EFFECTS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY

THE advent of information technology has generated a lot of anxiety and a heated debate ensued in the publishing industry. The ongoing debate on the fate of the traditional book and the entire publishing industry the world over is indeed very polarised. However, an impartial scrutiny of the discussion and information available on the topic reveals that the socio-economic impacts of information technology on the industry are both positive and negative. Even as the society becomes increasingly techno-savvy, the traditional book shall still retain its place upon the upsurge of information technology.

THE publishing industry was in itself born of information technology. When Johannes Guttenberg (a German inventor) first invented the printing press in Europe in 1440AD, this was a major step in information technology. This invention gave birth to the printed word. The publishing industry as we know of it today had just begun. As the use of the new invention spread across Europe and eventually the entire world, a great demand for paper never witnessed before ensued. This gave rise to the paper industry, a major player in the publishing industry. Consequently, jobs were being created and the basic infrastructure laid for the modern publishing industry we know of today.

IN most of the world’s developing countries like Kenya, the printed word played a major role in the introduction of modern religion to the pagan societies as the missionaries called them. When Ndia Kuu, Swahili for Highway Press, was put up as East Africa’s first publishing house in the 1940s it mainly churned out religious materials used in spreading the gospel. At this time, most of the materials were in black and white. Neither the publisher nor the readers were feeling any adverse effects of this technology.

HOWEVER, the invention and introduction of computers into the publishing world was a major turning point. At this point, the mechanical printing press was computerised and all around the publishing house, systems were automated. Major players at this time only feared for job losses just as was the case in many other industries. To many, liberalisation brought about by information technology was unforeseen.

TO publishers and authors, the publishing process has been simplified a great deal. The authors’ process of preparing a manuscript is now more efficient than ever before as he can now write and pre-edit the manuscript and electronically mail it to the publisher. For the publisher, editing is much easier now. A word processer program (like Ms word ) will electronically save the manuscript and the editor will make as much adjustments on the text as he/she wants without having to retype the work and reprint the whole work all over again.

NOT to forget, technology has made work much easier for the people in the production department. Technology now allows the production department to run out many copies of a text at speed never witnessed before. Initially the printing press had to be physically attended to by a technician who would then set the number of copies to be run and adjusting text alignment. Today, a desktop publishing program like Adobe page maker that enables one to entirely use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) will allow one to do all these in the comfort of their chair on a keyboard. This phenomenon also applies to running out of reprints. This will come about when a publisher has sold out all copies of a title when there is still demand for it in the market.

TECHNOLOGY has further eased the process of disposing of of published materials. Numerous online facilities have come up and made it easier for publishers to market their titles via the internet. This has resulted to improved sales. Using the World Wide Web technology, avenues like e-bay and bookfinder.com have made it possible for publishers to sell their work worldwide. In close relation, books journals and periodicals have been published online. This has given rise to universal availability of publications (UAP). With this development, one can remotely access information from a journal or a digitized book without necessarily having the physical form of the resource material. This is indeed cost effective to the reader and to the publisher because it cuts out on the distribution costs of published materials.

FURTHERMORE, it can’t be disputed that information technology has pulled down production cost of information resources in the publishing industry. Apart from cutting down on the distribution costs, it has also cut down the use of massive amounts of paper in the industry. This is friendly to the environment and cost effective all at a go.

IT should also be noted that the upsurge of information technology into the publishing world has resulted to emergence of different formats of packaging information. Unlike the traditional book we know of today, the blind can now read using Braille and also listen to books “talk.” All shrewd publishers in the industry have embraced these developments and information packaging formats have evolved a great deal. These include audio books on magnetic tapes and optic disks popularly known as CD's and DVD s. These formats are less bulky and take up lesser storage space. Thus, it is much easier for information custodians to maintain them than it is for the traditional book.

