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On World Intellectual Property Day, who can predict what will happen with the value of intellectual property in the future. Will it still be the same in 2025, will it be seen as an irrelevance or will everything be crowd-sourced, socially-owned and open sourced? As a publisher Gower has a vested interest in what will happen and, with the caveat that my views are coloured by my position, let me offer three observations …
Paid for content versus everything for free
Free stuff is always welcome but without question, you do get what you pay for, and innovation, creativity and new content all have a cost. Personally, I think that, while new models will continue to emerge (who could have imagined the mobile apps model 10 years ago!), the need for curation of content and information will mean that customers will still be willing to pay. In a world where digital content is exploding, the value of rigorous, consistent and well signposted content is surely very significant;
New shared models
Crowdsourcing is attracting a lot of attention, but there are other more mainstream opportunities for businesses to create and innovate that don’t involve the mass market. Collaborative business is on the rise and with it comes a need and an aspiration for organizations to share risk and, consequently, share reward. That must point towards some new models that enable practical shared ownership of IP rights between different organizations, companies, governments and NGOs.
A collaborative approach to publishing
I am very proud of the fact that Gower has always worked with our authors and editors on the basis of licensed rights. We have never insisted that authors assign their copyright as part of a publishing agreement nor have we sought to bind them to us with restrictive arrangements for their future books. We are already developing new collaborative models for publishing in the future – models that enable us to contribute and profit from those aspects of a work’s intellectual property where we can add value through editing, distribution and marketing, whilst at the same time, enabling authors to exploit their own IP in directions and media that are outside our (realistic) reach.
A handful of Gower and Ashgate titles on intellectual property:
Enter your projects for the International Design for All Foundation Awards 2013.
The deadline for submitting entries to the awards is 17th February 2013. Entering is easy – all the details are available on the Awards website.
The Awards offer an opportunity for public bodies, private companies and not-for-profit organisations to gain international recognition for the projects they have undertaken in the field of Design for All. In addition, any individual or organisation can send their ideas for user-centred design projects in Living Labs, in order to find the best design solutions for everyday problems through the involvement of real-life end-users.
The Award ceremony will take place on 20th March 2013 during the International Design Biennial in Saint-Étienne, France.
The Founder and President of the Design for All Foundation is Francesc Aragall, who is co-author of the Gower book Universal Design.
As one of the baby boomer generation, I freely admit that sometimes I have struggled to keep up with the mindset of Generation Xers, let alone the newest generations that have followed, so I found Alexander Manu’s thought piece on how brands can engage the Millennnial Generation a great source of enlightenment – not least because I am beginning to understand and embrace some of the concepts such as gamification to which he alludes. If you are involved in any aspect of brand management, marketing or design, do take a moment to read it. Alexander Manu’s new book Behavior Space: Play, Pleasure and Discovery as a Model for Business Value is published in December.
In a lecture on Innovation in Belgium last week, Gijs van Wulfen put together a 66-point innovation checklist that summarised the benefits of his FORTH method which connects creativity and business reality in five steps: Full Steam Ahead, Observe and Learn, Raise Ideas, Test Ideas and Homecoming. His checklist can be found here.
Gijs book, Creating Innovative Products and Services: The FORTH Innovation Method is out now.
Author, Francesc Aragall will be speaking at a variety of events focusing on the HUMBLES method demonstrated in his book, Universal Design. HUMBLES is a seven phase model enabling you to assess your current business strategy and design practices, and make your product or service appealing to all your potential customers.
May 2012
11/05/2012 – Moscow 4th International Conference – Equal rights, equal opportunities
22/05/2012 – Salamanca University Congress about Ageing
24/05/2012 – Helsinki Cities for All Conference www.ornamo.fi/citiesforallhelsinki
June 2012
01/06/2012 – Saint Etienne Conference at Ville en Partage
08/06/2012 – Madrid Presentation of the book at CEAPAT Ministry for welfare
15/06/2012 – Paris 5émes assises nationales de l’accessibilité
18/06/2012 – Munich ICE 2012: International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation http://www.ice-conference.org/
If you are attending any of these events and would like to contact Francesc Aragall do say so in the comments, we will help you get in touch.
The HUMBLES method is explained and demonstrated in Francesc Aragall and Jordi Montana’s book Universal Design. You can find out more information on the Design for All Foundation.
The forthcoming event for the London Constructing Excellence Club will be taking place on 17th April. Uly Ma will be speaking at the event which is focussed on the areas of sustainability and retrofitting. He will be talking about his NoWaste Project which is part of the London Learning Legacy, along with providing information from his book, No Waste.
Uly Ma has received fantastic recognition for his NoWaste project within the Olympics construction, winning two awards. The project has also been selected as part of the London 2012 Learning Legacy. What a fantastic achievement!
Uly’s two awards are:
- Most Effective Training (2009) from the Safety, Health and Environment Leadership Team (SHELT)
- Special Achievements Award (2011) from National Skills Academy for Construction- London 2012 Construction (NSAfC- London 2012).
Uly’s NoWaste project is currently on-going at the Olympic Park and Village and is based on his book.
Uly Ma’s NoWaste project has been selected as part of the London 2012 Learning Legacy for the Olympics. Through the Learning Legacy project, the Olympic Delivery Authority is sharing the knowledge and the lessons learned from the construction of the Olympic Park, to help raise the bar within the sector and act as a showcase for UK plc. You can view and download the NoWaste Lean Construction Training Programme here for more information about the fantastic work Uly has been doing as part of the forthcoming London 2012 Olympics.
The NoWaste project is currently on-going at the Olympic Park and Village and is based on Uly’s book, No Waste: Managing Sustainability in Construction.
Christine Jorm’s piece in MJA Insight: Solving GP Education Dilemmas, addresses an issue that has an impact on us all; whether as managers of GP practices, healthcare policy makers or simply as patients. How do we design an effective program of work placements and on-the-job learning for General Practitioners and how do we ensure that the outcome is a positive experience for the GPs, their students and their patients? Christine Jorm is author of Reconstructing Medical Practice, published by Gower.
The basic premise behind the Design for All Awards is to recognise efforts by public, private and not-for-profit organisations and professionals across the world to shape a world where environments, products and services respect all aspects of human diversity. There are separate categories for different types of organization. If you’re proud of what your organization has achieved in terms of inclusive design for a product, service or project, why not see if you can get your achievement recognised with an award?
Gower publish Universal Design, which is coauthored by Francesc Aragall, Director of the Design for All Foundation.
