Report on the Specialized Meeting: “A Look at Publishing Developments in the Digital Age”

The ninth specialized meeting of Iran University Press entitled “Materiality, Digitality, and Reading in the Networked World” was held on Sunday, January 27, from 10:00 to 12:00 in the conference hall of ran University Press, with the participation of Dr. Abdullah Karimzadeh, Dr. Hamed Taherikia, and Secretary Dr. Sadra Khosravi, members of the faculty of the Institute of Cultural and Social Studies of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, with the aim of examining the challenges and opportunities facing publishing in the digital age. At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Sadra Khosravi spoke about the importance of paying attention to the field of digital publishing and emphasized that in today’s world, with the expansion of cyberspace and the increasing speed of information dissemination, it is necessary for the publishing industry to pay more attention to the issue of digitalization than ever before. Then, Dr. Abdullah Karimzadeh reviewed the history of publishing from the era of lead printing to the digital era and, referring to the fundamental changes in the process of book production and distribution, including the invention of the printing press, the emergence of newspapers and magazines, and the emergence of the Internet, emphasized the importance of understanding these changes for planning the future of publishing. By presenting statistics and figures on the state of publishing in Iran and the world, Dr. Karimzadeh showed that the publishing industry is undergoing significant changes and publishers should be aware of these changes and prepare themselves for the future.
Referring to the increasing role of artificial intelligence in the field of publishing, this faculty member of the Institute of Cultural and Social Studies predicted that this technology will significantly affect processes such as editing, translation, cover design, and even content production in the near future. Dr. Karimzadeh emphasized the need for publishers to be prepared to adopt and utilize this technology by providing examples of AI applications in publishing, including automatic book summaries, similar book suggestions, and spelling and grammar error detection. He also noted that AI can help publishers identify target audiences and produce content tailored to their needs. In the second part of the session, Dr. Hamed Taherikia, a faculty member and director of the Communication and Cyberspace Studies Group at the Institute for Cultural and Social Studies at the Ministry of Science, discussed digital printing and the importance of the digitization process of academic publications.Pointing to the benefits of digital printing, including reduced costs, the possibility of printing small print runs, and high production speeds, he emphasized the need for university publishing houses, especially the University Publishing Center, to invest in this area. By providing examples of successful experiences in the field of digital printing in other countries, he showed that this technology can help university publishing houses reduce costs, increase the speed of publishing books, and make them easier to access.
Dr. Taherikia also referred to the challenges and issues in this field, including issues related to copyright, content security, and costs related to digital infrastructure.Emphasizing the importance of respecting the rights of publishers and authors, he emphasized the necessity of using digital rights management (DRM) systems to protect digital content, and by presenting solutions to overcome these challenges, including the creation of cooperation networks between academic presses, commercial publishers, and government institutions, he emphasized the importance of investing in training and empowering human resources in the field of digital printing.
After the speakers presented their materials, an opportunity was provided for discussion and exchange of views among the participants. In this section, publishing activists raised questions. The topics discussed emphasized the necessity of publishers’ keeping pace with the fundamental changes in this field and that publishers should also prepare themselves to accept these changes with readiness and intelligence