"This is great, and I hope to see more stories like this in the future. Why can't the government do this sort of thing?" - Ernie the Attorney on wireless hotspots in low-income housing.

The TeleRead take: I'm thinking of the speed of Wi-Fi and looking back to the time when people told me that e-books would never work out because modems weren't fast enough. And talk about a way to reach low income people who may not even have reliable phone service (perhaps because they've skipped a payment)!

Other details from CNN--about the Boston-area experiment: "Now that Camfield's Internet provider has ended its two-year commitment to offer discounted cable modem access, the project's organizers will soon give residents the option of replacing their wired Internet access with a wireless connection.

"The high-speed WiFi system transmits and receives data from four barely visible antennas atop the development's main building.

"Residents can buy wireless cards for their desktops or laptops. The cards, which can cost up to $100 retail, will be given away to the elderly and sold for $60 to others."

And the usefulness of the experiment? Rather evident already. "A resident poll found that virtually all participants used the computers to read news, learn about health and housing, or to shop online. Several said they were training to become Web designers, programmers and network administrators."

Oh my God, what would Cliff Stoll think? Remember Silicon Snake Oil? Sure the Net got hyped up, it's not a world-saver, but as the CNN piece shows, innovative technology can be a veritable life-changer for the poor.
posted by David Rothman at 11:17 PM | permanent link

"Bill Gates manages to write a guest editorial about 'libraries' that does not mention the word books. In fact, it's just an ad for the Gates Foundation. Remember, freedom of the press is only for those who own [or can buy and sell] them. [ thanks bill ]." - From librarian.net.

The TeleRead take: Gates concludes the Seattle Times editorial: "We must all pitch in to keep our libraries vibrant and strong, whether through volunteer hours, donations or government spending. We must continue to support our libraries so they can keep the doors of knowledge open to all." Hint, hint, Bill. So when are you going to pay to get the Great Gatsby on the Net for American library-users--the book of which you bought several rare early copies for the library of your $50-million mansion? It's in the public domain in Australia and whatnot, but not over here..
posted by David Rothman at 8:56 PM | permanent link

Ophrah Winfrey's revived book club will do the classics--three to five a year. Great excuse for local libraries to print out hard copies of Project Gutenberg texts and also recommend them in e-book form, not just on paper. And if Oprah can send a little money in PG's direction, so much the better.

Again, I'm not saying, "Hey, Oprah, just talk up the e-books and the printouts." Most readers will want the familiar medium of paper, and many will insist on commercial editions--I'm happy to see the publishers get the business, which, these days, they badly need. But she could do a major service by also reminding viewers of the "free" electronic option and the printout one.

If, along the way, Oprah can promote the concept of public domain and call for reduced copyright terms, then so much the better.

My suggestion for the first title, by the way, is My Antonia--hardly the most original selection but a very appropriate one. Find it at Amazon.com or via a Web site with material from PG.
posted by David Rothman at 8:02 PM | permanent link

For years I've wondered if ex-White House advisor Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Assocation of America, might not be a foreign agent. Hilary Rosen, too--the CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America. No, not really, but almost. Along with many others, I've warned of the intense hatred that our clueless copyright laws are stirring up against the States. Brilliant way to recruit hackers for Saddam. Regardless of the consequences, Hollywood and Washington want to inflict our antiquated intellectual property models on the whole planet. Who says the Iraq crisis is the only source of divergence from Europe?

Now, from the United Kingdom, has come some anti-Yank xenophobia that Valenti and Rosen and their congressional allies vastly deserve, or at least would if the damage could be limited to them.

The difference is that Bill Thompson, ranting in the Register, is only a writer-consultant and presumably isn't in a position to bribe legislators with massive campaign donations, unlike Hollywood and the American recording industry. "Damn the Constitution: Europe must take back the Web," is the headline of a column that he wrote last year, and that I discovered today through Luke Francl, a TeleRead contributor who had read my item below. Seems that Thompson’s call for hyper regulation of search engines was very much in character.

