18.527 author's rights

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 18, No. 527.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
                        www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                     Submit to: humanist_at_princeton.edu

         Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 07:23:08 +0000
         From: lachance_at_origin.chass.utoronto.ca (Francois Lachance)
         Subject: Re: 18.523 author's rights

Duncan Campbell wrote:

> Unless a book is originated electronically, POD can be a relatively
> expensive option, and in these cases, most publishers -- quite rightly,

I am a bit puzzled by the claim that Print on Demand is a "relatively
expensive option". What drives the cost of conversion? Labour? Acquiring
scanning technology? Housing the files? Order fulfillment: billing? Order
fulfillment: handling? Surely such costs are recuperated in the pricing
model.

Quite apart from the business point of view, there is a societal cost. If
Print on Demand forms of publishing encourage the greater circulation of
the products of publicly funded or even privately endowed institutions of
higher learning does that not result in some form of wider support for the
work of those institutions, support that will eventually translate into
funds. Quite apart fromt the institutional view, the greater the
circulation of cultural capital is a prerequiste for the meaningful
investement in human capital.

I know I've shifted the ground from "expense" to "cost." I do so to make
the point that avoiding expense sometimes has costs elsewhere.

--
Francois Lachance, Scholar-at-large
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~lachance/jardin
2005 Year of Comparative Connections. DIA: Comparative connections? LOGZ:
Connection, first. Comparison, next. DIA: Check. Comparable ways of
connecting. LOGZ: Selection outcomes, first. Comparative Connections,
next.