Tag: 08.18.05

School Ditches Books For Computers

A public school in Arizona ditches textbooks and gives each of its students iBook computers instead. “Students get the materials over the school’s wireless internet network. The school has a central filtering system that limits what can be downloaded on campus. The system also controls chat-room visits and instant messaging that might otherwise distract wired students. Students can turn in homework online. A web program checks against internet sources for plagiarized material and against the work of other students.”

CBC Locks Out Employees

The CBC has locked out 5,500 unionized workers after prolonged negotiations failed to produce a contract. “Viewers of CBC Newsworld awoke yesterday morning to a prolonged period of dead air on their screens, and a lengthy set of Canadian music on the CBC’s Radio 1, in place of the top-rated Metro Morning program. Taped material was continually spun throughout the day on the radio service, punctuated by brief hourly news reports by unfamiliar announcers. Each report was followed by a taped apology for the absent programs, which it blamed on a “labour dispute.”

The Art Of Advertising Broadway

How do you advertize a Broadway show? “Theater has lagged behind other industries in tapping ways to attract audiences. The reason it is slow is because there’s a ceiling on how much money we can make. The rule of thumb for what a Broadway show should spend each week on advertising is about 10 percent of a production’s weekly potential gross. For “Wicked,” which has a gross potential of more than $1.15 million each week, that would translate into more than $100,000.”

A Free Night At The Theatre

The Theatre Communications Group is coordinating a free night at the theatre in three cities on October 20. One of theatres’ “biggest concerns was how to reach people we can’t now reach. Subscription patterns are at a perilous moment, in part because we don’t live that way anymore. We thought, ‘What can we do collectively to bring in new audiences?’ That’s when someone said, ‘How about a free night of theatre?’ “

2005’s Lit Hits: MIA

Where are this year’s literary hits? “The big books have been thrillers, such as “The Da Vinci Code” and “The Historian,” and the fantasy blockbuster “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” Not only have established literary authors disappointed critics, no major new literary voices have emerged. ‘I think a lot of editors will tell you that 2004 and 2005 haven’t been very good for fiction acquisitions. There weren’t a lot of huge auctions or books that publishers got really excited about’.”

Harry Discounts Hurt B&N Financials

Booksellers were expecting a blockbuster summer with a new Harry Potter in play. But Barnes & Noble reports disappointing sales “The company’s sales rose just 6 percent, to $1.17 billion. Analysts had been expecting sales of $1.18 billion on a bigger boost from the sixth volume of the Harry Potter saga, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” The new book about the boy wizard sold more than 8.9 million copies in the first 24 hours it was on sale in the United States and Britain, becoming the fastest-selling book in history, according to publishers. But retailers cut heavily into their profits on the book, selling it at discounts of more than 50 percent to lure customers into stores.”

Identity Crisis – What Makes The Modern Museum Director?

Fifteen major American museums are currently searching for directors. Should those directors be art scholars or CEO’s? “The current empty posts — as well as the evolving director’s role — put many high-profile institutions at a crossroads. To be sure, any candidate considered at a top museum will have at least some experience in both management and art scholarship, but the museum world remains divided over the appropriate balance.”