IN the recent past, developments in online social networking have brought about uncertainty to many publishers. Even though social networking sites have been converted to marketing avenues by some shrewd publishers, doomsayers have foretold doom for publishers in a very near future. The doomsayers of the traditional book have cited death of the reading culture especially among the young generation. Apart from being marketing avenues, publishers can also use these sites (facebook.com, twitter.com, myspace.com etc) to create reading groups where people can discuss with friends books they have read and even share ideas and views about different books.

IN persistence, the doomsayers have cited a host of many other problems inflicted on the publisher by the advent of information technology. For instance, information technology is very expensive. With all the efficiency in the book production process, the average book has never cost as much as it does today. This is probably due to the high cost of infrastructure needed to automate the book production process. This involves purchase of expensive computer hardware and programs. It also involves training of professional information technology specialists whose services are very expensive. All these eventually lead to high production costs.

IN almost every society, there is an increasing demand for intellectual and information freedom. Censorship, banning of books and certain writers’ articles in papers and harassment of government critics, is today being fought (almost successfully) using information technology. Liberalization of the publishing industry through the internet now allows all sorts of writers to get published with an unlimited audience to read their works, either good or bad according to any
standards. This has however, greatly eroded the reserved African culture and norms. Today for example, pornography is being generated and used at a rate never witnessed before, all in the name of intellectual freedom and right to information.

IN the same spirit of intellectual freedom and right to information, piracy of copyrighted materials has undergone tremendous growth, all because of information technology advancements. Music publishers (producers) and their artistes have borne the brunt of this vice. With all the computers around, DVD writers, flash disks and mobile handsets all reinforced with the Bluetooth technology, it is hard to come by an individual who will spend a dime to purchase an original copy of music especially among the informed young generation. In the book industry, the number of unauthorised reprography of copyrighted material has skyrocketed. This is because of photocopiers and printers stationed at every stage one desire s to find one. Ironically it is the higher institutions of learning that have been accused to be the biggest perpetrators. Just because of these technological advancements, copyright holders have lost billions of their hard earned royalties to undeserving pirates.

IN the world of entertainment, technology has been accused of adversely affecting the publishing industry. Even though the internet, radio and TV have always been used by publishers for marketing books, things are still not looking up yet for the publisher. The internet radio and TV are taking up all the time people would use to read. Long time ago people who wanted to be entertained went to theatres or picked up a book and read. Today, the internet radio and TV have taken up all this time altogether. Today’s generation is ever on the lookout for the best TV, radio or internet site. There seems to be an unlimited liberty for entertainment sources for one to choose from. If one is boring you simply switch to a more interesting one. Books come a long way down the list of entertainment sources. This is killing the reading culture. It directly translates to lower revenues and it is feared some publishers could be edged out of business in a very near future.

FURTHERMORE, established publishers in many countries have all throughout their existence been dependent on text book publishing. With the lucrative business in the textbook market, they heavily relied on schools for their survival. However, today almost every book is being digitized. Companies like Google Inc. have taken it upon themselves to create a database of digital books whereby every book considered to be of interest to the USA shall be digitized.In fact today,one can search digital text of over 7 million books through Google Books according to www.books.google.com. Almost every book being published today comes with an audio or digital version. Many schools are likely to adopt the digital versions due to their cost effectiveness and efficiency when using them. In such a case, many publishers of paper books will have to be creative or find alternative means of staying afloat in business.

IT is also true that information in a book is very hard to update, is prone to wear and tear and books carry a very limited amount of information as compared to today's digital versions. However, one set-back that comes with digital information is that it is absent in absence of power. One can not access it without electricity. In many developing countries, this is a major challenge as electricity is still an elusive phenomena to a majority. In this case, people in these remote parts of the world are still reading the traditional paper book and their schools too, will continue buying the text book for a very long time.

FINALLY, we may accept that technology has dealt a big blow to the publishing industry. However, it is not true that the publishing industry and the traditional book shall be phased out in the hands of information technology. At least, not for now. This is because the effects caused are both positive and negative, in fact the two can be viewed to be in existence symbiotically,each shouldering another accordingly.