Tools of Change for Publishing Conference - TOCCON 2010

I will be presenting four stories about how the rules in publishing have changed and will continue to change. We will give you four real examples, four real stories to show you how studying medicine in Europe is evolving fast. 

Followers......

See full article at WebStrategist.

Just a brief of the stats published which reveal the power of the net.

Facebook
Obama: 2,379,102 supporters
McCain: 620,359 supporters

Obama has 380% more supporters than McCain

MySpace

Obama: Friends: 833,161
McCain: Friends: 217,811

Obama has 380% more supporters than McCain

YouTube

Obama: 1792 videos uploaded since Nov 2006, Subscribers: 114,559 (uploads about 4 a day), Channel Views: 18,413,110
McCain: 329 videos uploaded since Feb 2007 (uploads about 2 a day), Subscribers: 28,419, Channel Views: 2,032,993

Obama has 403% more subscribers than McCain
Obama has 905% more viewers than McCain

Twitter

Obama: @barackobama has 112,474 followers
McCain: @JohnMcCain (is it real?) 4,603 followers

Obama has 240 times more followers in Twitter than McCain

Take your own conclusions.

Google Books is paying

Google would pay $125 million to settle two copyright lawsuits where his book-scanning efforts were compromised by the Association of American Publishers.

The new agreement will allow Google to show a 20% of each scanned bookto the users without paying anything. The full text could also be available for a certain price. This could be a good measure but thinking on technical or scientific books I wonder if this 20% is a big big mistake.

The NYT explains that Google plans to take 37 percent of the revenue, leaving 63 percent for publishers and authors.

Traditions: Sant Jordi

Every 23rd of April, we catalans celebrate the Diada de Sant Jordi. It's a very special day for us in which we (men) give a rose to the woman we love, and in return they (women) give us a book.

This responds to a tradition that goes back to s. XV and from 1995, this date also corresponds to the International Day of the Book (established by UNESCO).

If you have the opportunity to come to Catalonia, then you will find all streets with improvised books stores, plenty of roses in each corner and flags in the windows of people's houses.

Personal ambitions

I have read in a Spanish newspaper that Spanish teenagers would like to be civil employees or employees at a big department store.

This article does not seem to be important except by the fact that we consider those jobs tedious, monotonous and easy. Those occupations drive people to just comply with their assignments and work in automatic mode.

If this is so (of course there can be exceptions), it makes me think that this generation has a limited ambition or, worse, does not have any at all. It seems to me that values are changing.

To see that this is happening not only in the professional but in the personnel field also makes me feel sad. Many years ago I was coordinating, with some colleagues and friends, a university sports club. We used to have more than 1300 associates. Every year, we made competitions between faculties or within our own faculty and the participation was surpassed year after year. Months ago I was again in my beloved Faculty of Law and the club of sports had disappeared. Competitions do not exist anymore and the last census of associates shows twenty people.

If in the professional field we do not want to ambition too much, I can understand that (certainly, thats not me). But from the personal perspective, people without ambitions and motivations that help and drive them to improve their lives, I simply cannot understand. Unfortunately, this is happening with teenagers in Spain.

Catalan Culture in the Frankfurt Book Fair

A few days ago I attended the 59th edition of the Frankfurt Book Fair. This year, the Catalan Culture was the Guest of Honour (last year the Indian Culture was invited to this international fair).

Last year I could visit the Indian Culture Hall inside the fair. There were amazing experiences for all: food, music, pictures, symbols, photos and fragances. This year, as a Catalan I am, I was proud to be represented in the most important book fair in the world. Even if I had a lot of appointments, I managed to visit the Catalan Cuture Hall.

The feelings I had when entering the hall can be resumed by this: my culture was not present in that room. A total lack of originality generated a tremendous deception. A nearly empty room with a few hung materials, a bizarre media presentation and no more than twenty literary work pieces were the vestiges of my culture.

I felt very bad, hoping another country was the one represented in that place. But maybe, it's the best performance the people in charge were capable of to show my culture to the world.

Nevertheless, to all people interested in Catalonia, please, just come and visit us, our people, our food, traditions, nature, architecture, music and arts are much more than that.

Out - Amazing cuisine, excellent situation

La Venta Restaurant

Every time I can, I try to go to a traditional mediterranean food restaurant in Tibidabo's mountain in the north of Barcelona. Comfortable and with excellent service. You should always make a reservation one day prior to your meeting.

After tasting its finest wines, freshest fishes and meats, you can have a drink in the nearest bars: Mirablau, Merbelle or (most recommended) Mirabe. All of them are no more than 100 m from the restaurant.

I recommend some dishes that are delicious: Ravioli de Langostino con Puerro, Bacalao con pilpil de setas, Risotto frito de azafran con sepia, Canelones de calabacin rellenos de gambas, Lomo de conejo con cigalas y picada de chocolate, Espalda de Cordero al Horno, Sorbete de Agua de Rosa.

Address: Plaza Doctor Andreu s/n - 08035 Barcelona - Tel. +34 93 212 64 55 - Open monday to saturday - www.restaurantelaventa.com