The Internet allows cheap to free distribution on one level and sophisticated collection and syndication on another. To get a handle on the nature of content, both of the Internet and of the database aggregators, this issue presents a special report on the content industry as we see it. Back in the day, this magazine had a fairly easy mission. The information industry was straightforward, content was sold at the enterprise level through proprietary and inflexible interfaces requiring some degree of training and a library science degree to properly utilize. You could follow the travels of content in a fairly direct line.
Content now moves through a confusing, and opportunistic, value web.
The special report ties all the pieces together and begins on page 22 with Bill Trippe's analysis of the technology that has facilitated content through its new distribution patterns. On page 30, Marydee Ojala tackles the legal implications that have resulted from the new proliferation, and on page 36, Thomas Pack attempts to untangle the new value web that the industry has spun. The rest of the issue presents profiles and columns that further address these trends and dig deeper to identify the players who create them. I hope those of you who have been with us through the years like the new look and coverage, and to those who have just subscribed, welcome. Please feel free to contribute your opinions to our letters to the editor department.