This past Tuesday (11/8/05) I had the opportunity to co-moderate a Society for Scholarly Publishing Technology Seminar in Philadelphia. Topics ranged from technology trends to project management to content management. Some of the highlights of this seminar included:
Emphasis on having a project champion – presenters and attendees all agreed that the most important area of focus to ensure a successful technology project at a publisher is to have a project champion who is at an executive level. Several key people at a tactical level must also be identified and retained for the project, but without a senior level project champion who can make timely critical decisions and move the project forward, a project may meander and not have the necessary focus.
Online journal review adoption – to my surprise, some statistics from a study conducted by Ware and Ulrich showed that only 21% of professional journals have implemented an online peer review system. The adoption rate among scientific journals was slightly higher at 35%.
Aligning business strategy and technology goals – Evan Schnittman from Oxford University Press presented their strategy of moving from product dependent systems to an open and scalable platform. This approach will allow Oxford to more quickly change to meet business drivers. What a refreshing presentation. Understanding business drivers and how to apply the right technology is what all publishers strive to do, but it is much easier said than done. It appears that Oxford has done it.
Content Management (David versus Goliath) – Bob Braughler from Materials Research Society presented their recent move to a new web content management system and Patti Ward from Wolters Kluwer Health presented their implementation of Documentum. While one presentation was web CMS focused and the other document focused, it was clear that both projects had similar success factors: clear deliverables, clear lines of communication, project managers set expectations with senior management, an outside consulting vendor specializing in content management was retained.
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