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One thing that I think is being forgotten in all this is preservation. While I don't think that most libraries (except for librairies like the LoC) are in the b
by nkassis 16y ago
One thing that I think is being forgotten in all this is preservation. While I don't think that most libraries (except for librairies like the LoC) are in the business of preserving books anymore, how will this new licensing model HaperCollins is suggesting will allow for books to be kept for future generations?
Publishers haven't been the best at making sure out of print books don't just disappear. Same for the music, some music from the early in the century is probably going to go away because of copyright issues.
- blendergasket 16y agoI think the preservation is a huge, if somewhat unrelated issue. To recreate the text of one of these books people in the future will have to emulate the environment the book exists on. In some sort of apolcalyptic future that destroys the linear progression of our technological innovation (and the ability to access old content with our new technologies as they appear) everything will be lost. The learning curve for/possibility of some future society having some rosetta stone moment that allows them to recreate and run a computer program is really hard to imagine. The monolith in 2001 a space odyssey might be a symbol of what people think we are about as a society. Our iPhones, Android phones and computers just strange blocks that are worshipped in their own rights. Who knows. But the barrier for understanding our culture from some temporal outside is growing extreme.