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60-610: The MIT Press is the university press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts . The MIT Press publishes a number of academic journals and has been a pioneer in the Open Access movement in academic publishing . MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT published a lecture series entitled Problems of Atomic Dynamics given by

120-821: A "Books without Pages" proposal to the National Science Foundation to explore computer typography and computer workstations. Although the NSF declined to fund the project, she obtained support from the Office of Naval Research and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a funding source later used by the Media Lab. In addition to Cooper's involvement in the VLW and TED5, she also worked with groups such as

180-681: A Bachelor of Science in education in 1951 from Massachusetts College of Art (MassArt). After her graduation, Cooper moved to New York City and attempted to find a position in advertising. She met Paul Rand , who was influential to her design "way of life". In 1952, Cooper was recommended to and then recruited by John Mattill to join the newly formed Massachusetts Institute of Technology Office of Publications, which would eventually become MIT Press . There, she collaborated with György Kepes , professor of visual design at MIT and former colleague of artist László Moholy-Nagy in Hungary . She soon

240-528: A co-founder of the MIT Media Lab . In 2007, a New York Times article called her "the design heroine you've probably never heard of". Muriel Ruth Cooper was born in 1925 in Brookline , an inner suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. She was the oldest daughter of three children. Cooper received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio State in 1944, and a Bachelor of Fine Art in design in 1948 and

300-535: A critical discourse around systems, feedback loops, and control. She then continued to hold a part-time designation as “Special Projects Director” at MIT Press. At 49 years old in 1973, Cooper was already well known in the design industry. Starting around 1974, Cooper gradually phased out of her full-time position at MIT Press to found the MIT Visual Language Workshop with the designer, Ron MacNeil. Cooper taught interactive media design as

360-409: A loss and are subsidized by their owners; others are required to break even. Demand has fallen as library budgets are cut and the online sales of used books undercut the new book market. Many presses are experimenting with electronic publishing. Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press are the two oldest and largest university presses in the world. They have scores of branches around

420-552: A plan to focus increasingly on scholarly books rather than the commercial successes it had become known for, prompting a public debate about the role of university presses. In New Zealand , several universities operate scholarly presses. Auckland University Press has been operating since 1966 and Victoria University Press since the 1970s. In 2023, the Association of University Presses (AUP) has over 150 member presses. Growth has been sporadic, with 14 presses established in

480-593: A press based on the European model. In Nigeria for example, scholarly presses have played a central role in shaping and encouraging intellectual efforts and gaining international attention for scholarly production. However, the established European presses, especially Oxford University Press, have dominated the market, allowing a narrow niche for new local presses such as Ibadan University Press, now University Press Plc . In England , Cambridge University Press traces its founding to 1534, when King Henry VIII granted

540-592: A selection of travel and historical guides to Boston and the surrounding region, from a variety of publishers. Arts and humanities Economics International affairs, history, and political science Science and technology 42°21′43.7″N 71°5′8.0″W  /  42.362139°N 71.085556°W  / 42.362139; -71.085556 University press Because scholarly books are mostly unprofitable, university presses may also publish textbooks and reference works, which tend to have larger audiences and sell more copies. Most university presses operate at

600-563: Is a distributor for Semiotext(e) , Goldsmiths Press , Strange Attractor Press , Sternberg Press, Terra Nova Press , Urbanomic, and Sequence Press. In 2000, the MIT Press created CogNet , an online resource for the study of the brain and the cognitive sciences. In 1981, MIT Press published its first book under the Bradford Books imprint, Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology by Daniel C. Dennett . In 2018,

660-602: Is the second-oldest publishing house in Australia. Other Australian universities followed suit in following decades, including the University of Western Australia Press (1935), University of Queensland Press (1948) and Sydney University Press (1962). In the later part of the 20th century some of these presses closed down or were taken over by larger international presses. Some survived and built strong reputations for publishing literature, poetry and serious non-fiction. In

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720-519: The MIT Media Lab . There Cooper joined its new director Nicholas Negroponte and faculty members such as Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert . She personally knew many of her new colleagues, having earlier worked with them on their books published by MIT Press. She taught and influenced a generation of students who later became prominent digital designers, including Lisa Strausfeld (a partner at Pentagram Design ), and John Maeda , who succeeded her at

780-714: The Mellon Foundation , the Chicago Digital Distribution Center (CDDC) has been offering digital printing services and the BiblioVault digital repository services to book publishers. In 2009, the CDC enabled the sales of electronic books directly to individuals and provided digital delivery services for the University of Michigan Press among others. The Chicago Distribution Center has also partnered with an additional 15 presses including

