Looking back some 10,000 years, we see humans developing the ability to communicate - firstly using language, and much later through development of the written form. Following close on the end of the ice-age, European Cromagnon man had taken up cave-dwelling, as had his counterparts in Asia, North America and Australia. While on one hand he was domesticating plants and then animals, on the other he was also developing the ability to communicate and thus laying the basis for what is termed civilisation.
The earliest textbooks are some 5,000 years old, following on from the first use of alphabets by some 1500 years. Written communication developed from pictographs embedded in clay in the 1st Century A.D. and on through to the development of papyrus reed-based writing materials by the Egyptians in about 2800 BC. In the 2nd Century there followed the use of wood and bamboo tablets printing on to silk and an early form of paper and raised calligraphy, using reed pens by the Chinese. 6th Century Chinese and Europeans in the late Middle Ages also printed from the carved wooden block (Tebbel, 1987).
In the 15th Century, paper found its way to Europe from China via the Muslim peoples, and the German printer Johann Gutenberg is said to have invented the first printing press. One could say that from the time the first book - the Gutenberg Bible - was published in 1456, the human vista has expanded continually. Most books of European origin during the middle ages were written by churchmen and were either portions of the bible or commentaries on the bible. The printed books followed on from the 8th Century work of scribes who used quill and brilliant illuminations in gold and colours to handcraft their work.
The demand for books increased through the 16th Century. At that point in history, Italian Renaissance printers commenced the use of woodcuts and engravings for illustrations. (Tebbell, 1987).
It was the rise of the book trade that led to the rise of universities in Paris in 1150 and Bologna in 1200 with university officials and graduates acting as the marketers. Books were first sold at universities in Europe soon after 1440, when movable type was introduced. Notable early publishers were Aldus Manutius of Venice and William Caxton of England. (Dessauer, 1989).
A contemporary paper based book is a volume of many bound sheets containing text and illustration. It may contain a musical score. It is however static, and depends on the author and the skills of the development editors, illustrators, photographers and the now highly mechanised printing process to draw readers to it and to hold their undivided attention. While offering many benefits, not the least of which is its portability for the reader and relatively low cost, the book is not without its disadvantages. The main disadvantage is related to the fact that one of the things it is designed to do - circulate - can lead to lesser returns to authors and publishers than originally intended. The issue of copyright and royalties to authors is of paramount importance, particularly due to the development of modern digitising equipment. These developments allow paper-based books to find their way into another form that is more easily, and often more cheaply, distributed in ways the original publisher and authors had not anticipated. Copying and distributing such works is not a new development. This has occurred since about 600 BC, when scribes were known to have copied poems, speeches, and orations onto papyri scrolls and sold them for personal gain, publishing and bookselling. Greeks and Romans in the 1st century continued this activity and from there publishing continued on into the monasteries of medieval Europe under the patronage of nobility in many instances. Publishing spread to England and into the English colonies in America around 1639.
Tebbel points out that the publishing houses we know today had their beginnings in the U.S. during the first half of the 19th century. Publishers such as Harper Brothers (1817), John Wiley & Sons (1828), Little, Brown & Company (1873), Houghton Mifflin (1849) are but some of the forerunners to today's great publishing houses. Many of these publishers gained their early profits from magazines and paperbacks pirated from England. The Copyright Act of 1891 caused cessation of this activity, forcing booksellers to turn their attention to hardback editions in many parts of the world. By the end of the 19th century, publishing and bookselling had become separate activities. But it was during the early 20th century that publishing really grew into the behemoth it is today.
Tebbel states that contemporary publishing draws 20 to 25 percent of its revenues from general fiction and nonfiction - trade books - and 75 to 80 percent from educational, business, scientific, technical, and reference book publishing. While trade books may give the publisher its image with the reading public, it is usually reference books, textbooks, religious or medical books that provide the profit. In the U.S., some 25 percent of publishing revenue comes from textbooks alone. The publishing sector underwent its own series of mergers and acquisitions during the 1970s and again in the mid 1980s. Additionally, it is this sector of the publishing trade that has changed most due to the knowledge explosion that has taken place since World War 2 and the inception of the digital computer.
When Gulf and Western Inc (now Paramount Communications Inc, which already owned Simon & Schuster) bought Prentice Hall in 1984 it made the organisation the largest book publisher in the US. Later merger activity in 1994 saw the Pay-TV operator Viacom acquire Paramount Communications Inc. This organisation also includes Blockbuster Video in its stable. Thus it is obvious that Simon & Schuster and Prentice Hall lie well within the communications industry proper. And like other publishers and communications companies, this large communications company is party to a convergence of technologies. Competitors include the likes of Sony Corporation of Japan. This vertically integrated global behemoth owns Columbia Pictures and has great depth due to development of technologies such as CD-I and CD-ROM XA (Herther, 1992). And innovations such as the Sydney University developed 'blue laser' will see further enhancement of this decade-old technology that Philips and Sony pioneered.
