BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY: ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING SPECIALIST GROUP
A DEBATE
'This House Believes that the Present Generation of Publishers is Doomed'
With Workshops on The Internet and Book and Journal Publishing
Thursday 8th June 1995
Annual General Meeting: 9.30 a.m.
Workshops: 9.45 a.m for 10.15 a.m.
Debate: 2.30 p.m.
The Bridewell Theatre, Bridewell Lane off Fleet Street, London
Debate and Workshops
Unusually, this meeting will fall into two, quite separate parts. Indeed, it will actually be made up of three parts, with the Group Annual General Meeting at 9.30 a.m., concerning which a separate notice will be sent to members. Lunch will not be provided.
The Debate
The debate will take place at 2.30 p.m. (finishing at about 5.00 p.m. with a glass of wine) and the motion will be: `This House Believes that the Present Generation of Publishers is Doomed'.
The aim is to examine the changing nature of print in publishing. The Internet and electronic markets are bringing about a shift in publishing skills and in reader access. What does a publisher contribute? Is it valuable? Does publishing on the networks have advantages/disadvantages? What sort of a future does the printed book or periodical have -- especially in specialist fields? The speakers will examine some of the issues which the networking of information has brought to the surface, particularly as they affect the position of the traditional publisher. Disseminators of information may continue to have a place -- but will they be the old publishers or the new players?
Proposer: Stevan Harnad, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Cognitive Sciences Centre at the University of Southampton
Seconder: Derek Law, Director of Information Services, King's College London (and member of JISC with responsibility for networked information)
Opposer: Mike Boswood, Managing Director of Elsevier Science Ltd
Seconder: Gordon Graham, Editor of Logos and former Chairman of the Publishers Association
Chair: Jane Dorner, Editor of The Electronic Author
The Workshops
In order to put the debate in context, two parallel workshops will be run in the morning (from 10.15 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.). Note that while you can attend the debate without attending the workshops, attendance at the workshops alone is not an option.
Workshop I: An Introduction to the Internet This workshop will be given by Conrad Taylor and colleagues. It will include a brief history of the Internet and an introduction to many of the tools which are available for searching, accessing and viewing information. There will also be a short introduction to BCSNet.
Workshop II: Book and Journal Publishing This workshop, to be run by Ken Moore and David Penfold, is intended to describe what publishers do in the process of taking a book or a journal from manuscript stage through to the final product. The workshop will look both at conventional procedures to produce print on paper and at the options for electronic publication.
Registration
To register for the seminar, complete the registration form (or a photocopy) and
send it to:
BCS Electronic Publishing Specialist Group
30 Edgerton Road, Huddersfield HD3 3AD
Tel 01484 519462; Fax 01484 451396
email: bcsepsg@eps-edge.demon.co.uk
The fees are given below and include refreshments but lunch is not provided. Seminar fees, but not the membership fee, are subject to VAT at 17.5%. If you join the EP Group using the attached form, then you may claim the members' rate for attending the meeting. A VAT receipt will be provided. Cancellations must be received in writing not less than 14 days before the seminar, but substitutions can be made at any time. If you wish to be invoiced, there will be an additional charge of 5 plus VAT to cover administrative costs.
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REGISTRATION FORM:
Debate and Workshops Thursday 8 June 1995
Rates (please tick the appropriate boxes -- Note that lunch is not included):
All day Debate only
|_| +VAT |_| +VAT
EPSG members |_| 40+7.00 |_| 30+5.25
non-members |_| 70+12.25 |_| 60+10.50
EPSG student members |_| 20+3.50 |_| 10+1.75
additional charge
for invoicing |_| 5+0.88 |_| 5+0.88
EPSG Membership fee
BCS members 20; others 30;
Students 5 (enclose letter signed by supervisor/tutor
|_| 20/30/5
Sub-Total :
+ VAT at 17.5% (VAT Reg. No. GB 618 1687 24) :
TOTAL :
NAME AND TITLE (Mr, Ms, Dr etc.):........................
ADDRESS:.................................................
........................................................
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ORGANISATION (if not part of address):...................
TELEPHONE:................................... I have read your terms and conditions. Please register me as a delegate for the above seminar; *I enclose a cheque for . . . . . . . . . . made payable to: BCS Electronic Publishing Specialist Group *Please invoice me (additional fee 5.00 + 0.88 VAT)
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DATE: Please return to the address given above. Email and fax registrations are acceptable, but must be followed by hard-copy confirmation (with a cheque) or include a request for an invoice.
BCS Electronic Publishing Specialist Group Electronic publishing covers a multitude of fascinating subjects. To keep up to date with the whole field requires continuous study. Skills previously taught over years of apprenticeship now have to be absorbed in a few months. One day you need to understand the details of what makes a good font design, the next how monitors display colour, and the next indexing methods for compacted video images. Publishing brings together people from very different backgrounds, and to be successful these people must learn to appreciate and understand each other's expertise. What better way to keep up than to join a friendly group of like-minded specialists?
Independent
The Electronic Publishing Specialist Group is the only fully
independent group of its kind. Unlike most User Groups, we do not
limit ourselves to one product or supplier. We know that professionals
in this field need to understand a vast range of products, and that
much of the real struggle is to get the disparate elements to work
together. We are not attached to any commercial organisations and
consciously endeavour to attract a wide variety of members. This means
that the Group can take a wide and independent view of events and
products.
Active
The Electronic Publishing Specialist Group holds at least four regular
meetings each year and two-day conferences periodically. The meetings
are kept to a size which permits people to meet and exchange ideas in
an informal and stimulating atmosphere. Each meeting covers one subject
which allows us to focus on areas of particular interest to you. A
typical meeting includes an overview of the topic, talks by experts at
the forefront of the field, and examples of real-life applications.
Aware
We circulate a regular newsletter to keep members up-to-date with
events in electronic publishing and to provide another means for
exchange of information -- particularly valuable for people too busy to
attend the meetings. All of our meetings are reasonably priced and
provide much better value than large commercial conferences. Every year
the Group reviews the whole field to make sure that we include new
topics and do not hang onto outdated ones. All members are encouraged
to contribute by suggesting meeting topics, writing articles for the
newsletter or submitting papers for meetings.
To find out about the latest and best in electronic publishing, to meet the people making the news and using the products, join the Electronic Publishing Specialist Group. Return your application form or contact our office. The address is:
BCS EPSG Office 30 Edgerton Road, Edgerton, Huddersfield HD3 3AD Tel: 01484 519462; Fax: 01484 451396 email: bcsepsg@eps-edge.demon.co.uk
Future Meetings: Customised Publishing (6 September); Hypermedia-based Interfaces (14 November); Colour in a Digital World (30 November)
More background information can be found at URL:
http://www.warwick.ac.uk/~cudax/bcs-ep.html
Jane Dorner
9 Collingwood Avenue
London N10 3EH
tel: 0181 883 2602
fax: 0181 372 6392