Big (e?)Books = Big Year

Liam Chambers, December 19, 2008 · Comments Off  

The NY Observer yesterday published an internal memo from Random House CEO Markus Dohle. Despite ongoing appeals for cost reductions and ongoing news of layoffs the memo maintains a upbeat suitably year end tone.

Perhaps of most interest is the fact that e-book sales for 2008 have grown by 400% over 2007 and that they expect to have some 15,000 titles in eBook format by mid 2009.

Also of interest is the name check for newly available content on the iPhone, indicating where growth may be focused in the coming year.

Library of congress flickr project deemed a success!

Liam Chambers, December 15, 2008 · Comments Off  

I blogged on the work being undertaken by the Library of Congress and flicker back in January 08.The results of the process have been published . In summary two collections of historical photographs were made public on a Library account on the Flickr photosharing site in January 2008. The response from Flickr members and observers of the pilot was overwhelmingly positive and beneficial. The following statistics attest to the popularity and impact of the pilot:

  • As of October 23, 2008, there have been 10.4 million views of the photos on Flickr.
  • 79% of the 4,615 photos have been made a “favorite” (i.e., are incorporated into personal Flickr collections).
  • Over 15,000 Flickr members have chosen to make the Library of Congress a “contact,” creating a photostream of Library images on their own accounts.
  • For Bain images placed on Flickr, views/downloads rose approximately 60% for the period January-May 2008, compared to the same time period in 2007.
  • Views/downloads of FSA/OWI image files placed on Flickr rose approximately 13%.
  • 7,166 comments were left on 2,873 photos by 2,562 unique Flickr accounts.
  • 67,176 tags were added by 2,518 unique Flickr accounts.
  • 4,548 of the 4,615 photos have at least one community-provided tag.
  • Less than 25 instances of user-generated content were removed as inappropriate.
  • More than 500 Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) records have been enhanced with new information provided by the Flickr Community.
  • Average monthly visits to all PPOC Web pages rose 20% over the five month period of January-May 2008, compared to the same period in 2007.

    • According to the final report “the project significantly increased the reach of Library content and demonstrated the many kinds of creative interactions that are possible when people can access collections within their own Web communities. The contribution of additional information to thousands of photographs was invaluable. The Flickr project increases awareness of the Library and its collections; sparks creative interaction with collections; provides LC staff with experience with social tagging and Web 2.0 community input; and provides leadership to cultural heritage and government communities”

    It is interesting that of the 4548 photos tagged, only 500 made it into the online catalog, but its a start, I guess.

    Online Information Conference 2008 – Keynote and Downloads

    Liam Chambers, December 5, 2008 · Comments Off  

    I didn’t make it to Olympia this year. But I did enjoy the previews of the Shirky keynote. Some good points about changing dynamics in publishing and information management, and evolution of business models, where every URL is a potential community.

    Some of the papers are available to download too.