Landing : Athabascau University

Fitzpatrick, Kathleen. Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, & the Future of the Academy

http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/plannedobsolescence/

The digital, comment-supplemented counterpart to Fitzpatrick's eponymous 2011 print book from NYUP.

In what follows, then, I focus not just on the technological changes that many believe are necessary to allow academic publishing to flourish into the future, but on the social, intellectual, and institutional changes that are necessary to pave the way for such flourishing. In order for new modes of communication to become broadly accepted within the academy, scholars and their institutions must take a new look at the mission of the university, the goals of scholarly publishing, and the processes through which scholars conduct their work. We must collectively consider what new technologies have to offer not us, not just in terms of the cost of publishing or access to publications, but in the ways we research, the ways we write, and the ways we review.

Fitzpatrick has also published a brilliant - and balanced - assessment of the digital transformations and possible future of the literary in the MLA's annual Profession 2012. Ironically, it's only available in print but if I find a digital copy I'll be posting it here - it's a powerful and persuasive encapsulation of her more detailed arguments here.

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