Booktype: open source self-publishing platform
"Booktype is a free, open source platform that produces beautiful, engaging books formatted for print, Amazon, iBooks and almost any ereader within minutes. Create books on your own or with others via an easy-to-use web interface. Build a community around your content with social tools and use the reach of mobile, tablet and ebook technology to engage new audiences."
(Adam Hyde, 2012)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
LaTeX: programmable desktop publishing
"LaTeX is a document preparation system for high-quality typesetting. It is most often used for medium-to-large technical or scientific documents but it can be used for almost any form of publishing.
LaTeX is not a word processor! Instead, LaTeX encourages authors not to worry too much about the appearance of their documents but to concentrate on getting the right content. ...
LaTeX is based on the idea that it is better to leave document design to document designers, and to let authors get on with writing documents. ...
LaTeX is based on Donald E. Knuth's TeX typesetting language or certain extensions. LaTeX was first developed in 1985 by Leslie Lamport, and is now being maintained and developed by the LaTeX3 Project."
(LaTeX3 Project)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
New Horizons: Current Developments in Research Practice
"BIAD’s Research Summer School is now in its third year, and has established itself as a popular annual event that introduces researchers to current trends and issues in research.
This year’s programme will feature the latest developments in research practice and consider how they apply to research in art and design. It will cover new approaches, such as digital and video research, and issues of current interest around publishing, the Research Excellence Framework, and the impact of art and design research beyond academia – including how research operates in the real world.
There will be plenty of opportunity to debate, both with the speakers and with colleagues and fellow researchers, and the programme will include opportunities for networking."
(Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, 2012 Summer School)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Knowledge Unlatched: a new academic publishing business model
"The Problem: specialist books in the Humanities and Social Sciences (including but not exclusively monographs) are under threat due to spiralling prices and reduced library funds.
Access is restricted: while academics could choose to bypass existing publishers and just post content on the Web, the general consensus within academia is that they would prefer to have their books professionally published.
Only a few hundred copies make it into the eight to twelve thousand research universities, and very few teaching universities have access to these materials. For many individuals private purchase is beyond their reach.
A Possible Solution: cover the costs of creating the first digital copy through a library consortium and make the titles open access. Publishers would continue to generate additional revenues from the sale of print, ePub and PDFs in bespoke formats."
(Frances Pinter, 2011)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Website and wiki self-publishing through Google Sites
"Google Sites makes it easy for anyone to create and manage simple, secure group websites. Getting started is easy, and there are a number of helpful templates. More than just a visual theme, site templates can include site structure and navigation, custom page templates, embedded gadgets, and more. Google Sites is powerful enough for a company intranet, yet simple enough for a family website."
(Google)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
