NEW NETWORK PUBLISHING: Proceedings of EPS/Keynote conference March 2002

Why a conference on new network publishing?

Debates surrounding private network publishing have formed one of the defining characteristics of the past twelve months within the digital content industry. The rise of new types of network publishing such as peer-to-peer (in addition to the now mainstream intranet and extranet systems) has created new opportunities for corporates to become ?new network publishers?.

What is an intranet?

An intranet is a private network that is contained within an enterprise. Typically, an intranet includes connections through one or more gateway computers to the outside internet. The main purpose of an intranet is to share company information and computing resources among employees. An intranet can also be used to facilitate working in groups or teleconferencing.

Source: www.searchsecurity.com

What is an extranet?

An extranet is a private network that uses the internet to securely share part of a business?s information or operations with suppliers, vendors, partners, customers or other businesses. An extranet can be viewed as part of a company?s intranet that is extended to users outside the company.

Source: www.searchsecurity.com

The sharing of internal know-how on company networks poses a threat to the traditional publisher, who now needs to target these new opportunities and extend the publishing value chain in order to embrace these new forms of publishing. The questions at the heart of the conference debate were whether the migration of content to private networks can be controlled, and if not, how publishers can maximise these new opportunities.

Intranets and extranets: opportunity or threat?

• Content threats are emerging from unexpected quarters - parties which are not traditional publishers.
• Using an intranet as an internal information distribution channel can have a real effect on the bottom line by facilitating the sharing of best practice and improving efficiency.
• Extranets are emerging at a faster rate than intranets, as businesses increasingly need to communicate with customers and partners.
• A range of pricing models are in use, though none is perfect.
• Publishers need to understand how users want to interact with their service, and cater for this, in order to prevent an adverse effect on sales and brand.
• Publishers must decide where they sit in the information chain - simply as a raw data provider, consultant or systems integrator.

?A corporate start-up?

• Traditional models for the delivery of professional information and expertise are being challenged by new online products.
• Advances in technology are offering new ways to commercialise knowledge, though this is still at an embryonic stage.
• Setting up a ?corporate start-up? poses many hard questions for the traditional corporate and the online start-up, including issues of cannibalisation, cost allocation and value creation.
• Very few business managers can track the impact of an online business on its offline business.

Making the most of company know-how

• There are many human and mechanical/technological interactions involved in the information research process.
• Due to rising information overload, there is a growing need for information literacy. The information literate know how to locate, evaluate and use information effectively.
• Information literacy involves using IT to maintain current awareness and communications; retrieving information from appropriate sources; using this information to execute a process; and building a personal knowledge base.
• Pfizer has developed a virtual research university to promote best practice knowledge. It integrates internal and external information, and all learning activities are interactive and connected to busines