The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has released a study, according to which media companies could counter the effects of the advertising slump and benefit from a major boost in profits if they start charging for online news.
A new research, released by BCG, shows that consumers are willing to spend small monthly sums to receive news on their personal computers and mobile devices. In a survey of 5,000 individuals conducted in nine countries, BCG found that the average monthly amount that consumers would be prepared to pay ranges from $3 in the US and Australia to $7 in Italy. The other countries included in the study were France, Norway, Germany, Finland and Spain.
While more than 60 percent of Internet users in several Western European countries said that they would be willing to pay for access to news online, only 48 percent of Internet users in the US said they would pay. When asked how much they would pay, Americans averaged just $3 a month, tying with Australia for the lowest figure. For Italians, this average stood at $7. The question is seen to be of great interest to the American newspaper industry, which is scouting for options on how to put toll gates on its websites, to make up for sinking print advertising.
Americans were also found to be much more likely to pay for admission to sites that offered online access to multiple papers.
Interestingly, across all countries, avid newspaper readers - who already pay the most to read news - are also the most willing to pay the maximum sum for online access to news.
Internet search services provider Google, Inc., the Authors Guild (AG) and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) recently released their revised book settlement proposal in an attempt to revise the existing legal agreement.
According to Open Book Alliance co-chair Peter Brantley, the initial review of the new proposal discloses that Google and its partners are performing a sleight of hand; fundamentally, this settlement remains a set-piece designed to serve the private commercial interests of Google and its partners. None of the proposed changes appear to address the fundamental flaws illuminated by the Department of Justice and other critics that impact public interest, he points out. Brantley further charges that by performing surgical nip and tuck, Google, the AAP, and the AG are attempting to distract people from their continued efforts to establish a monopoly over digital content access and distribution; usurp Congress's role in setting copyright policy; lock writers into their unsought registry, stripping them of their individual contract rights; put library budgets and patron privacy at risk; and establish a dangerous precedent by abusing the class action process.
Last week, the Open Book Alliance issued a set of requirements that the new settlement proposal must adhere to in order be true to these principles. Most critically, the settlement proposal must not grant Google an exclusive set of rights (de facto or otherwise) or result in any one entity gaining control over access to and distribution of the world's largest digital database of books.
The Open Book Alliance is a coalition of librarians, legal scholars, authors, publishers and technology companies created to counter the proposed Google Book Settlement. The Alliance is now reviewing the new settlement in depth and will provide additional feedback shortly.
STM publisher Elsevier, Netherlands, has announced that it will assume publication of the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, beginning with Volume 104 (2010). The journal is the official journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI).
The Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, published since 1942, will continue under the leadership of Editor Gailen D. Marshall and a distinguished editorial board. The journal provides peer-reviewed coverage of current clinical science (both research and practice-based) that is readily applicable to both the clinician and the researcher in the fields of allergy, asthma, and immunology.
Each monthly issue also provide opportunities to participate in accredited continuing medical education activities to enhance overall clinical proficiency.
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The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), UK, has launched its investment plan for the academic year 2009/2010. JISC will invest over £7 million to advance the innovative use of digital technologies in UK colleges and universities.
Over the next nine months JISC will be investing in a range of projects across universities and colleges to support innovation in research, teaching and learning to aid the management of institutions. Projects will range from 12 months to three years in duration.
Among the areas JISC will be funding are: cloud computing for research; learning and teaching innovation grants; business modelling and sustainability for online content and collections to develop best practice; a ‘digipedia’ prototype to bring together resources, standards, best practise and expertise on the digital content lifecycle; shared best practice for university researchers working with business and community groups; and access and identity management.
E-Resource Access and Management Services (ERAMS) provider Serials Solutions, US, has announced the development of a new E-Books Metadata Normalization process for Serials Solutions KnowledgeWorks knowledgebase. As a result of this new process, KnowledgeWorks will now be able to deliver the best possible access to e-Books through 360 services and OPACs.
E-Book metadata is normalised in the KnowledgeWorks knowledgebase to provide more accurate and consistent e-Books holdings information to improve access and management of e-Books. To enable normalisation of e-Books metadata, Serials Solutions metadata librarians have developed innovative and trustworthy algorithms that efficiently aggregate and authoritatively link data from all available sources. For each e-Book in the library’s collection, KnowledgeWorks aggregates holdings data from all subscribed databases and normalises them into a single record. This makes it easier for patrons to find and access the e-Books in the collection, thereby increasing usage and return on investment in e-Books content.
Serials Solutions acquires E-Books metadata from all available resources without preference or exclusion. E-Book records harvested by Serials Solutions populate the KnowledgeWorks knowledgebase, and are distributed to patrons through the patron-facing interfaces of Serials Solutions 360 access services and the library’s OPAC via 360 MARC Updates. Each Serials Solutions 360 service shares the same KnowledgeWorks data and administrative interface to eliminate redundancy and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of each service.
The new e-Books normalisation process will be implemented in Serials Solutions KnowledgeWorks knowledgebase in January 2010.
Life sciences software provider CambridgeSoft Corporation, US, has announced that it has completed a private equity investment by Health Evolution Partners and a follow-on investment by Goldman Sachs. In connection with the investment, Adam Grossman will represent Health Evolution Partners on the CambridgeSoft Board of Directors. Raheel Zia, vice president of Goldman Sachs, will continue serving on the Board, based upon Goldman Sachs’ original investment in 2008.
CambridgeSoft noted that its software as a service (SaaS) cloud computing offerings have continued to gain broad customer acceptance, beyond their initial launch almost five years ago. Users of CambridgeSoft’s ChemBioOffice Cloud benefit by joining a growing community of customers who share infrastructure and IT costs, resulting in lower management overhead, little up-front investment and immediate access to the full range of the latest, scientist-tested ChemBioOffice Enterprise applications.
CambridgeSoft is a supplier of discovery, collaboration, and knowledge management research IT enterprise solutions, desktop software, scientific databases and consulting services for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and chemical industries. Its integrated product suite seeks to improve the productivity of researchers in the discovery, development and commercialisation of chemical and biological compounds. Products include Cloud, Enterprise, Workgroup and Desktop versions of Chem & Bio Office, including Chem & Bio Draw and E-Notebook, providing knowledge management, chemical and biological informatics, and scientific database solutions.
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Healthcare publisher Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, part of Wolters Kluwer Health, US, has announced that the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) has appointed Dr. Betty Ferrell as the new editor of The Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing.
With more than 32 years of oncology nursing experience, Dr. Ferrell has focused her clinical expertise and research in pain management, quality of life, and palliative care. She is a Professor and Research Scientist at the City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, a member of the National Cancer Policy Forum and chairperson of the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care. Dr. Ferrell has over 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals and texts, and has authored five books on pain management and palliative care.
Published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, The Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing is the official journal of the HPNA. Focusing on the clinical, educational and research aspects of care, the journal offers current and reliable information on end-of-life nursing.
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US readers less willing than Europeans to pay for online news access: study 
Elsevier set to publish ACAAI journal, Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
JISC launches investment plan for 2009/2010
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