The Impact of Digital and Network Technology on Press and Publishing Industry and Countermeasures (Part One)

Now China's publishing industry has two hot spots: one is the impact and countermeasures of China's accession to WTO on China's printing and publishing industry; the other is the impact and countermeasures of digitalization and networking on China's printing and publishing industry. The focus of discussion is: "Will the print media be replaced by electronic media?" This article addresses the latter hot spot.
According to statistics, when the network just entered China in 1994, there were only 10,000 Internet users, but by the end of 2000, it was nearly 17 million, ranking fifth in the world. By 2005, there will be 1 billion Internet users in the world and 80 million in China, ranking second. By 2010, the number of Internet users in China will exceed 200 million, and China will become the country with the largest number of Internet users in the world. Therefore, the domestic and international Internet market can be very large.
There are two different views on the impact of digitization and networking on the news and publishing industry. One view is that electronic media will replace traditional paper print media. Microsoft’s vice president of technology, at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 14, 1999, predicted that the future of the newspaper is electronic, and printing paper on paper will become history. By 2006, in Europe, people could download newspapers and magazines from electronic newsstands. By 2018, newspapers printed on paper will disappear, and books now priced at $30 will only cost $5 in the era of e-books. At the meeting, publishing consultant Mike Shatzkin predicted: By 2020, printed paper books will basically disappear, and only a handful of them will be toys for the rich (perhaps only art books). Another view is optimistic about the future of traditional print publishing (especially for publishers). They think that traditional publishing media have advantages that are incomparable to electronic network media. In the past 20 years, online publishing has failed to form an industry. The industry is not a real shock, and e-books can never replace traditional printed books. In particular, Internet stocks are not yet in favor of Nasdaq.
How to correctly understand the relationship between electronic network media and traditional media, the Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the 15th Central Committee has formulated guidelines for us: "Using high and new technology and advanced and applicable technologies to transform traditional industries and promote the integration of information industry and related cultural industries."
Many Internet companies have reached a consensus on the cool thinking about the rise and fall of Internet stocks: the combination of the Internet and traditional industries will surely become the mainstream of China's Internet development, and it will also be the only way for Internet companies to seek business opportunities and achieve profitability and development. (The Internet is a tool, E-commerce is a new business model, and online business must be profitable. It can not do without the content of resources, content in the traditional media, is the result of many years of accumulation).
I think: Internet publishing is an emerging industry that integrates publishing (books and newspapers), broadcasting, and television. It has the characteristics of product digitalization, distribution network, and transaction electronicity, and will cause more and more problems for traditional publishing industry. The impact, but they will combine with each other, complement each other, influence each other and coexist for a long time.
Heidelberg, a world-renowned printing equipment supplier, pointed out in a survey report that by 2010, the proportion of electronic media in the total market share of the media will increase from 30% in 1995 to 52%, and the share of print media will increase. From the original 70% to 48%, this means that the proportion of print media in the total media will gradually decline. KBA, a world-renowned printing equipment supplier, estimates that sales of various media products in the world in 2000 were approximately US$1 trillion, of which approximately US$530.8 billion came from traditional paper media. By 2005, the income of various electronic media will increase to 900 billion U.S. dollars, while the paper media will be only 472 billion U.S. dollars.
I think that due to the unbalanced development of all countries in the world, the development in various parts of China will be uneven, and traditional paper prints will exist for a long time, and will not disappear within at least 20 years, and will remain one of the major media. However, from a longer-term perspective, it is possible to replace electronic media with traditional media in developed countries.
First, the status quo and development of network publishing technology 1. Technology related to network publishing 1 Printing on Demand: The use of digital printing and network technology that does not require film and media, to achieve personalized printing.
2 "Books on Demand"; includes stapling in addition to digital printing.
3 "Publishing on Demand": Personalized publishing, including the entire process of editing and publishing, is actually implemented using the technology of online publishing.
4 “Cross-Media Publishing” and “Publishing of Digital Information Bases”; texts, pictures, images, sounds, images, and other information are stored in digital form in the information base. They can be combined into various publications, and digital information is used. A certain standard, according to the needs of the publication, is transmitted in a certain digital workflow. It can be output on paper, film or plates, and it can also be exported in the form of a compact disc, or it can be transmitted via the Internet, or it can be sent via digital television or digital radio.
2. Internet publishing technology is divided into three kinds of online publishing technologies for downloading personal computers. The major newspapers and magazines in the developed countries have all been published on the Internet, and some have only published online versions of the New York Times Online version. The number of users worldwide has reached 12 million. Some computers and electronics The magazine has only published online, and the internet has become an important tool for developed countries to query information.
2 On-demand web publishing technology This technology bridges the gap between online publishing and people's reading habits. It will form a global market combining electronic media with traditional media, enabling “zero inventory” and no printing plates. No short goods. On-demand printed web publishing technology is currently the most mature and practical web publishing technology. Some major foreign publishers have begun to engage in this business. Some hotels in the United States networked with professional newspapers and magazines to print the required newspapers according to the requirements of the guests. At present, developed countries have already appeared the “Books on Demand Service” (Books on Demand Service). Bookstores only display a color cover of a sample book or book. Readers can use the computer of the bookstore to check the book content and book reviews. For purchases that can be printed and bound immediately, readers can also use the printer at home to print out the required parts or order via the Internet. In the United States, the "on-demand book delivery service center" has become a chain store. All bookstores are connected to a digital library. In general, the center stores in each area are equipped with on-demand printing and bookbinding equipment, especially American university bookstores. This kind of service has developed rapidly. The textbooks compiled by the teachers can also provide the teaching center CD-ROM files to the service center or print the textbooks through the Internet and bind them into volumes. The on-demand printed books generally offered at bookstores are priced the same as traditional printed books. (Shen Haixiang) (To be continued)