Wednesday 29 June 2011

Image via sivioco.com

We already knew that birdsong changes over time as birds' environments change – hence this video of a bird imitating the ringing of a mobile phone. Now there’s evidence that birdsong has a grammar of sorts. New Scientist has reported on a study that suggests Bengal finches can distinguish between ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ combinations of their birdsong, and that the ability to do this is learned, not innate.

The study’s findings are the first reported instance of an animal other than a human using grammar. This is a neurological ability quite distinct from the ability to match a word to an object, which of course we know we share with dogs, parrots and Justin Bieber. But it’s only one of several so-called human abilities that have been shown to exist in the non-human animal world.

Image of a Bengal finch via indiastudychannel.com

Others include teaching, learning, cooperation, deception, memory and social learning. And if we look a little further, we also find evidence that various animals possess culture, the capacity to use tools, morality, emotions, personalities and the ability to read minds. This no doubt explains why we are so prone to anthropomorphising animal behaviour – something writing experts often admonish as a faux pas, despite its common occurrence in literature.

The success of books like Kate Grenville’s Secret River, Philip Jones' Ochre and Rust and Inga Clendinnen’s Dancing With Strangers shows how curious we are about that moment when vastly different civilisations meet for the first time. We call it ‘first contact’, and indeed there was a Star Trek film of the same name. This YouTube footage of a PNG tribe stumbling across some white people for the first time – in this case, anthropologists with a camera – was shot in 1976. A warning, however – the music is terrible.

The Huffington Post has announced it’s going global – and Australia is on its list of countries where it plans to establish a dedicated foothold.

Need some perspective? This graphic should help (if your brain doesn’t explode first).

The book signing is a common feature of modern publishing. But US publishers feeling the squeeze of lower profit margins are giving it a new twist – why not make people pay for their favourite author’s signature?

Last week we published a story about pseudonyms. Here’s a more detailed look at the ultimate literary disguise.

Finally, Victorians can now calculate their own ecological footprint, thanks to the EPA.

While we’ve covered the epublishing revolution many times, it feels ironic that Australia’s tyranny of distance nowadays seems to apply mainly to technologies that are designed to make the world smaller. Although our friends at Book.ish are helping the Australian epublishing scene up to catch up with Europe and North America, these regions – especially the latter – remain for the most part at the forefront of innovation.

One thing is clear – while scalps are being claimed, others are benefiting from the changes. Robin Sullivan, for instance, blogs about the new midlist of self-published ebook authors who may not match the stunning successes of Amanda Hocking, but who are doing quite well, thank-you very much. Sullivan writes: “Authors are going to e-books first based on earning potential and a quick time to market. If they do well, then they leverage their sales for larger advances and favorable contract terms. Of course self publishing is not for everyone, but at least for those that decide to go this route, they won’t have to be that one in a million outlier—if they can achieve the e-book midlist status, they stand a good chance of telling their boss, ‘I quit, I’m going to stay home and write for a living’.”

And it isn’t just authors that stand to benefit – publishers are also, according to one commentator, sitting on a pot of gold.

Here’s a list of seven publishing platforms that are currently being touted as market leaders in digital publishing. It includes Red Lemonade, a social networking site for writers and readers. Here’s another list of 40 tools authors need to self-publish online.

A couple of months ago, we reported that print-on-demand printer Lightning Source were setting up a suburban Melbourne facility. It’s now up and running. Here’s a blog on self-publishing through Lulu (an online print-on-demand facility) and CreateSpace (Amazon’s version of the same), by the author of the first ebook for iPhone ever.

Finally, here’s a great iPhone app for readers who love the classics: Penguin Classics 65.

By the way, remember the web? You know, that old dinosaur? It’s shrinking. Yep, shrinking.