Because of technological convergence, the paper-based publishing industry faces external threats. Technological convergence offers what has largely been a missing element when one moves from person-to- person delivery modes in education: interactivity. Brief examination of the nature of technological convergence in the following areas is necessary for perspective on the impact of hypermedia publishing on the World Wide Web:
From the early 1980s to the present time the microcomputer has been developed and commercialised. The computer, particularly miniaturised variants such as Notebooks and hand held computers offer productivity and interactivity. Among benefits offered to many industries by this ubiquitous technology, is the aid it has provided to the typesetter and printer. It now dominates the field of information technology specifically, and communications generally. With the release of IBM's OS/2 Warp operating system and the imminent release of the 1995 upgrade of Microsoft's more widely used Windows environment (Windows95) will come greater public access to the embodiment of the convergence of the computer, communications, information, education and other technologies: the Internet; particularly the World Wide Web.
Microsoft can lay claim to 80 percent of the computer users worldwide (Crow & Zampetakis, 1995) and a global revenue of $US4.7 billion in fiscal 1994 (Advertising Age, 1994). Its planned venture with Telstra in Australia (Microsoft Network or OnAustralia), will offer 'filtered' access to the Internet through Telstra's AUSTPAC. This move assumes that the Trade Practices Commission approves this $AUD9 million joint venture. (Crowe, 1995.) Given the convergence of News Corporation's Fox Television and production facilities with the carrier Telstra in Australia, and the formation of a Pay-TV company, Foxtel, one might rightly expect a crossing of the bridge between these technologies. Also, one should not forget that Microsoft's Bill Gates has stated plans to launch over 800 orbiting satellites in competition with Motorola's 64 low-orbit satellites, among others, thus illustrating even further the convergence that is taking place.
The development of high-speed modems (v34bis.) now enables voice, graphics and text to be transmitted into the workplace and home (Hayes, 1994). These developments mean that technological convergence may force change for many educational institutions; particularly those that include class-room based instruction as their prime delivery mode. Highspeed (100 Mb per second) local area networks are becoming the norm, however faster access to the Internet from these networks is still an issue in many Australian sites, ranging from 64 kilobytes per second (Macquarie University) to 10 Megabytes per second (RMIT). Developments such as ATM promise faster access for students using campus-wide information networks, however this technology has some development time ahead of it.
Turning to CD-ROM and CD-I technologies, the following comments are pertinent in the context of the present examination:
"According to Phil Tripp, conference organiser for the Australian Broadcasting Commission's (National Radio Youth Network JJJFM) September 1994 conference on the use of Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD- ROM) technology in the entertainment industry after ten years of compact disc use, the CD-ROM medium is increasingly seen as the new `technotainment' medium of the 1990s (Tripp, 1994, Radio JJJ-FM) (Meredith, 1994 p.11.). It is now utilised by such entertainers as Peter Gabriel, INXS, GF4 (Girlfriend), The Residents, David Bowie and Prince. Tripp argues that CD-ROM technology, among other innovations that include fibre optic cable to the home and satellite technology, may cause the demise of record companies, as well as an end to marketing channel members such as music stores. Tripp points out that artists such as U2 may invest their own money in producing music on CD and even upload to data storage silos that allow users to simply use telephone lines to hear music or see video clips (Meredith, 1994). The video store that exists on every high street in Australia may also give way to interactive multimedia technology hosted by telecommunications carriers such as Telecom Australia / Telstra, Telecom New Zealand, Telecom Singapore, Optus, Vodaphone and AT&T perhaps acting once again in concert with IBM or Microsoft Corporation. Likewise the High Street Real Estate Agent may well succumb to the interactivity provided by the WWW, if US examples are anything to go by. The day of the internet shopping mall - the virtual store - has definitely arrived." (Adam, 1995b)
A related question is whether or not CD-ROM and CD-I developments might lead to a centralised higher education system whereby standardised curricula are developed by a number of specialist Universities and Colleges of TAFE, and merely delivered by agents in the field. After all, such a delivery system is already used by a number of Australian universities in South-East Asia. Also the NSW TAFE system has its Open Training and Education Network (OTEN) and other technology based delivery systems in other States of Australia (North Coast Institute of TAFE, 1995).
CD-ROM technology utilises the multimedia microcomputer equipped with a CD-ROM drive. In late 1994, the Dutch giant Philips Electronics NV announced it would bridge the gap between two hitherto competing technology standards, CD-ROM and CD-I. This would be achieved with a daughter card for the IBM compatible personal computer so that CD-I applications and software such as digitally compressed motion pictures will run on a PC. CD-ROM, CD- I (Interactive) and Kodak's Photo-CD are three major standards to evolve from some twelve standards developed by a range of companies, and which have now converged to the point where in October 1994, MPEG daughter boards were released to enable CD-I applications to be run on a CD-ROM drive in Intel based microcomputers.
