Publishers are Doomed?

[Roger Gawley <[e-mail]>]

                       BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY
                ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING SPECIALIST GROUP

A DEBATE

`This House Believes that the Present Generation of Publishers is Doomed'

 
With workshops on      The Internet
and                    Book and Journal Publishing

                        Thursday 8th June 1995

      Annual General Meeting:   9.30am

                   Workshops:   9.45am for 10.15am

                      Debate:   2.30pm
 
The Bridewell Theatre, 
Bridewell Lane
off Fleet Street, 
London


                         Debate and Workshops

Unusually, this meeting will fall into two, quite separate parts.
Indeed, it will actually be made up of three parts, with the Group
Annual General Meeting at 9.30am, concerning which a separate notice
will be sent to members. Lunch will not be provided, although there
are many possibilities in the area.
 
                              The Debate

The debate will start at 2.30pm (finishing at about 5.00pm with a
glass of wine) and the motion will be:  `This House Believes that the 
Present Generation of Publishers is Doomed'.
 
The aim is to examine the changing nature of print in publishing. The
Internet and electronic markets are bringing about a shift in
publishing skills and in reader access. What does a publisher
contribute? Is it valuable? Does publishing on the networks have
advantages/disadvantages? What sort of a future does the printed book
or periodical have -- especially in specialist fields? The speakers
will examine some of the issues which the networking of information
has brought to the surface, particularly as they affect the position
of the traditional publisher. Disseminators of information may
continue to have a place -- but will they be the old publishers or the
new players?
 
Proposer: Stevan Harnad, 
Professor of Psychology and Director of the Cognitive Sciences Centre
 at the University of Southampton
 
Seconder: Derek Law, 
Director of Information Services, King's College London
 (and member of JISC with responsibility for networked information)
 

Opposer: Mike Boswood, 
Managing Director of Elsevier Science Ltd

Seconder: Gordon Graham, 
Editor of Logos and former Chairman of the Publishers Association

 
Chair: Jane Dorner, 
Editor of The Electronic Author
 

                            The Workshops

In order to put the debate in context, two parallel workshops will be
run in the morning (from 10.15am to 1.00pm). Note that while you can
attend the debate without attending the workshops, attendance at the
workshops alone is not an option.
 
Workshop I: An Introduction to the Internet

This workshop will be given by Conrad Taylor and colleagues. It will
include a brief history of the Internet and an introduction to many of
the tools which are available for searching, accessing and viewing
information. There will also be a short introduction to BCSNet.
 
Workshop II: Book and Journal Publishing

This workshop, to be run by Ken Moore and David Penfold, is intended
to describe what publishers do in the process of taking a book or a
journal from manuscript stage through to the final product. The
workshop will look both at conventional procedures to produce print on
paper and at the options for electronic publication.


                             Registration

To register for the seminar, complete the registration form 
(or a photocopy) and send it to:

        BCS Electronic Publishing Specialist Group,
        30 Edgerton Road,
        Huddersfield HD3 3AD

        Tel [phone]
        Fax [phone]

        email: [e-mail] 

The fees are given below and include refreshments but lunch is not
provided. Seminar fees, but not the membership fee, are subject to VAT
at 17.5%. If you join the EP Group using the attached form, then you
may claim the members' rate for attending the meeting. A VAT receipt
will be provided.  Substitutions can be made at any
time. If you wish to be invoiced, there will be an additional charge
of £5 plus VAT to cover administrative costs.

---------------------------------------------------------
REGISTRATION FORM:
Debate and Workshops   Thursday 8 June 1995

Rates  (please tick the appropriate boxes -- Note that lunch is not included):
 
                       All day         Debate only
                       |_|    +VAT     |_|    +VAT
EPSG members           |_| £40+7.00    |_| £30+5.25
non-members            |_| £70+12.25   |_| £60+10.50
EPSG student members   |_| £20+3.50    |_| £10+1.75
additional charge
for invoicing          |_| £5+0.88     |_| £5+0.88
 
EPSG Membership fee
BCS members £20; others £30;
Students 5 (enclose letter signed by supervisor/tutor
                                        |_|             20/30/5
                                   Sub-Total :

+ VAT at 17.5% (VAT Reg. No. GB 618 1687 24) :

                                       TOTAL :

NAME AND TITLE (Mr, Ms, Dr etc.):........................

ADDRESS:.................................................

 ........................................................

 ........................................................


ORGANISATION (if not part of address):...................

TELEPHONE:...................................
 
I have read your terms and conditions. Please register me as a 
delegate for the above seminar;
 
* I enclose a cheque for  . . . . . . . . . . made payable to: 
     BCS Electronic Publishing Specialist Group 
 
* Please invoice me (additional fee `5.00 + 0.88 VAT)

* Delete as required
 

SIGNATURE:


DATE:
 
Please return to the address given above. Email and fax registrations 
are acceptable, but must be followed by hard-copy confirmation 
(with a cheque) or include a request for an invoice. 

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More background information can be found at URL:
http://www.warwick.ac.uk/~cudax/bcs-ep.html