In fairness to Thompson, he is on the market, er, on the mark, on many a point. I'd agree when he complains: "We have already seen US law, in the form of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, used to persuade hosts in other countries to pull material or limit its availability." And how right he is about some other matters such as "Congressman Howard Berman's ridiculous proposal to give copyright holders immunity from prosecution of they hack into P2P networks." I applaud, too, when he writes: “In Europe our copyright laws allow lending of material, and so material players licensed for use within the dataspace would not restrict personal copying or lending, although they would respect other rights.”

Thompson errs big time, however, when he says: "I believe that the time has come to speak out in favour of a regulated network; an Internet where each country can set its own rules for how its citizens, companies, courts and government work with and manage those parts of the network that fall within its jurisdiction; an Internet that reflects the diversity of the world's legal, moral and cultural choices instead of simply propagating U.S. hegemony; an Internet that is subject to political control instead of being an uncontrollable experiment in radical capitalism. It is time to reclaim the net from the Americans."

But as grouchy as I am about Valenti and Rosen, would Thompson’s approach really be better? How about the billions of people in China? I like it when U.S. conglomerates resist Chinese efforts to turn the Net into just another arm of that government. If anything, they should take harder stands. Blogger, Google’s newest purchase, via Pyra Labs, won points with me when the Chinese banned its Web site. That’s what these blogs are all about—freedom of speech, a concept that is hardly American only, unless the ancient Greeks just happened to have settled in the New World. Simply put, America is not just about Valenti and Rosen. It is also about Pyra Labs and the other innovative free spirits. Linus Torvalds did move to Silicon Valley; I doubt he’ll be relocating to Beijing soon. Chinese censorship is just as loathsome as the American corporate variety.

Recently I was reminded of the obnoxiousness of Beijing’s censors--in the most direct way this week--when a client working for a labor union said that a local government agency might block employees from accessing the union’s site. The agency had already attempted to block his members’ email. I told him about Google’s hassles with the Chinese, and he sent out an electronic newsletter invoking the parallel, in effect warning the thuggish bureaucrats that he would play it up in the media. That is how the Net can empower democracy, not just here in the States but elsewhere.

But what about different national values? The real answer isn’t to try to remake the Net the Thompson way, so it’s simply a creature of local elites. Instead governments at all levels should establish alternatives such as TeleRead-style libraries that could reflect and promote local culture and values without imposing them on the rest of the world. The role of governments should not be to take away the richness of the Net from citizens, but rather to add treasures of their own.

Note: Readers might also be intersted in Andrew Orlowski's skeptical dialogue with Thompson.

posted by David Rothman at 11:46 AM | permanent link

"'Blogging is not journalism.' Period. Technology consultant Bill Thompson--whoever he is--has an absurd little temper tantrum today on BBCNews.com in a column about Google's purchase of Pyra and the excitement it stirred in the blog community." - JD's New Media Musings

The TeleRead take: J.D. Lasica is right on the above--and something else, too. Especially I fear Thompson's call for extremely close government regulation of search engines. Well, yes, Google does bear watching on the privacy issue. But be careful. Paradoxically, the more closely the government regulates, the more likely it is to demand sensitive information about users--and get it! A far better approach than heavy-handed regulation would be the creation of a massive, librarian-run search engine project--building on existing Net-related efforts of librarians.

While Google bears watching and maybe even some regulating beyond present laws, we shouldn't rush into this without considering the downside, especially First Amendment issues. Google has had enough trouble with the Chinese government. We don't need to add to the ability of U.S. politicians to exert pressure.
posted by David Rothman at 12:36 PM | permanent link

"While the Internet has given us all a forum within which to write and be published as never before, the Internet also gives us tools to search for and locate documents online to detect work or works that have been plagiarized. Detection of plagiarized material can be as simple as doing a Google Search or when the stakes are higher, using a specialist service that can detect plagiarism for you."

