Knowledge2Go » Publishers

Textbooks as wikis

Tue, 03 Jan 2006 09:17:59 +0000

The idea of producing school and university textbooks as wikis (i.e. as free and editable online texts) is slowly starting to gain momentum. Dave Cornier lists some pros and cons. The great thing about publishing a textbook as a wiki is that users (e.g. students and lecturers) can contribute to the text and so help to improve it and keep it current. Direct editing of the text need not be completely open (as is the case with wikipedia) – there could be different types of contributors, such as editors, chapter authors, box authors, and people who are allowed to comment or add margin notes. One way for textbook authors to make some money out of this form of publishing would be to sell printed copies of the book to those who don’t have good internet access, or who prefer to use a hard copy.

Rip-off 101

Martin — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 11:05:50 +0000

A new report, Rip-off 101: How The Current Practices Of The Textbook Industry Drive Up The Cost Of College Textbooks, by the US consumer body CALPRIG has been causing quite a stir. Some highlights from the report (which is available as a free pdf download):

* Textbooks are expensive and have been steadily getting more expensive
* “Bundled” materials such as CD-ROMs significantly increase textbook prices, but are rarely used by students or lecturers.
* Publishers create new editions with very few content changes – making cheaper used textbooks obsolete.
(photo credit: Paul Keleher)

Working with publishers

Martin — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 11:35:08 +0000

I have just had a nice chat to Fiona Wakelin of Juta, who will be publishing Knowledge2Go. Fiona is currently visiting Gauteng from her home base in Cape Town. She is not only clued up about traditional publishing stuff, but also has creative ideas about the process of writing and publishing the book.

Upcoming book fairs

Martin — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 21:46:25 +0000

Two upcoming book fairs to keep an eye on: The Frankfurt Book Fair this year (19 to 23 October 2005) and the Cape Town Book Fair next year (17 to 20 June 2006).