O’Reilly TOC Frankfurt fails to deliver

O’Reilly Media’s Tools of Change (TOC) conference came to Frankfurt on 13 October 2009 – the first time the concept had been aired outside of the United States.

It is safe to say that TOC Frankfurt had been eagerly anticipated; I was certainly looking forward to it and if the bustle during registration was anything to go by then so were the majority of the roughly 200 (my guestimate) delegates who had paid the not insignificant Euro 499 +VAT registration fee to attend.

There were a couple of slightly annoying housekeeping issues. Registration was a bit chaotic due to poor signage, the breakout rooms were cramped and generally way too small and problems with the internet connection throughout the day must have been embarrassing to O’Reilly given their cutting-edge internet reputation. These could have easily been forgiven (it’s not easy to put on a conference like this, especially in an unfamiliar venue) had a program that promised “new insights” delivered.

It didn’t.

The opening two keynotes, Sara Lloyd (Pan Macmillan) and Neelan Chokski (Lexcycle), shared a slick delivery style but failed to impart any real insight. The third of the opening trio, Cory Doctorow, gave a passionate – if rather hurried – view of what needs to happen to sustain books into the future.

As we headed for coffee and the parallel sessions that were to follow, I was feeling a little underwhelmed.

Brian O’Leary (Magellan Media) improved my mood as he outlined research – albeit on a small scale – that seemed to suggest a correlation between peer-2-peer piracy and an increase in sales. He was careful in what he said and began and ended by suggesting that more work was needed from a bigger range of titles and publishers (he was just reporting on a subset of titles from the O’Reilly list). I was therefore disappointed, but not surprised, to read the several “Piracy boosts sales” headlines the following day…

Timo Hannay (Nature Publishing Group) gave a typically interesting presentation, though many in the scholarly / academic publishing industry will have heard much of the content before, but while the panel session on Alternative Digital Sales Channels was entertaining enough, it didn’t really work as a Q and A, failed to really address the topic in hand, and consequently stuttered. Simon Waldman (Guardian Media Group) did manage to give an overview of the innovative things that the Guardian are doing that was both interesting and entertaining. The elephant in the room during his talk was that the Guardian, like many newspapers, are struggling financially and have reduced the number of professional journalists working on the paper (in fact the Guardian is sustained by profits from Auto Trader). Opportunities to generate income from the innovations that Simon was talking about appear scarce, but in fairness that wasn’t his brief and nonetheless he reported some neat stuff.

I did enjoy the PECHA KUCHA session. Though some of the presenters struggled with the challenge of this, errr challenging, format they all managed to get through it unscathed. Well more or less. It was fast paced which meant that if you didn’t like a particular speaker then, like the weather in Melbourne, you didn’t have long to wait for a change.

Closing keynote speaker and O’Reilly founder Tim O’Reilly wasn’t able to make it to Frankfurt and this news was kept until the last possible moment which was understandable, I guess. After all, the organizers will have wanted to ensure that everybody stayed to the end. Unfortunately the attempt by Andrew Savikas (VP of Digital Initiatives at O’Reilly Media) to fill the void was a big disappointment. The title of the talk was ‘Reasons to be Excited’ but Savikas did little more than drone on about O’Reilly Media itself. Again I thought there was little of interest or insight and for me TOC Frankfurt ended as it began – with a damp squib.

Some have criticised TOC Frankfurt for its anti-DRM stance. The trouble was that throughout the whole day there was no real debate – about DRM or anything else – and that’s perhaps the biggest lesson that TOC needs to learn. It was also pretty one-dimensional: Publish your content DRM-free and via an iPhone app. Yawn.

So in summary I would not recommend O’Reilly Tools of Change to ALPSP members on the evidence of the first TOC Frankfurt event. Admittedly this is partly due to the high expectations that I had, and indeed the high cost of attending. But the bottom line is that I can spend my time and my organization’s money much more productively, and other familiar faces that I saw at TOC Frankfurt generally agreed.

The Frankfurt Book Fair has announced that an improved TOC conference will be back next year. I am sure it will, but I won’t be there to see it.

Ian Russell
#alpsp #tocfrankfurt #fbf09

To DRM, or not to DRM

DRM - Digital Rights Management is a hot topic at the O'Reilly Tools of Change conference in Frankfurt (#tocfrankfurt), or at least TPM is (that's technical protection measures).*


Ronald Schild, CEO of MVB, made the point that it is a tough value proposition to charge for the TPM protected version, which by definition is not as easy to use, if you have an illegal, pirated version of a book that gives the user no TPM hassles.


Also, I hear that there is competition among pirates to be the first to post an illegal copy on a bit torrent site and huge kudos among their community goes to the first person to break the TPM. That seems like an incentive to pirate TPM protected content that just isn't there for something that has no TPM. Or is that DRM?


Ian


*It's interesting to me that DRM - which strictly speaking is about managing and communicating rights digitally is often used to mean TPM, which is about stopping users doing things with your content that you don't want them to do...

