Editorial Products Research Articles

Quimantú: When a Political Emergency and Rapid Social Transformation Shape an Editorial Project

The diverse histories of national and transnational design have included research on institutions, collectives, and entities that developed projects concerned with the practice or teaching of design, with longer or shorter permanence, towards a historiographic construction built on their legacy. In this context, we examine the transience and exceptional nature of Empresa Editora Nacional Quimantú, a state publishing project carried out in Chile between 1971 and 1973 by a socialist and democratically elected government that ended abruptly due to a military coup. From a qualitative and quantitative methodological perspective, as well as archival work, we analyse the intersections between design and the editorial guidelines of its catalogue (books and magazines), in addition to the trajectory of the largest publishing enterprise formed in the country, during a brief operating period of two and half years. This instance opened a space for collaboration and experimentation between directors, designers, and workers within management structures. The presence of a large-scale social publishing model is studied for its unprecedented print runs in the national readership market, where the ‘design’ factor—in terms of form, content, and strategy—had a fundamental role, and the volume of printed books exceeded the country’s total population. Interrogating the archives, collections, and titles designed under Quimantú—a project that has acquired a ‘publishing mythology’ character for its fleetingness and high production levels—opens the possibility of looking into a heritage of editorial products designed with the urgency of taking culture to popular sectors, and the immediacy of a political process of radical changes that appealed for the mass production of images, texts, and discourses. Finally, the problem of production time becomes relevant as content production teams, collections’ designs, and the dissemination and sales spaces introduced some ideas and innovations into the Chilean publishing milieu.

Soft news in original videos. Adaptation to TikTok of the main Spanish online media

Since the beginning of 2020, media around the world have started and intensified their TikTok activity to gain notoriety and reach young people, their main user group. However, as with other previously popularized social media, such as Facebook or Twitter, the platform’s logic is different from that traditionally employed by the media system when developing information products. The objective of this paper is to analyze the degree of adaptation to the logic of this network for the activity developed on it by the Spanish media. For this purpose, a combined methodology of quantitative and content analysis was applied to 446 videos posted by the official user accounts of 20 Minutos, Antena 3 Noticias, El Diario, El Mundo, and El País –the five media outlets with the largest online audience in that period –from the time the accounts were created until January 31, 2022. Specifically, we studied the activity developed, the notoriety achieved, and the interaction obtained, as well as the most common formats, topics, protagonists, and brand identity elements. The results show that the main Spanish media have tried to adapt to the entertainment logic of the platform both with the use of native editing resources as well as through the creation of original materials, predominantly soft news, about entertainment, celebrities, and lifestyle. The videos that gain more notoriety are those that are more adapted to this logic. However, the Spanish media analyzed post less frequently than international media, obtain fewer views, and register lower engagement levels; in addition, they do not use their presence on this social network to promote their other editorial products.

Aspectos genéricos, formales y teóricos sobre narrativa serial en la saga Casasola de Bernardo Esquinca

The serial narrative strategies, both in massive media (like television and movies) and editorial products, are increasingly popular between spectators and creators; due to this, the studies regarding them are gaining importance. The main goal in this article is to trace what narrative strategies are used by the Mexican author Bernardo Esquinca in his book series known as the Casasola saga, four novels create an interdependent book series that depends on one another and provokes curiosity in the reader to continue their reading. For this, works by various specialists on seriality that have set the bases for the subject will be used. Moreover, the aspects of fantasy and terror that these novels use and which have gained editorial success, will be highlighted.

Paradigmatic innovation in European cultural journalism: the pursuit of sustainability

This article examines paradigmatic innovation (innovations in business models, mindsets and organizational values) in European cultural journalism. I hypothesize that paradigmatic innovation acts as a driver for innovations in product, process and positioning, and address two research questions: 1) How are the media innovating regarding their paradigm, both general and specifically in the culture section? 2) How does paradigmatic innovation affect the overall editorial positioning, including cultural scope and coverage, product and processes? Findings suggest that we are witnessing a paradigm shift in business models in the digital environment, challenging traditional boundaries related to editorial and branded content and expanding the revenue sources beyond the editorial core. I conclude that media innovation is firstly a paradigmatic innovation which impacts sustainability, the editorial products and processes, as well as brand positioning and extensions. The article proposes four types of paradigmatic innovation based on the analysis.