Google Search

"Simply copy out any sentence of the text that seems to be the most representative of the uniqueness of that text and place that in the search field on Google. While this is not foolproof, it has worked for me eight time out of ten to identify a plagiarized text when I have suspected that text to be doubtful. This may not always work as the text may not be on the Internet, may not be indexed by Google or it may simply be a text that is well down the Google results page that you miss seeing it. "

--Smoogle
posted by Jerry Justianto at 8:30 AM | permanent link

Cable/Phone Monopolies Take Aim at Muncipal Fiber In today's column I suggest that the phone and cable monopolies will do everything communications alternatives. That may include sheer deception, as this report from an Illinois newspaper suggests.- Dan Gillmor's eJournal.

The TeleRead take: Not that different from copyright extension. If you're rich enough and you don't like the rules--well, just come up with enough campaign contributions to change 'em.
posted by David Rothman at 10:01 PM | permanent link

Dr. Ralph Wilson, a marketing expert who has self-published, serves up some interesting advice in his Web Marketing Today. He discusses formats and even Adobe Acrobat substitutes. Meanwhile here's what he says on the issue of password protection:

"E-book publishers seem paranoid that someone will steal their intellectual property and e-mail it to a friend. And they will--occasionally. This is my take on the matter. Few people who spend $25 or more on an e-book are likely to e-mail a copy to friends. And most of the people who collect such illicit freebies never read them--nor would they have likely bought the e-book if they couldn't get a free copy. I argue that you lose very few potential sales by leaving password protection off your e-book. It's not an issue to loose your sleep over--this from a writer who has had hundreds of articles pirated onto websites by ignorant or unscrupulous webmasters. People who steal from others are seldom successful in business and are unlikely customers."

The TeleRead take: What's true of business-oriented books may not always be true of other categories. Still, at this point, the audience for e-books is so tiny that publishers of protected material may well be at a disadvantage compared to those selling similar books without protection. Whatever the category, consumers will balk at inconvenience and at stupid protection tricks that, say, make it difficult to transfer e-books back and forth even between readers' own machines. A TeleRead approach, allowing easy file sharing, without charging extra for intra-household transfers, would be far superior. Of course, ideally enough online books would be paid for by a national digital library fund to make such issues moot in many cases.

(Wilson item spotted via Jerry Justiano's Pocket PC eBooks Watch.)
posted by David Rothman at 7:46 AM | permanent link

From Ted VanItallie, president of the Florida Historical Society, urging the signing of a petition to save the State Library:

Dear Friend of Florida History:

As President of the state's only statewide historical society and oldest cultural institution, The Florida Historical Society, I feel it is imperative for me to voice my strong objection to Governor Jeb Bush's recent proposal to eliminate the State Library of Florida, severely limit the activities of the Division of Archives, and eliminate the State Museum of Florida. This is an ill-conceived idea that will greatly impair the work of individuals interested in Florida's history and a create negative perception of modern Florida among thinking Americans.

The State Museum is a vital component of the cultural and educational life of the state. The valuable collections it houses deserve the very best efforts of trained conservationists and museum professionals. Placing these irreplaceable items under the Park Service (as the governor proposes) is irresponsible. Moreover, this action represents a most unfortunate and cynical repudiation of the pledges made on behalf of the State of Florida to the many donors of priceless historical items. This kind of action is shameful.

The Florida Archives need full-time, adequately trained professionals to oversee the preservation and curation of this unique and wonderful collection. To relegate such a valuable resource to the "care" of an amorphous and curatorially unqualified "Management Services" bureau, as proposed by the governor, is entirely unacceptable.

The proposed elimination or dismantling of the State Library of Florida is an abomination. The unwarranted attack on this fine institution has provoked an outcry from the public that transcends the boundaries of our state. The Florida Historical Society created an on-line petition (www.floridahistory.info/petition) on February 10 to register protests against the governor's plan of action. In a mere 48 hours, more than 2,000 verified e-mail signatures have been added and an additional 600 are in the process of being verified as legitimate. What a response! But, what an issue!

I encourage anyone interested in Florida history, or who supports the concept that these cultural treasures should be readily accessible to all of our citizens, to sign this petition. Perhaps we can put a stop to this "evil" idea before it comes to fruition.

