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Cyberlibris launches in Spain and Sweden

Spain Suède 2008 is about to close: Another year of intense collaboration with publishers (both sides of the ocean), academic institutions, commercial partners and, last but not least, thousands of individuals who have collectively expressed their interest and trust in what we have been crafting step-by-step since 2000.

The community of subscribers using one of the many Cyberlibris (www.cyberlibris.com) digital libraries span a wide range of countries and continents: France, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Algeria, Morrocco, Senegal, Congo, Brazil, Haïti, French West Indies etc... It is always a good feeling when you see that books are digitally travelling reaching people in remote places who more often than not have a limited access to bookstores, print books, libraries.

The feeling is exactly the same when you see French or Belgium students interacting digitally with books and with each other and, for that matter, spending less time in front of photocopiers. It is also a privilege when faculty members revert back to us to tell us that they have discovered books in their respective fields which they did not know about. It is even more rewarding to see faculty members' bookshelves shared with students who are no longer restricted to a single required text. No more text rationing for odd and undefendable reasons: The diversity of opinions, expert knowledge, reading styles is now a common currency traded by professors, students and librarians.

In this (re)discovery process predicated on a no-brainer subscription model, publishers are in an ideal position to observe that the classical (physical) best-seller hierarchy is more often than not turned upside down. Subscribers vote with their mice and in the course of doing so books and authors that had been crushed by the physical system regain a lease of life. A lease of life that has led in many cases to new editions of their books which were not supposed to take place to say the least. Another great feeling indeed!

2008 has been a great year not only for pure academic reasons. Thousands of individual subscribers, individuals, families, kids, public library patrons, have communicated their enthusiasm for this very simple notion of having access to a digital library (too) from home or from wherever they are. A fascinating move indeed from institutions with a clear agenda to individuals charactererized by their diversity of tastes, horizons, opportunities, constraints etc... And a rewarding one which has enabled us to spread the gospel abroad.

In 2009 Cyberlibris will launch (fully localized) in Spain and Sweden. South and North! Spanish and Swedish publishers have joined the hundreds of French and international publishers who endorse Cyberlibris business proposition. Again, this is a great motive of satisfaction to see that something that was conceived and built "locally" is about to fly under different latitudes: After all, attitude beats latitude!

This does not mean of course that homeland has been neglected or forgotten. In 2009, new services and new applications will be launched spanning many publishers, many territories and, of course, many people: litterature, novels, essays, theology, science etc...

2008 has been a very rewarding year. We learnt a lot and still are. We listened a lot too. And, we know all too well that each day is another day. No, we don't know whether or not 2008 has been the year of the e-book, whether or not 2009 will be. And, frankly, we could not care less: We do not believe in universal schemes, one size fits all proposition, consultants predictions and the whole (tech) shabam. Forecasters cannot even explain the past... 

To all our (institutional and individual) users we want to express our deepest gratitude. Without them 2008 would not have been what it turned out to be, a year where the dream we had in 2000, namely to let subscription-based digital libraries inside each home, came true.

We are also grateful to the publishers community who has ventured with us to an unchartered territory that the music industry, among other content rightholders, did not want to explore: That of a different and complementary business model whereby, among other things, rich and varied collections of books can be accessible under a simple, flexible, subscription based and reasonably priced formula. This is the same model that will apply in Spain and Sweden.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All!

December 23, 2008 at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

OpenID = Ex-Libris = Bookplate = Forget about DRM?

Exlibris From openid.net:

OpenID: OpenID is a free and easy way to use a single digital identity across the Internet.

From Wikipedia:

Bookplate: also known as ex-librīs [Latin, "from the books of..."], is usually a small print or decorative label pasted into a book, often on the inside front cover, to indicate its owner. Simple typographical bookplates are termed 'booklabels'.

What if instead of putting people in DRM jails (which is what the book industry seems to be heading for despite the music painful e-adventures), e-books were without DRM but carrying the OpenID of their owners?

This is a simple idea which is not really new: Ex-Libris have been around for a while!

Instead of penalizing e-book buyers and readers with ineffective DRMs, why not make them proud and responsible owners of the content they download?

January 27, 2008 at 02:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Vox Academia: And the Golden Palm goes to...

Vox_academia Vox Academia has been live for almost six months now. We want to thank all the contributors and readers who have made it a rising success. 29 contributors have registered so far and many of them do post chronicles on a regular basis.

Since the 2007 Cannes Festival is currently taking place, we have decided that we too can attribute "palms" :-)

As a matter of fact, we have decided to grant two sets of palms: a static one and a dynamic one.

The static "palm" ranking is based on the number of visits since the inception of Vox Academia. This ranking is of course only a partial picture as the old chronicles have, other things being equal, more chance to be in the ranking that brand new ones.

That's why we come up with the dynamic "palm" ranking. In a nutshell, this ranking is based on the observed trend of current consultations. It means that if the trend we observe now stays the same, this is the ranking we may reasonably expect in the near future.

