Technology and its impacts cut across all areas of the economy including publishing. This paper seeks to examine the main changes and impacts that technology has had on the publishing sector. On a balance, the positive effects of technology outweigh the negative effects in overall making technology appreciated in publishing. This paper would discuss majorly the changes occasioned by the worldwide web and developments in computer applications such as word documents. Some of the most profound changes are in the areas of storage, sharing of information, formatting and transfer of information in the publishing context. In addition, the negative effects of technology to the publishing industry can be circumvented in a number of ways so that in the long run, publishing has come of age and made full utility of opportunities and avenues created by the technology in place in the modern world.
The median of display comes out as one of the affected areas by recent technology. Display could be defined as the form in which the audiences to published material access the published material. Previously, publishing employed almost in its entirety the print media as the form of access to its audience. In that context, the material was printed in hard copy and transferred to the audience in the mode of books, magazines, among other forms through physical mechanisms. This is an area that has undergone drastic changes in the recent past. The introduction of the worldwide web has effectively changed and affected the medium of display. Today, publishing can and is mostly in the form of “softcopy” documents. Softcopy in this context primarily refers to the electronic forms of storage such as word documents, portable documents formats otherwise called pdf, notepads and their equivalents. This has greatly been facilitated by the introduction of the computer systems whereby documents are typed and soft versions availed instead of hard copies. This has affected publishing in the positive. The softcopy are easy to share and distribute given the application of the internet. Through the internet, publishers are able to email, copy and paste, and send the softcopy versions of their published works. This element of display (softcopy) has effectively facilitated the spread and sharing of information and documents. Publishing has in the long run improved because the degree of sharing is higher and the information spread more.
The internet has facilitated another aspect of publishing. Today, there is an option of electronically published books. In electronic published books (e-books), the publishers are able to communicate to their audience through the use of soft published versions spread through the internet. All the audience need is access to the internet. Once equipped with access, publishers’ content can be read and digested through the sites and pages. E-books have been appreciated for their consumption of lesser space, the ease in making corrections and their availability over the internet meaning the audience need not carry them around as long as they are within the coverage of the internet (which is the entire globe). That point raises three critical issues that need to be explained in more detailed. First is the issue of space. Before the advent of the computer and related technologies, publishing was primarily through the use of typed books through typewriters. These versions were hardcopies and had to be kept in physical places such as libraries and large warehouses. Cases involving movement from one place to another necessitated the use of huge carriers to carry and store the books and other related hardcopy material. However, with the introduction of the computer, storage of soft versions of e-books and related material has been consistently consuming lesser and lesser space. While the first computer occupied almost the entire room, continued innovation has today availed computers that are the size of the human palm. Moreover, even smaller electronic storage gadgets have been developed including; cellular phones, flash disks, memory cards and related hardware. This has greatly improved the quality and efficiency of storing published material. One does not need the huge books anymore. As long as one has the right gadgets, published documents or their equivalent versions can be saved in peculiarly small space. The economy in space continues to support and encourage more production and subsequent consumption of the published content. Unfortunately, while the so called developed economies continue to enjoy and relish in these conveniences, the majority in the so called developing world continue to rely primarily on hard versions of published content. This may be the reason as to the huge disparity in terms of both published volumes and quality between the two worlds.
Second point to note is the relative ease while making changes or corrections. The innovations in computer technology especially on the software have enhanced the ease of making any changes. For instance, the word document, especially Bill Gates’ Microsoft Word, has effectively enhanced publishing. Publishers using Microsoft world continue to enjoy relatively flexible and accommodating typing, designing, editing and formatting options and alternatives. This has greatly facilitated publishing in terms of the overall volumes and quality. What an average publisher could do in ten hours, an equally average but modern publisher does within one hour. This is because typing has been effectively facilitated and made easy through a combination of computer hardware and software such as Microsoft programs. The relative ease in corrections, copy paste options, track changes, suggest alternatives, spell checkers, and among others have effectively improved the quality of published work. In addition, the time consumed in the production has been reduced substantially as some of the work previously done manually can now be discharged by computers which perform the same in relatively higher speeds. This equally continues to improve even as programs are being devised and already in use in some quarters that convert audio into written content. These developments pose positive and relatively promising futures for the publishing field.