Difusión de arquitectura en Latinoamérica y las revistas especializadas en el siglo XXI

El presente artículo de reflexión debate en torno a diversas fuentes sobre el presente de las revistas de arquitectura en Latinoamérica, utilizando el siglo XXI como un marco histórico definido por múltiples plataformas y soportes para su desarrollo como medios de difusión especializados. Primero, se entiende a la arquitectura en su condición teórico-práctica, donde existen muchas maneras de ser estudiada por ser una disciplina compleja en sentido, forma y soporte; basada en el hacer y el declarar, la arquitectura busca a través de diversos medios de representación su propio desarrollo.
 En el artículo se revisa a la revista como producto editorial, que tiene como propósito ser evidentemente especializada, con una postura definida tanto por las opiniones manifestadas dentro de ella como por sus políticas editoriales. Bajo este parámetro, se entiende a la revista especializada de arquitectura como un medio capaz de generar contenido propositivo para el propio quehacer de la disciplina. De esta forma las revistas de arquitectura cumplen una doble condición: ser soporte de múltiples niveles de información, donde además del texto y el lenguaje escrito aparece un lenguaje arquitectónico propio; y ser fuente historiográfica, para entender el pasado, criticar el presente y proponer a futuro, manifestando una contemporaneidad entre ideas y proyectos.
 Así, se explora cómo las revistas de arquitectura se enfrentan al siglo XXI con un valor en la formación y el desarrollo de líneas discursivas, operacionales y de representación, tras una tradición que comienza en el siglo XVIII en Europa y se ha traducido, entre los siglos XIX y XX a otras esferas como piezas fundamentales para el estudio de distintos movimientos y períodos de la arquitectura.
 Metodológicamente, el artículo aborda estas temáticas a través del estudio de las revistas chilenas Revista de Arquitectura número 23, Arquitecturas del Sur número 50 y la revista argentina DANA número 43; enfrentadas a experiencias como la Asociación de Revistas Latinoamericanas de Arquitectra (ARLA) y el Centro de Documentación de Arquitectura Latinoamericana (Cedodal). De esta forma, se permite comprender en la nueva producción de material editorial especializado el propio estado de la arquitectura contemporánea, cuestionarla y proponer cambios respecto a su quehacer teórico o práctico basado, generalmente, en más incertidumbres que certezas.

La AEG y la instalación de un imaginario modernizador en Chile

El artículo propone una visión alternativa del ingreso de la proyectualidad moderna relacionada con la presencia de la firma alemana AEG (Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft) y el ineludible vínculo de esta empresa con la figura del arquitecto y diseñador alemán Peter Behrens, uno de los principales impulsores de la vanguardia moderna, a partir de tres de estudio: gráfica, edificios y alcances de una visión técnica y modernizadora.La instalación de esta perspectiva es posible de advertirla en Chile, donde la firma AEG se extendió durante las primeras décadas del siglo XX en territorio nacional, ampliando un proceso modernizador que hoy se puede verificar en un examen conjunto de estas manifestaciones.La metodología utilizada se basa en revisión y discusión bibliográfica, además de análisis de contenido textual y visual de documentación relativa a la AEG recogida en el Historisches Archiv del Deutsches Technikmuseum, Berlín. Respecto de la arquitectura, se contemplaron registros en terreno de obras arquitectónicas tanto en Santiago como Berlín, las que fueron comparadas en su materialidad y estructura.Las conclusiones más relevantes apuntan a considerar la existencia de una visión modernizadora instalada en Chile a partir del desarrollo de los casos de estudio, relevando la importancia que la bibliografía especializada le ha otorgado a Peter Behrens en propiciar un sentido de proyectualidad moderna.También se concluye que si bien esta instalación fue circunscrita a un número limitado de destinatarios, tuvo una dimensión amplia si se considera que implicó una perspectiva moderna que puede ser ponderada desde la cultura material y visual de determinado momento en la historia de Chile, en que la producción industrial era una aspiración que podía verse reflejada en estas imágenes y edificios.

