DECOM 2008

Digital Educational Content Marketplaces – A Generational Challenge and Opportunity for Publishing

DECOM 2008 is organized as an open workshop in partnership between the European Learning Industry Group (ELIG) and its member Giunti Labs - a leading European provider of online and mobile learning content management solutions. It will be held on 23rd of October, in Sestri Levante, North West Italy. The delegates will be able to improve their understanding of new generation learning content production, management, sharing and distribution models which will enable the Educational Publishing Industry in this new millennium.

Today’s analogue publishing and distribution models for educational text books and study materials are coming of age. The Publishing Industry overall is challenged in its foundations by digitization through technology and media convergence. The most compelling case for digitization lies in educational publishing – this is the field where interactivity, user control and collaborative capabilities have the potential of providing an unprecedented leap in learning effectiveness. A “perfect storm” is evolving - powered by an ever more performing digital infrastructure and tools and accelerated by forces such as learner requirements and expectations, fast re-skilling cycles, informal  learning, lifelong human capital development, demographics and pressure on cost effectiveness. 

How should the content and publishing industry embrace these new realities? How can the “Music Industry Syndrome” be avoided in the light of the devastating impact of uncontrolled digitization and distribution? The traditional business models have been destroyed before new ones had been developed with all the disastrous consequences this entailed. 

The workshop will shed light on what ELIG believes may be a unique, a generational opportunity for the Educational Publishing industry – not only a threat. However, the industry will have to pull together all its forces and to step out of its traditional comfort zone. Innovation will not stop at digitizing content, but it will include standards, infrastructures, architectures, business models and user roles. The challenges and opportunities are crystallized in digital content marketplaces and can be best evaluated around this emerging phenomenon.

ELIG is the only industry network where all relevant aspects and capabilities for these fundamental transformational questions are represented – ICT infrastructure and architecture, learning content management, learning content standards, new development and delivery models, Web 2.0 impact etc. An ELIG Working Group “Publishing meets eLearning” is addressing a number of these questions and will provide input to the DECOM Workshop.

The DECOM 2008 Workshop will comprise ‘C’ level executives from the publishing industry, academic stakeholders engaged in open courseware initiatives in schools and universities, and Governmental policy makers. After keynote speeches and ‘best practice’ presentations, there will be ten open discussion tables on key needs and objectives for Europe’s Educational Publishing sector. The results of delegates’ deliberations at these discussion tables will be summarized in a shared document – ‘the Sestri DECOM Declaration‘. This will be presented to the EU Commission as a set of suggested policy actions to support a transition towards digital content marketplaces for Educational Publishing in Europe.

Participation in the DECOM Workshop for non-ELIG members is by invitation only. To request an invitation, please send a request to marketing@giuntilabs.com. Requests must indicate your affiliation with, and engagement in this topic. Places will be allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. 

Exhibition Space

A Demo Area will be open for hands-on trials and as a showcase for state-of-the-market and EU R&D framework developments for innovation in learning content authoring, management and delivery solutions. If you wish to book exhibition space, please contact Minna Leikas for information on sponsor packages.