January 2003

Slashdot pointed the way to This Wired Story on Project Gutenberg.

It seems the hard task is mobilizing the resources to build it, and that excludes the Millions it\’s going to cost.

Project Gutenberg, however, has failed to achieve any form of critical mass. It\’s not a high priority for governments. It hasn\’t attracted large donations from foundations. Since the whole point is to create a free universal online library, it won\’t be driven by markets. And as an open source project, the positive-feedback loops are not strong enough. The work is time-consuming and boring.

Troy Johnson writes \”One of the Refernce Librarians at NPR has their own commentary section now. It is called \”Musings with Alphonse Vinh\” and below is the comment about it at the NPR site.


Alphonse Vinh\’s work as a reference librarian at NPR allows him to dive into an ever-expanding universe of published material and offer his colleagues an assortment of his freshest findings. Now NPR.org gives the rest of the world a chance to enjoy Alphonse\’s efforts.
\”

The Economist has This One that says of all the many difficult issues , the copyright battle is becoming one of the most urgent, and bitterly fought, because it could yet determine the future character of cyberspace itself.

They say a return to the original purpose of copyright (the grant of a temporary government-supported monopoly on copying a work) may be the best course of action.

\”Over the past 50 years, as a result of heavy lobbying by content industries, copyright has grown to such ludicrous proportions that it now often inhibits rather than promotes the circulation of ideas…\”

Jen Young sent over This Post-Dispatch Story on genealogical research using Internet and genealogy software.

They say genealogy is the second-most-researched area after pornography. It\’s the No. 2 hobby in America after gardening, and the No. 1 year-round hobby. Genealogy makes up about 6 percent of online traffic on the Web, says Rhonda McClure, online columnist for Genealogy.com and author of \”The Complete Idiot\’s Guide to Online Genealogy.\”

Jwn Young sent over a nice Wired Story on The Wikipedia, a free multilingual encyclopedia created entirely by volunteers on the Internet, published its 100,000th article. More than 37,000 articles populate the non-English editions.

Unlike traditional encyclopedias, which are written and edited by professionals, Wikipedia is the result of work by thousands of volunteers. Anyone can contribute an article — or edit an existing one — at any time.

Wikis, funny name, good stuff.

Here\’s A Chicago Sun-Times Story on the relaunched Oxford American.

Billed as \’\’The Southern Magazine of Good Writing,\’\’ the Oxford American almost folded last year. It was taken over by At Home Media Group Inc., publishers of an interior decorating magazine. The new owners moved the publication from Oxford, Miss., to its new home in Little Rock.

NPR Has a Story as well.

Jen Young passed along This NYTimes Story the New York Public Library\’s Wertheim Study, a room reserved for writers who apply for a special area in which to work.

There is a hierarchy when it comes to the level of amenities available, ranging from modest to opulent. Depending on the nature of the project, the author\’s status, and whether he or she has a book contract, a writer can occupy anything from a bare-bones room with shared tables and shelf space to a well-appointed private suite complete with computers, sofas, a kitchen and a stipend.

The Examiner Takes A Look at San Francisco\’s latest plan to overhaul The City\’s branch libraries, which emphasizes adding computers, lounges and meeting areas — and reducing book stacks.

The library says yes, stacks will be reduced at some branches, but for other reasons. The renovations provide an opportunity to widen aisle space to achieve American Disability Act codes. Wider aisles in the same space mean fewer books.

The Tallahassee Democrat calls the Plan to close State Library brazenly bad, while The Palm Beach Post Says eliminating the state library raises more questions than the governor\’s office has answers. e.g. where they would place 10.7 linear miles of materials.

The Naples Daily News and another from The Tallahassee Democrat cover the issues as well.

Meanwhile, in Washington State, Republicans want to move up closing the State Library to the public.

Gary Deane sent over 2 opposing viewpoints on filtering at Ottawa\’s public libraries.


Keep the porn away from kids says The Ottawa Public Library is right to protect free access to information through the Internet.

But the library must also ensure that its premises and computers don\’t simply become vehicles for the viewing of sexually explicit images.

Filtering Internet a \’slipperly slope, says Restricting Internet access at Ottawa\’s public libraries would be the start of a \”slippery slope\” toward restricting intellectual freedom.