INFO 541 – Electronic Publishing Issues and Opportunities
| Points: | 15 | Prerequisites: | None |
|---|---|---|---|
| Faculty: | Commerce & Administ | Corequisites: | None |
| School: | Information Management | Restrictions: | None |
This course explores the opportunities and issues associated with electronic publishing, including standards, technologies, publishing processes and roles, copyright and emerging genres, with an emphasis on their implications for librarians and information managers.
Tuition Fees
2012:
domestic $1,098.00 
international $3,075.00
Trimester 2 2012
* indicates instructor is the course coordinator.
| CRN | From/To | Days | Time | Building [Campus] | Room | Instructor | 10618 (L1) | 16 Jul – 21 Oct 2012 | Tue | 1700 - 1830 | tba [Distance (NZ)] | Brenda Chawner* | 10621 (L1) | 16 Jul – 21 Oct 2012 | Tue | 1030 - 1220 | Rutherford House [Pipitea] | G01 | Brenda Chawner* |
|---|
Introduction
INFO 541, Electronic Publishing Issues and Opportunities, explores different types of electronic publications, the changes to communication patterns as a result of new technologies, changes to publishing processes, the ways that librarians are dealing with new publishing methods, and how users are reacting to all of these.
Please note we recommend that you complete the core course INFO 520 before taking this elective as part of the MIS or PGCert/DipIS.
Course Description
INFO 541 will cover the following areas:
- The history of electronic publishing.
- Frameworks for analysing developments in electronic publishing.
- The range of materials published in electronic format, including traditional and emerging genres.
- The standards and technologies used for electronic publishing.
- Copyright and contract issues resulting from a move to electronic publishing.
- The ways information technology has changed the publishing process.
- Emerging alternatives to traditional scholarly publications, such as open access journals.
- The implications of electronic publishing for publishers, booksellers, libraries, and readers.
Case studies of a number of organisations will be used to illustrate current practices, from both the publisher and library perspectives.
Course Objectives
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Discuss key stages in the development of electronic publications to date.
- Describe different types of electronic publications, and identify the advantages and disadvantages of each type.
- Identify the technologies and standards used in electronic publishing, for text and other media types, such as images and sound.
- Discuss the ways information and communications technology has changed the publishing process.
- Discuss the impact of electronic publications on selection, acquisition, cataloguing, and circulation in libraries.
- Describe and assess issues in electronic publishing, such as copyright and contract, pricing structures, access and indexing, aggregation, and archiving.
Time Commitment
You should expect to spend 10-12 hours a week on INFO 541, including time spent working on assignments. Please note that the course involves a significant proportion of study time on the Internet.
Since this course is about electronic publishing and its impacts, we will use electronic information extensively. A small number of basic readings are provided for each module on the course CD-ROM, but I expect you to build your knowledge and experience of electronic publications by finding additional (electronic) readings to supplement them. You can use a variety of resources for this: the Library and Information Science Fulltext and LISA databases are one option, and there is an extensive bibliography on scholarly electronic publishing maintained by Charles W. Bailey, Jr.
Since the course is conducted as a series of seminars, which I expect you to contribute to, it is important that you have done the background reading before the class session to bring an informed point of view to class discussions. In some sessions I may ask you to talk about a specific topic, or to share your experience in exploring the resources we are discussing with the rest of the group. You should always be prepared for this.
Schedule (TBC)
INFO 541 will be held in the second trimester (July-October) of the 2012 academic year. There will be no sessions for two weeks during the mid-trimester break (27 August-9 September).
- Internal students
There will be a seminar on Tuesdays (from 10.30-12.20 p.m.) in Rutherford House, RH GO1 - Distance students
The weekly Internet conference sessions will be held on Tuesdays from 5.00-6.30 p.m.
| Week | Topic |
|
1
|
Introduction; history of electronic publishing; frameworks for analysis |
|
2
|
Infrastructure: standards and technologies |
|
3
|
Infrastructure: copyright and licensing |
|
4
|
The economics of electronic publishing: the costs and who pays? |
|
5
|
New genres: wikis, blogs, etc. |
|
6
|
Electronic books |
|
7
|
E-serials; newspapers, magazines, and journals |
|
8
|
The open access movement |
|
9
|
Access to electronic publications: cataloguing, indexing, aggretators |
|
10
|
Impact on organisations: publishers, libraries, booksellers |
|
11
|
Impact on readers |
|
12
|
The future of electronic publishing/publications |
Assessment (taken from 2009)
INFO 541 is internally assessed, with the following assignments to be completed in order to satisfy the mandatory course requirements. Full details, including explanatory notes and criteria, are available under "Assignments" on Blackboard.
| Assignment | Date due | Value | Length |
| 1. Mini-reviews | see Blackboard | 20% | 1000 words |
| 2. Evaluation of an electronic publication | see Blackboard | 30% | 2000 words max. |
| 3. Scenarios for the future of electronic publishing | see Blackboard | 50% | 2500 words max. plus Discussion Board contributions |