Signature May/June 2015 - 34

A

audiences. Mads Holmen, the company's
founder and CEO, describes Bibblio as "a
set of tools to make content smarter." In
returning recommendations for a search
query, Bibblio tries to optimize engagement ("Are these results relevant?") and
retention ("Can I refine this search?")
without compromising the diversity of
recommended results. Holmen argues
that a commitment to content diversity
helps associations offer members relevant
content without swamping them with
what is simply popular.
"Diversity is important over time to
maintaining user satisfaction," Holmen
says. "We're learning how to make it
work. Only in the last 10 years have we
been living in an environment with too
much content. Sorting through it is the
next challenge."
According to Holmen, association publishers looking to test Bibblio typically
start by providing access to their content
in whatever form it exists. The platform
imports text, video, speech-to-text, and
OCR content, then enriches it using a
proprietary algorithm. The time required
to take this initial step, which Bibblio
calls its "enrichment API," is short: days
rather than weeks or months.
In return, Bibblio delivers a "discovery
API" to association publishers. It contains
keywords, entities, distilled concepts, and
alignments - what fits or is related to
other things in the content universe. Entities are disambiguated to the greatest
extent possible, using context to distinguish between, for example, "London,
England" and "London broil."
The service incorporates longer-form
content by breaking it down, at least by
34

MAY/JUNE 16

signature

solutions-based
approach to creating
and delivering content
ultimately breaks apart
existing publishing
models, many of
which are more or less
container-driven.

chapter, sometimes by concept or other
component within a chapter. Holmen
contends that taking a more granular approach to exposing content within a book
increases its visibility, especially when the
complete work contains many concepts.
Associations looking to offer book
content outside their own domains can
consider subscription sites like Safari
Books Online, owned by O'Reilly Media.
Safari employs its own model to help
promote and serve content to its users,
then returns a royalty based on content
consumption to the publishers whose
material was read.
Solutions like Safari can help build
awareness beyond an established membership. They can also earn association
publishers revenue from readers who may
never have bought a full text, but whose
interests or professional requirements led
them to a portion of a text published by
the association.

tions to better structure book content for
various platforms and uses. These uses
vary by association and content type, but
they are increasingly customized to the
audiences.
Association publishers are also starting
to use new tools to create, manage, and
produce content in ways that members and
other audiences expect. These tools also
support other important association goals,
including engagement and retention.
Even with all of these new approaches
in place, association publishers still need to
meet the new mandate: discovery. Content
abundance is here to stay. Association publishers need to develop tools that help
members come to terms with it. In doing
so, they will demonstrate relevance for
existing and prospective members. n

BETTER STRUCTURE
FOR CONTENT

Brian F. O'Leary is

The days of editing and publishing a book
in a single format ended a decade ago. In
signing new works and updating existing ones, the most effective association
publishers are thinking beyond the book,
making sure that it can be distributed in
multiple ways and accessed in more than
the single, full-text format.
To make that possible, publishers are
organizing authoring and repository func-

Consulting Partners. A

principal of Magellan Media
30-year publishing industry
veteran, O'Leary began his
career with Time Inc., and
was part of the core
management team that launched the iconic
Entertainment Weekly. During his tenure, he
oversaw production and distribution operations of
several of Time's most prominent brands. Today, he
helps enterprises capitalize on the power of content.



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signature May/June 2015

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