Ted VanItallie

President, The Florida Historical Society

The TeleRead take: TeleRead, however gung ho on the use and preservation of e-books and other digital items, abhors the proposed closing of the old-fashioned State Library. Even from a tech and new-media perspective, this idea is utterly clueless. Intact, the State Library might contribute in some wonderful ways to execution of the Florida Virtual Library Plan mentioned below--systematically putting the Library's collection online. Yes, that could be done by other agencies. But not with the same cohesion that an established State Library could bring. Beyond that, aren't historical documents worth preserving in their original formats, with the help of the very most qualified librarians? What's the logical end result of all this nonsense? Will it spread to Washington? Now that the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence have been digitized, shall we shred them to save money and space? Hyperbole, but in Florida the line between reality and satire can be, er, paper-thin.

Many thousands of miles away, the Taliban no longer are the main rulers of Afghanistan, but their damage lives on. They remain a threat to history since future generations will still be deprived of important elements of Buddhist culture. Does Jeb Bush really want the destruction of the State Library to be his legacy? Imagine--a governor as an American Taliban.
posted by David Rothman at 1:55 AM | permanent link

Live in Florida? This petition is a "must" sign if you value the State Library--now menaced by Gov. Bush. Remember, this pol is a librarian's brother-in-law. Imagine the threat posed by the rest of the pack amid all the budget-cutting. No advocacy of government waste. But here we're talking about an attack not just on a library but an entire state's memory.

On the positive in Florida: Under the Florida Virtual Library Plan, individual library users would have access to a wider variety of material as a result of consolidated databases--with statewide licensing (perhaps to extend to e-books someday?). In a K-12 context, the plan would fit in well with the proposal of a Dade County teachers' union leader to spread laptops around the schools, freeing computer-lab rooms for use as regular classrooms. Gov. Bush deserves credit for open-mindedness to innovation here.

But the Virtual Library, laptops, whatnot, would be no substitute for the dusty old archives of the very physical State Library. Hey, Guv, have you really thought this one over?

(Info on petition via Infomaniac.)
posted by David Rothman at 1:33 AM | permanent link

Microsoft is planning to build Digital Rights Management into Office 2003, according to a Slashdot item quoting an article in Microsoft Watch. The new restrictions will be on Outlook mail messages, as well as on Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Users should be prepared to potentially suffer obnoxious Digital Rights Management in tools that they may use to try to work with or view "protected" content--not merely in DRMed books themselves. Microsoft could be planning to help escalate the war against fair use through restrictions based not just on normal copyright and contract law but on rules enforced by technology. Of course, the issue isn't e-books alone. Imagine the harm that massive use of DRM-protected email could do to the Net. I can appreciate the need for the corporate world to protect proprietary information, but the problem is that Microsoft software is the norm even outside the F-500.

In a very much related vein, it's great to read in BusinessWeek, via Slashdot, that Linux is picking up more traction in the corporate world, or at least for apps such as servers or cash register systems for movie theaters. Problem is the desktop. For now I'm back to Windows XP, having found that with both Lindows and Red Hat, I could not paste back and forth--among different programs--as conveniently as I needed. A small detail to certain programmers, maybe, but not to me when I'm on deadline. Oh, the irony. Here the Penguin folks are advocating the free flow of information and yet within the Linux world, I could not even shuffle large blocks of text back and forth between Open Office and Mozilla, or at least not from the former to the latter. Maybe with more effort. But I just plain ran out of time and switched back to Windows XP. Until the Linux people can come up with standards that work out of the box or close to it--well, I'll just stick to Microsoft products and hope that eventually the L people catch on. Hey, aren't Red Hat, Lindows and the rest of 'em supposed to add value by integrating the best products? Still has yet to happen to the extent needed. Perhaps in another six months or a year.
posted by David Rothman at 12:18 AM | permanent link

"...Lawrence Lessig, pointed out Wednesday that millions of consumers are downloading music and other materials onto their computers because slow dial-up connections make it tough to stream content quickly to a variety of devices. That's bound to change within a few years as connections get faster, he said, making today's debate irrelevant." - AP, Feb. 20, via NewsScan.

