The Management Theory at Work 3 continues in a social media phase and I am finding several threads. It is intended to combine academic theory and management practice. There was a strong element of Critical Management Studies in the first two conferences and this continues. The Critical Management website has included a notice about #mtw3.

Recently I noticed they also linked to a report on Al Jazeera about library.nu by Christopher M. Kelty. The site reviewed and linked to scholarly publications and was closed down as part of the copyright holders project on piracy. Kelty notes the global demand for education but what I want to emphasise is his take on the situation in university libraries-

The publishing industry we have today cannot - or will not - deliver our books to this enormous global market of people who desperately want to read them.
Instead, they print a handful of copies - less than 100, often - and sell them to libraries for hundreds of dollars each. When they do offer digital versions, they are so wrapped up in restrictions and encumbrances and licencing terms as to make using them supremely frustrating.
To make matters worse, our university libraries can no longer afford to buy these books and journals; and our few bookstores are no longer willing to carry them. So the result is that most of our best scholarship is being shot into some publisher's black hole where it will never escape.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/2012227143813304790.html

I also notice that the Proceedings of the recent conference on Networked Learning were published by Lancaster University as PDF files from a website. Previous publications were by Springer Verlag so there was both a print version at a price I guess only university libraries would consider and also a PDF version hidden away on the website. (The latest design is much more clear)

#mtw3 is based on a keynote by John Burgoyne ( available on YouTube ) and the rest of the agenda appears depending on where he is speaking. (The YouTube sound is based on a mix of University Campus Suffolk and the Continuing Learning Group at Lancaster)

At Suffolk a previous speaker was John Peters from GSE Research. GSE is looking at different publishing models including some open access. So there could be a conversation about publishing from various points of view.

Management theory is also complicated by the Business to Business magazine situation which is rapidly moving online. The style of article may not qualify for academic citation but there is an overlap in the availability of ideas for various audiences.

Kelty did not mention sites such as Scribd which was once attacked as piracy but now hosts many sample chapters and promotional extracts for established publishers. It is well on topic in my honest opinion to mention my own papers from the first two Management Theory at Work conferences.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2187340/Is-ISO-9000-worth-another-look-

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2187351/Management-values-and-Dr-Deming-

It is possible that a "face-to-face" version of #mtw3 will be located at the Work Foundation in London, now part of LAncaster University. They have a project to look at publishing as part of innovation.

http://www.biginnovationcentre.com/Impact/Incubator/Knowledge-Unlatched

Meanwhile I am finding out more about sound through working on the Wild Show on Phonic FM in Exeter. The FM broadcast is covered by a licence from the PRS. But "listen again" is more complicated. The trend though is for the people with rights to value promotion enough that they prefer sound to be available. I think text may end up in a similar situation.

Lots to discuss and to be continued.