Reading the Next Book

Peter Brantley Sept/Oct 2007

DLF

“a book is a machine to think with.”

I. A. RichardsPrinciples of Literary Criticism1924

the book is a social construction — a very successful commodity form

that is a physical representation of content

that has been remarkably successful for almost all modern-era human cultures

reading, then, is a social product :

a combination of a commodity artifact(i.e., the book as a physical object), the way human language works, an understanding of space, quiet.

analog culture is being uplifted to digital

... and so ...what is a “book” is being wholly redefined into a new kind of commodity

— and so then also is “reading”being wholly redefined, subtly.

reading [ to oneself ] was once the epitomeof a solitary act,

butnow reading, as a product, is becoming a social act,woven into the network

fabric.

the transition is imminent(but implied)

by the increasing digitization of text production

books are morphing into digitalthrough two different paths:

1. digital production of the new2. scanning of the old

direct digital production (by publishers)

• attractive cost savings over time• but complex, expensive to

implement• therefore often a slow transition

scanning printed material :

a) externally - Goog, Msft, Ingram (content > external party control)

b) internally - publisher initiated (content > internal group control)

access modes are split in Twain:

Old: package format (bin w/drm: legacy ebook)New: network access

(reflowable text/html: IDPF epub)

advantage adheres to -

text/html + network access

text/html advantages:

• native media easier to maintain than binary

• user enrichment is straightforward (on/off)

• content can be redrawn by the user• easy accessibility = support for blind• device-independent, adaptive re-

formatting • text is less demanding of hardware

network advantages

• print on demand• social - sharing, recommending, rating • content enhancement (georef, temporal)• licensing revenue attractive (vs

purchase)• highly granular usage data aggregation• local caching with sync straightforward• constant content updates through push • greater account storage available

and Google .... ?

Google presents page images Text-copy support is limited.

GOOG does not currently support “.epub”. (but they could at the very least for PD text)

Eventual conflicts with Ingram and Amazon are likely for the future discovery of content.

How do users pay for digital services?

“Show me the money!!”

public domain might be free

that is a social responsibility> we must make it happen <everyone benefits through access

the rest will be paid, somehow

revenue models:

advertising-supported - or -

expect PPV for individualslicensing for

organization/enterprise

what can’t easily generate revenueis the broad class of “orphan works”:

• not obviously in public domain• could be in-copyright • probably out of print• rights holder is uncertain

if Google settles with publishers ...for in-copyright, out of print books

expect a licensing scheme(voluntary collective licensing)

revenue sharing between publishers and Google

library booksdigitized

by Googlethen resoldby Googlelicensed

by libraries

all online modelsare a mixed blessing

particularly forreading!!

“Architecture is politics ... ”

- Mitch Kapor

PRIVACY

in the digital world privacy does not inherently existit must be explicitly designed for.

& because engineering is expensiveuser control of information may be the rarest artifact on the network.

if we should not be careful

privacy becomes a corporate commodity(not even a public commodity)negotiable for purchase

libraries had protectedand still protectin their contracts

but agglomeration of informationwill certainly only increase with timeand the power of awareness with it

StreetView

capture pictures of peopleon the street, in shops, in homes

is this a privacy violation?

Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which went into effect on January 1, 2004.

Street View "does not appear to meet the basic requirements of knowledge, consent, and limited collection and use as set out in the legislation." – Canadian privacy commissioner,

letter to Google, Sept 2007

"We would launch Street View in Canada in keeping with the principles and requirements of Canadian law ... we'll have to focus on finding ways to make sure that individual's faces are not identifiable in pictures taken in Canada and that license plate numbers are not identifiable in Canada.”

-- Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy counsel

the majority of network data collection is invisible to the user.

my mobile phone service provider:/ knows where I am/ who I talk to/ when I talk to them/ who my friends are

the downside

life experience is recordedinformation use is tracked,advantage adheres to thosewho insert dams to pool eventswithin the flow of information

accepting loss of privacywith an ability to opt-out yields an enhanced product

offering

privacy issue is not dissimilarfrom copyright

Google Book SearchGoogle digitizes copyrighted materialprovides an innovative useful service and there is an opt-out option

Both are appropriations (without any apology)(with givebacks upon

request)that

enableuseful services.

[Information flow](on-line)

things people >> do

>> corporations >>>> governments

>>??

how well, really,do national governments

actually controlcorporations?andwhat is the relation ofpeople to government?

and therefore the relation of

people to their identitypeople to their privacypeople to their rights

as reading becomes a

social act

embedded within the network

all this is presentin how we decide

>> together <<

to shape reading --with our new books

contact info:

email: peter at diglib org

thanks!