As in Education, so in Health Care and Government - EHG

The sustainable advantage of Print is " promoting useful knowledge, promoting the progress of science and useful arts, and promoting and preserving the public domain." To see what I'm trying to say, read the last paragraph of this post.

In November 2005, I did at column at What They Think called Tipping Points, New Customers and the 800 pound Gorilla. I said,

And then there is the 800 pound gorilla--the public sector--education, health and government, or EHG. . . . Every governor or mayor that wants to keep their job will be under increasing pressure to deliver lean government that delivers the goods.

Education
This year, education will speed it's transition from value chain commerce to facilitated user network commerce. Value chain produced textbooks will be reinvented. That's the disruptive innovation. Another piece fell into place with yesterday's story that

Hearst to launch a wireless e-reader .
The publisher plans to introduce a large-format device this year based on electronic-ink technology. . . . What Hearst and its partners plan to do is sell the e-readers to publishers and to take a cut of the revenue derived from selling magazines and newspapers on these devices.

If it works for the newspaper public, it's hard to imagine it doesn't work in a classroom. If they are going to sell the e-reader to publishers, why won't they sell it to school systems.

Health

Healthcare NBIC is a weblog blog edited by Jack Powers, director of the the International Informatics Institute (IN3.ORG), originally in support of the Health IC Summit conference on disruptive innovations in healthcare as well as our ongoing study of medicine, technology and society.

Healthcare NBIC: Disruptive Healthcare Innovations: In his 1997 bestseller The Innovator's Dilemma, Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen describes 'sustaining' versus 'disruptive' technologies. Sustaining technologies are the incremental improvements in quality, price and service that exemplify sound management. Disruptive technologies are out-of-left-field; they change the value proposition in a market, and while they often provide lower performance (measured in traditional terms) they are usually cheaper, smaller, simpler and easier-to-use so they broaden the customer base, often quite dramatically."

Government
In 1995, a story appeared in the New York Times.

Earlier this year Mr. Malamud's nonprofit research group, Internet Multicasting, pushed the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Patent and Trademark Office -- both kicking and screaming, initially -- into establishing public records distribution sites on the Internet.

Now that both sites are considered strong successes -- the S.E.C. system distributed more than two million documents in its first month of operation . . .

Today, Carl Malamud is campaigning to the be head of the Government Printing Office.

From yeswescan.org,

Should I be honored to be nominated and confirmed, I would continue to work to preserve and extend our public domain, and would place special attention to our relationship with our customers, especially the United States Congress.

Access to information is a human right and the United States of America is the world's leading producer of information. As the publisher of the United States, GPO plays a vital role in promoting useful knowledge, promoting the progress of science and useful arts, and promoting and preserving the public domain.