The%20Gutenberg-e%20Project

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The Gutenberg-e Project

• Opportunities and Challenges in Publishing
  Born-Digital Monographs
• Kate Wittenberg

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History of Gutenberg-e

• Launched in 1999 with support from the Andrew W.
  Mellon Foundation
• American Historical Association selected six
  dissertations each year and awarded prizes
• E-Publishing staff at Columbia worked with
  authors to create the digital monographs

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Initial Goals

• Enable enhanced forms of historical scholarship
  and writing
• Influence a change in attitudes toward digital
  publishing in the academy
• Contain costs of publishing scholarly books

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Project Findings

• Authors and publishing staff collaborated in
  creating new models of scholarship and writing
• Over the course of the project, attitudes toward
  digital publications evolved
• Time and costs involved in creating these models
  exceeded expectations

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New Publishing Model

• Authors are active collaborators rather than
  lone toilersin creating their work
• Editors and web developers are researchers
  creating new models rather than staff reacting to
  completed work
• Both learn to think more creatively about the
  presentation and use of scholarship

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Questions Raised for both Author and Publisher

• Must a scholarly narrative be presented in linear
  form?
• How does one present an authorial voice in an
  interactive publication?
• Are images and archives supplementary or the
  organizing structure in an e-book?
• Can new textbooks be created by integrating
  e-books and digital teaching tools?

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Views of Digital Scholarship in the Academy

• Early on, some authors had trouble convincing
  department chairs of the quality of electronic
  book content
• As project evolved, authors began receiving
  tenure based on evaluation of the digital book
  publications
• Attitudes changed as the project developed

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Sustainability Issues

• Tremendous potential of digital scholarship can
  create high costs
• Need to agree on what authors can expect in
  designing their digital work
• Enhanced collaboration involves increases in cost
  and time
• Dual business models open access and subscription

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Future of E-Books and Scholarly Publishing

• Authors are pushing e-books forward--publishers
  and universities must follow
• Next generation will assume their scholarship
  will be published in digital form
• New technologies and e-book publishing protocols
  will allow costs to be contained
• Need for continuing innovation

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Gutenberg-e

• www.gutenberg-e.org
• http//www.humanitiesebook.org/
• Kate Wittenberg
• Kw49_at_columbia.edu