Microsites: are we shooting ourselves in the foot?

Posted on by Gareth Bish
An interesting discussion with a client this week who is a leading publisher in the field of STM, SOCS and HUMS. We have been working very productively with this client for some time now. They have a number of highly-regarded, online reference and journal products available to the academic community, delivered on Semantico’s Information Publishing Platform, SIPP. Recently, they have been using our platform to build microsites which enable them to optimise the value of their content and to showcase particular well-known publications within the wider context of their main offerings. These microsites benefit from cross-searchability, but each has its own look and feel. Quick and easy for the publisher to develop and bring to market, they can be deployed on the platform within a matter of hours, limiting the total outsourced development outlay to a matter of hundreds of pounds rather than thousands. For all of these reasons above, the facility to offer these microsites is highly-popular with the publisher in question; however it has also led them to ask if we aren’t ‘shooting ourselves in the foot’ with respect to potential lost development? It’s a fair question … Continue reading →

Some thoughts on the Carter Report

Posted on by Louise Hewitt
Cover of the UK Government's Digital Britain report

Cover of Digital Britain report

Last month saw the publication of the interim Digital Britain report from UK Minister for Communications Stephen Carter and his team. Most of the headlines have focused on the ’2MB for all by 2012′ promise, but the report raises other issues for digital publishing. National high-speed broadband access is likely to be a reality if not in 3 then at least 5 years time – regardless of the Government – as users expect more and more instant access to media and communications, free and online. The report’s target in this regard – everyone in Britain to have access to broadband with a data rate of at least 2 megabits per second by 2012 – is in any case undemanding, since this can already be delivered to over 90% of the population (source: Informitv), and the average broadband home in Britain actually receives around 3.6Mbps at the moment (source: Ofcom). Neither can the report be said to be particularly forward-looking, with its focus on DAB (a format which consumers have not shown themselves to be that enthusiastic about so far) and digital television networks: there is mounting evidence that the under-30 age group regularly, if not exclusively, access entertainment media through the internet. The report is right in noting, however, the importance of wireless broadband for current and future delivery of content. The surge in demand created by the popularity of the iPhone and other factors has made this channel increasingly vital. While the main focus of the report is on audio / visual content, there are several key points that relate to the online publishing market. Continue reading →

E-learning: across the great divide

Posted on by John Helmer
The divide between e-learning and e-information A discussion the Semantico team had recently with David Worlock of Outsell highlighted areas of convergence between online publishing and e-learning, two worlds that have previously seemed oddly sealed off from each other. I go regularly to the Learning Technologies exhibition in January, where the great and the good of UK e-learning gather, and also to more publishing-focused shows such as Online Information and BETT – and I’m often struck by the lack of overlap both in exhibitors and attendees. What we’re looking at, in market terms, is two quite distinct industries; of very different scale (e-learning is much smaller), structured differently, and with their own dynamics – each possessing its own distinctive terminology, guru community and media universe. There ought to be more points of contact in the area of education; but in many ways this is where the differences are most marked. If I were to point to one philosophical sticking point that underlies this difference, it would concern an issue close to every publisher’s heart: the status of authoritative texts. Continue reading →