At the Museum of Modern Press and Publication in China, visitors visit the Digital Publishing Hall. Courtesy of Visual China
◎ Reporter Wu Yefan
"A history of world publishing is a history of publishers constantly using new technologies, new ideas, and new methods to disseminate knowledge and promote social progress." At the 2024 International Publishing Enterprise High-level Forum held recently, Wu Shulin, chairman of the Publishers Association of China, said.
Throughout the ages, in the continuous change of technology, countless industries have been eliminated in the big waves. However, the publishing industry has always stood tall and constantly innovated, and is regarded as a sunrise industry that "never withers".
In recent years, digital technology and artificial intelligence technology have developed rapidly, sweeping all walks of life. In this context, how can Chinese and foreign publishers face the challenges and opportunities brought by the digital intelligence era? What kind of answers will they submit? At the forum, a number of industry representatives expressed their views on how the publishing industry can embrace new technologies.
Grasp the core competitiveness
From paper to electronic, from typography to laser phototypesetting...... Every development of science and technology will bring great changes to the publishing industry. However, the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology in recent years has made many people feel both expected and worried.
Artificial intelligence can accurately pick out the mistakes in the article, give targeted writing suggestions, generate relevant graphics and texts, etc., and these functions have been widely used. Many publishers are pleased to say that the participation of AI has greatly improved their work efficiency. At the same time, artificial intelligence technology has begun to participate in market demand analysis, planning publication topics, and proposing marketing strategies. The comprehensiveness and power of these functions have also made many publishing editors wary of being replaced.
So, will those working in the publishing industry be drowned in the AI wave? At the forum, a number of guests gave a negative answer: "New technologies will only make the publishing industry prosperous." We should consciously keep up with the pace of scientific and technological progress, and do a good job in publishing with new ideas, new carriers, new methods, and new processes. ”
How can we better embrace new technologies? The key is to master the technology rather than be controlled by it. Huang Zhijian, Chairman and Party Secretary of China Publishing Group Co., Ltd., said: "No matter how technology changes, publishing practitioners must maintain their core competencies. He believes that the core competence of publishing practitioners is to select the most valuable and socially appropriate knowledge results from a large amount of information.
For example, although artificial intelligence can analyze user preferences and plan popular topics through algorithms and massive data analysis, it cannot completely replace humans to make value judgments. Some highly specialized science and technology books have a small audience, and it is often difficult to make a profit on a large scale by publishing such works. But from the perspective of social responsibility, these readings are valuable and are the crystallization of important human wisdom. The planning and publication of these publications reflect the core competence of publishers and are also the expression of publishers' social responsibility.
Therefore, in the era of digital intelligence, publishers need to give full play to their ability to select information. "Only in this way can the publishing industry and publishers not deviate from the road and original intention of cultural inheritance, and can they always grasp the core competitiveness." Huang Zhijian said.
Usher in new opportunities for development
"The use of technology should focus on the integration of software and hardware, and digital intelligence is essentially the empowerment of hard technology and soft expression." Huang Zhijian said.
Hard technology is an important foundation for the future publishing industry. In the era of digital intelligence, publishers need to use the right and good technology while maintaining their core capabilities. It is necessary to integrate technology and content naturally to achieve "1+1>2".
The practice of the educational publishing industry embodies this philosophy. At the forum, the participating experts shared cases and thoughts on the application of new technologies in the education publishing industry.
From the perspective of market demand, most of the readers and users faced by today's educational publishing industry were born in the Internet era, and they have a high degree of acceptance of various digital educational publications. In addition, with the upgrade of knowledge carriers to multimodality, paper books are no longer the only choice, and the characteristics and advantages of digital resources are more prominent. Therefore, choosing digital + educational publishing is an inevitable choice for the publishing industry to adapt to market demand.
According to market feedback, the learning experience of many students has also confirmed that digitalization can help more with learning. "Digital platforms are able to integrate multimedia elements and enable interactive exercises to increase students' engagement and deepen their understanding. In addition, it is able to meet individual learning needs. According to Li Lianhe, Managing Director and Vice President of Cengage Publishing Group Asia, digital publishing also enables publishers to update and revise content in real time, ensuring that textbooks keep up with the latest scientific research and are at the forefront of the subject.
With the continuous advancement of the digitalization of education, many publishing houses have accelerated the development and promotion of digital products, and digital publishing products have become one of the important sources of revenue for publishers. "In the next step, we will speed up the construction of digital textbooks and textbook versions, build an after-school service platform, and strive to provide solutions for new educational services." Zhang Chaoyang, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Jiangsu Phoenix Publishing and Media Group Co., Ltd., introduced.
Liu Chao, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Higher Education Press Co., Ltd., also mentioned that Higher Education Press has actively explored the integrated publishing model and developed and published digital intelligence textbooks and professional digital intelligence courses. The publishing house actively deploys the field of artificial intelligence, and cooperates with Huawei, Alibaba Shanghai Artificial Laboratory, Zhejiang University, etc. Higher Education Press, Zhejiang University, Alibaba Cloud, etc. jointly developed the Zhihai-Sanle model. Last year, the textbook "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence", which integrates the large model, was released, and its service functions include intelligent question answering, test question generation, learning navigation, teaching evaluation, etc., which can provide teachers and students with a more intelligent and personalized education and teaching experience.
Cross-border cooperation for development
At the forum, a number of guests mentioned that in the process of empowering the publishing industry with digital intelligence, we should pay attention to cooperation and sharing.
The repeated construction of digital intelligence resources will not only bring waste, but also form an invisible barrier, so that each institution cannot give full play to its unique advantages and form a joint force for resource construction. For example, as far as the educational publishing industry is concerned, Tang Enping, president of the global book business of Springer · Nature Group, said that high-quality educational publications require publishers to understand AI technology, but also to truly understand the local market and readers' needs, but one publisher cannot do a very good job in all areas. Therefore, publishers should actively carry out cooperation in various fields to promote the implementation of more high-quality publishing projects and better integrate into the digital and intelligent era.
At present, domestic publishers have actively carried out cross-border cooperation with technology companies. Zhang Chaoyang introduced: "In May this year, Phoenix Group held the first innovation work conference, signed cooperation agreements with technology companies such as Huawei Cloud, iFLYTEK, and Peking University Founder, and released a number of innovative projects and innovation teams. ”
Domestic publishers are also strengthening international cooperation and sharing digital intelligence resources. Zhang Chaoyang said: "The group's publishers maintain close cooperation with international educational publishing groups such as Cengage Learning, Elsevier, McCraw · Hill. For example, Jiangsu People's Publishing House authorized the Shengzhi Gale Electronic Library to sell many large-scale works in the form of e-books, such as "Collection of Historical Materials of the Nanjing Massacre" and "General History of Chinese Buddhism". ”
Source: Science and Technology Daily