1. Critical Success Factors in
Choosing an Online Hosting
Platform
Carol Meyer Society for Scholarly Publishing
Maxwell Publishing Consultants Annual Meeting
Moderator June 3, 2004
2. I shall set forth for somewhere
I shall make the reckless choice
—Robert Frost
The Sound of the Trees [1916]
3. Our Session Plan
• Overview of Online Hosting: Carol Meyer
• The Voice of Experience: Our Panelists Talk about
1. Project Goals and Objectives
2. Critical Factors in Meeting those Goals
3. Capabilities and Costs (vendor selection)
4. "Gotcha's"
• And
• Business Issues: Rob Paulis, Sage
• Performance Considerations: Wendy Shank, AAAS
• Production Issues: Eric Pepper, SPIE
• Discussion
5. What are online hosts?
An online host is an organization
that provides the technology,
service, and possibly staffing to
make electronic dissemination of
information available to end users.
6. What do they offer?
• Editorial services
• File conversion
• Electronic production services
• Hosting equipment
• Software
• Administrative tools
• E-commerce
7. Business Models for Online Vendors
• Fee for Service
• Software License/Application Service
Provider (ASP)
• Royalty
• Royalty Pool
• Commission
• Joint Venture/Shared Risk
9. Questions to Ask:
What are you trying to do?
1. What are your mission, goals, and
objectives?
2. What is your business model?
3. What types of content will be included?
10. Questions to Ask:
What features do you need?
4. What type of citation linking will be
included?
5. What facilities for search and navigation
must be available?
6. How can users personalize their
experience?
11. Questions to Ask:
How will the system support your
business model?
7. What are your branding requirements?
8. What sorts of usage statistics will you
need?
9. What are the specific performance level
needs?
10. How much software development flexibility
will the project require?
12. Questions to Ask:
How will it happen?
11. What is your current workflow?
12. How will tasks between staff and vendor be
broken down?
13. Questions to Ask:
What’s the bottom line?
13. How does your culture fit with that of the
online host?
14. How much will it cost?
15. What is the vendor’s reputation?
15. Resources
• Choosing an On-line Host: 15
Questions for Scholarly Publishers to
Ask (and Answer), AIP White Paper,
forthcoming by Carol Meyer
• “Ejournal Hosts: The Next Generation,”
Econtent, Jan/Feb 2004 by Judy Luther
and October Ivins
17. And Now, Our Panelists
• Rob Paulis
Director of Electronic Publishing
Sage Publications
• Eric Pepper
Director of Publications
SPIE
• Wendy Shank
Senior Production Manager
AAAS
18. The prologues are over. It is a question, now,
Of final belief. So say that final belief
Must be in a fiction. It is time to choose.
—Wallace Stevens
Asides on the Oboe [1942]
![I shall set forth for somewhere
I shall make the reckless choice
—Robert Frost
The Sound of the Trees [1916]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)