Technological advancement is a double-edged sword: Whereas it can bring prosperity and enhance life, technology replaces humans and tasks they’ve been doing for centuries. Research suggests technology could replace human resource departments, teachers, real estate agents, and even police officers and doctors. For example, robotics and automation have been linked to lost manufacturing jobs, but debate continues about how fast and…
According to the Department of Health & Human Services, 285 million people in the United States live with some sort of visual impairment and 275 million people live with moderate-to-profound hearing impairment. This doesn’t account for the millions more who live with physical, speech, cognitive, or neurological disabilities or a limited understanding of English. Assistive technology and accessibility features such…
by Bethany McKay, Freelance Writer – XML is a large part of the publishing industry, but what exactly is XML? Extensible Markup Language, or XML, is a computing language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human- and machine-readable. The goals of XML are simplicity, generality, and usability across the Internet. It…
By Bethany McKay, Freelance Writer In the world of publishing, the old adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words” rings true. Not only is a quality piece of art key to your publication, but it should be positioned optimally on the page and needs to be properly formatted. Quality is easily identified, especially in the digital world. The quality…
by Bethany McKay, Freelance Writer More than a decade ago, the first Kindle launched for sale. It was heralded as a game-changer; the ability to store and carry hundreds of books at once seemed to be a miracle or a dash of magic. The publishing industry scrambled, waiting for sales of physical books to plummet (and they did). Many worried…
by Bethany McKay, Freelance Writer/Editor In June, net neutrality rules were officially rolled back. Net neutrality has been an ongoing debate and pushed back and forth, but the real change began recently. If you do not know what net neutrality is, it required internet service providers (ISPs) to offer equal access to web content and prohibited them from charging more…
It’s All About the Audiobook Market! First, a bit of history. In 1941 the first test audio recordings included a chapter from Helen Keller’s Midstream and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.” They were certainly not tested on an iPhone. The spoken word was available on vinyl albums and most often the recordings were poetry and plays. In 1963 the first cassette…
by Dave Bailey, PPS Editor Why Digital Transformation Is So Important in the Publishing World Like many buzzwords that get thrown around in articles, business meetings, and reports, the term digital transformation can be used indiscriminately. At issue is the problem with the term, which is generic enough to lend itself to many definitions that can be applied to many…
Do you know what to look for in a content development company? Here are a few tips you can use to find the right company for your content needs. For your company to be successful, you have content that needs to be developed. However, the success of your company isn’t just linked to the mere ability to procure that content;…
Have you ever wondered how the growth of e-publishing could affect your business? Do you have a Kindle? What about the Amazon Kindle app? As of 2017, statistics showed that close to 27 percent of Americans own E-readers, and 81% of Americans own cell phones, many which are now compatible with e-reader apps like the Amazon Kindle app. e-book sales…