CD-I technology is the less well adopted technology that emerged from joint development by Sony and Philips. It is a development that removes dependence on the microcomputer in favour of a free standing, and sometimes portable, player. There are other differences in the form of the presentation of the information and the way users interface with the player and access information. Most importantly for adopters, a specialised player and television receiver are required. Until the announcement by Philips, CD- I compact discs could not be accessed by CD-ROM drives, however the reverse was possible. While CD-ROM on IBM compatible micro computers (personal computers) will be the primary technology referred to, the reader should also see that CD-I is also involved in any such discussion.
The installation of optical fibre within buildings and across nations as the public subscriber telephone system is upgraded means greater access speed for users and will also enhance the use of dial-in services (such as Internet access of CD-ROM/I data) offered by higher education. It is to be remembered that optical fibre can carry 500 television channels simultaneously. Fibre optic cable and ISDN make possible the widespread introduction of two-way interactivity offered by such products as AT&T's Vistium dual-daughter board videoconferencing system. These products enhance the delivery of education and are becoming a more widely used delivery mode. The estimated $AUD4 billion costs associated with installation of fibre optic cable past most city-dwellers in Australia by Telstra is still a contentious issue for it is not yet known what level of service customers will adopt and pay for (Potter, 1994.) Commentators such as media owner Kerry Stokes (ABC-TV Four Corners program on Monday 6th March, 1995) point out that the fibre optic infrastructure should be owned by the Australian people not individual carriers such as Telstra nor its immediate competitor Optus Vision.
Turning back to the publishing industry, we see that it is reliant on textbook sales to higher education students using a multilevel marketing channel that begins when a specifier (instructor) decides to adopt a particular textbook and then advises students to purchase the text or recommends that the text is accessed via the relevant media resources centre (library for books). Channel members in this pipeline currently include publishers, distributors, bookstores, specifiers (instructors) and finally the end-user, the student. The WWW is the latest distribution channel for many private publishers such as Gramercy Press and now some higher education institutes.
In countries with small populations such as Australia, the publication of textbooks and allied educational materials is already a marginal business. Typically, a textbook with liberal use of colour reproduction that retails for $50 (R.S.P.) might see a minimal net profit to the publisher after taking out major cost items such as a 10 percent royalty to the author(s), a 25 percent gross margin to the retailer and over 20 percent of R.S.P. for printing alone.
It should be noted at this point that it is not just paper based textbooks that are involved.Newer products such as the CD-ROM based interactive, multimedia accounting application developed at James Cook University (Benson, Alison & Arger, 1994) and the LearnBF interactive Business Finance application developed by Mark Freeman of the University Technology of Sydney (Freeman, 1994) as well as the computer mediated learning diskette MARKITS (Adam and Burley, 1995) are also involved. Likewise, the computer-based economics tutor Micro Graphics Tutor (MGTV 1.0) developed by Michael Swann of Charles Sturt University and published by Jacarandah-Wiley (1995) is affected. The slim margins referred to for these products are already an issue in publishing even before one takes into account the new threats from converging technologies. The major threat to the viability of a paper-based publishing industry that if unwilling to change, would come from widespread use of the World Wide Web for publishing in tandem with the adoption of CD-ROM and CD-I as the data storage media, particularly where universities adopt the role of publisher and copyright holder. This, it is postulated, will further divide the market thus losing what little scale benefits exist in publishing, among other disadvantages. This latter point is raised since it is already the case that university instructors align themselves with various textbooks for what may be the same subject in a similar course. It only follows that there is unlikely to be universal adoption of an interactive, multimedia title or program by any one university multimedia centre. The cake will be divided ever smaller and become less economically viable for all publishers.
Already universities in Australia have turned to the Internet, and more recently, the World Wide Web as a delivery vehicle. The Australian National University, Deakin University and Monash University, among others, are using WWW hypermedia materials to supplement, or substitute for face-to face delivered materials and Open Learning / Distance Education materials. This is true whether courses are delivered to the home or via company training rooms. The Australian National University (ANU) has facilitated the development of a Contract Law subject that uses hypermedia materials and the World Wide Web for distribution. ANU are developing their programs as "part of a network of computer clearing houses, established at the direction of the Committee for the Advancement of University Teaching (CAUT), a committee of the Department of Employment, Education and Training." (Kitney, 1995 p.46.)
