that public libraries specifically need to serve. Hmm. Maybe that does have something to do with words: what does "premium" (or, Gaia forfend, "freemium") really mean in a public library setting? Is it possible to charge for some services (or faster access to existing services) without directly or indirectly damaging those who can't afford the premium?
But two other articles are the focus of this post.
Advocacy and marketing discusses advocacy for libraries by librarians--and, oddly, is the first article in LLN with advocacy in the title, although I'd guess at least half a dozen of the 39 articles in the Marketing category are primarily about advocacy, not marketing.
Is there a difference? I think so. I don't see how you could call arguing for the use of one particular brand of deodorant over another "advocacy," but you can certainly advocate for the worth of libraries and need for their support. I don't think advocacy requires branding, much less the tendency to regard everything (including ourselves) as brands. The first of the two commentaries in thenew article doesn't find huge differences between "marketing" and "advocacy," but I believe the difference is significant--not only in the lack of pure commercial intent where advocacy is involved, but also in the nature of support. And that's enough for here--go read the article.
The other case is a little different. Ebook reader problems and issues combines some commentaries that were previously in other articles with a new commentary on Kindle-specific DRM issues. The key here, though, is "Ebook reader"--an explicit recognition that a fair amount of confusion is caused by the use of one word for two concepts. Ebooks--let's call them "book-length texts delivered digitally" (although in past years many so-called ebooks have been article-length texts delivered digitally) don't require dedicated reading devices. Ebook readers--dedicated reading devices such as Kindles and Sony Readers--can be used to read things other than, well, ebooks.
But most of the time, in most media (mainstream or otherwise), "ebooks" (or e-books or eBooks or E-books or...) is used to describe both. That's not helpful and can get in the way of understanding.
I'm trying to disambiguate the term, at least at LLN.
I think that's more feasible than any foolish attempt to get people to stop using "leadership" when they mean "management." One of the recent Leader's Digest items summarizes an article about leadership failure--and, as far as I can see, it's really an article about why some managers fail to be leaders. But the magazine in which the article appears has consistently used "leaders" and "leadership" when it means "managers" and "management," and I don't think that's likely to change any time soon...
Anyway, that's this week's musings about how LLN works and changes. (I did mention that it's free and not restricted to librarians, didn't I?)
Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Irex
Beyond the Kindle: Talking eBooks and eReaders with iRex
Written by Frederic Lardinois / June 22, 2009 3:43 PM /
When it comes to eReaders, Amazon's Kindle is obviously the largest player in the U.S., with Sony's eReader being a distant second. A few days ago, though, we got a chance to talk to Hans Brons, the CEO of iRex. IRex is a company worth watching closely, as it is a spin-off from the e-ink research group at Philips that developed the screen technology that is being used by most current generation eBook readers. Philips decided that it didn't want to pursue this line of research in 2005 and decided to license the technology to other vendors.
B2B
Unlike other eReader vendors, iRex made the decision to focus almost exclusively on the B2B market early on and focused on this market instead of going directly after consumers. As Brons told us, part of the reason was that the price for first generation eReaders was simply to high for consumers, and in order to jumpstart the business, going after the B2B market was simply a strategic decision. IRex's eReaders, are, for example, often being used as Electronic Flight Bags by private pilots. Brons also stressed that there is a huge market for books for professionals, including manuals, guides, and similar texts.
Today, iRex is also looking into the textbook market and electronic newspapers, though for the time being, the company is still focusing more on the professional market than on the consumer market.
Taking Notes
We think iRex's top-of-the-line Digital Reader 1000 devices are especially interesting because they actually feature the ability to take notes directly on the screen (with a pen - no touchscreen yet, but the company is working on this). When we looked at the Kindle DX and its role in the textbook market, we noted that the absence of easy to use note-taking features made the Kindle less useful in a school setting than Amazon made it out to be.
