My key takeaways from this year's annual conference.

1. ALPSP Annual Conference 2012
Key takeaways
Bernie Folan
Los Angeles | London | New Delhi
Singapore | Washington DC

2. Forty years on in scholarly publishing...
1. Know your customers – well
2. Avoid cases that invoke the law
3. One-way communication between
stakeholders is doomed
4. Always consider alternative scenarios
5. Be open to new approaches
6. Diversify revenue streams
Measuring the Unmeasurable Los Angeles | London | New Delhi
Singapore | Washington DC

3. Information Industry: $462 billion, 2011
Source: Outsell
Measuring the Unmeasurable Los Angeles | London | New Delhi
Singapore | Washington DC

4. Global, technological & social news
impacting future of publishing
● Mobile, Social, and the Rise of GAFA
● Big Data and Extreme Analytics
● Focused Scale
● M&A, and Convergence, Aggregation
● Fun, Gamification, Philanthropy
● Human Assistance – Service and Culture
● Sales 2.0
● Open vs. Closed
Measuring the Unmeasurable Los Angeles | London | New Delhi
Singapore | Washington DC

5. Mobile, Social, and the Rise of GAFA
~25%
of waking hours
are spent on
mobile devices
Source: Outsell, Inc.
Measuring the Unmeasurable Los Angeles | London | New Delhi
Singapore | Washington DC

6. Fun & Gamification
Measuring the Unmeasurable Los Angeles | London | New Delhi
Singapore | Washington DC

7. Moving from product-centric to service-
focused. Publisher strategies should include:
● In-depth understanding of user workflows (critical
to adding value)
● Building a mobile strategy
● Simplifying users’ lives
● Getting closer to end-users
● Re-aligning the sales and marketing organization
● Avoid disrupting their own markets
Measuring the Unmeasurable Los Angeles | London | New Delhi
Singapore | Washington DC

8. Global Picture – Consortial and library
● Ireland: “dire”
● China: “selective”
● Australia: mandates for Ebook purchasing based on
FTE not previous pricing.
● India: no slow down. Huge investment in education.
New consortia appearing.
● Middle East: increased spending on research.
● Newer (less penetrated) consortia proceeding
cautiously and in increments (Mexico, Japan)
● Renewals still strong / Consortia purchasing model
still healthy
Measuring the Unmeasurable Los Angeles | London | New Delhi
Singapore | Washington DC

9. Outsider view (BBC digital content)
● “step away from your content. you’re in the
business of insight NOT journals.”
● Set KPIs at start & track elements that affect them.
● BBC learned can't be everywhere so partner with
start-ups who understand
● Fold It science puzzles to
solve problems.
Measuring the Unmeasurable Los Angeles | London | New Delhi
Singapore | Washington DC

10. Key change areas over next 15 years:
summarising panel debate
● Finch will be important in (finally) getting policy ball rolling
● Academic Spring contributed to momentum building on OA.
● "Academics will still give 1st born to get published in
Nature."
● Variable levels of knowledge with authors about OA
● Frustration with slow pace of publishing, peer review, etc -
just want to publish and move on to next
● Insts don't know enough about output. OA debate: “been
bloody, but enjoyable, at times.”
Measuring the Unmeasurable Los Angeles | London | New Delhi
Singapore | Washington DC