Designing an advanced software tool for Digital Scholarly Editions:


 
 
 The increasing dissemination of Digital Scholarly Editions has highlighted not only the great potential of this method of publication, but also a good number of theoretical problems that affect both the DSEs as editorial products, and the impact of tools and methods of computer science on the methodology of textual criticism. On the one hand, the editions published so far are an evolution of the practice of ecdotics and represent not only a col- lection of interesting experiments, but also innovative and effective research tools. On the other hand, however, the limits within which an author of digital editions is forced to operate and the most appropriate strategies to minimize their impact have not yet been thoroughly investigated. The adoption of IT tools and methods, in fact, provides many answers to the requests of digital philologists, but the very nature of these tools imposes very strict modes of action, sometimes perceived as too rigid by the scholar. This article presents and describes a software tool that comes at the end of the process of creating a digital edition, to be used in that crucial phase when the edition is prepared for publication on the Web. The aim is not to show the more technical aspects of this tool, even if its fundamental characteristics will be introduced to better understand the terms of the issue, but to describe its genesis and development, and to highlight how visualization software represents a crucial element of the whole editorial process.
 
 
 

Shine a light

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report the grounded theory empirical validation on key categories within a design-led methodology to envision urban futures. The paper focuses on the editorial products and the design concepts that constitute the heart of the approach. An original elaboration of trend clusters is presented as an exemplification of the outcome of this trend research approach. Although the approach was not created from the viewpoint of tourism and leisure, bibliographic notes on place-making complement it for this journal. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents empirical findings extracted by the means of the grounded theory, with the purpose to empirically validate two key categories (product and process) of a urban futures methodology. The methodology is an application of High Design, the process in use at Royal Philips BV for two decades. This methodology is contextualized within the constructivist episteme, as defined by the editors of this journal in a separate publication. Bibliographic references to place-making complete the paper. Findings The following findings are provided: empirical validation of the city.people.light communication platform (qualitative research); empirical validation of the city.people.light workshop practice (qualitative research); and bibliographic descriptions of the design process governing city.people.light and newly developed urban futures trend clusters, at European level, as an exemplification of the program/approach outcome. Research limitations/implications The paper is structured according to a multi-layered editorial focus. Empirical findings were generated at primary research level in a 2013-2015 grounded theory projected by the author. Furthermore, the author directed the research processes and products that are the object of empirical validation. Newly defined elaborations and a discussion thereof is offered, taking into account contemporary place-making issues. Practical implications The original design-based methodology is a structured practice in urban futures from applied sciences and corporate innovation viewpoint. In this paper, its key categories are empirically validated through the grounded theory. Additionally, outcome from the original foresight programs is presented and a bibliographic review is provided from the viewpoint of place-making. Social implications The co-creative methodology herein empirically validated is socio-cultural centered, with a strong drive to coutnerbalance the positivist and engineering corporate mindset through a humanistic concern for people. The framework in terms of place-making takes into account postmodern evolutions of the field. Originality/value The paper benefits from a unique mix of: epistemic note on tourism, leisure, and the future; original urban futures scenarios and design concepts from a world class corporate innovation program; and the actual empirical core of the grounded theory validation as performed in a dedicated research project. These three separate streams are mutually related.

Safety-Critical Manuals for Agricultural Tractor Drivers: A Method to Improve Their Usability

This work sets out the planning phases adopted for the first time to put together a manual on injury and accident prevention in the use of farm tractors. The goal is to convey information more effectively than at present, while taking the end users’ opinions into consideration. The manual was devised, created, and tested based on a human-centred design (HCD) process, which identified the operators’ requirements using a participatory ergonomics (PE) strategy. The main topics of the manual were outlined by engaging the users in a qualitative research activity (i.e., focus groups and workshops with final users), and the contents were prioritized and labelled by way of a noun prioritization activity. The users were involved right up to the choice of graphics and print layout in order to orient the publication to the farming context. The research activity highlighted a divergence between the operators’ requirements and the topics currently dealt with in the sector publications. The project resulted in the publication of the “Safe Tractor” manual, which features some innovations. The experience highlighted the need to adopt HCD processes to create innovative editorial products, which can help speed up the dissemination of safety culture in the primary sector.

