The Chicago Manual of Style Goes Online
From AAUP-Wiki
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Going Online
Been around a long time--100 years.
Premier product
Strong brand identity
Major revenue generator
Long tradition as definitive publishg reference coupled with ad hoc advice.
Plan for ePublication
Began with the development of the 15th edition--DEMAND FOR SEARCHABILITY
Simultaneous print and online impracticable.
Established free web site to build a user community.
- searchable text that delivered location of results in the CMOS print book
- put up tools for editors--form letters, the editing symbols, etc.
- enable interactive Q & A (their editors already did it themselves on the phone, so they put it online.) One of the most popular things about it.
- enable email notification of new stuff
Also, did a CD-ROM (because remote editors with little access needed CD-ROM).
Why Go Electronic
Upside
market demand (people wanted it)
added value with searchability
more revenue
be the first with a product like this before anyone else (so they wouldn't lose market share)
Downside
Risks of lost print revenue, might undermine the stable, strong brand, inexperience
They did research
questionaires that targeted CMOS free site users using Survey Monkey.
Interviewed target users--librarians, editors, etc.
Users/Audience
Ms editors publishers wirtiers jouranalists students
Needed to define the online product
Professional reference
Definitive core text from edition to edition
Searchable
Static
Paid content
Keeping community site
Invites user input
Updatable
Q&A., Tools, CMS Citation Quick Guide and other features to come
Preserving the shopping area
Keeping it Searchable and Fluid
Community site not considered "definitive", but "recommended" by editorial staff.
Business Model
Took a lot of time to figure out. Must be careful
Subscription--annual, timed access (journal model)
One time fee (access to specific content) book model
Chose to do annual subscription model, Quantity discounts for 3-15 users.
Also, Group subsciption, group admistrator, one shared password for group and one password for administrator.
Enterprise licensing for Corporations
Simultaneous user licenses depending on designated size of libraries (unlikely that more than 5 people would be on the site at any one time at the university).
Pricing
Free 30-day trial
Priced subscription moderately so they wouldn't set up too much barriers.
==New Kinds of Post Development Costs
Upkeep and updating
New content development; must add or reallocate current staff.
Business Infrastructure; will need licensing staff.
Must have more customer service including IT and order fulfilment.
Renewal promotion and advertising is continual.
Needed major collaborative and team effort
Book publishing is linear.
Developing an e-product is not a linear process.
- Needed input from many; everything connects.
- Many tasks need to be accomplished in parallel.
- Need staff empowered to make decisions.
- Need a full-time project manager (not a 20% project).
CMOS Online--Technical Architecture
Standards based siteâXHTML, unicode, CSS, Google Mini site search, Oracle database for access control, XML-based messaging interface with e-commerce system
Site is a mix of static page, batch generated pages (the Manual content), dynamic pages too (e.g. search results)
Discussion
What e-commerce system did they go with?
Used their current home-grown journals e-commerce system.
Will the underlying XML structure help Google with findability?
Yes, in that Google will be able to easily traverse the site, but no in that Google doesn't see or use the XML structuring tags.