Lastly the issue raised relates to the availability of the internet. Indeed, the beauty of e-books as a form of publishing is that it is based on the internet. The content can, therefore, be accessed as long as one has access to the internet and has with him the right configurations. To expound on that, perhaps we use a practical example. A book may be prepared and availed in electronic form and made available in a school’s online library. A student need not be in the library premises to access such a book. The student only needs to log in details of the said library over the internet. He can then access the library website from any location in the world and then read the electronic form of the book. This means the student has access to the book even during his holiday overseas. This accessibility is pegged on the availability of the internet. Statistics indicate that consumers of the internet are on the increase and indeed for publishing, the result would be a net increase in accessibility to published contents. So many benefits accrue when the audience to published information and documents increase. First, the primary object of publishing is to communicate. The communicator (read publisher) often intends to communicate a message to a target group. This group may be difficult to access or seemingly inconvenienced by reading of huge hardcopy publications. The internet bridges this barrier. Through the internet, publishers can communicate and pass their messages across valleys and seas within seconds. The popular mantra now goes that the world has become a global village. The premise of such an assertion is the ease of accessing the world through globalized interactions primarily fueled and supported by the internet. Secondly, the internet has effectively reduced the costs of accessing and distributing published content. The location of the audience is no longer a barrier to distribution of published content. Through the internet, e-books and related versions can be accessed with relative ease and lesser costs. Compare the inconveniences involved in the transportation of tons of books across Europe to America vis-a-vis the ease of distribution of e-books which is by a click of a button.In addition, e-books could be edited and corrected with ease and easily reloaded on the websites of access. This had not been the case with physical deliveries which may not be recalled for corrections and editing. In the long run, all these conveniences have improved the quality and efficiency of publishing with the result that publishing is fast gaining ground as a promising career in the globe today.
The issue of storage of electronic material cannot be exhausted without a discussion on the new concepts which will indeed have effects on publishing. One of the recent discoveries in storage is the cloud computing concept. Through cloud computing tones of information and data can be stored in the “cloud” and accessed by the owners at any time. In other words, cloud technology enables one to store his content in the clouds and access the same from any location at any time. The foundation of cloud computing is the internet. The user sends important data and content to the clouds through an internet application. He is then sourced with login details and may access the content from anywhere in the world as long as supply to the internet is availed. This concept affects publishing in that publishers no longer have to worry about storage and localities. The content, during and after publication, can be stored in the “clouds” and accessed from anywhere in the world at the convenience of the user. This development equally reduces the costs of publication as no hardcopies and related documentation is needed. It is important to appreciate the fact that cloud computing is capable of storing tones of information and content. In addition, the drop box option also suffices. The drop box is an application that allows users to store their information, files and documentation in the internet and share the same with ease. All one needs to do is to create a drop box program and invite the members who will share and store information and content in the program. Publishing has been affected by this feature in that sharing and cross checking of published content and work in progress has been effectively facilitated and increased. The publishers are able to overcome physical barriers and share their content effectively improving the quality of their content and widening their reach. In addition, it is such options as drop box that accelerate the pace of publishers and the relative spread of information.
The most appreciated contribution of technology to publishing remains the element of accessibility. Modern publishing has effectively eliminated the gap that existed between publishers and their esteemed audience. Where publishers previously relied on physical medians for communication, they can easily access their audience through the internet and related medians. This has enabled them to increase their incomes as they are able to reach larger masses and sell larger volumes of content. It is this direction that e-books, online journals and their equivalents seek to establish. The current generation has equally embraced the changes in times and recognized these new modes as the best forms of interaction. It can be argued thus that the interface between publishers and their audience in this generation is smooth and promises returns as compared to the older generation’s interface. This has been made possible because of internet and related technological applications and options. If the trend is to continue, the relative migration from physical to soft versions of published content would see the transformation of the sector with realization of higher returns, lesser operating costs and improved delivery and services.
