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NEWS FEATURES
We hear in the news about famine-stricken areas of Africa, but due to connectivity problems, much of Africa is also information-starved. And, like a shortage of food, a shortage of information can be a disaster. Founded in 2000 to mitigate the third world’s dire digital communications problems, the WiderNet Project is a largely volunteer, nonprofit organization based at the University of Iowa.
Despite the steady move to econtent by publishers, printers, academia, and corporations, there are still plenty of people who want paper and turn to digital content only reluctantly, according to Jean Bedord, consultant and senior analyst with Shore Communications, Inc. The need for better tracking of print advertising finally has been infused with new possibility, courtesy of a digital content technology.
Really Simple Syndication (RSS) may be really simple for publishers in terms of providing a quick alternate content delivery stream and it may be a relatively simple way to help avoid inbox info-glut, but it isn’t always so simple to integrate into an information-gathering routine. For the most part, RSS readers provide only the most basic functionality to do just that: read feeds. However, a few RSS readers out there are trying to do more—like help info-seekers find appropriate feeds, manage the incoming information for future use, and access it in different ways that suit a variety of needs. Pluck is one such feisty RSS reader.
In mid-May, Audible, a provider of digital spoken audio content, and Pearson Education, an educational publisher, announced a partnership to develop and distribute audio-only study guides to college students as a supplement to Pearson’s textbook product line.
FEATURED STORIES
Web Services and XML technologies are catching on in traditional and digital publishing as well as in a variety of other industries. Consultants and vendors agree that there’s no single event that’s led to the increased popularity of these technologies but say the applications are now more proven and are gaining critical mass among users.
Back in 2000 when it looked as though the entire world’s content would soon be digitized, a myth developed that in the not-too-distant future, paper books would be supplanted by ebooks. While this hasn't come to pass, ebooks have wormed their way into the reference market and may have found a home.
Handheld devices are becoming increasingly useful at freeing business users from the constraints of the desktop to view documents. Unfortunately, mobile handheld devices share common limitations, not the least of which are small screens and slow network speeds. Here’s a look at some mobile document delivery hurdles, and the efforts being made to overcome them.
COLUMNS
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FACES OF ECONTENT
“We help publishers by identifying problems and solutions.”
PRODUCT REVIEWS
The TriCaster is a gem. NewTek has put together an incredibly powerful little package at an almost unbelievable price point. The live switching alone is probably worth the price of admission, but when you throw in video capture and editing, all in a portable form factor, you’ve got an incredibly useful Webcasting tool at your disposal. While it will best be mastered by a video pro, it is easy enough for almost anyone in an organization to use and provides a practical all-in-one solution for folks that can’t afford a production team, but want to produce relatively high-quality content.
CASE STUDIES
Thomas Technology Solutions helps Northstar Travel Media streamline its production process and unify its systems.
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