Printweek reports Cross Media Live : is 2012 too far away?

http://www.printweek.com/news/1075851/Informa-Exhibitions-launches-new-London-based-cross-media-event/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH

Previously I mentioned the editorial and news in Print and Paper Monthly. This turned out to be in advance of later decisions. Now Printweek has reported the revised plans for next year.

According to Nick Craig Waller, event director at Informa, the show will "combine product and solution demonstrations with strategic and tactical insights".

Craig Waller said: "Our aim with Cross Media 2011 is to bring commercial print providers and their marketing clients together so that they have a better understanding about what the other has to offer, and they can see for themselves the potential for integrating paper-based marketing with digital and online tactics such as video, social media and email.  


I still think something this year would be in order. Also in Printweek is an article about personalisation as an option for B2B print publishing. However there seem to be issues around how to finance the kit, how to scale up the data process,  and how printers can persuade publishers ahead of a few case studies that are suitably convincing. So the conclusion is that "it’s clear that putting personalisation on a pedestal as some sort of holy grail for printed magazines may be a little misguided, and perhaps a more in-depth look at what consumers want, rather than what is possible, would be more appropriate." Meanwhile online personalisation is a given. Not much about online in this story but i guess somewhere in Haymarket there is a discussion with wider scope.

http://www.printweek.com/Printing/article/1076500/what-does-personal/

See next post on Harry Potter, just one of the global brands now with cross media strategy and tactics.

MOO affilation, I really am delighted

I think I am now a MOO affiliate. They do business cards and other short runs of digital print. Recently I followed up their blog link to about.me where I am will789gb. The cards work well with the quick response code so I have no hesitation in suggesting others have a look.

Trying out the code.
<a href="http://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=2562&awinaffid=123504&clickref=&p=" onmouseover="self.status=''; return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''; return true;" target="_top">moo.com</a>

University Bookshop Going in Belfast, has Exeter got a case?

The Bookseller reports that a University Bookshop is to close in Belfast

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/belfast-university-bookshop-close.html

Tim Smyth, manager of the bookshop, said the board of the university-owned bookshop took the decision to close before the shop became unprofitable, which he expected would be next year. He said: “We have always been above the line but next year we will fall below the line. I don’t know how we (independent booksellers) can do it anymore. Certainly the academic model has reached a tipping point now, it is unsustainable.

“We didn’t want to be in a position where we had to limit the range we supply and damage our reputation, which is important to us.”

Maybe this is more direct than claiming that there is a positive case for not having a bookshop on a modern university retail experience such as Exeter is about to relaunch when the building is completed.

It would be a shame to launch a new site only to close within a few years. But I don't think the case for a campus without a bookshop has been filly explored. I still don't understand why a library is different. Why bricks? actually why have a campus at all? Yet building continues. What is "Science 2.0" ? Will it need a new set of buildings jumping the city over the motorway and into the countryside? 

Rowling launch for the ebook Christmas

Harry Potter will soon be available for download. it turns out that JK Rowling has kept the rights for digital versions and a new website has the exclusive offer on one book at a time. Previously she has claimed to be fully in favour of print. This has now been modified.

This could be a significant event. The launch seems to be phased so that fans get fully involved even before the books are available. The book trade is always thinking about the festive season when most of the sales in bookshops occur. there may be other sites in support of the book before the end of the year.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/rowling-releases-harry-potter-into-the-ether-on-pottermore/?scp=2&sq=harry%20potter&st=cse

The Bookseller  meanwhile reports that sales of science and education titles are as strong as general publishing and have already started to benefit from growing digital sales.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/global-publishing-back-front-foot.html

However so far there has not been much free content around this sort of publishing. At least that is my impression. An exception is Bloomsbury Academic

http://www.bloomsburyacademic.com/page/Our$0020Business$0020Model/our-business-model;jsessionid=584147D3AE15B15E55D07D6A2B38AF36

There may have been some conversations in Bloomsbury about where all this is going. Will journals move in the same direction as the wizards?

Guardian hides news of losses in story about proprieters

There is a point that quoted companies are backing out of UK newspapers

but the news is not just about a few individuals. Hidden away is the info that

Steady profits have become, in some cases, severe losses; last week, to give one example, the Guardian and Observer reported a cash loss of £33m for last year. 

surely this should be in the top paragraph?  the news is not so much that proprieters are taking over. Fleet street has always had a few of these. The point is that newspapers are in decline and there is no obvious model for news organisations online.