840-857: The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City acquired the MIT Press colophon into its permanent design collection. MIT Press is a leader in open access book publishing. They published their first open access book in 1995 with the publication of William J. Mitchell 's City of Bits , which appeared simultaneously in print and in a dynamic, open web edition. They now publish open access books, textbooks, and journals. Open access journals include American Journal of Law and Equality , Computational Linguistics , Data Intelligence , Harvard Data Science Review , Network Neuroscience , Neurobiology of Language , Open Mind , Projections , Quantitative Science Studies , Rapid Reviews: COVID-19 , Transactions of

900-478: The University of Illinois Press specializes in labor history , MIT Press publishes linguistics and architecture titles, Northwestern University Press publishes in continental philosophy , poetry , and the performing arts , and the Catholic University of America Press publishes works that deal with Catholic theology, philosophy, and church history. The Distribution Services Division provides

960-507: The University of Missouri Press , West Virginia University Press , and publications of the Getty Foundation . Financially, university presses have come under growing pressure. Only a few presses, such as Oxford, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale have endowments; the others depend upon sales, fundraising, and subventions (subsidies) from their sponsoring institutions. Subsidies vary but typically range from $ 150,000 to $ 500,000. Because

1020-409: The centennial of MIT's founding charter, the publisher was renamed as "The MIT Press". In 1962 the association with Wiley came to an end after a further 125 titles had been published. The Press has since functioned as an independent publishing house. A European marketing office was opened in 1969, and a Journals division was added in 1972. In the late 1970s, responding to changing economic conditions,

1080-591: The "Open-Access Toolkit", published by the OAPEN Foundation, defines as follows: These are university presses established since the 1990s, often explicitly to publish open access books. In many other respects, they are run like a university press. However, as with library publishing ... NUPs are often library-led, albeit with an academic-led steering group or editorial board. Examples of NUPs include ANU Press (Australia), Amherst College Press (USA), University of Michigan Press (USA), UCL Press (UK), and

1140-748: The (physical and metaphoric) wall between design and production of media, experimenting with a wide variety of new computing, electronics, and printing technologies. The MIT students had very diverse backgrounds and interests, and Cooper emphasized a generalist approach, encouraging them to switch flexibly among editorial, platemaking, printing, typesetting, and design tasks. In the mid-1970s, VLW students would work overnight to produce posters for campus-wide events, including designs by Cooper's former Design Services colleagues, Jacqueline Casey and Ralph Coburn. Cooper explored early versions of nearby Polaroid Corporation 's new SX-70 instant color camera, as well as experimental large-format Polaroid cameras and film. In

1200-580: The 1940s, 11 in the 1950s; and 19 in the 1960s. Since 1970, 16 universities have opened presses and several have closed. Today, the largest university press in the United States is the University of Chicago Press . University presses tend to develop specialized areas of expertise, such as regional studies. For instance, Yale University Press publishes many art books, the Chicago , Duke , and Indiana University Presses publish many academic journals,

1260-508: The 1950s and 1960s. The Edinburgh University Press became the leading Scottish academic publisher. It was especially famous for publishing major books on the history and literature of Scotland, and by enlisting others in Scotland. In Australia , the University of Melbourne was the first to establish its own press: Melbourne University Press , set up to sell books and stationery in 1922, began publishing academic monographs soon after and

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1320-487: The 1960s, a typical hardcover monograph would sell 1,660 copies in the five years after publication. By 1984, that average had declined to 1,003 and in after 2000 typical sales of monographs for all presses are below 500. University libraries are under heavy pressure to purchase very expensive subscriptions to commercial science journals, even as their overall budgets are static. By 1997 scientific journals were thirty times more expensive than they were in 1970. In May 2012,

1380-495: The 21st century several Australian universities have revived their presses or established new ones. Their business models and publishing approaches vary considerably. Some publish chiefly for general readers while others publish only scholarly books. Several have experimented with Open Access publishing and/or electronic-only publishing. Some supplement their publishing income by offering distribution services or operating bookshops. In January 2019 Melbourne University Press announced

1440-581: The Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery at Columbia University hosted a retrospective of her work entitled Messages and Means: Muriel Cooper at MIT . In 2017, MIT Press published a large-format, slipcased hardcover book, reviewing Cooper's career and providing many examples of her design work. In 2023. the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City acquired her MIT Press colophon design into its permanent collection. Archives of Muriel Cooper's work and papers are held at

