Reading the Next Book

Reading the Next Book Peter Brantley Sept/Oct 2007 DLF

“ a book is a machine to think with.”
I. A. Richards
Principles of Literary Criticism
1924

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 epitome
of a solitary act,
but
now 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 digital
through two different paths:
digital production of the new
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 individuals
licensing for organization/enterprise

what can’t easily generate revenue
is 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 books
digitized
by Google
then resold
by Google
licensed
by libraries

all online models are a mixed blessing particularly for reading !! “ Architecture is politics ... ” - Mitch Kapor

PRIVACY

in the digital world
privacy does not inherently exist
it must be explicitly designed for.
& because engineering is expensive
user 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 protected
and still protect
in their contracts
but agglomeration of information
will certainly only increase with time
and the power of awareness with it

StreetView
capture pictures of people
on 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 down
s
i
d
e
life experience is recorded
information use is tracked,
advantage adheres to those
who insert dams to pool events
within the flow of information

accepting loss of privacy
with an ability to opt-out
yields an enhanced product offering

privacy issue is not dissimilar
from copyright
Google Book Search
Google digitizes copyrighted material
provides an innovative useful service
and there is an opt-out option

Both are appropriations
(without any apology)
(with givebacks upon request)
that
enable
useful services.

[Information flow]
(on-line)
things people >>
do
>> corporations >>
>> governments >>
??

how well, really,
do national governments
actually control
corporations?
and
what is the relation of
people to government?

and therefore the relation of
people to their identity
people to their privacy
people to their rights

as reading becomes a
social act
embedded within
the network

all this is present
in how we decide
>> together <<
to shape reading --
with our new books

contact info:
email: peter at diglib org
thanks !

http://radar.oreilly.com	172
http://www.netvibes.com	16
http://hektor.umcs.lublin.pl	13
http://monkai.tumblr.com	2
http://pereztonella.blogspot.com	2
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Reading the Next Book

by Peter Brantley on Oct 07, 2007

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