There may be a sensible plan for the Guardian. But they rarely explain what it is.

creative commons , not sure where the location is

Still thinking about the talk on Manchester data from Saturday.

We seem to get a flow of claims about specific places in Spacex, but the theme is probably about something in no specific place. Open source and creative commons have both been going for a while.

Found this looking for what is meant by public space when mentioning Deleuze

Makes some sense could be a clue. Architecture as symbol rings a bell re Lancaster and Exeter campus building projects. Not sure of the function, especially a campus rebuild that happens to demolish the bookshop.

I am beginning to think of just the screen in front of me with most places having a virtual equivalent of various kinds.

The academics and the galleries are working together around social media but i am not sure it has all been considered. The way that media are expected to work is still much the same as for some unique artifact usually stored securely out of access.

What to think about Web 2 etc? Critique mode has been the default but if there is some potential there needs to be engagement. Facebook has been compared to Tesco as a route to closed data. But for example the Spacex Facebook page could be a site for conversation not just broadcast.

Creative Commons video for Pyrates? starting on Friday at Firehouse in Exeter

The news that YouTube has a Creative Commons option only reached me last week. Not sure when it happened. But I think it is excellent development. Previously not at all clear what could be downloaded or reused.

The new style Pyrates arrive in Exeter this week for the Firehouse on Friday evening. I hope to be there and fill a SD card. But I probably won't get to Teignmouth so look forward to other video turning up. suggest many different angles and an edit later.

interesting day so far in Exeter virtual city of science ; warning MOO plug

0000aaa

It sank in last week that Exeter could be the first university with a positive spin on why there is no bookshop. Overnight I can remember something on the World Service about "showoff" architecture, the sort that announces new cities in a desert. Thing is, UK universities seem to be going the same way. Both Lancaster and Exeter have been building sites for a while. Then the Express and Echo has a page one story about how a "new era for the city" will herald the dawn of knowledge-based employment as Exeter carves out a niche as a City of Science.

What I don't understand is why this new web awareness ( if that is what it is ) starts with more and more buildings. Oxygen House is on the Exeter Business Park. Science is a good enough reason to extend the city beyond the motorway. Is the functionality added in any way? Was the previous campus ok even though it had a bookshop?

Meanwhile in the High Street Dixons or what used to be Dixons is now closing. Maybe mobile devices come as part of a contract for bandwidth. What is possible in the central city just with science as we know it? Wifi is getting better and there are coffee shops.

One theory I am trying out is that journalists and architects have been spending too much time in Second Life, Twinity etc. and have decided this is the reference design style. At first the virtual worlds had to imitate real buildings but three to five years ago a reverse process started. The computer software may be similar for designing either online worlds or new buildings. the only problem is with small details like post boxes, envelopes, books, bookshops. It is fairly easy to add a screen or blog feed. So Princesshay would not have looked quite right with a post box that could be easily found. And a university campus with a bookshop is just out of the question.

Don't get me wrong. I like Twinity and I like the screens in the Berlin Sony Centre. The version of Charing Cross Road in Twinity London has not got the bookshops I would expect but they are probably just planning ahead.

Life continues in many locations and timescales. I feel that conversation is possible covering many points of view.

MOO have sent me another free offer for business cards. This time to celebrate "about.me" a way to link your social presences together. starts with a QR card that links to your about.me site. I have chosen a Man Roland photo to link back to print. Also I have signed up as an affiliate. I genuinely think that MOO have an excellent offer. But I also hope to relate to hard copy from Exeter, virtual or whatever. My application still pending and the rewards are best through Facebook for some reason. So please wait for further links before placing large orders. Free offer of cards through about.me , actually there is a charge for postage works out at about three great british pounds for fifty cards.

#exeterrespect exeter respect YouTube now picks up from Twitter, my own Bollywood production

Of course it is not my production but the clips are pretty strong. Natural light on the Community Stage even better than the Corn Exchange.

On YouTube the exeterrespect search works but "exeter respect" works just as well. More or less the same results. You can refine the search to "this week" or "this month" to get 2011. There is a lot of material from 2010 so the volume is there to cover most aspects of the event. I think this is a really useful stage to have reached. It spreads the audience and is a base for future occasions.

#exeterrespect on Twitter seems to have stopped, maybe it will start up again in some other time zone.