One thing Hans Brons stressed during our interview was that iRex puts a premium on the brightness of its screens. Adding a touchscreen would mean adding an additional layer over the actual screen, which would reduce brightness.
Brons also told us that iRex has approached (and has been approached by) a number of newspaper companies that are looking to provide their readers with eReaders. iRex is not ready to announce any new deals in the U.S. just yet, though the company is working with a number of large European newspapers already, and the Washington Post and USA Today are also available through iRex.
Color
IRex made a bit of a splash a few weeks ago when it announced (PDF) that it was working on full color readers. Brons told us that iRex was getting ready to commercialize color readers, but that this was indeed a hard problem to solve as iRex doesn't want to sacrifice screen brightness for color, which isn't necessarily a feature that most users would need.
Services for Publishers, But no Store
Brons also told us that iRex is providing publishers with a full range services to get their books onto the iRex platform, though iRex itself is not looking into starting its own store.
We think there is a chance that iRex is missing some opportunities here, though. Publishers might be able to put their books up in an iRex powered store on their sites, but consumers don't go to publisher sites to buy a book. After all, who knows (and wants to know) whether their favorite book was published by a Random House imprint like Knopf or Crown, or by Penguin (itself a part of Pearson)?
Brons acknowledged that Amazon's size must have surely helped it to gather (force?) publishers around its eBook offering, and the integration between the store and the hardware device, bundled with the Kindle's wireless capabilities, surely helped the company to make eBooks and eReaders more palatable for consumers.
It is important to note, too, that the Kindle and Amazon's eBook store isn't currently available in Europe, where iRex has its headquarters and its strongest presence. If iRex could gather enough publishers around its platform and set up a large store, the company would definitely have the potential to challenge Amazon in this market when and if it decides to bring the Kindle to Europe.
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« Prior Post Next Post » Posted in
NYT, Products, eBooks and tagged with
ebooks, ereaders, irex, kindle, kindle dx
Written by Frederic Lardinois / June 22, 2009 3:43 PM /
When it comes to eReaders, Amazon's Kindle is obviously the largest player in the U.S., with Sony's eReader being a distant second. A few days ago, though, we got a chance to talk to Hans Brons, the CEO of iRex. IRex is a company worth watching closely, as it is a spin-off from the e-ink research group at Philips that developed the screen technology that is being used by most current generation eBook readers. Philips decided that it didn't want to pursue this line of research in 2005 and decided to license the technology to other vendors.
B2B
Unlike other eReader vendors, iRex made the decision to focus almost exclusively on the B2B market early on and focused on this market instead of going directly after consumers. As Brons told us, part of the reason was that the price for first generation eReaders was simply to high for consumers, and in order to jumpstart the business, going after the B2B market was simply a strategic decision. IRex's eReaders, are, for example, often being used as Electronic Flight Bags by private pilots. Brons also stressed that there is a huge market for books for professionals, including manuals, guides, and similar texts.
Today, iRex is also looking into the textbook market and electronic newspapers, though for the time being, the company is still focusing more on the professional market than on the consumer market.
Taking Notes
We think iRex's top-of-the-line Digital Reader 1000 devices are especially interesting because they actually feature the ability to take notes directly on the screen (with a pen - no touchscreen yet, but the company is working on this). When we looked at the Kindle DX and its role in the textbook market, we noted that the absence of easy to use note-taking features made the Kindle less useful in a school setting than Amazon made it out to be.
One thing Hans Brons stressed during our interview was that iRex puts a premium on the brightness of its screens. Adding a touchscreen would mean adding an additional layer over the actual screen, which would reduce brightness.
Brons also told us that iRex has approached (and has been approached by) a number of newspaper companies that are looking to provide their readers with eReaders. iRex is not ready to announce any new deals in the U.S. just yet, though the company is working with a number of large European newspapers already, and the Washington Post and USA Today are also available through iRex.
