The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 33, August 19, 2007, Article 10

NUMISMATIC NEWS AND KRAUSE PUBLICATIONS' ONLINE PUSH CONTINUES

Numismatic News has created a digital edition of their August 21
issue.   In an email sent out last Friday week along with a reader
input survey, David Harper wrote: "You can page through the
easy-to-navigate digital magazine just as you would a paper version
(minus the ink on your fingertips). You can also take advantage
of the special features the digital format offers:

* Quickly find articles and ads with easy keyword searches
* Link directly to web sites and email addresses mentioned in
  the magazine
* Email articles to friends with a click of a button

"If you're a subscriber, you'll still get your hard copy of this
issue in about a week, but we know that the earlier you get
Numismatic News, the sooner you can scoop up the great deals in
our classified ads section and learn about the latest products
and news important to coin and paper money collectors."

To view the sample online Numismatic News issue and take the survey, see:
www.numismaticnews-digital.net

Under their new owner, F+W publications, Krause Publications, has
taken several strides toward bringing numismatic content to electronic
media.  The online version of the weekly Numismatic News is the latest
move; others were the daily weblogs (or blogs) by Numismatic News
staff, the development of the Numismaster web site and the recent
announcement of the availability of the Standard Catalog of World
Coins on CD described this week in the previous item.

Online venues offer new ways for publishers to offer their material
to the public.  For example, the September 2007 issue of COINS Magazine
has a nice article by Tom LaMarre on the 1844 "Orphan Annie" dime.
In the past, once published, the article would only be available
again to librarians and bibliophiles bothering to accumulate and
index piles of back issues of the publication.  But now Tom's article
can also be viewed on the new Numismaster web site, enabling the
publisher to sell new ads all over again when presenting the article
to a new audience - a win/win for all parties involved.

These are all great moves, and all part of the natural evolution of
the connection between physical and electronic publishing.  The lines
are being blurred.  The next step will be finding a way to bring all
the electronic products under one roof somehow, so there is a common
starting point.  Today we have four different starting points for
electronic Krause content - the new digital Numismatic News site,
Numismaster.com, NumismaticNews.net, and the CDs.

This situation is an artifact of history - each publication has its
own internal tools for creating and managing content that are geared
for a different publishing goal.  Except for the new Numismaster,
all are more rooted in the world of physical publishing, with the
new electronic versions coming as an add-on.

I believe that over time publishers will discover the value of
turning today's model on its head - eventually all internal tools
for creating and managing content will be geared toward electronic
publication first, while retaining the ability to generate physical
editions (perhaps as a print-on-demand feature).

Forwarding an article this week on the decline of local newspapers,
Dick Johnson asked, "Are we -- in a very small way -- helping to kill
off newspapers?"  The article noted that "News audiences are ditching
television and newspapers and using the Internet as their main source
of information, in a trend that could eventually see the demise of
local papers, according to a new study Wednesday. 'As online use
has increased, the audiences of older media have declined...' "

I would say that it's simply the march of technology that's affecting
publishers.  The Internet is just another of many different forms of
media.  News is news and information is information regardless of how
it is published.  Writers, editors, publishers and their work will
continue to be as important and valuable as they have been for
centuries; the medium changes but the work goes on.  Only those who
don't adapt to the new media will be left behind.  Congratulations
to Krause for taking active steps toward the brave new world of
electronic numismatic publishing.

To read The Mysterious 1844 Dime by Tom LaMarre, see:
Full Story
To read Bob Van Ryzin's blog on Doty's Numismatic Theatre presentation, see:
Full Story

To read the article on the decline of local newspapers, see:
Full Story

 THE INTERNET - NUMISMATIC INFORMATION FORMAT OF FUTURE?
 esylum_v10n09a10.html

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

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