ENTRIES TAGGED "data journalism"

Publishing News: The SCOTUS “first sale” ruling spells trouble ahead for publishers

Publishers react to Kirtsaeng ruling, School of Data Journalism returns to festival, and a look at publishers' struggles to remain relevant.

Publishers express disappointment in SCOTUS “first sale” ruling

Headline news this week was the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of the student textbook seller in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., in which the court upheld the “first sale” doctrine in the case of copies of copyrighted material lawfully made outside the U.S. Jeff John Roberts reported the gist of the ruling at PaidContent:

“Writing for the majority, Justice Stephen Breyer rejected John Wiley’s argument that the phrase ‘lawfully made under this act’ implied a geographic limitation. He also cited the concerns of library associations, used-book dealers, technology companies, consumer-goods retailers, and museums — all of which had urged the court to reject the restricted notion of ‘first sale.'”

Andrew Albanese rounded up reactions to the ruling in a post at Publishers Weekly. Wiley president and CEO Stephen M. Smith said, “It is a loss for the U.S. economy, and students and authors in the U.S. and around the world.” Read more…

Publishing News: Pushing ebooks beyond skeuomorph boundaries

Jeff Gomez on ebook innovation, data journalism projects progress, and Amazon may be losing the ereading revolution.

Screens should be portals, not skeuomorphic containers

Jeff Gomez, VP of online consumer sales and marketing at Penguin Group, took a look this week at the issue of ebooks in the publishing ecosystem and argued that “we’re focusing in all the wrong places.”

Too much attention is being paid to pricing, format, business models and gadgetry, Gomez says, and notes the more important aspects that are being sidelined: “Namely, how can we use digital devices to change the way we tell stories? How will the ebook change the novel? And how will writers respond to a world where they can think beyond the boundaries of text, print, and covers?” He argues that instead of innovating, “we’re just creating another skeuomorph,” where readers are experiencing books on screens the same way they did on print.

Read more…

Publishing News: HTML5 may be winning the war against apps

Publishing News: HTML5 may be winning the war against apps

Publisher moves lean toward HTML5, MIT students present news reporting solutions, and Penguin and Macmillan respond to the DOJ.

Some are sticking with apps, but many publishers are choosing HTML5-based solutions; students at MIT have solutions for news; and Penguin and Macmillan tell the DOJ they weren't involved in price fixing.

Maps aren't easy

Maps aren't easy

Pete Warden on digital map creation and data journalism tools.

Data-centric news organizations are using maps to effectively tell stories, but these features don't come easy. In this interview, Pete Warden discusses the grunt work that goes into map creation and the tools that can make it a little easier.