Cornerstone’s Electoral Legislation 2016

Philip Coppel QC and Cornerstone Barristers have produced a handbook of electoral legislation in force for 2016. In these days of electronic access to the text of legislation, hard copy handbooks are of course dangerous since they are unable to provide the legislation in a form that is guaranteed to be up to date on the day that they are consulted. And they no longer serve the purpose of facilitating access to legislation that would otherwise be difficult to find, since a simple online search will produce the text in its most recent available form for those relying on the National Archives publishing and a simple search within any of the subscription editorial products will produce a copy of the text as it is up to date on that day. There are therefore two potential uses of hard copy handbooks and collections of legislation. The first lies in the added-value material that they are able to provide. The second lies in the simple convenience of having a physical copy of all the relevant legislation in one place.

Advances and trends in bibliographic research: Examples of new technological applications for the cataloguing of the georeferenced library heritage

In the age of digital archives and online data consultation, bibliographic research is considered as a key tool for supporting scientific research and study. The online catalogue allows the achievement of more ambitious aims and global interest thanks to its ability to associate data relating to the geographic contextualization of the catalogued editorial products (deduced from the title and content) with the search for more traditional bibliographic data through the inclusion of a specific and standardized ‘field’. Successively, the locations identified by the cataloguer are georeferenced by using GIS applications, which allows the simultaneous view of the distribution of global and local geographical contexts specific for each item owned by a library, archive or museum. The usefulness of such an application lies in the possibility for the library to have a greater awareness of its collection, thus permitting the acquisition of an additional element of evaluation in the management and planning of purchases and donations. In this way, the ability to filter the information from OPAC search will be combined with the basic research carried out by the user by selecting only the libraries in possession of works related to a specific geographical context, involved in different specific studies (literature, landscape, environment). Although this ability is still limited to a few specific studies, the use of tools that allow an overview of the geographical distribution of places could represent an operating standard through the definition of a special protocol. These tools are now used mostly in experimental studies in which the use of open source software has enabled the creation of maps. This paper shows the state of the art of the applications worldwide presenting experimental case studies (i.e. Coos Bay, Oregon; Basilicata, Italy) and also suggests different applications in the field of national and international protocols of library cataloguing.

Google chemtrails: A methodology to analyze topic representation in search engine results

Search engine results influence the visibility of different viewpoints in political, cultural, and scientific debates. Treating search engines as editorial products with intrinsic biases can help understand the structure of information flows in new media. This paper outlines an empirical methodology to analyze the representation of topics in search engines, reducing the spatial and temporal biases in the results. As a case study, the methodology is applied to 15 popular conspiracy theories, examining type of content and ideological bias, demonstrating how this approach can inform debates in this field, specifically in relation to the representation of non-mainstream positions, the suppression of controversies and relativism.

Cultural Scripts and Multilingualism in the Sciences.

The use of a reduced verbal system as ELF English as a lingua franca in the sciences does not appear to be a perfectly adequate way of expressing cultural identities. A modern society should instead enforce, through instruction, the understanding of several national cultural scripts, one’s own and others, and the understanding of the way communication and languages works. Multilingualism and interculture in the scientific world can be made possible by the digital world and its new editorial products.

Strategy development for the real world

A respected Wisconsin metro newspaper, confronting significant market change and eroding profit opportunities, gathered a broad cross‐section of its management team together a little more than a year ago to take a fresh look at its business strategy. The resulting strategic plan strikes a balance between focusing on key operational targets and creating distinctive editorial products that ensures the paper remains the “indispensable source of news and information” in its markets. This case study examines how The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel used strategic planning to craft a strategy that keeps profits flowing despite in an increasingly competitive market environment. This case demonstrates that even when a company is pushed to improve operational performance it still cannot ignore the need to create a distinctive strategic position in its market. And, even when a company enjoys a leading market position, it cannot afford to relax its commitment to operational excellence.