How can publishers protect intellectual property with shrinking time to market?

Device innovation @ explosive rate has disrupted what otherwise was a seamless content publishing process. Key questions I am often asked today are:

1. Can this content be delivered on iPhone?
2. And Whiteboard and iPad?How much will it cost?
3. Can we be ready in time with device launch?
4. What if flash is not supported or if ePub is not supported by that new device?

While I am already seeing early signs, I am certain that sooner or later educational publishing business will become like a home improvement business. One should be able to buy refrigerators, oven, cooking range from different manufacture and assume seamless integration or buy connectors to integrate them seamlessly. Basically, emerging trends will demand emerging standards of interoperability. However, till we reach there, each player will try to disrupt the standards & process with no sign of clear market leadership.


Just to give perspective to the market scenario, here are only some of the media, platforms, framework & standards that a publisher need to worry about in 2010.

Answer to this situation is defining organization content schema. Basically, content publishing should become plug and play and no better way of achieving this other then defining organization schema.


So how will organization content schema help?

• Protect against uncertainty of emerging devices & trends by easily reflowing information to new specs.
• Keep content separate from layout, instructions & functionality. A must considering content will be flowing on all sorts of devices.
• Ability to sell individual chunks. Need of the next generation

There are many other benefits. Long to midterm cost savings, ease of change management, easy rights & permission tracking, reusability, etc.


In my next article we will dive deeper into the content/schema framework in the evolving digital content marketplace.