1500-523: The Association of Computational Linguistics , and Thresholds . In 2021, the Press launched Direct to Open, a framework for open access monographs. In 2022, Direct to Open published 80 monographs. MIT Press Open Architecture and Urban Studies is a digital collection of classic and previously out-of-print architecture and urban studies books hosted on the digital book platform, MIT Press Direct. In 2019,

1560-554: The Bauhaus-influenced, modernist look of a large quantity of publications, including 500 books. She designed the first edition of Learning from Las Vegas (1972), the ground-breaking manifesto of Post-Modernist design, using radical variations on the Bauhaus style to produce the publication. A third influential book design was a collection of essays by Herbert Muschamp , titled File Under Architecture (1974). This

1620-779: The Bookstore was temporarily relocated to Central Square , just north of the original location of the MIT Museum , because of extensive construction in Kendall Square. In 2022, the Bookstore moved into a new building at 314 Main Street, adjacent to a newly-renovated subway entrance to Kendall/MIT station . Sharing the same building, in 2022 the MIT Museum moved to Kendall Square for the first time, including its newly-expanded museum store. The relocated bookstore has adopted

1680-687: The MIT Media Lab, and then served as president of the Rhode Island School of Design from 2008 to 2013. In 1994, at the TED 5 conference in Monterey, California, Cooper presented a collection of work that had been recently done by her students in the VLW. The demos demonstrated experiments in dynamic, interactive, computer-based typography, themes which Cooper had been exploring through much of her career. In 1978, had Cooper co-authored

1740-482: The MIT Press partnered with Candlewick Press to launch two new imprints for young readers, MIT Kids Press and MITeen Press, to publish books for children and young adults on STEAM topics. In this pioneering partnership, MIT Press will review outside proposals for new books, as well as proposals generated by its own staff. After editorial evaluation for accuracy, books in process will be handed off to Candlewick, which will oversee design, marketing, promotion, and sales of

1800-546: The Press and the MIT Media Lab launched the Knowledge Futures Group to develop and deploy open access publishing technology and platforms. In 2019, the Press launched the MIT Press Reader , a digital magazine that draws on the Press's archive and family of authors to produce adapted excerpts, interviews, and other original works. The publication describes itself as one which "aims to illuminate

1860-623: The Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction (SIGCHI) of the Association for Computing Machinery . Her interests in computer graphics and typography anticipated later developments in user interface on personal computers and smartphones. Professor Muriel Cooper died unexpectedly after an apparent heart attack at the age of 68, on May 26, 1994, at the New England Medical Center in Boston. At

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1920-523: The United States in the late 19th century. Cornell University started one in 1869 but had to close it down, only restarting operations in 1930; Johns Hopkins University Press has been in continuous operation since 1878. The University of Pennsylvania Press (1890), University of Chicago Press (1891), Columbia University Press (1893), University of California Press (1893), and Northwestern University Press (1893) followed. The biggest growth came after 1945 as higher education expanded rapidly. There

1980-562: The University of Chicago Press's warehousing, customer service, and related services. The Chicago Distribution Center (CDC) began providing distribution services in 1991, when the University of Tennessee Press became its first client. Currently the CDC serves nearly 100 publishers including Stanford University Press , University of Minnesota Press , University of Iowa Press , Temple University Press , Northwestern University Press , and many others. Since 2001, with development funding from

2040-464: The University of Huddersfield Press (UK). Muriel Cooper Muriel Cooper (1925 – May 26, 1994) was an American pioneering book designer, digital designer, researcher, and educator. She was the first design director of the MIT Press , instilling a Bauhaus -influenced design style into its many publications. She moved on to become founder of MIT's Visible Language Workshop , and later became

2100-424: The University of Missouri System announced that it would close the University of Missouri Press so that it might focus more efficiently on “strategic priorities.” Friends of the press from around the country rallied to its support, arguing that by publishing over 2,000 scholarly books the press made a major contribution to scholarship. A few months later the university reversed its decision. In 2014, Peter Berkery,

2160-651: The VLW, Cooper pursued a constant examination of graphic production in multiple media, and led a team of graduate students and researchers in the search of new forms, methods and techniques for graphic design that were specific to the emerging context of text on a computer display. In 1985 the Visible Language Workshop, the MIT Architecture Machine Group, and the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) were combined to form

2220-481: The base of potential sales. Oxford University Press opened a South African office in 1915 to distribute its books in the region. The first South African university press was established in 1922 at Witwatersrand University . Several other South African universities established presses during the 20th century and, as of 2015, four were actively publishing. As new universities opened in Africa after 1960, some developed

