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Not just anyone can make a book. You can write it, you can even write it electronically, but you can’t do your own binding or sell it to bookstores nationwide. Every book is a collaboration of the talents and efforts of many people. Under the old paradigm, any quality book relies on the talents of many people, but much of that talent deals with improving the method of delivery rather than just presenting the information itself. Under this paradigm, you need a bookbinder, a printer, sales people, and literary agents. The electronic formats themselves don’t need to be standardized. Under the new paradigm, not every book requires these specialists. The specialists can arrive on the scene after publication. Information can be shared because it’s structured and standardized, thus accessible by all.
In the new paradigm, specialists can add their value after publication—if needed. Every potential author gets a chance to prove his or her worth. Professional publishers can support authors’ efforts and improve the quality of a publication. Author, publisher, and public all benefit.
Because information is modular and standardized under the new paradigm, people share it easily. People can create many different works on the same subject. Each one adds something. Under the new paradigm, you become both an information shopper and an information provider. You can collaborate with authors if you want.
The specialist becomes a collaborator even more than under the old paradigm. Because information is distributed in modular structural units, and because these structural units follow the international standard of SGML, the specialist can add value to every module as it is created. The publishing timeline—from the manuscript creation to arrival at bookstores—has dropped dramatically as books are produced more and more electronically. As online books become just as profitable and convenient as hardcopy books, this timeline will decrease even more dramatically.
None of these problems could be solved without looking at structure creatively. The modular information model relies on being able to disassemble and reassemble documents easily. SGML requires documents to be completely defined and their individual structures to be declared and consistent. The old paradigm permits too much flexibility with document definition to allow widespread document interchange. You can violate your own rules with impunity; no one slaps your hand if you alter the structure of a chapter. If you try that trick in SGML, you’re out of the information-sharing loop.
In this chapter, you read about the old paradigm of information delivery. You saw how the linear way of organizing information is inferior to the modular way. You saw how format and structure of each paradigm differ. If you want to become an electronic publisher, you must understand the new paradigm.
For more information, refer to the following:
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