Here's an article I came across today:
Opinion: Academic Publishing Is Broken | The Scientist
http://the-scientist.com/2012/03/19/opinion-academic-publishing-is-broken/
This started me thinking about what services publishers perform in
general. As this article points out, for the scientific community, some
publications are necessary for historical reasons. Also, I can see
great value in peer review.
But, what is to prevent someone from setting up a web site devoted to
eBooks not subject to the publishers' restrictions ? E.g.,
self-published books or books marketed by "ebook agents". By taking the
copyrights out of the current publishers' hands, presumably, the prices
could be drastically lowered while the authors could get higher fees
and/or royalties !
This would not do away with the need for editors. But do editors need
to be employees of the existing publishers ?
So, what are the compelling arguments for the ability of publishers to
maintain their control over content delivered electronically ?
Joe
--
"Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
-- Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, 1913.
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
