tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8622181110129009774.post5353454497094385617..comments2023-10-22T05:42:27.783-07:00Comments on The Writer's Life: I Want To Be MeDynamics Online Inc.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03067166350317417492noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8622181110129009774.post-58588796021047098862009-06-13T10:51:51.021-07:002009-06-13T10:51:51.021-07:00DIGITIZATION: CURSE OR BLESSING?
June 11, 2009. W...DIGITIZATION: CURSE OR BLESSING?<br /><br><br />June 11, 2009. What I wrote on March 16, 2009 in reaction to Mr. Warren Adler’s <a href="http://warrenadler.blogspot.com/2008/11/e-book-revolution.html" rel="nofollow">The E-Book Revolution</a>, stirred lively discussions among my readers, my friends, and me. It was also posted on <a href="http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html" rel="nofollow"> http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html</a>.<br><br>In my comment (<a href="http://hugoroberts.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">eBooks or Paper Books?</a>) I wrote that “…digital books are easier to use and enjoy than the paper ones... [also] for ... research.” This interesting discussion is going on for a long time; read, for example, <a href="http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi708.htm" rel="nofollow"><b>THE END OF BOOKS</b> </a> by John H. Lienhard, or Coover, R., The End of Books. The New York Times Book Review, June 21, 1992. <br />These discussions stimulated me to write the following sequel.<br /><br /><br><br><br />For me digitization is not progressing fast enough; for others, it’s like an approaching tsunami. Washington Post published a letter to the editor expressing fear that “…Google will be privatizing our libraries." <br /><br><br>It turns out that Google was the only one willing to invest in the gargantuan project of digitizing millions of books held by libraries. A response to this op. ed. letter stated that “...the print works of the 20th century will be searchable, findable, readable and generally usable online, with large parts of the text readable online for free. [And that...] publicly owned library and others will keep print and digital copies safely in not-for-profit hands.”<br /><br><br>Wikipedia states that Google Book Search is a tool from Google that searches the full text of books that Google scans, converts to text using optical character recognition, and stores in its digital database. The service was formerly known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2004. <br /><br><br>Google has been working on digitization and book search since 1997 and was sued repeatedly for copyright infringement. Despite all this resistance progress is being made. In the second letter to the editor I quoted from in the above, the author declares: “As the steward of one of those libraries, a library that has had some 3 million of its works digitized by Google, let me assure readers that Google will not have a monopoly on the information that we hold.”<br /><br /><br><br>Three million sounds like a lot, until you realize that it’s estimated that there are 300 to 400 books published every day. Digitizing them is an ongoing and necessary chore, but there is more...<br /><br /><br><br>As you already know, computers and Internet have changed the appearance of text drastically. No more drab pages and pages of black on white text, but colorful, moving, text that seems to be alive. Text that’s often integrated with other media. These are exciting times. Let me leave you with a quote from <a href="http://www.duke.edu/~mshumate/hyperfic.html" rel="nofollow"><b>Hyperizons</b></a> that boggled my mind. I understand that since the early nineteen-nineties, authors, scholars, and technicians have been working on expanding the appearance and function of literature with <br>“...hypertext fiction (aka hyperfiction, interactive fiction, nonlinear fiction) [it] is a new art form that while not necessarily made possible by the computer was certainly made feasible by it. Its creators make use of hypertext--of which the Web is only one widespread albeit limited incarnation--to create fiction with many features uncharacteristic of print fiction: multiple paths through the same text; multiple endings (and beginnings); questions posed to the reader which, once answered, influence what the reader will read; audiovisual attachments; navigable maps; and so on and so on. Readers seeking more extensive definitions of hypertext fiction are invited to browse through the <a href="http://www.duke.edu/~mshumate/theory.html" rel="nofollow"><b>Theory and Criticism</b></a> section or, better yet, simply start reading a few works--artists always outstrip their would-be definers.”Writer Hugo Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15508428174817568031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8622181110129009774.post-707704676734329782009-05-18T12:22:00.000-07:002009-05-18T12:22:00.000-07:00That's an admirable pursuit, but there is no need ...That's an admirable pursuit, but there is no need for surveys when you are active in any electronic environment. If you check your blog statistics now, you'll see that I arrived here from your main site, I browse with Safari, I connect through Comcast and I'm in Washington. If you follow my profile, you'll discover the content I create, which may include more accurate data than any survey could extract. My credit cards and store memberships track every purchase preference. My phone service knows my contacts and content of text messages. Search engines know all my search terms. Comcast knows where I travel online. This participation creates a profile of "me" and everyone just like me, and marketers can choose how to use that information to solicit business. Of course, this could work to our benefit. I think it remains to be seen. I do think the ignorant will suffer most, while the informed learn to use it to their advantage. That said, I do admire you for sticking to your guns and sharing your beliefs openly.injenuityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03506168876336077017noreply@blogger.com