The TeleRead take: "In the future," Lessig is quoted, "it will be easier to pay for subscription services than to be an amateur database administrator who moves content from device to device. We're legislating against a background of the Internet's current architecture of content distribution, and this is a fundamental mistake." And hopefully one that publishers will avoid--by cooperating with librarians and through sensible use of the subscription approach.
posted by David Rothman at 12:50 PM | permanent link

Followers of the TeleBlog know we're paying close attention to the music business to see what it could portend for books. To Music Marketers, Oldies Are Goldies, a recent Washington Post article, brings to mind one possibility. The big studios are unabashedly going after the aging boomers--via oldies such as Rod Stewart's--after having gotten the message that Gen X and below would rather get material online for free.

As the music conglomerates see it, the gray hairs are more likely than their sons and daughters to, gasp, pay for physical objects. Does this mean that eventually the book industry will try a similar tack with p-books as e-books grow in importance with the young?

OK, fine. (Just don't crank up a massive marketing campaign for Valley of the Dolls.)

Better to think "free" as soon as possible, however, rather than fixating on past successes. Consider a TeleRead-style approach, which, of course, would include provisions for fair compensation for copyright holders. If not "free"--our preference in as many cases as feasible--perhaps a reasonably priced subscription plan would be the way to go. See our thoughts on business models.
posted by David Rothman at 6:19 AM | permanent link

"Senator Ron Wyden is getting ready to introduce a compromise copyright bill that doesn't seem like much of a 'compromise,' as it's really a consumer protection bill in disguise (not that that's a bad thing...). This bill would require consumer electronics, technology products, and media products to come with labels explaining their anti-copying technologies." - A few more details at TechDirt. Also see a CNET article.

The TeleRead take: Let's hope the copyright mess gets straightened out in a helpful way, even though, like TechDirt, I doubt that the music biz will appreciate the Wyden bill. Meanwhile the fossils in DC and the executive suites of the recording industry are hindering the development of promising new technology. A major venture capital firm, for example, won't back a a new system to let music stream over cell-phone networks--lest this be Napster II, with Doberman-style lawyers turned loose by the RIAA and friends.

This is why one reason why certain Gen-Xers and Millenials hate us boomers or at least love us a little less. Guess what? A generation gap reminiscent of the Vietnam era is coming back with a vengeance. This time it's more over technology and workplace practices than foreign policy (although it looks as if many of today's young are questioning that, too). Just wait until the RIAA starts prosecuting ordinary consumers. I almost hope it does. Great way to get out the vote and help cast out Washington's many bought politicians.
posted by David Rothman at 5:57 AM | permanent link

TeleRead, alas, isn't here yet to help narrow the digital divide between rich and poor, and meanwhile we're sorry to hear that Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants to kill off the state's $1.5-billion Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund. Check out a news story in the Austin American Statesman, dated Feb. 18, with a link I've added below:

"David Disko's workday is supposed to end at 4:30 p.m., but he usually stays late because students at Del Valle Junior High are hungry for more time on the computers.

"Every day after school, the computer lab teacher and more than a dozen students tackle advanced technology projects such as robotics.

"'I have to throw them out at 6 p.m.,' Disko said.

"The school computers are the only ones many of these kids know. About 75 percent of Del Valle Junior High's 1,150 students come from families that can't afford computers, and school officials say the district can barely afford them."

Let's hope this talk of abolishing the Telecommunciations Infrastructure Fund is just politics. Fascinatingly, Gov. Perry today announced the appointment of a new member to the Fund Board, with a term scheduled to expire in '05 (the just-given link goes to a Word document).

Perhaps, amid the budget-cutting frenzy, the Governor's plans are in the category of: "Let's propose the abolition of the Department of Sanitation, so we can get the voters riled up enough to approve of tax increases later on." Then again, in a state like Texas, he probably means business. Too bad. A Perry Web site says the Governor "has prioritized public and higher education." What's more, he's from a farm area, the very kind of place that the Fund benefits the most--along with cash-strapped urban schools and libraries.

