Media revolutions rarely if ever consist in simple substitutions or displacements of one medium by another. Rather, they are defined by realignments, with “old” media (all of which were once “new” media) assuming new forms and functions within the setting of an overall structure. Such is very much the case of print culture today: alive and well, despite once feverish –now less so– speculation about the end of print and the triumph of e-publishing. “Alive and well” doesn’t necessarily translate into innovative and

thriving, however, and there remains an urgent need for inventive approaches to both the print and e-publishing sides of the divide, particularly in the domain of scholarly communications.

The metaLABprojects series was launched in collaboration with Harvard University Press with the ambition of modeling new kinds of scholarly publishing in the Humanities. The series description reads as follows:

The metaLAB projects series provides a platform for emerging currents of experimental scholarship, documenting key moments in the history of networked culture, and promoting critical thinking about the future of institutions of learning. The volumes’ eclectic, improvisatory, idea-driven style advances the proposition that design is not merely ornamental, but a means of inquiry in its own right. Accessibly priced and provocatively designed, the series invites readers to take part in reimagining print-based scholarship for the digital age.

Three books are forthcoming as part of the series launch (scheduled for spring 2014):

metaLAB projects # 1 – Matthew Battles, Jeffrey T. Schnapp, The Library Beyond the Book

metaLAB projects # 2 – Johanna Drucker, Graphesis – Visual Forms of Knowledge Production

metaLAB projects # 3 – Todd Presner, David Shepherd, Yoh Kawano, Hypercities – Thick Mapping in the Digital Humanities

One of the compelling tasks of the era of digital media: to reimagine the medium of print.