[Air-L] book announcement

[Charles Ess]

Hi Nat,
yeah, unhappy that - also happened with our AoIR friends and colleagues
Lisbeth Klastrup, Jeremy Hunsinger, and Matthew Allen, whose _International
Handbook of Internet Research_ now lists at $260.00 on Amazon, with a
discount down to 213.20.
Clearly, very few researchers, much less students will buy either of these
in the hardcover.  So far as I can tell, Wiley-Blackwell, Springer, and
others are following what seems to be a standard practice of trying to get
maximum return on a first hardcover printing that mostly libraries will buy
up; they will then make available a softcover edition at a lower price.

(Interestingly, Peter Lang - including the Digital Formation series edited
by Steve Jones - seems to be following a different practice, at least with
regard to another book forthcoming, _ Trust and Virtual Worlds: Contemporary
Perspectives_, co-edited with May Thorseth, priced at $34.95 for the
paperback.  Perhaps Steve will have some helpful light to shed on these
matters as well?)

I would be the first to point out that "standard practice" does not of
itself equal "right" or "justified".  Rather, along with more or less every
other scholarly organization, we've debated the publishers vs. open source
approaches for years, along with the theoretical and practical matters of
print-based notions of copyright in a digital age, etc.  FWIW, I think both
have important roles and places, along with serious deficits and problems.
A good friend and colleague, in particular, is consistently reminding me of
how prices like these keep important, perhaps essential scholarship out of
the libraries and hands of colleagues and students in developing countries,
something I'm certainly unhappy about.  At the same time, of course, there
are also, um, enterprising workarounds, some more legal than others (imagine
my pleasure at discovering that one of my books has been made freely
available as a bitTorrent download ... smile).

Perhaps AoIR and AoIRists can come up with better solutions to the current
conundrums? I'd be happy to see that, of course.
In the meantime, I also hope that these critical concerns won't diminish our
sense of shared pleasure in the scholarly accomplishments and contributions
made by the contributors to the volume.

cheers,
- charles
Institut for Informations- og Medievidenskab
Helsingforsgade 14
8200 Århus N.
Denmark
mail: <imvce at hum.au.dk>
tel: (+45) 8942 9250

Professor, Philosophy and Religion
Drury University, Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA

Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23





On 3/8/11 9:40 PM, "Nathaniel Poor" <natpoor at gmail.com> wrote:

> Charles-
> 
> The Amazon link you sent lists the book at $US 200 (well ok $199.95 and then a
> discount, but $200).
> 
> Is that accurate?
> 
> I know that's the hardcover, but if that's the price how is anyone going to
> buy it?
> 
> Even the Kindle edition is $150.