Oh PPA. If only you were being ironic. But you can still win!
So, to much fanfare, the PPA (Periodical Publishers Association, don’t you know?) has launched The Future of Publishing, a prominent section on its site where it has placed videos of many (very intelligent and experienced) talking heads, discussing the future of various publishing sectors and models. There is some great content. And, to be clear, I think the PPA does some great work – and this initiative has some real value.
But.
I’ve read through the site, and watched many of the videos. There are some hugely influential people giving their views. And there are some great comments. (And some not so insightful comments, like “We’ve got to be present now as much in a digital way as in a paper way. And we can do it.” Hmmm… Yes, it is almost the end of 2010 after all…). But it’s the delivery format that concerns me.
So nowhere on the site can I click to share the content on any social network. “Great start” I think to myself as I manually copy the URL through a URL shortener and on to Twitter.
Then I look for a place to comment. Or contribute. Or any form of discussion. Nope.
If this is the future of publishing, it’s not the future I see.
Ok – so I tweet them. And here is where it starts getting positive. I get a response within 30 minutes, saying:
Superb. So here we go. The future in action 
NOTE: If you are interested, I think the future of publishing MUST involve the community. It MUST be open. It MUST be shareable. It MUST bet on ubiquity not scarcity. It must be multi-channel. More of my thoughts here: The Future of Publishing (with LOTS of sharing and comments as standard…).
Well, you beat me to it!
My own key point (which I might still blog) is that surely part of digital publishing is the opportunity not only to inspire interaction, but to encourage, display and respond to audience exchanges, on the platform itself. Response via networks which require sign-ups and membership are not appropriate, unless the original publication was within that space as well. It is not sufficient for publishers of all people, to put material out there in an open, public digital space, and then to not provide the means of responding within that space.
The PPA may now have got the message from us both!
Paul – yes I think they have heard from a few people… Great to hear there are more of us thinking the same! Have a great run-in to Christmas!