So much for comments! Let's turn to the results.
 
VOX Academia / Cyberlibris Hall of Fame:

The SP (static palm) Ranking:

  1. The Golden Palm goes to Olivier Germain for his chronicle: "M6: Une Petite Histoire de (la) Stratégie".
  2. The Silver Palm goes to Didier Joos de ter Beerst for his chronicle"Réseaux et Guildes au Moyen-Age: Le Renvoi d'Ascenceur"
  3. The Bronze Palm goes to Marianne Hauchecorne for her chronicle "La Symbolique des Couleurs Côté Web"

The DP (dynamic palm) Ranking:

  1. The Golden Palm goes to Didier Joos de ter Beerst for his chronicle "Réseaux et Guildes au Moyen-Age: Le Renvoi d'Ascenceur"
  2. The Silver Palm goes to Aïda N'Diaye for her chronicle "Travailler Moins Pour Gagner Plus?: Qu'est-ce qu'une Méritocratie?"
  3. The Bronze Palm goes to Bernard Paranque for his chronicle "Valeur Travail - Valeur du Travail"

Congratulations to all of them! Congratulations to all of you and pass on the good word: Academic conversations are not boring! They are fun and informative.

Do yourself a favor: Become a chronicler on Vox Academia and/or convert friends to become both chroniclers and readers!




May 24, 2007 at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Who said academic conversation was boring!: Vox Academia is live!

Va





We said we would do it. We've done it. Vox Academia is live! Vox Academia is the place for academic chronicles.

It is the place for starting academic conversations and, indeed, from what I've seen already these conversations are far from boring!

So, join Vox Academia and let's have a buoyant worldwide academic conversation!

February 08, 2007 at 07:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Books: A Truly Bright Collective Future

Franklinb_writer Once upon a time there was a writer who was solitary at his desk. All his life had been dedicated to books. From dawn to twilight, his pen was chasing the right word, the definitive sentence. Days were passing by. Each new day was a step towards his Magnus Opus. Was he happy? Nobody knew, not even himself. Were King Arthur and his knights happy? They knew about one thing only: The Holy Grail was what their lives were all about. There was no place for sorrow or happiness. Pain for sure. Our writer believed in what they believed: Lonely perspiration will get you there, to your Magnus Opus. His publisher shared the same faith although, from times to times, he doubted the Magnus Opus would ever see the public light. The Magnus Opus seemed like a never ending story. No publisher, even the shrewdest, knew how not to lose money on a never ending Magnus Opus copyright.

Sometimes the publisher would hear some silly stories about books that were written online, crowdsourced, the product of multiple anonymous pens. How can it be? By what stretch of imagination could books end up as a collective knowledge factory, always at work, where you cannot distinguish between writers and readers. Why would the Magnus Opus be exposed to all eyes, to all brains while it should have been kept as a genuine secret until publishing time?

Are books dead? Should the writer give up his cherished solitary desk and strive for something else?

No, books are not dead. They are different. Why? Because we are different too. The Magnus Opus is not dead either: It will become even "more Magnus" simply because we are more and as a crowd we are able to transform perspiration into inspiration.

No, we won't pretend that each of us is a good as the solitary writer at his desk, only that we can make him or her even better should he or she and his or her publisher accept us in his or her writing cabinet. 

Writing and publishing should not remain solitary exercises. Otherwise they'll become a dry land of failed and lost opportunities, the opportunities many of us were willing to share thanks to the many digital tools our voices can embrace.

Life is not perspiration or inspiration, solitary or collaborative, closed or open, all rights reserved or no rights reserved. It is all of this. And, in all of this, books, writers and publishers have a bright future, the future of our collective collaborative wisdom.

February 07, 2007 at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Stay Tune! Nous allons avoir besoin de vous; we gonna need you!

Beta_test It's been a while since I last posted on this blog. Not that I am not a blog addict anymore. The truth is that we (we = the wonderful Cyberlibris team ;-) ) have spent days and long hours in our kitchen "cooking" for you. Outcome? Check this blog: We will make an official announcement. Furthermore, we will need your input!

Cela fait un moment que j'ai lâché le stylo de ce blog. Non pas que je ne sois plus enthousiasmé par l'écriture d'un blog. Bien au contraire! En fait, nous (nous= la fantastique équipe de Cyberlibris) avons passé de longues heures enfermés dans la cuisine à vous mitonner une jolie surprise. L'annonce officielle est imminente et nous allons avoir besoin de vous. Alors, STAY TUNE!

PS: Well, as a matter of fact I did continue posting on the twin blog !

July 06, 2006 at 03:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The future of future

Future The Paris Book Fair opens next friday. This year is somehow The Year. Indeed, they have set up a digital village. So far media has been concentrating on music, movies, TV and the digital challenges they are facing. As if books were less sexy! Well, we think they are sexy and we are grateful to our growing community of users who thinks the same way!