ALPSP Survey of Librarians - report published

Against the backdrop of the global economic downturn that began in the second half of 2008, ALPSP undertook a survey of librarians in mid-2009 to inform a panel discussion at the 2009 ALPSP International Conference.

The report arising from that survey is now available and is free to ALPSP members.

Key findings are:

• The average number of journals being made available by the libraries surveyed more than doubled between 2000 and 2009. However, librarians are predicting that they will provide access to around the same number of journals in 2010 as they did in 2009, with more journals purchased as part of 'big deals' and fewer as single subscriptions. This will be of concern to smaller publishers who are unable to offer their content as part of a 'big deal' and those that are launching new subscription journals.
• A significant proportion of librarians responding to the survey state that they would prefer to purchase content from non-profit publishers, although the profit status of the publisher is not an important factor in any of the purchasing decisions surveyed.
• There is a strong demand from library customers to move more journals to electronic only. Three of the four most important barriers are within the control of publishers who may wish to consider what more can be done regarding electronic only offerings, licensing terms and post cancellation access to facilitate this move.
• Librarians generally understand and value the role that academic publishers play in the dissemination and communication of scholarship. However, there is room for a better understanding of the inflationary pressures on journal prices and better communication regarding this from the scholarly publishing industry generally.
• Librarians look for the most advantageous cost / benefit ratio when making their purchasing decisions. Usage statistics, both overall use and cost per use, are very important tools used in determining whether to renew or cancel journal content. Publishers should therefore continue to make every effort to maximize the usage of their version of the article. Faculty continue to play a very important role in all purchasing decisions relating to single subscriptions and end user marketing will therefore remain a priority for journal publishers who primarily sell their content as single subscriptions.
• Librarians responding to the survey are knowledgeable of open access publishing business models. However, more work needs to be done to minimise the burden of administrating open access publishing and to ensure that expenditure is predictable.

Don't miss this key ALPSP Seminar

Going Green? Sustainable Publishing, 4 November, London

Chair: Ashley Lodge, Publisher, Pearson Education and Chair, Publishers Green Network

Speakers include:
Genny Early, Head of Purchasing and Distribution, Oxford Journals
Mark Gough, Global Environmental Manager, Reed Elsevier
Edward Milford, Chairman, Earthscan
Toby Sawday, Business Development & Sustainability, Alistair Sawday Publishing

Your supply chain is important when considering the environmental impact of your publishing. But there are other key issues - how do you get buy in from your staff, change the way you organise the office and business without escalating costs? Learn how to be an effective publisher in a sustainable way at the ALPSP practical one day seminar on 4 November in Central London. Details

Online Information - 1-3 December 2009

Just a swift reminder that the Online Information will be held as usual at Olympia in London on the 1-3rd of December, 2009. This year we won't have an ALPSP stand but if you're there why not use the Twitter hashtag #alpsp to keep in touch?

To pre-register for entry to the exhibition go to www.online-information.co.uk. As an ALPSP member you can also claim an association discount if you register for the conference which is being run alongside the exhibition.

Nick

Semantico offer free demo at Frankfurt

A message just received from Richard Padley of Semantico which you might find of interest . . .

Free data consultancy and rapid online publishing demo on the Semantico stand at Frankfurt: Hall 4.2, Stand K445

If you’re planning to visit the Frankfurt Book Fair this year, why not make a date to talk to us on the Semantico stand right now?

Gareth Bish and I will be conducting one-to-one, hands-on demo sessions of our new rapid online publishing platform SIPP Rapid, and arranging FREE consultancy days to help improve the quality of your data.

You can also hear about a selection of our newest service developments for 2010 to help your organisation position for recovery – see the list below.

To book a time to meet up, just hit reply and suggest a time and we’ll get back to you.
We look forward to welcoming you on the stand!
Best regards,
Richard PadleyManaging Director, Semantico Limited

FEATURED FOR 2010:
Shibboleth: come and talk to us about enabling federated access management for your sites
Book Widget taster: publishers can trial a range of titles for a six-month period without making a major commitment to an entire library or imprint
User-experience review: a 2-day consultancy package offering that helps publishers get more sales effectiveness out of an existing site

What's Next for the Google Settlement - FREE online seminar from CCC

Colleagues may be interested in a free online seminar which has been organized by fellow ALPSP member the Copyright Clearance Center.

Copyright law specialist Lois F. Wasoff will give the hour-long webinar which will take place on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 12:00 pm EDT (5:00 pm BST in the UK, 6:00 pm CEST in mainland Europe).

To quote the blurb:
"Since its announcement in October 2008, there has been a continuous stream of activity surrounding the Google Settlement. The dates to opt-out and object have passed and thousands of documents have been filed with the court. Renowned copyright law and policy attorney Lois Wasoff returns to help sort out the diverse viewpoints in anticipation of the Fairness Hearing, the next important event in this historic lawsuit. Presented in clear and concise terms, the seminar will examine the complex issues facing Judge Dennis Chin as the hearing date approaches."

The webinar is FREE, but you must register to take part.