Will social media and aggregated preferences sweep away book reviewing and literary culture? There’s nothing new about the death of literatureThe writer Caleb Crain is unhappy about “the intrusion of counting into the life of literature”. He believes that big data and predictive-taste algorithms are cutting humans “out of the loop”, and that social media are undermining our faith in “the mental states of other people” when those inner states aren’t acknowledged in tweets and likes. It seems we are mired in “a new kind of disenchantment”, he says, which is devolving our sense of literary merit. As big data blurs personal opinion into preference aggregates, and as Twitter-propelled article-surfing destroys reviewing communities and the authority of critics alike, Crain contends, we have no choice but to “declare war on counting”. So that, you know, “literature will survive”. Related: Computer says no: Amazon uses AI to combat fake reviews Bad criticism in public is a nuisance. Does it spell the end of days? Hardly [S]uddenly the cosmos seems like one vast plan after all, patterned in such a way that the novel you’re reading at bedtime connects to your astronomy lecture, connects to what you heard on NPR, connects to what your friend discusses in the cafeteria at lunch – and then briefly it’s as if the lid has come off the world, as if the world were a dollhouse, and you can glimpse what it would be like to see it whole, from above – a vertiginous magnificence. Continue... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publisher aims to continue 2013's 50% growth to hit point at which website's income would exceed newspapers' declineMail Online has set a target of making more than £60m in revenues in 2014, with executives saying it is close to more than offsetting revenue declines at the Daily Mail and Mail on... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Programmatic buying might be common for digital publishers, but for TV networks, shaking up legacy media buying won't happen easily.Interpublic Group of Cos. announced in August a consortium that includes A&E Networks, Cablevision, Clear Channel and Tribune to build and test an automated... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2013-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House has partnered with Pinterest to help users discover popular content. It pulls up a page that is a lot like browsing a table at a bookstore. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PEN American Center's report "Chilling Effects," offers some disturbing data about the effect of government surveillance on free expression and self-censorship in the literary world.PEN American Center’s report “Chilling Effects,” officially released Tuesday morning, offers some disturbing data... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Lawson finds authorial controversy and romantic scrawl in an imitation library bookCreators of popular television have often invoked comparisons with written fiction: Dennis Potter and Steve Bochco both used the term "TV novel" to describe series such as Potter's The Singing Detective and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lenovo is known for building notebooks with exquisite keyboards, but the company is also no stranger to the tablet game. It has also introduced pioneering convertibles, such as the Yoga 11s and the newer Flex 14. The Miix 10 should be the culmination of that experience, but this hybrid falls... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Asus has been in the tablet and keyboard dock game for a while now. After several generations of Android based tablet and keyboard dock combinations, the T100 brings the sometimes schizophrenic interface of Windows 8 to its logical home on a hybrid tablet/notebook. The tablet looks and feels... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Library campaigners in Scotland are taking legal action in an attempt to keep libraries in Moray... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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IBM is alleging that Twitter has infringed on its patents, including one that would seem to give the computing giant status as an inventor of online advertising.Revealed in a Twitter filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission this morning, IBM is claiming that Twitter has infringed on at... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2013-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It’s no longer enough just to be constantly connected to the cloud. These days you must also be constantly connected to a slew of different devices. When I’m using my laptop, I’m also monitoring my phone. When I’m on my phone, I still like to view websites on my laptop. Websites are more... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As he looks out on spectacular palm tree-lined fairways bordered by crashing waves on any number of golf courses he regularly frequents in his beloved home state of Hawaii, Dennis Francis often thinks about how his favorite pastime is so much like th ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The intriguing 007 story isn't beholden to the Bond mystique, both its main strength and biggest weakness.There is no big set piece to open "Solo," the new James Bond novel by British author William Boyd. The secret agent best known as 007 doesn't launch the story with an extravagant car chase,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Colleen McCullough is back with a family saga, while Louis Nowra exposes the underbelly of Kings Cross. Our round-up of this week's best book reviews. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2013-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Actors Joanna Lumley, Julia McKenzie, Rob Brydon and Miranda Hart are to star in the BBC1... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Two years ago, Samir Patil surveyed his publishing floor in Mumbai, one of 10 he owned, and saw death. It was not for a lack of lively activity. His company, ACK Media, shipped roughly six million books, magazines and DVDs across India every month. I ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Granger, Ad Age's 2013 Editor of the Year, has spent the last 16 years at the helm of Esquire magazine -- a time of both great upheaval and unprecedented innovation in the magazine business. He helped steer the Hearst title through a deep recession and out the other side, where it's now... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2013-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, a destination literary and arts festival created in response to the Bali bombings in 2002 Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Online booksellers like Amazon and Kobo have begun banning self-published titles featuring themes like incest and bestiality. But now, some readers complain, other erotic titles are disappearing as well. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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WH Smith's website is back online following an earlier suspension over abuse and rape themed ebooks found on its site. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has begun to send more than 58,000 refund checks to consumers who lost money to Green Millionaire, a company that promised a free book explaining how to power cars and homes at no cost, but then billed customers for an online magazine they never ordered. The... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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