Aug 31, 10 Instead I wanted to mention some associates, friends and colleagues whose sites give me particular pleasure, insights and knowledge.
The Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) sounds kind of dull, but is instead an incredibly robust organization with an interest in every aspect of where technology is taking us. The ACM digital library is an absolute treasure trove, and the weekly ACM TechNews has given me more leads to fascinating data and analysis than any other newsletter I read.
bosacks.homestead.com
Bob Sacks has been in the publishing industry since 1970, and has done it all, from pressman to editor to publisher, and with some of the largest magazine companies in the U.S. (and a few alternative newspapers). As a recent subscription-only Seybold Report profile of BoSacks (as he is known) stated, "He consistently challenges past assumptions and his measured skepticism, combined with his vast expertise in media of all kinds (his first publishing venture used hot type), make him a valuable voice in the publishing industry." He operates separate blogs on ePaper and Pulp and Paper, but most significantly offers the thrice daily (!) free newsletter, "‘Heard on the Web' Media Intelligence," which you can subscribe to from his main site.
Eoin Purcell’s Blog
Focused on book publishing, this is a very fine blog. I sing its praise in this blog entry.
The Gilbane Group
I serve part-time as a Senior Analyst with the Gilbane organization. Everyone in our industry should get to know the Gilbane Group. Founder Frank Gilbane has been working on publishing standards and technologies since SGML was contentious, and has assembled a fascinatingly diverse set of talented individuals who collectively know more about how publishing works today than those in any other organization I'm familiar with.
www.billtrippe.com
One of the key senior publishing analysts at Gilbane, Bill offers a fascinating and tuned-in blog.
Brian Lawler
Brian is a long-standing friend and colleague who understands the tradition print production processes as well as anyone in the business. His website offers lots of goodies and some excellent links.
GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies
I couldn't have said it any better myself: "Bill Rosenblatt is a recognized authority on digital media technologies, including digital rights management, content management, cross-media strategy, and content production systems, as well as on issues related to intellectual property in the online world. He is the author of Digital Rights Management: Business and Technology (John Wiley & Sons) and has a great new blog called Copyright and Technology. He's also a Gilbane Senior Analyst.
IntranetBlog.com
Toby Ward is one of the world's top experts on Intranets, and therefor by default, a top expert on all things Web. He describes his popular blog as "Intranet evolution, best practices, and case studies by Toby Ward."
www.rexblog.com
Rex Hammock's 8-year-old blog offers great links and wonderful commentary. Hammock is founder & CEO of the content marketing and media firm, Hammock Inc. He describes his blog as "curating news about media, community and technology for people who aren't geeks. I quote from Rex in my blog entry here.
Scripting News
As far as I'm concerned, the blog really started with Dave Winer at this site, and it's still the place to go if you want to understand what a blog should be. Dave is also incredibly smart, and connected to many of the most interesting and important technology developments in our industry.
The Shatzkin Files
I've known Mike Shatzkin for a long time...he's got publishing in his blood. Mike has become one of the most respected analysts and commentators on where book publishing is headed. (And he's based in New York City, and therefor knows even more!)
Strategic News Service
Mark Anderson's Strategic News Service should be world-famous. Instead it's a relatively well-kept secret. Its subscribers are a who's who of the high-tech and investment community, but somehow the newsletter is not as often noted as it should be. Part of it may be the price: $595 is not inexpensive for an online newsletter. But I can strongly recommend the one-month $14.95 trial pack -- I suspect you'll want to find a way to afford the full subscription after you given it a try. No writer I know has the range of knowledge and depth of insight, and his very smart readers are frequent contributors, making the whole package a very fine offering indeed. You can sample a smattering of some of Mark's earlier entries on the Industry Standard website.
Thomas Riggs & Co.
A very good blog here: not self-promotional, but tackling the challenging issues. Excellent to see such an open-minded site from a company who's competitors are too self interested.
Publetariat
This is a very fine site, devoted, as they explain:
The indie author tide is rising. Every day there are new stories of authors taking their careers into their own hands and choosing, not resorting to, self-publication and forming their own imprints.
Even the struggling titans of the mainstream publishing industry can't ignore it anymore. There's an increasing level of genuine interest in, and respect for, self-publishing and small, independent imprints on websites and in publications that would've sneered at the very idea a decade ago. For far too long, indie authors and small imprints have fought an uphill battle against an industry and a community of writers determined to marginalize us and our efforts. Now, as indie authorship stands poised to become the 'next big thing' in publishing, our time has come at last.
Lots of good contents and links: we've become pals.