Publishing Blog
Florence Summer School - May 2014
by Imogen Poole, with help from Jaimie Banks, Kat Storace, Leonie Drake, Katie Stewart, Georgina Slater, Adrienn Jelenik
Florence by numbers:
- Gelatos consumed: 73
- Pizzas consumed: 56
- Aperativos overlooking the Arno: 17
- Art galleries visited: 4
- Churches gawped at: 23
- Towers climbed: 3.5
- Languages spoken: 9 (10 if you include interpretative dance)
- Views taken in: countless
- Trains caught: not enough
Disclaimer
Detailing the experiences of seven Oxford Brookes Publishing MA students spending two weeks in a Tuscan villa at the postgraduate summer school without mentioning gelato or pizza has proved a harder task than one might expect. It would also be a thoroughly inaccurate representation of our intensive summer publishing programme. After deep discussion and some sharp words, the editorial team has removed all unnecessary references to the various culinary ecstasies enjoyed. For a more accurate version, please multiply the pizza by several and the gelato by a multitude.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 05 Jun 2014 around 1pm
Field trip to Amsterdam - March 2014
by Cherry Allen
A group of Publishing undergraduates spent a few days in Amsterdam in March for Dutch Book Week (Boekenweek), visiting our Erasmus partner, the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. Cherry Allen writes about their experiences.
A video was made during the trip.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 14 Apr 2014 around 12pm
Advocates of the book - stand up
by Angus Phillips
The future is bright: the future is global. If the printing press enabled scalability - one book can reach many different readers - then digital means that the book is even more scalable in that demand can be satisfied straight away almost anywhere in the world. This is a tremendous opportunity for books and knowledge to spread in new ways, across new networks. A reader the other side of the world no longer has to wait for a book to be printed and distributed, or translated. They can download the book on first publication and have immediate access. Readers in those countries without a developed infrastructure for the distribution of physical books can access content directly.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01 Apr 2014 around 12pm
Tom Scholes - Digital Lunchtime Lecture on Success and Pitfalls of Digital Projects (#DLL14)
by Vessela Howell
On Tuesday, 18th March we had the pleasure to meet a witty and entertaining speaker - Tom Scholes of Grove Street Media, a small new media company based in Summertown, Oxford. The company is so small that, in fact, consists of only two people – Tom, who does the programming, and Ben, who does the design. They specialise in eLearning but also work on a range of products and services for the entertainment and advertising industries, and government agencies. Grove Street Media creates language learning tools, educational games, not-so-educational games, animated scientific diagrams and more, and their approach can be summed up as 'making games out of boring content'. Ben, the designer, is currently animating bacteria in action using 3D models, in order to show how antibiotics work.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 28 Mar 2014 around 10am
10 Dos and Don’ts for Wannabe Publishers at London Book Fair
by Helena Markou
Let me begin by saying if you want a job in publishing then you want to be at London Book Fair. Registration is free. Just sign up as a visitor and make sure you select "student" from the drop down menu.
LBF is all about the sales of rights, so people are there to have important meetings (which are often scheduled months in advance). Many publishers have back-to-back appointments all day long, but there are usually people floating around the stands, manning reception and answering ad hoc questions.
On the hour and on the half-hour is a good time to catch people between their scheduled appointments, but try to develop a ninja-like awareness of “the unoccupied” and be ready to pounce with a disarming opener at all times.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 28 Mar 2014 around 10am
Emma Barnes’ Digital Lunchtime Lecture on Optimising Workflow (#DLL14)
by Leonie Drake
“I want to BE her when I grow up!” was Helena’s enthusiastic introduction to Emma Barnes, this week’s guest Digital Publishing speaker. An hour later, I suspect that more than a few of us were starting to feel the same.
Emma is the MD of Snowbooks and founder of Bibliocloud, a publishing management software package that won the Futurebook 2013 prize for best technology innovation. She starts by describing her early career in retail, where she was once reduced to despair, while knee-deep in unmarked orange pots (the kind of moment I’m sure many of us can relate to). Further up the career ladder she found political intrigue in the world of dusters as a buyer for B&Q, sparking a long-term interest in how people make, break and shake up organisations.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 06 Mar 2014 around 2pm
Dale Peters’ Digital Lunchtime Lecture on eBooks in Schools (#DLL14)
by Kelly Mundt
Dale Peters from RM Education came to talk to us about eBooks in school. It seemed appropriate, not only because most of us were eating our sandwiches and apples like kids at lunchtime, but as the digital age progresses and children walk into their new school with such an impressive competence for anything that lets you navigate with your fingers, us future publishers need to learn a few tricks. According to some statistics mentioned by Dale Peters in his presentation, 42% of five to fifteen-year-olds use tablets at home. That’s nearly half of the kids who are in our school systems and if they’re on tablets all day at home, how can that be used to aid learning in schools?
There is a Podcast for this News Item
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 26 Feb 2014 around 9am
Discoverability in Academic Publishing a Digital Lunchtime Lecture with David Cox (#DLL14)
by Jaimie Banks
Findability. Discoverability. Granularity. Taxonomy. Those of us studying publishing – and indeed, those already working in the industry – know these words are more than just industry jargon, but it can be difficult to fully understand their meaning and importance in a world gone digital.
There is a Podcast for this News Item
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 17 Feb 2014 around 8am
Dr Liz Marchant’s Digital Lunchtime Lecture - Part 2 (#DLL14)
by Elaine K. Phillips
The first in a series of lunchtime lectures on digital publishing. Guest speakers from the industry share their strategies for publishing in the digital age.
There is a Podcast for this News Item
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 12 Feb 2014 around 9am
Dr Liz Marchant’s Digital Lunchtime Lecture - Part 1 (#DLL14)
The remaining students file in for Wednesday's lunchtime lecture, chatting excitedly and pulling out sandwiches to munch on. I flex my fingers. Limbering up is important, especially when you're about to scribble down words of wisdom from Dr Liz Marchant, Head of Science at Pearson. Her title causes a knowing chuckle amongst my digital group - we lucked out, our brief is to develop a digital product based on Pearson’s KS3 Science book. This is going to be so very, very useful. We were right, well... sort of.
There is a Podcast for this News Item
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 12 Feb 2014 around 8am