The Goodman-Banks thread

["Joseph J. Esposito" <espositoj@gmail.com>]

I am quoting David, who begins by quoting Peter:

> > 'formalising' the literature, through peer review, editing, 
> > and other services,
> Peter, that is almost all of what publishers do now, except for
> assembling and disseminating the formalized information.
JE:  This is simply not true and as long as people believe it is 
true, there will be no way to solve practical problems.  Peer 
review, editing, warehousing, managing circulation, whatever, are 
all support operations for the essential publishing function, 
which is the investment of capital.  It doesn't matter if the 
publication in question is OA or toll, good or bad, consumer or 
academic, commercial or NFP.  SOMEONE has to invest capital, 
someone has to take risk--it could be an individual, a company, a 
philanthropy, a university, or anything else, but the essential 
task is to bring a string of activities to life through that 
investment.  Investment means making choices, and investment 
means making predictions.  Everything can get outsourced except 
for the investment decision.  Making investment decisions of this 
kind is an art.  So, rather than talking about the impersonal 
"system" of publishing, could we identify the artist who infuses 
the system with meaning and intent?

Joe Esposito