05/20/2021

Content at Scale

The third wave

Long have I thought that the transition of publishing from print to online was a natural byproduct of the opportunities created by the internet. The changes have driven both growth and periods of consolidation that are not unique to our industry — a fact Cory Doctorow noted at the NISO Plus meeting this year when he recited a long list of industries dominated by a few companies that earn the majority of the revenue.

Reflecting on the last two decades, the combination of technology and economics feels as though waves of change have reshaped our industry. Functions that were essential twenty years ago (such as book vendors and subscription agents) barely exist today. Looking ahead, the next big wave is to use analytics and AI as we complete the transition to open content. Operating at scale will reduce the cost of publishing and enable the creation of new products. What follows are a few observations on the role of scale in driving consolidations and the need for scale for future developments.

First Wave – 2000s – Digitization and Consortia

The internet revolutionized publishing with “create once — view many times.” Only the largest publishers could develop their own systems, and vendors created platforms to serve the middle market. They were complemented by the aggregators (EBSCO, ProQuest) that made digital distribution possible for small publishers.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Scholarly Kitchen.