I am currently reading (yes, I confess Gutenberg format, hat tip Mr Gutenberg!) Larry Lessig's The Future of Ideas, a book that could be Cyberlibris's bible. I like the way Lessig looks at the law and the lawyers:

"The law, through "property", can be used by the kings of yesterday to protect themselves against the kings of tomorrow, and we - especially we lawyers - should be defending tomorrow against yesterday."

Indeed, more often than not lawyers get huge fees to make sure that the present vetoes the future. As always the confusion comes from that, as a common saying as it, the future is already there, it is just that it is not evenly distributed yet.

In earlier posts on this blog I have tried to share our love for the future, especially the future of books. Our intention has never been to defeat Mr Gutenberg. We have too much respect for an invention that has contributed so much to the progress of mankind. On the contrary all our inspiration comes from Gutenberg, bookstores, libraries and above all readers. We mix all this with technology, economics, law, intuition and a lot of listening and hard work of course.

We'll be at the Paris Book Fair of course, preaching the gospel: Yes, books are sexy! Yes, they do have a shining digital future. We are proud to be part of those who are believing in it and sticking their necks out!

See you at the Paris Book Fair!

March 12, 2006 at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Amazon recommande Nicolas Sarkozy

Loïc Le Meur interrogeait récemment les blogueurs sur l'achat par l'UMP et Nicolas Sarkozy de son nom de famille comme mot-clé Google. Avec son sens habituel de l'humour, Loïc a simplement souhaité que le parti socialiste fasse de même.

Je ne suis pas si sûr qu'il faille prendre l'intrusion de la politique sur le Net à la légère. J'en veux pour preuve la capture d'écran suivante amazon_links.JPG . Il s'agit en l'occurrence du résultat d'une recherche sur Amazon (un des livres dont je suis auteur). Le livre recherché apparaît avec les informations usuelles sur le livre. Quelle ne fut pas ma surprise lorsque je me suis aperçu qu'Amazon émettait en outre l'avis suivant:

Les internautes intéressés par cet article peuvent être intéressés par:
    - Les dossiers de l'UMP: Nicolas Sarkozy vous invite à....

Je trouve pour le moins surprenant qu'au travers d'un lien sponsorisé Amazon se permette d'émettre non seulement des avis politiques, mais aussi de lier ces avis à des livres sans consulter les auteurs et en outre d'en tirer rémunération. Je trouve tout aussi choquant le comportement de l'UMP et de son Président qui consiste en quelque sorte à faire de l'affichage sauvage.

Je ne sais pas ce que vous en pensez mais je trouve cette intrusion, cette collusion business-politique intolérable. Tous les coups sont permis, tous les espaces sont envahissables: allons-nous longtemps accepter d'être mis devant le fait accompli?

February 06, 2006 at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

Gurus stickiness

Gurus_1Suntop Media and EFMD have come up with their new ranking of the TOP 50 management thinkers. Note that they don't say gurus, they say thinkers (is there a difference?).

Here it is. What strikes me is how conventional the list is. An econometrician would view this as a strong positive autocorrelation effect: When you're a guru, the odds are strong that next year you are going to be (considered) one again. Or, you can call it the "winner take all" effect. So much for (bio)diversity. Given all the hype around the Long Tail this is rather strange indeed.

I wonder how useful this type of rankings is if it keeps delivering year after year the same kind of info. Don't you want to be taken by surprise, to discover ideas, authors that you were not aware of? Don't get me wrong I do not judge the quality of the work of the guys who made it to the list. Good for them. I wonder about all the good work that "long tail" authors have produced and that is still kept in the dark.

In a nutshell I want to be challenged, I don't care about "sticky averages"!

PS: By the way, since Peter Drucker passed away, they excluded him (even though they recognize that he would have kept his first rank). That's how you create some hype and welcome a new king (Michael Porter). But do ideas really die?

January 19, 2006 at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The art of looking sideways

Fletcher_1I just bought a new book (quite heavy by the way, see picture) entitled "The Art of Looking Sideways" (by Alan Fletcher, Phaidon Press). When I was in the bookstore, I could not get the book off my hands. Every page was like a magnet. I had to buy it. This book is not designed to be read in the usual way from beginning to end though. As the ttitle suggests, you have to read sideways.

This is an incredible piece of work which somehow should be required reading in many places including business schools. This is a tribute to the art of gazing. It is inspirational, recreative and full of useful, unexpected references.

In my view, it beats by a fat margin all the hype business books that are supposed to teach CEOS, managers, leaders, businesses how to be great, lasting etc...

I subscribe 100% to Roy R. Behrens, a professor of art at the University of Northern Iowa, when he gives his answer to the traditional question:

"If you were marooned on an island, what book would you want to have with you? ..... I would not hesitate to name Alan Fletcher's The Art of Looking Sideways, which is magnificent stimulant for creative thinking, designing, and teaching."

December 19, 2005 at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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