Deakin University has approached this on a number of fronts. One Internet- dependent approach concerns a Bachelor of Applied Science (Technology Management) program that uses a computer managed/mediated learning system has been offered to a number of corporate clients since 1991 in competition with private providers. This initiative was a joint effort by the university and Box Hill College of TAFE and to this day enjoys the patronage of large organisations such as Coles Myer Ltd, Ford Australia, BP and Australia Post among other clients. Marketing studies is one discipline offered to participants via the Internet. (Adam, 1992.) The arm of Deakin University that competes directly with private training providers trades under the name Deakin Australia. Using Campus America's VAX based computer managed learning system, industry clients such as Coles Myer, Ford, Telecom, Australia Post, Nissan and other companies allow 'day release' for their employees undertaking study programs that articulate from Foundation Studies through to Associate Diploma and finally Degree level awards. This particular program claims to be competency based by virtue of the use of multiple-choice / true-false test banks delivered over the Internet, and completed online by the students involved. Using this methodology, individual assessment has all but been dispensed with by this section of the University. As of early 1995, there was no graphical content nor interactivity beyond reselecting a failed or aborted testbank. Course notes are delivered in a traditional paper-based method. Future subjects, marketing for one, are to be textbook independent based on personal discussion with subject authors.
In a similar manner to Deakin, Western Australia's Edith Cowan University is promoting its external studies courses under the headline: "The University that comes to you through the virtual campus." (Age, 1995 p.16.) It too offers Foundation Studies as well as a range of award programs that include the study of Marketing.
Monash University is piloting a cohort of Open Learning students undertaking the introductory marketing subject MAR11 and using the WWW. Initially, a text based trial involves dial-in access to the WWW where students use the software SLIPKNOT as the text browser. (Gilmour, 1994). The statement has been made, as in the Deakin Australia case, that the materials will ultimately be textbook independent.
The Department of Marketing, Logistics and Property at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT) is similarly engaged in developing interactive, hypermedia materials for the subjects MK100 and MK208 (Marketing 1 and 2) taken as part of the Degree of Bachelor of Business (Marketing). MK100 subject has the largest number of participating on-campus and off-campus students of any subject offered in Australia and abroad by the Faculty of Business. This is because it is a compulsory subject for all business degree students as well as being an elective subject across many other degree programs in diverse areas like fashion as well as graphic art and design. MK208 is the follow-on subject where marketing students learn selectivity in the marketing concepts and techniques they may apply in their third year internship. Every RMIT marketing student must spend their third year of full-time study in Supervised Professional Practice, working in industry on an internship basis prior to completing fourth year marketing subjects on a full or part time basis.
Rather than develop textbook independent materials, RMIT's departmental project group is taking an alternative approach whereby a strategic alliance has been developed with Prentice Hall Australia, publishers of the adopted textbook Kotler, P., Chandler, P., Brown, L., and Adam, S., (1994) Marketing: Australia & New Zealand. 3rd edition, Prentice Hall Australia, Sydney. The alliance is enabling RMIT to publish hypermedia tutorials on the World Wide Web for use by enrolled students Additionally, on-line testing materials are under development, based on test banks developed by the publisher for use by adopters of this marketing textbook. Over time, it is intended to capitalise on Prentice Hall Australia's lineage within the communications industry. This will ultimately enable joint production of interactive, multimedia titles that may be accessed by students through the WWW.
The output of this strategic alliance is not intended to supplant scheduled lectures offered within Australia or overseas. A number of aims are involved:
During 1995, evaluation will proceed on how well the above educational objectives are met using interactive, hypermedia materials published in tandem with Prentice Hall Australia and using the Wide Web as a distribution mode relative to a traditional face-to-face mode that excludes such convergent technologies as the WWW permits.
Having examined a brief history of the development of written communication and the publication of educational materials, it has been postulated that strategic alliances between publishers and higher education institutes are preferable to alternatives that see materials developed by competing higher education institutes that unnecessarily add to cost and may not represent a globally accepted view of subject matter. The strategic alliance mentioned in this paper does not offer exclusivity to RMIT, nor does it prohibit the publisher from further alliances with other institutions. It does however ensure the global publisher remains a hub for the development of educational materials, in this case within the marketing discipline. This is in contrast to the situation where single universities or a group of said institutions in a single country develops a 'less open architecture' approach. The term 'open architecture' is well understood in the information technology (IT) field where proprietary systems have proven to be detrimental and costly, and against IT customers' (in this case students and their employers) best interests. Rather than polarise and fractionate the small Australian marketplace for such published materials, such an alliance should assist in distributing higher education in a least cost manner and allow a building of expertise in subject areas, such as marketing, where practitioners have yet to ratify a unified national system of recognised marketing competencies. The WWW is after all merely a distribution system that, due to convergent technologies, enables students to employ a number of human senses in more effective learning. The latter claim is however yet to be unequivocally demonstrated in practical research terms, and still the subject of study in many places including RMIT.
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AusWeb95 The First Australian WorldWideWeb Conference