Peter, that is almost all of what publishers do now, except for
assembling and disseminating the formalized information.
JE: This is simply not true and as long as people believe it is
true, there will be no way to solve practical problems. Peer
review, editing, warehousing, managing circulation, whatever, are
all support operations for the essential publishing function,
which is the investment of capital. It doesn't matter if the
publication in question is OA or toll, good or bad, consumer or
academic, commercial or NFP. SOMEONE has to invest capital,
someone has to take risk--it could be an individual, a company, a
philanthropy, a university, or anything else, but the essential
task is to bring a string of activities to life through that
investment. Investment means making choices, and investment
means making predictions. Everything can get outsourced except
for the investment decision. Making investment decisions of this
kind is an art. So, rather than talking about the impersonal
"system" of publishing, could we identify the artist who infuses
the system with meaning and intent?