"A review of select new literature in English that has appeared on the topic of publishing and book development in Africa published during the course of 2015. It covers books, papers in edited collections, journal articles, Internet documents and reports, interviews, as well as a number of blog post
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ings. Records are grouped under a range of regional/country and topic-specific headings." (Academia.edu)
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"Offers up-to-date insights into the state of library and information science (LIS) in the Middle East and North Africa. Covered topics include information literacy, intellectual property, LIS education and research, publishing and more. This timely contribution thus presents vital areas of research
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on a region that receives relatively little coverage and is currently experiencing rapid and significant changes." (Publisher description)
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"This report explores how, in recent years, the book publishing industry has transcended limitations of format, scope, reach and audience, and has overcome its own culture and traditions, to integrate itself in the creation, production, distribution and consumption of media content, worldwide. It dr
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aws on a wide array of empirical data, as well as case studies and best practice examples, to place book publishing in the larger context of the international media industries, and to highlight the complex and competitive interrelationships of content creation and content consumption. It looks at the leading traditional and non-traditional players in publishing, and at adjacent content media, notably the growing global gaming industry. Potentially disruptive challenges and opportunities that face traditional publishing are identified as coming from innovative mobile and social media. It also examines new approaches in areas such as authors’ collaboration and interaction with consumers, as well as the expected impacts on publishing of the latest areas of research, such as machine learning. The study compares developments in North America and Europe, and contrasts these with Asia in particular, while also shining a spotlight on Africa. It provides a diverse collection of factual information, analysing it in detail for its relevance to book publishing. Furthermore, it includes extensive references for further reading." (Executive summary)
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"In this contribution, the role of progressive African intellectuals fifty years after independence in the context of African postcolonial, political and socio-economic conditions is examined. African intellectuals have been marginalized by the African state, and progressive intellectuals have been
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disunited in their struggle for relevance. The possibilities for African intellectual autonomy and international solidarity are shown through a recollection of the flourishing intellectual environment and local publishing output of post-independence Tanzania. The end of that era and the demise of publishing, including in African languages, has negatively impacted African economic and intellectual emancipation and can only be addressed by international solidarity among progressive intellectuals." (Abstract)
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"This book explores the power of print and the politics of the book in South Africa from a range of disciplinary perspectives—historical, bibliographic, literary-critical, sociological, and cultural studies. The essays collected here, by leading international scholars, address a range of topics as
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varied as: the role of print cultures in contests over the nature of the colonial public sphere in the nineteenth century; orthography; iimbongi, orature and the canon; book- collecting and libraries; print and transnationalism; Indian Ocean cosmopolitanisms; books in war; how the fates of South African texts, locally and globally, have been affected by their material instantiations; photocomics and other ephemera; censorship, during and after apartheid; books about art and books as art; local academic publishing; and the challenge of ‘book history’ for literary and cultural criticism in contemporary South Africa." (Publisher description)
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"This book provides a clear and authoritative introduction to the emerging Arab media industries in the context of globalization and its impacts, with a focus on publishing, press, broadcasting, cinema and new media. Through detailed discussions of the regulation and economics of these industries, t
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he authors argue that the political, technological and cultural changes on the global media scene have resulted in the reorganization of the Arab media field. They provide striking examples of this through the particular effects on media policies, media technology and the content and genres developed for the new generation of media consumers. As part of the book's overview of the contemporary characteristics of Arab media, the authors outline the development of the role of modern Arab media from a tool of mobilizing the public to a tool of commercial and symbolic profit. Overall, the volume illustrates how the Arab region represents a unique case where the commercialization and liberalization of selected media industries has gone hand in hand with continuous state intervention and an increasing self censorship." (Publisher description)
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"Este texto está dividido en seis capítulos que indagan, en el tiempo, los campos culturales de los diarios y revistas, los libros, los discos, las películas, la radio y la televisión. Es una obra colectiva que incluye investigaciones, estadísticas y cartografías generadas por el Sistema de In
