In my preface to the first edition of this book, I noted that there was a certain irony in the fact that I have attempted to summarize some of the key challenges facing the information sector through the medium of the book. So three years later perhaps it is doubly ironic that this second edition is still being printed on dead trees. With bookshops and libraries closing all around us, does the book have a future as a means for distributing information? Only time will tell what the future holds for the paper book but I would wager that the monograph, in a variety of published outputs, will continue to be a key format for the transfer of ideas and arguments. What is definitely changing is the economics of publishing, with new technologies such as e-books and new forms of self-publishing challenging the established practices of an industry that has been built around the production and sale of physical items. As this book shows, digital formats allow information to flow more freely in ways that bypass many of the traditional bottlenecks and gatekeepers such as printers, bookshops and libraries. This brings an increase in choice of where and how end-users consume information, and novel ways for new entrants such as Google and Amazon to capture value from these new information flows.

My original intention in writing this book was to provide an overview of the digital information landscape and explain the implications of the technological changes for the information industry, from publishers and broadcasters to the information professionals who manage information in all its forms. This second edition updates a lot of the data from the original text, extends sections and adds new sections where innovations in the information world have occurred. It is not possible in a book of this length to detail every aspect of these changes and challenges but I have attempted to summarize their broader implications through the use of real examples and case studies. By providing examples of organizations and individuals that are seizing on the opportunities thrown up by this once-in-a-generation technological shift I hope the reader is able to better understand where we may be going as information consumers and in broader societal changes.