By Ken Scherpelz, Vice President of Sales and Business Development
After spending over 30 years in the publishing industry, I’ve
collaborated in the development and production of thousands of published
works. I’ve worked with authors, editors, designers, illustrators,
proofreaders, production artists, translators, reviewers—hundreds of
people who contributed to the accuracy and quality of each book or
digital offering. We followed procedures to ensure content was accurate
and errors were eliminated, relying on the next level of review to check
the previous changes and additions.
Now that the Internet has given most everybody access to, well, most
everything, anyone with a computer can become an author through
Wikipedia and numerous blogs. And a major publisher
will now allow college and university instructors to edit and rewrite
online textbooks—online. This new process struck me as odd, if only
because my training and experience always included someone checking
behind me each time I changed anything in a manuscript or page proof.
But this program allows and even encourages instructors to “fine-tune a
textbook” leaving it to students, parents, and other instructors to help
monitor the changes.
I’m interested to see how this innovative plan works over time,
specifically in the opinion of the original textbook authors whose works
will be revised. I’m also curious to see what kind of changes come
about to textbooks when left in the hands of an instructor with strong
biases toward one theory or another; or one with fanatical religious or
political beliefs; or another who has an ax to grind with the publisher
or university. And then there’s the inevitable hacker, who might make
changes just for the fun of it. Stay tuned to this one.
Wherever you might fall in the process of creating content, give us a call at PSG for help with your publishing needs.
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