Thinking about the year ahead, as a publisher that focuses on the future more than ever before (in fact, at the end of 2008 you’ll see the four-volume Berkshire Encyclopedia of the 21st Century), we have been talking a lot with editors, contributors, and colleagues about what reference should be, and should become. The future is online, everyone seems to agree, and of course we hear endlessly about Web 2.0. And who am I to complain, since people are starting to define my approach as Publishing 2.0? But it strikes me that we sometimes miss the point. While the transformations ahead require considerable technical expertise, we forget that the actual stuff of publishing – ideas, imagination, information – is living, not mechanical. When people talk about online encyclopedias, there’s a mechanical feeling about it: the content just needs to move differently. But in reality, at least in my mind, the transformation is from an encyclopedia that is like dry autumn leaves to something with qualities of green leaves: dimension, freshness, and growth.

And that’s what you’re going to see from Berkshire in 2008. Please join us on the road ahead!