Lecture 1

Hi,
Welcome to my first ever blogging session. As a traditionalist usually, my thoughts/ views are normally recorded down on paper in my diary, but not today! Today I’m joining in on the new blogging craze which has soared since the estimated number of 50 at the end of 1999 link and I am attempting to write my first ever blog today!

In relation to this weeks lecture, I suppose that what I’ve written above about blogging today instead of writing with pen and paper could be linked to our discussion in the lecture on the evolution of publishing into e-publishing through technology. This is a great example of how diaries, books and journals as physical artefacts have been disrupted by technology, and have been transformed into electronic artefacts.

In order for you to understand what e-publishing is, it is important firstly to define the proccess of publishing. In short, it is to find content, develop it, go through different processes such as proofreading, designing, printing, and then market the product and later distribute it (here is a link of a more detailed process used to publish work- http://tlrg.bangor.ac.uk/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?id=1392 ). After defining publishing, look at how in recent years the involvement of technology has evolved the proccess of publishing, and what the outcome of the end product is, and the means of distribution. Analysing this situation gives you the definition of e-publishing, which is a way in which individuals can tell a story/ express views interactively, not in a physical artefact such as a book. Therefore, e-publishing is a digital distribution of content to a public audience.

If you are not familiar with the process of e-publishing, it includes many different means of creating work electronically, and 'disseminating information via electronic means including e-mail and via the web' http://www.desktoppub.about.com/library/glossary/bldef-electronicpublishing.htm . These electronically created works include: digital publication of e-books, electronic articles, podcasting, e-journals, and visual novels (which are popular in Japan). All these things are changing daily with new technology constantly being produced.

Even though e-publishing is a relatively new medium, and realistically is only being born, according to consulting firm IDC, 'the demand for digital books will build quickly over the next several years' http://www.allbusiness.com/professional-scientific/management-consulting-services/1102903-1.html. Does this compromise the future of the traditional book?

With technology, people, and culture rapidly changing, new technology is regularly getting produced, and changes everything, this is otherwise known as disruptive technology. For you to grasp this concept, a great example of this would be in the music industry where it changed from records to tapes to cd’s to files, to just getting the music, and not having to pay to listen to it through such software as spotify. As new means of distributing music electronically has been produced, gone are the days where we can walk in to a store and buy a music tape. Will this be the case for books in years to come? Where we will no longer be able to purchase a book from a store, only download it as a PDF file? I certainly hope not! As this will spell the end of the authenticity of reading a book!

With technology rapidly changing, I have no idea and cannot even imagine where e-publishing will be years from now, but I am very interested in witnessing what these technological changes have in store for us.

I’m no where near an expert on e-publishing, but I hope to learn more about the field, and grasp a greater understanding of what e-publishing entails through this module.

I have come to the end of my blogging session for today until my next instalment next week. I hope you had a clear insight into the mechanics of what e-publishing is.

Bye for now.