March 2, 2004

Right Wing's Attacks on Science Jeopardize More than Scholarship. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: The Junk Science of George W. Bush. Today, flat-earthers within the Bush Administration--aided by right-wing allies who have produced assorted hired guns and conservative think tanks to further their goals--are engaged in a campaign to suppress science that is arguably unmatched in the Western world since the Inquisition. Sometimes, rather than suppress good science, they simply order up their own. Meanwhile, the Bush White House is purging, censoring and blacklisting scientists and engineers whose work threatens the profits of the Administration's corporate paymasters or challenges the ideological underpinnings of their radical anti-environmental agenda. Indeed, so extreme is this campaign that more than sixty scientists, including Nobel laureates and medical experts, released a statement on February 18 that accuses the Bush Administration of deliberately distorting scientific fact "for partisan political ends." [Dan Gillmor's eJournal] 7:46:40 PM

micro publishing providers. The NYT has a nice sum-up of innovative micro publishing companies. "Unlike e-books, which also appeared in the late 1990's, P.O.D. self-publishing has developed into a real business, attracting involvement from the likes of Random House, Barnes & Noble and now Borders. "We wanted to learn about the market," said Phil Ollila, Borders's vice president for book marketing, in explaining the chain's experiment. The company approached Xlibris, based in Philadelphia, one of the big three of P.O.D. self-publishing, together with 1stBooks and iUniverse, all formed in the late 1990's. Xlibris is 49 percent owned by Random House Ventures; 1stBooks, based in Bloomington, Ind., is privately held. Barnes & Noble owns 25 percent of iUniverse, based in Lincoln, Neb., and Warburg Pincus holds the other 75 percent. The real challenge is not to produce books, it is to achieve all the goals of publishing - to get the books edited, distributed, noticed and, above all, bought. That is no easy feat: in the United States, 150,000-160,000 new titles were published last year, according to R.R. Bowker's Books in Print. On average, the P.O.D. titles sell just 150 to 175 copies, the companies say. Many authors are happy to pay for 50 or 100 copies of their magnum opus to give or sell to family, friends and business contacts. Others, though, confuse production with publication and end up disillusioned." [TJ's Weblog "Technology, Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship"] 5:55:00 PM

transforming publishing. Some anecdotal evidence showed me that the underlying trend changing publishing seems to sustain. While Doubleclick predicts a much rosier picture for online advertising - ""People are looking for a break point," he said. "But we're going to see steady growth." Ryan said DoubleClick expects double-digit revenue growth in 2005, fueled by its tools that help advertisers build online campaigns and track consumer response, as well as its data-analysis and direct-marketing businesses. " more and more publishers realize that money is not with subscriptions but more probably to make with online advertising. ""We just kind of closed our eyes and jumped off a cliff, because we realized it was something we wanted to do," said Dyer, NewsOK's general manager. She said the decision stemmed in part from pressure from advertisers who wanted to know more about the site's readers before paying for online campaigns. Nearly a year into the experiment, Dyer has few regrets. Registered users currently top 277,000, exceeding the weekday circulation of the site's parent newspaper, The Oklahoman. Only about one in 200 readers complained about registration. And NewsOK is optimistic about the potential for selling e-mail advertising to readers who said they are willing to receive messages. " [TJ's Weblog "Technology, Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship"] 5:54:31 PM

Tuesday, 2 March - link Just In Tokyo Released to the Waiting Web I lived in Japan between October 2001 and January 2003. Mostly Tokyo. I published a guide book in September 2002, called Just In Tokyo: "How to Live as an Urban Nomad in the World's Most Expensive City." It was great fun - I wrote it up and laid the whole thing out; the pages are busy, just as I like 'em. My publisher was Garrett County Press, in New Orleans. After about a year, we agreed to take the guidebook off the market. I would have published the thing forever, but it was selling slow (slow and steady!) and losing some of its direct relevance as it aged. So I've released it to the web, under a Creative Commons license. Just In Tokyo PDF - download it for your next trip to Tokyo! Visit the Tokyo of the mind! Print it out. Push it into your PDA. Chant it in an airplane bathroom. As you will! Donations appreciated - I'm still paying off the debt from my time in Japan! Hah! 5:53:03 PM

© Copyright 2004 Ted Ritzer.