Online discoverability a challenge for books, magazines, BTLR hears

Organizations representing Canadian publishers are flagging the difficulty of identifying Canadian content online to the panel in charge of reviewing the broadcasting and telecom acts. “The question must be raised about the obligations of the distribution system to ensure Canadian content and culture is not lost in the algorithms that drive discoverability and access. It does not serve the public policy goal to create content that is not seen,” Magazines Canada said. “There needs to be an appetite on the part of Canadians to make the choice to consume Canadian content, but there also has to be the ability to discover and access it.” In its written submission to the review, the group said companies like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. are growing in power as they take over the advertising and distribution markets, and argued that dominance threatens the viability and availability of Canadian media, content and culture. “The public policy question is to what degree regulation can or should play a role in aligning these platforms with the ethos of public purpose without straying into the anti-democratic realm of censorship or government approved content,” it said in its submission. Both Magazines Canada and the Association of Canadian Publishers stopped short of providing any recommendations or potential solutions. In its submission, the ACP said it’s difficult to find Canadian books on online platforms developed by international players. Half of all book purchases are now made online, where algorithms are responsible for suggesting titles to buyers. ACP said that in its experience “these algorithms rarely prioritize a broad range of Canadian-authored works, and even Canadian retail sites typically showcase international titles in greater numbers.” Online retailers like websites operated by Amazon.com Inc. and Indigo Books & Music Inc. don’t identify books with Canadian authors, while Rakuten Inc.’s OverDrive, the “dominant supplier of ebooks to Canadian public libraries, does not include the nationality of creators in its online catalogue,” it said. “While physical books may be stickered with a maple leaf for patrons to easily identify Canadian content on library shelves, a comparable experience has yet to be replicated online.”

Online discoverability a challenge for books, magazines, BTLR hears

Brief | February 25, 2019

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Online discoverability a challenge for books, magazines, BTLR hears

Brief | February 25, 2019

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