2280-399: The bold ideas and voices that make up the Press's expansive catalog, to revisit overlooked passages, and to dive into the stories that inspired the books". Since 1962, the MIT Press has used a colophon or publisher's logo created by its longtime design director, Muriel Cooper . The design is based on a highly abstracted version of the lower-case letters "mitp", with the ascender of the "t" at

2340-432: The book in the newly available Helvetica typeface and used a grid system page layout, giving the book a strong modernist appearance. Cooper also made a film rendition of the book, which attempted to give an accelerated depiction of translating interactive experiences from a computer to paper. This endeavor was her response to the challenge of turning time into space. As the design director of MIT Press, Cooper promoted

2400-436: The course, but nonetheless realized the growing importance of computers to publishing and design in general, and was unafraid to recruit others with expertise in computers to help develop their application to design. Cooper maintained her full-time position with the MIT Press until 1974, and oversaw the release of multiple series of titles in architecture , economics , biology , computer science , and sociology that formed

2460-733: The distributor TriLiteral LLC with Yale University Press and Harvard University Press . TriLiteral was acquired by LSC Communications in 2018. In July 2020, MIT Press transitioned its worldwide sales and distribution to Penguin Random House Publisher Services . MIT Press primarily publishes academic and general interest titles in the fields of art and architecture; visual and cultural studies; cognitive science; philosophy; linguistics; computer science ; economics ; finance and business; environmental science ; political science; life sciences; neuroscience ; new media ; and science, technology, and society . MIT Press

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2520-965: The early 1980s, Cooper secured major funding from the Outdoor Advertising Association, and pioneered the development of large-scale printers that could quickly produce billboard -sized high-resolution graphics and eventually full-color photographs. Around this time, Cooper was asked for a 250-word concise biography. She summarized her career to date in 65 words: Muriel Cooper/first designer/art director MIT Office of Publications | Fulbright Scholarship, Milan, Italy/ Consulting firm Muriel Cooper Media Design | Media Director MIT Press/ currently Director Visible Language Workshop | Associate Professor Department of Architecture/ Special Projects Director MIT Press. Her concerns have always been with beginnings and process. | More with change and technology and their meanings to human communication than with rigorous graphic design theory and style. At

2580-419: The entire world. In January 2010, MIT Press published its 9000th title, and in 2012 the Press celebrated its 50th anniversary, including publishing a 32-page commemorative booklet on paper and online. In 2022 the Press celebrated its 60th anniversary, releasing a commemorative 14-panel Z-folded pamphlet on paper and online to highlight significant titles it has published over the decades. MIT Press co-founded

2640-526: The executive director of the Association of University Presses stated: In the late 2010s, a number of universities began launching initiatives, often under the aegis of their libraries, to "support the creation, dissemination, and curation of scholarly, creative, and/or educational works" in a way that emulated the approach of traditional university presses while also taking into account the changing landscape of scholarly publishing. These initiatives have collectively been dubbed "new university presses", which

2700-473: The fifth stripe and the descender of the "p" at the sixth stripe the only differentiation. In 2015, the colophon also served as an important reference point for the redesign of the MIT Media Lab logo by Pentagram . In 2011, a custom bookcase in the form of the MIT Press colophon was displayed at the MIT Museum as part of the MIT 150 exhibition, commemorating the sesquicentennial of MIT's founding. In 2023.

2760-452: The founder and head of the Visible Language Workshop (VLW). She was recognized as a pioneer in designing and changing the landscape of electronic communication. Although she never learned to program computers, she could see the design possibilities opened up by the technology, and worked closely with programmers and engineers to experiment with new concepts in the presentation of complex information. In 1976, her students literally broke down

2820-515: The job. In 1967, Cooper returned to a full-time position as design director of the MIT Press, having been recommended by Paul Rand. Among many other publications, she designed the classic book Bauhaus (published by MIT Press in 1969, the 50th anniversary of the German design school's founding). This project dominated her work for nearly two years, to enlarge, revise, and completely redesign an American version of an earlier German edition. She set

2880-709: The new titles. Since 1980, the MIT Press Bookstore has been a regional attraction in the heart of the Kendall Square technology and innovation hub in Cambridge, Massachusetts . The bookstore is one of a small number of such outlets operated by any university publisher. It has offered a complete selection of Press titles for browsing and retail purchase, plus a large selection of complementary works from other academic and trade publishers, including magazines and academic journals. Starting in October 2016,