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formación Cultural de la Argentina (SInCA). Además, los escritos centrales que abordan cada industria cultural están acompañados de opiniones de 18 especialistas." (SInCA website)
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"Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit den Auswirkungen der digitalen Ökonomie auf die Buchbranche. Während sich die Branche über einen langen Zeitraum in einem relativ stabilen Marktumfeld befand, ergeben sich aus der Digitalisierung ihres Kernprodukts und der Entwicklung neuer Technologien wie z.B
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. von Lesegeräten, die in der Lage sind, Texte in einer dem physischen Buch vergleichbaren Qualität darzustellen, vielfältige Herausforderungen. Die Musikindustrie sah sich Ende der 1990er Jahre mit einerähnlichen Situation konfrontiert, weshalb sie in dieser Arbeit als Referenz für die Auswirkungen von Digitalisierungsprozessen dient. Für die Musikindustrie führten diese Prozesse durch den Markteintritt neuer Wettbewerber und durch eine illegale Verbreitung der Inhalte zu einem tiefgreifenden Wandel des gesamten Sektors, der auch als Krise der Industrie bezeichnet wird. Es stellt sich die Frage, ob die Buchbranche mit ähnlichen Entwicklungen rechnen muss. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es also, die für die Krise der Musikindustrie verantwortlichen Faktoren aufzuzeigen und ihre Relevanz für die Buchbranche zu untersuchen, um daraus das Krisenpotential für die Branche abzuleiten." (Gegenstand und Ziel der Untersuchung, Seite 8)
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"A paper presented to an international colloquium "Culture and Creativity as Vectors of Development" held in Brussels, April 2-3, 2009. The author provides an overview of the current state of book publishing in the ACP countries of francophone Africa, and their impact as an integral part of the cult
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ural industries in these countries. She examines a number of successful collaborative initiatives such as co-publication projects and training programmes, as well as collaborative ventures that unfortunately have failed for a number of reasons, such as the book marketing collective Afrilivres that aimed to provide a showcase for African books and serve as a distribution outlet both within Africa and in the countries of the North. The author offers a number of suggestions how the book sector might be revitalized and strengthened by support from ACP and EU States and the European Commission." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 2541)
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"Diese Masterarbeit ist eine umfassend dokumentierte Studie über die Rolle der britischen multinationalen Verlage in Afrika und ihrer Niederlassungen und Tochtergesellschaften auf dem Kontinent. Zunächst werden die Hintergründe der Aktivitäten britischer multinationaler Verlage in Afrika in der
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Zeit vor der Unabhängigkeit und ihre anhaltende Dominanz in den 1960er und 1970er Jahren dargelegt sowie Aspekte der staatlichen Kontrolle des afrikanischen Verlagswesens zu dieser Zeit untersucht. Dann wird die Zeit der 1980er und 1990er Jahre beschrieben, als einheimische afrikanische Verlage zunehmend in den Vordergrund traten. Ein weiteres Kapitel befasst sich mit dem heutigen Stand des Verlagswesens und der Buchentwicklung in Afrika und geht der Frage nach, ob der Vorwurf der Dominanz oder Ausbeutung durch die multinationalen Unternehmen heute noch gerechtfertigt ist. Kritisch hinterfragt wird auch die Rolle der Weltbank bei der Bereitstellung von Büchern für Afrika und die abnehmende Rolle der Geberorganisationen bei der Unterstützung autonomer afrikanischer Verlage und des Buchsektors im Allgemeinen." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, nr. 2577, online at: http://www.hanszell.co.uk/pbrssa/index.shtml)
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"Reviews the activities and achievements of a number of African book trade and book promotional organizations, thereafter examines the progress that has been achieved in some areas affecting the book sector, and discusses issues such as the World Bank as a major player in African publishing, digital
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media and African publishing, Internet access by the African book professions, collaboration and knowledge sharing, production quality, research and documentation, and African books in the international market place. The author concludes “while two or three decades ago it might have been correct to describe African publishing as extremely underdeveloped, this is certainly not the picture now. It is true of course that many formidable obstacles and challenges remain, including weak technology infrastructures, high distribution costs, the lack of coherent national book policies, high tariff barriers, illiteracy, extreme poverty, and little disposable income, among them. Nevertheless, significant gains have been made, and there have been several collective efforts to build capacity. Not all of them have been successful, and there have been many setbacks and disappointments too, notably APNET, but it is vital to build on the gains. While both governments and donors have heavily invested in education over the years, support for the book sector and library development, paradoxically, has remained quite dismal for the most part. Sadly, thirty-five years after the Ife conference, most African governments still don’t seem to appreciate that a flourishing book and reading culture is central to, and an indicator of, development in any country." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, nr. 2521, online at http://www.hanszell.co.uk/pbrssa/index.shtml)
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