Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Google Books

This relates to books, my favorite thing, so I think it has an interesting place here.
Google is a leader in today’s search for knowledge. When I want pizza, I type in “Papa Johns” and up comes the site. If I’m searching for a news story I heard, simply search for “shortage of tortillas in Mexico.” Well, what is the greatest source of all knowledge? Books, of course! While any old kook (including myself) can publish information, false or true, it takes at least two people to agree on putting information out into the world in book form (the writer and the publisher). So in a quest to make the universe a slightly more knowledgable place, Google is attempting to make the Internet a worldwide library, but not without some opposition.
There is an interesting article in last week's New Yorker concerning their quest. Each week, a Google truck pulls up to the Cecil H. Green Library at Stanford University and collects thousands of books. They are then taken and scanned, page-by-page, into a database collected by Google. And Google intends to scan every book ever written, and make the texts searchable, as they already have with Websites. They believe they can do this amazing feat inside of ten years.
Their only motivation for such a mission: to make “the world’s information…universally accessible and useful.” Noble, and mind-boggling at the same time. However, for such a huge company (worth billions of dollars) to be quietly consuming libraries full of volumes of knowledge creates some modicum of resistance.
Nearly all attempts at making books electronic have failed, however, these free electronic versions infringe upon publishers’ domain. Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group, and McGraw Hill have all filed a lawsuit against the company, urging Google to stop the project. The issue lies, of course, in copyright laws.
The first such law was passed in 1790, but is confusing, and constantly amended, most recently and memorably in 1998. The publisher’s complaint is that Google is essentially copying millions of volumes of books without any compensation or payment to the owners. While many books copyright protections have expired, the vast majority of books are still under copyright or out of print. Google is scanning the entire book, but only making “snippets” available on the Web. Herein lies the rub.
Copyright law has never forbidden all copying of a work; for instance, most of us have quoted material in a paper or for other such fair use. Google’s argument is that it’s the same concept as Websites. People expect their websites to be found, even though they are also copyrighted, so by scanning books, Google gives people a chance to find books as well, and for them to be more easily accessible. But publishers maintain that the act of copying is an infringement of the traditional understanding, even if only portions are available for viewing.
As Google is first and foremost a business, it will be up to the courts to ultimately allow Google to continue scanning the material, but most involved believe that a settlement is most likely. Google could pay in cash, or in kind with advertising for the publishing companies, or even specific books. Business exists in a world outside the court time; it can’t wait for lawsuits to be resolved.
In this digital age, it’s an interesting conundrum. Libraries, publishers, people must adapt. But this could change the way we read. Technology has been evolving for many years, and it will certainly continue to. My personal opinion is that anytime knowledge, and particularly BOOKS are more readily available, it’s only a good thing, never evil. What do you think?

Monday, February 05, 2007

A Reading Game

Ok, so one of my very good friends, a fellow avid reader, posted this game on her Xanga site, and "tagged" me to respond, so I feel obliged. Here are the rules:

Grab the nearest book to you,
Open to page 123, look down to the 5th sentence,
Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog,
Include the title and the author's name,
Tag 3 people.

Now, I was tempted to go find a classic, well-written, intelligent, or at least obsurely bookish book to charm you all into thinking I am ever so clever and deep, but... rule #1 does say to grab the book "nearest" and lo and behold, the book on the top of my library stack, sitting next to the couch is... We're Just Like You, Only Prettier by Celia Rivenbark. It just caught my eye the other day in the Southern American section, as an interesting "study" in Southern psychology (see, Dr. Blalock, that psychology hasn't wormed its way out of my system just yet), so I picked it up, and now I must divulge to you the dark secrets of how indescriminatory I am with my library card (hey, it's free! so if you don't like it, you can just return it a week later, and be none-the-poorer... the beauties of our tax-dollars at work).
Well, this is pretty funny, but man, does Mrs. Rivenbark write in some run on sentences! Enjoy y'all!

"Shoot, that's thirteen and the bread basket hasn't even arrived yet. We followed with: Enron; Ronnie Reagan; da-doo-ron-ron; how to pronounce Ilyanla's name and wonder if she signes her check with a little exlamation point like on TV; speeding tickets; the comeback of fishnet pantyhose...
There was more of course: how pineapple salsa always give me bad dreams; is brown or gray the new black; why nobody RSVPs for a kid's birthday party and how that makes you crazy; the trend of sending invitations to big-budget parties for engaged couples and then, on the same invitation, hitting you up to help pay for it (consensus: tacky beyond words); liposuction (well it had been an hour); Russell Crowe; crow's feet; the Black Crowes (this is typical estrogen stream-of-consciousness stuff; try to hang); Chelsea's sleek new bob; Sarah Jessica Parker's sleek new bob; how we'd have kept the curls; the Winter Olympics; how somebody's brother-in-law used to live in Salt Lake City and said they do, too, drink coffee out there; how our waiter lookes exactly like Joey on Friends."

I hadn't even started reading this one yet, when I jumped on ahead to Part 3: Chapter 3. But I think I'll go start in on Part 1: The Southern Family, Chapter 1: Stop Watching Your Plasma TV and Start Selling Your Plasma!
I got a good feeling I'm gonna be laughin' so hard, milk's gonna done shoot out that thur nose o mine, ain't it? Gosh, I miss Tennessee!