Color
IRex made a bit of a splash a few weeks ago when it announced (PDF) that it was working on full color readers. Brons told us that iRex was getting ready to commercialize color readers, but that this was indeed a hard problem to solve as iRex doesn't want to sacrifice screen brightness for color, which isn't necessarily a feature that most users would need.
Services for Publishers, But no Store
Brons also told us that iRex is providing publishers with a full range services to get their books onto the iRex platform, though iRex itself is not looking into starting its own store.
We think there is a chance that iRex is missing some opportunities here, though. Publishers might be able to put their books up in an iRex powered store on their sites, but consumers don't go to publisher sites to buy a book. After all, who knows (and wants to know) whether their favorite book was published by a Random House imprint like Knopf or Crown, or by Penguin (itself a part of Pearson)?
Brons acknowledged that Amazon's size must have surely helped it to gather (force?) publishers around its eBook offering, and the integration between the store and the hardware device, bundled with the Kindle's wireless capabilities, surely helped the company to make eBooks and eReaders more palatable for consumers.
It is important to note, too, that the Kindle and Amazon's eBook store isn't currently available in Europe, where iRex has its headquarters and its strongest presence. If iRex could gather enough publishers around its platform and set up a large store, the company would definitely have the potential to challenge Amazon in this market when and if it decides to bring the Kindle to Europe.
loadHakiaAds("")
« Prior Post Next Post » Posted in
NYT, Products, eBooks and tagged with
ebooks, ereaders, irex, kindle, kindle dx
Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor
Thursday, 28 May 2009
New app on Apple Store
Random House has launched an ebook reader on the Apple App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Users of the app will be able to download digital editions of titles from authors such as James Patterson, Ben Elton and Richard Branson.
They can turn pages, make notes on pages and change font style and size.
Jonathan Davis, digital publisher at Random House Group Digital, said, “This is the first time a major UK publisher has made mass-market books available via the Apple App Store. The iPhone and iPod Touch are fantastic convergence devices and we’re delighted customers can now enjoy digital versions of some of our bestselling books on a device which fits neatly in their pocket.”
The ebook app costs £7.49.
Last week the publisher launched a community site for book lovers (nma.co.uk 22 May 2009). Users can set up their own profile page and rate and review books.
Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Affiliate programs
Smashwords, an online Ebook store for independent authors and their publishers, is launching a new affiliate program that will allow external sites to generate revenue by linking to Ebooks that are being sold on the Smashwords store.
Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Self Publishing
Free eBook Shows You How to Self Publish using a Book Template
Become a Published Author on Amazon!
Download the free ebook here: http://book-template.com/51231dsaaADS43SDFd32register.html
A new ebook shows you step by step exactly How To Publish your Ebook as a Paperback on Amazon. The ebook comes with a Bonus Video that shows you exactly how to submit your book to Amazon for free.
Leigh Burke said "Hot off the press is my latest Ebook, ’How To Publish your Ebook as a Paperback on Amazon’.
I guide you step by step through the process of getting your book in the correct format for submission to Amazon, then submitting it and promoting your book on the world’s biggest virtual bookstore. And the best thing of all is submission to Amazon is free, and I show you how"
The ebook is 30 pages, and contains detailed instructions and screenshots guiding you step by step through the entire process.
With your ebooks for sale as physical books on Amazon, you’ll create another stream of income and increase your credibility as an author overnight.
There are a number of other distinct advantages to being a published author.
* You will be quoted in both the media and other books. * You can add the book to your CV, biography and other marketing literature. * You can purchase your own books at a heavily discounted price from the printer, and sell them yourself at seminars, conferences, training events, to customers, loved ones and friends. * When you publish more than one book in your niche you gain credibility and become an expert in your field. This will increase your customers trust in you, and will lead to many indirect sales and consulting engagements.
You can grab your free copy here: http://book-template.com/51231dsaaADS43SDFd32register.html
Once you register free, you will be automatically redirected to the download page.
