Web publishing

Publishing model

Publishing on the web is a simple process:

Web 2.0 inspires users to contribute and so make a loop back as uses also make content. This is often "meta-content" e.g a comment or "like".

The semantic web goes a step further by asking content creators to also create semantics to the content.

Publishing imbalance

If we analyze the process as we would a traditional production flow then we find an imbalance. Distributors (i.e. companies developing and commercializing Internet technology) invent new solutions, while contributors (i.e. authors and publishers) provide the content which gives the reason to open the Web browser at all. But almost all new initiatives like the semantic web or new search technologies come from the distributors. However the new initiatives put the burden on the authors and publishers. They have to define semantic information, links, taxonomies, microdata... etc. They also should fill in databases, write code, construct tables, macros… It's not only income distribution -  I talk about tools. People who create content should get better tools. Yes, content management system improve steadily, but it's not enough. 

Get balanced!

Content management systems with built in research tools, knowledge sharing support and integrated meta databases are needed. Publishers should set up meta standards for content creation, sharing and reuse in the same way as web developers created HTML and all the other Internet standards. That's not easy: e.g. how could we reasonably connect the microdata vocabularies of two publishers or extend content modules with the content modules of another vendor?  I think only after these and similar questions has been answered there is a chance to resolve the web publishing imbalance.