Posted by R. John Howe on March 11, 1999 at 06:20:55:
In Reply to: Re: Books vs. Internet posted by Alan Nagel on March 10, 1999 at 11:01:25:
Hi Allan -
You wrote in part:
"At <$1/ disk, the contribution to rug societies and conference budgets could be substantial if sold at less than a plain rug book, e.g. $20-30/disk."
My thought:
Of course, one still has to produce the master from which these copies are made and that's often not inexpensive. There may not be that much "gravy."
It is generally estimated that it currently takes 300-400 hours of development time to produce 1 sound hour of computer-based instruction. I have a course that will likely require 200 hours of student time on screen. That's 60,000 hours or 30 person work years. Even if we're 50% high on this estimate, that's a very serious cost.
Of course, documenting a conference is not that ambitious but there will still be surprising development costs.
Regards,
John Howe