If you’re looking to self publish your own book then you will also need a book template to layout your book.
You can get one here: http://www.book-template.com/.
Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor
Become a Published Author on Amazon!
Download the free ebook here: http://book-template.com/51231dsaaADS43SDFd32register.html
A new ebook shows you step by step exactly How To Publish your Ebook as a Paperback on Amazon. The ebook comes with a Bonus Video that shows you exactly how to submit your book to Amazon for free.
Leigh Burke said "Hot off the press is my latest Ebook, ’How To Publish your Ebook as a Paperback on Amazon’.
I guide you step by step through the process of getting your book in the correct format for submission to Amazon, then submitting it and promoting your book on the world’s biggest virtual bookstore. And the best thing of all is submission to Amazon is free, and I show you how"
The ebook is 30 pages, and contains detailed instructions and screenshots guiding you step by step through the entire process.
With your ebooks for sale as physical books on Amazon, you’ll create another stream of income and increase your credibility as an author overnight.
There are a number of other distinct advantages to being a published author.
* You will be quoted in both the media and other books. * You can add the book to your CV, biography and other marketing literature. * You can purchase your own books at a heavily discounted price from the printer, and sell them yourself at seminars, conferences, training events, to customers, loved ones and friends. * When you publish more than one book in your niche you gain credibility and become an expert in your field. This will increase your customers trust in you, and will lead to many indirect sales and consulting engagements.
You can grab your free copy here: http://book-template.com/51231dsaaADS43SDFd32register.html
Once you register free, you will be automatically redirected to the download page.
If you’re looking to self publish your own book then you will also need a book template to layout your book.
You can get one here: http://www.book-template.com/.
Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Ebook couleur
Alors qu’Amazon souhaite relancer le marché avec un second "Kindle" équipé de niveaux de gris pour faciliter la lecture, le constructeur japonais Fujitsu fait encore mieux en commercialisant au pays du soleil levant, FLEPia, le premier ebook couleur. Embarquant la techonologie "e-ink", l’encre numérique, le modèle ne nécessite pas de rétro-éclairage et offre des économies d’énergie.
La révolution apportée par Fujitsu offre un écran tactile 8 pouces XGA à 260 000 couleurs pour une définition de 1024 x 768 pixels. Le tout se présente dans des dimensions 24 x 16 cm pour 1,25cm d’épaisseur. Poids du FLEPia : 385 grammes. Le modèle est complété par 4Go de capacité interne, un port pour carte SD, le WiFi et le Bluetooth 2.0. Il est compatible avec un grand nombre de formats (PDF, TXT, HTML, Word, Excel pour les textes mais aussi JPEG, BMP ou encore PNG pour les images). Une autonomie de 40 heures est annoncée.
Download ebooks on http://www.frenchtheory.com/ - See that post with different algorithms in metabole - See the journal French Metablog with today different posts -PHONEREADER Library - - Jean-Philippe Pastor
Thursday, 12 March 2009
PHONEREADER Iphone
All ebooks on www.phonereader.eu
All books for smartphones since1998
Microsoft OS can be downloaded with XenDesktop software from Citrix.
Download Reader Microsoft on your Iphone and read ebooks phonereader.eu on your Iphone (free of charge).
See le Journal de l'Hypertexte in english (different today's posts)
Connect hypertextual.net l'Hypertexte Principal de la Solution -
See Phonereader.GoogleBooks
Enter the library Phonereader.eu
Jean-Philippe Pastor
All books for smartphones since1998
Microsoft OS can be downloaded with XenDesktop software from Citrix.
Download Reader Microsoft on your Iphone and read ebooks phonereader.eu on your Iphone (free of charge).
See le Journal de l'Hypertexte in english (different today's posts)
Connect hypertextual.net l'Hypertexte Principal de la Solution -
See Phonereader.GoogleBooks
Enter the library Phonereader.eu
Jean-Philippe Pastor
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