2940-494: The publisher narrowed the focus of their catalog to a few key areas, initially architecture, computer science and artificial intelligence, economics, and cognitive science. Since then, the MIT Press has broadened the scope of its publishing activities to encompass new titles in the humanities, while retaining its strengths in science and technology. The Press has been a pioneer in the Open Access publishing movement, which seeks to offer unimpeded access to fresh academic research to

3000-734: The school store, and had also used the space as an informal studio after hours. Cooper and Casey, along with Ralph Coburn and Dietmar Winkler, would be influential in bringing modern Swiss-style typography to MIT Press and to the related magazine that would become MIT Technology Review . After working at MIT for six years, Cooper left in 1958 to take a Fulbright Scholarship in Milan , where she studied exhibition design . When Cooper returned in 1963, she opened an independent graphic studio in Brookline, Massachusetts. She also taught briefly as an associate professor at MassArt. The MIT Press

3060-468: The slogan "Kendall Square's Underground Bookstore", acknowledging its underground location below the MIT Museum (although with a large opening affording a direct view into its space from the street). In addition to expanding its coverage of academic and technical publications in both the sciences and the humanities, the MIT Press Bookstore features an expanded kid-friendly area dedicated to educational books for children and pre-teens. The bookstore also features

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3120-514: The subsidies are often not indexed to inflation, university press operating budgets can face a functional squeeze as inflation chips away at the value of the subsidy. Operating models vary, but host universities generally cover fixed costs like labor and fixed assets , while looking to the press to cover variable costs from the sale of books and other revenue. Sales of academic books have been declining, however, especially as University libraries cut back their purchases. At Princeton University Press in

3180-542: The time of her death, she was still active as a full-time professor and was the first and only female tenured professor in the MIT Media Lab. About a year later, a retrospective exhibition at the Media Lab reviewed her life and career. In 1997, the Design Management Institute established a prize in her name that "honors an individual who, like Muriel herself, challenges our understanding and experience of interactive digital communication". In 2014,

3240-482: The university a "letters patent", giving it the right to print its own books, and its active publishing program to 1584. Oxford University began publishing books the following year in 1585 and acquired a charter in 1632. In Scotland Archie Turnbull (1923-2003) served as the long-time director of the Edinburgh University Press , 1952-87. The British university presses had strong expansion in

3300-536: The visiting German physicist and later Nobel Prize winner, Max Born . In 1932, MIT's publishing operations were first formally instituted by the creation of an imprint called Technology Press . This imprint was founded by James R. Killian, Jr. , at the time editor of MIT's alumni magazine and later to become MIT president. Technology Press published eight titles independently, then in 1937 entered into an arrangement with John Wiley & Sons in which Wiley took over marketing and editorial responsibilities. In 1961,

3360-584: The world, especially throughout the Commonwealth of Nations . In the United States , colonial colleges required printers to publish university catalogs, ceremonial materials, and a limited number of scholarly publications. Following the 17th-century work of Harvard College printer Samuel Green , William Hilliard of Cambridge, Massachusetts , began publishing materials under the name "University Press" in 1802. Modern university presses emerged in

3420-491: Was a leveling off after 1970. By the time of independence in 1947, India had a well-established system of universities, and several leading ones developed a university press. The main areas of activity include monographs by professors, research papers and theses, and textbooks for undergraduate use. However, the basic problem faced by scholarly publishers in India is the use of multiple languages , which splintered and reduced

3480-492: Was among Cooper's various clients, leading to her design of its iconic trademark colophon or publisher's logo , an abstracted set of seven vertical bars (a visual play on the vertical strokes of the initial letters "mitp", as well as the spines of a row of shelved books). The logo has been called a high-water mark in twentieth-century graphic design . The commission to design the logo had first been offered to Cooper's old mentor Paul Rand, who demurred and recommended her for

3540-488: Was appointed to head the Office, newly renamed to Design Services, which was one of the first university design programs in the country. In 1955, Cooper recruited graphic designer and fellow MassArt alumna Jacqueline Casey to begin her own lengthy career at MIT, where her friend would design many posters and smaller publications in a modernist style. At MassArt, they had worked together as cashiers and then as bookkeepers at

3600-572: Was one of the first books to be typeset directly on a computer by the book designer. At the time, the only typeface available was monospaced Courier , but she used the capabilities of computer typesetting to achieve a new level of control over the detailed layout of each page. Cooper was influential in introducing computers to MIT Press design; in 1967, she had audited MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte 's course on "Computers and Design", which increased her growing fascination with developing digital technology. She admitted to being "bewildered" by

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