One may argue that the internet and related technology has negatively affected publishing. Indeed, some benefit of doubt need to be given to such arguments and the merits of the reasoning weighed against the opposing arguments. One critical concern advanced by members of this school of thought is the relative ease of plagiarism. Published worked as been made accessible over the internet and related sources to the extent that intellectual opportunists have taken credit of discoveries and knowledge they did not discover but accidentally stumbled upon over the internet. This has been one facilitating factor for intellectual dishonesty. Some publishers have taken preventive mechanisms and copyrighted their material or allow access to authorized persons only. However, these measures have not been effective and in some cases end up preventing the flow of information which needs to be in the possession of the public. The plagiarism cases have in extreme instances even facilitated illegal conferment of honors in the field of academia. In addition, plagiarism kills the spirit of innovation, intellectualism and creativity. This could end up discouraging the real intellects in society and afford accolades and related benefits to non-deserving opportunists with the long run effect being a blow to publishers. However, mitigating measures have already been put in place in some jurisdictions. All academic institutions have been contemptuous towards plagiarized work. Most insist that any published work accessed in the internet or otherwise be cited and be indicated as so cited. In addition, huge penalties including disqualifications in some cases have been introduced in efforts to curb cases of plagiarism. In the larger society, programs have been developed that can easily detect plagiarized work once the student version is loaded onto the software. Another way of dealing with this has been the ethical pursuit in which plagiarism has been categorized under unethical practices in society.
Critics have equally advanced the argument that technology threatens to face of the place of publishers in the sector. This is because of increased use of internet and online applications and programs that can easily perform what previously would have passed out as publishing work. In the modern setup, publishers have lost revenues from cases say of schools which needed to publish books for their studies. Online applications such as online soft boards, scanning of documents, among others have been used in places of publishing. This has been blamed on the technological developments supporting the same. However, this can and should not be allowed to discourage technological applications in publishing. This is because even though they deny publishers some opportunities, they are processes and innovations that are inevitable consequences and they do not necessarily outdo publishers. A counterargument to that is the fact that e-books still prevail even with such options existing. The rule of the game often is that one needs to bring to the market what the market demands. For that reason, the publishers need to up their game so as to remain competitive and effective.
Critics have also advanced the argument of originality and creativity. The argument goes that with the increased technology, publishers are continuously losing their originality and creativity. These publishers, it is claimed, merely regurgitate what they see and borrow from the internet and related sources. The technological applications such as computer documents immensely facilitate publishers’ work to the extent that the overall product cannot be solely argued to be the work of the publisher. While this argument holds water, it is equally important to appreciate the context in which publishers operate. The world has become increasingly competitive and the quality of a publisher’s work must meet the standards set out from the work already produced. In that context, it is okay and allowable for publishers to take some notes from the developments using the published contents in the internet and improve his work’s quality thereafter. The end result needs to be the quality rather than the originality. In addition, publishers have often been cautious not to expressly regurgitate the work of others and falsely claim that to be their own. That could only occur in occasional cases and the industry regulators need to put in place mechanisms that prevent and forestall such cases where possible.
The changing technology is ever dynamic and publishing would have to cope with the changes. Modern research in technology is motivated by the need to improve the quality of services with the least costs. This balance is possible and leads to the continuing complexity of processes. Publishing has to fit in the modern set up if it is to remain relevant. However, with the complexity in technology and the advancement in the internet application, publishing would soon transform from partially electronic and partially physical to fully electronic. This would be supported by the need to reduce costs, ensure efficiency and achieve publishing goals even to the millennial generations who research has confirmed are more conformable working through computers and other online applications. Publishing would have to fall within the space and gain relevance by conforming to the rules of the game. It will soon be a case of if you cannot beat them then join them.
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