"Free is just another price, and prices are set by individual actors, in accordance with the aggregated particulars of marketplace power. "Information wants to be free," Anderson tells us, "in the same way that life wants to spread and water wants to run downhill." But information can't actually want anything, can it? Amazon wants the information in the Dallas paper to be free, because that way Amazon makes more money. Why are the self-interested motives of powerful companies being elevated to a philosophical principle? "
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2009/07/06/090706crbo_books_gladwell Posted by Amalyah Keshet, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Newman, Alan Sent: Sunday, November 01, 2009 3:48 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] Bloomsbury Academic Bloomsbury Academic is a "new academic imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, one of Europe's leading independent publishing houses, with a distinguished list of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury Academic will publish world-class research-based books across the humanities and social sciences, with a strong commitment to the traditional virtues of scholarly publishing, including rigorous peer-review. We use current technologies and licensing developments and have established an innovative publishing business model that will better meet the needs of the academic community." excerpted from their business model: "We're committed to publishing the best scholarship in the social sciences and humanities - and for the content to be as widely accessed as possible. Our research publications will be made available online on a Creative Commons non-commercial license. Unlike open access journals we are not looking for authors (or their research funders) to pay for the publishing process. From early 2010 they will appear on our new platform in html. Until then PDFs will be posted on this website. At the same time we will be publishing in traditional print book formats as well as ebooks with enhanced functionalities. The debate over whether or not free availability increases or decreases sales rages on, not just in publishing but also in the music and film industries. Pilot projects in academic publishing indicate that book sales are not harmed, and authors are happy to reach a wider audience." http://www.bloomsburyacademic.com/business.htm posted by Alan Newman, National Gallery of Art
