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Weekly reading questions assignment Media platforms and industries
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The weekly reading questions assignments for the first year course media platforms and industries
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Week 2 Reading Questions – Books Anna-Mirjam SijensOutline the challenges and opportunities to the book industry that have emerged with digital
developments, such as e-books, e-reading, and online retail. Give at least one argument for
opportunities, and one for challenges (drawing from the chapter).
Opportunities:
The books industry has been trying to go along with its time. There has always been trying to develop
and innovate, they are redefining themselves. Lynch et al. (2017) lists the following examples. The
publishing industry is stretching and growing in new directions. Publishers have experimented with
distributing books directly to the public themselves. Some bookstore chains tried publishing their
own books. Non-traditional publishing companies took a giant step forward, acting as reprint
companies that produce on-demand public domain titles (Lynch et al., 2017).
The film industry creates new opportunities. Movies can be bestselling books and books can be great
movies. A popular movie can resurge book sales and put new and old books on the best-seller list
(Lynch et al., 2017).
The bookstores are also creating new opportunities. The example the book uses is Barnes & Nobles
who reinvented itself from a brick-and-mortar store to the largest e-bookstore with print and e-
books, audiobooks, magazines, DVDs, music, games, toys, other gifts and bookstore cafes (Lynch et
al., 2017).
Personalized book shopping online, recommendations based on previous purchases
Publishing costs for an e-book is much lower
Copyright
Bookseller clients
Amazon bigger and personalized audience with technology/internet
Challenges:
High-tech companies, including Amazon and Google, challenge conventional print institutions ranging
from publishers to bookstores to public libraries. The examples the book uses are Amazon.com
Kindle Direct Publishing and Google Library Project. With these two initiatives, it is no longer
necessary to buy a physical book in a bookstore. With Kindle, you can haul in a 70% royalty for books
in print, digital or audio. Google Library Project scanned over 30 million books from libraries and
authors. You can also buy a book on Google Play eBook store. It’s a challenge for the book industry
that these sorts of companies are trying to take over the complete market (Lynch et al., 2017).
Another challenge is the risk of information no longer being available. The book suggests what
happens when Google becomes a monopoly (Lynch et al., 2017). We rely on these sources very
much.
Cost-conscious professors even try to make students get cheaper books (Lynch et al., 2017). The
large number of substitutes and the high competition are the challenge for the book publishers to
stay viable.
, While books, both online and in paper form, seem to be everywhere now, such was not always the
case. Describe the history of the book industry in brief, using examples from the chapter to show
how books went from a scarce resource to a popular media form.
The development of the printing process started in China. In 1051 the Chinese developed ink,
brushes and paper. In 1234 the Korean refined the printing process by developing a movable metal
type. Gutenberg printed the first German Bible in 1455, this was the beginning of mass production
and spread of literacy in Europe. This means the ability to read and understand a variety of
information. The writing of books in everyday language, not only Latin anymore, were key to the
development of printed media, now there was access to books for far more people than before. The
books came from Hebrew Middle East (Bible and Torah), the Arab Middle East (science and math)
and the ancient Greece (Plato) (Lynch et al., 2017).
Then the progress was slow fora bout 400 years. The e-reader and mobile devices came with the
computer age. These days books are available in paperbacks, hardbacks, e-books and audiobooks.
People can even publish their own book by online independent publishers. Small publishers will
print-on-demand requested books if they are not available anymore. Backlisted books get a new life
and orphaned books are being made available again. Now everyone can buy and read books on-
demand. We live in a time where everything seems possible unlike the early years when books and
reading were only for the priests, monks and elite (Lynch et al., 2017).
Week 3 Reading Questions – Print and Digital Newspapers
The chapter describes how newspapers, as an industry, have faced competition from other
forms of media throughout the 20th century and into the digital era. Provide, in your own
words, one example of how the newspaper industry has been harmed negatively by the
emergence of digital technology (i.e. the internet), and one example of how it has adapted
positively to this technology.
Negatively harmed:
The digital technology brought about news aggregates: take stories from the original news
sources for display on their own sites, hoping to attract audiences. Most don’t pay the
originators, who should be paid and referenced (Lynch et al., 2017). It’s hard to surrender
punishments because these thieves of journalist’s work can work anonymously on the
Internet. This makes it more difficult to stay the known owner of information produced by
you and I think this harms the newspaper industry negatively.
Positively adapted:
The newspapers have in a couple of ways positively adapted to the advent of this technology
and created new opportunities for themselves. For example, many newspapers are
distributing free articles online so that their work appears in online generation timelines.
Some of the people they achieve can thus tempt them to subscribe. Alternatively, they can
choose a strategy that limits this number of free articles to allow readers to decide if they
want to buy their articles, according to the soft metered pay model (Lynch et al., 2017).
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