An association is something that can produce real dynamic change. It’s an exciting, organic, creation. But, at its heart, it is two or more people who share a common interest, belief, or passion, and realize that they’re not the only ones, so they invite others who have that interest to join them; they’ve formed an association.
In October, the United States Supreme Court handed down an order stating that it would not take up a plea from Domino’s pizza chain to reverse a decision in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals stating that the company must make its website accessible to people with disabilities.
During the Frankfurt Book Fair, we teamed up with Springer Nature to host a panel debate entitled “AI 2.0: Machine-Generated Content, Intelligent Automation, and the Future of Academic Publishing” in which speakers from KGL (Cenveo at the time), HighWire Press, and Springer Nature explored ways in which publishers are implementing artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Every year at the Frankfurt Book Fair, there is a buzzword or phrase that continues to pop up on panels, in articles, and in conversations and meetings. In the past, we have seen ‘big data’ and ‘blockchain’ dominate the headlines, but this year’s buzz word (or acronym) was ‘AI,’ as publishers, information professionals, service providers, and the media debated how this technology can be used in the industry.
In recent years, publishers have begun to utilize advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to significantly change their businesses for the better. Though some innovations, such as using an algorithm to predict if a book will be a bestseller, have gotten more news coverage, AI and machine learning have been incredibly useful to publishers to help process user data to better understand the marketplace, to improve peer review, to help with workflow, and even to create new products. Here are some of the most notable current trends we have observed:
The topic of accessibility is a priority for all types of publishers in 2018 and we project it's the year the majority will invest in making content accessible for all readers. Cenveo Publisher Services recently hosted a webinar on accessibility: "Digital Equality - The Importance of Accessibility in Your Publishing Strategy." If you did not catch the live webinar, you can stream it here. We received so many great questions during the webinar. However, we ran out of time before we could answer every one!
Like the visually impaired, the Internet cannot “see” content the way a sighted human being does. It can only discover relevant content via searchable text and metadata. When publishers take the right steps to make content accessible, they also make it more discoverable.
The venerable world of trade books has had accessibility options since the early 19th Century invention of Braille. However, only in the digital age has it been possible to make all books accessible to the visually impaired.
K-12 and Higher Ed publishers provide complex content that is deeply intertwined with Learning Management Systems and other digital deliverables. That makes accessibility harder—and potentially more rewarding.