Serve taxpayers efficiently? Of course. However, let's not tear down, helter-skelter, what's working today, and if this means higher taxes to support both the computer initiative and other educational endeavors, then so be it. Even well-financed, hardware-oriented groups like the Beaumont Foundation of America will be able to do only so much to spread the desktops around. Schools like Del Valle Junior High will suffer.

But what about a related issue not mentioned in the article? The cost of maintaining computer-lab rooms in crowded school districts that could make use of the space as classrooms. We've in favor of that, with the students given portable computers. But we need to think of the here and now. Anyway, might not the idea of the Telecommunications Fund be eventually modernized to include TeleRead-style computers for use at home and school? Sooner or later, the machines will cost a fraction of what today's desktops do.

Interestingly, Texas has been a leader among the states in the evaluation of e-books for use in K-12, and that, of course, means it has an interest in the evolution of the tablet computer. Time for Texas and maybe a consortium of other states to get together on a TeleRead act--both in terms of hardware and content--if the feds won't move forward? Not that I've lost hope about President Bush. Given all the bad news from high tech in recent years, he could do worse than to propose a well-targeted program to help both kids and the industry at the same time.

(Austin item via ASCD SmartBrief.)
posted by David Rothman at 6:43 PM | permanent link

Is the time nearing for a massive, librarian-run search engine without commercial ties? Overture's buyout of AltaVista may greatly increase the need for such an arrangement. In the New York Times today, Ted Meisel, Overture CEO, said that in the future AltaVista will charge Web sites extra for indexing page other than the home page. Stinkin' idea if applied to any site, and especially horrid if it applies to noncommercial ones. Let's hope that the Googlers and others are clueful enough to know that this kind of greed is not good. In full, here's the relevant paragraph in the Times article announcing the Overture-AltaVista deal:

"One way that AltaVista will make money for Overture is through what is called paid inclusion--charging Web sites to have more of their pages included in the search results. Typically search engines, like AltaVista, will index the home page and a handful of other pages on any Web site. If the Web site owner wants more pages searched--each product in a catalog, for example--companies like Inktomi and AltaVista charge for additional referrals that result. (Google, so far, does not charge for inclusion in its index.) Mr. Meisel said that the paid inclusion market was far smaller than its existing search advertising business."

Note: Overture was founded on the Yellow Pages model, with sites paid to be listed, period. That I can stomach if the consumer knows what's going on. And since Google and the like need to make money, I can understand the need for keyword-driven ads if they are identified as much. What I hate, however, is the taint that Overture has in mind for AltaVista, which started out with the same glow now enjoyed by Google. May the Googler's resist temptation!
posted by David Rothman at 5:50 PM | permanent link

On the Horn of Africa, east of Ethiopia and Sudan, sits the nation of Eritrea with 3.5 million people in nine ethnic groups. Just the kind of place where a TeleRead-style national digital library system could eventually thrive, given the rural nature of the country and the need to spread books around inexpensively to different cultures. Today we were delighted to learn that tFanus, an Eritrean Internet company, had placed TeleRead on a list of the most interesting computer-related sites--right behind TechWeb and PCWorld.com.
posted by David Rothman at 4:10 PM | permanent link

About new media monopolies....

Er, we'd better be especially nice to Google now that those folks are buying Blogger, whose publishing system powers the TeleBlog. Already, as noted in a Feb. 17 Wired News article, some people are wondering whether Google in the future will treat all blogging systems alike.

The TeleRead take: This is yet another argument for a well-stocked national digital library system, so that the public and content creators would not be so dependent on the whims of the big boys. Nothing against Google, by the way. It's near the top of the list of our favorite Net services, and in fact, when we lost some files the other day, our fault, not Blogger's, guess where we could turn. Yes, the cached versions on Google. Of course, that's another argument for spreading data around--both via libraries and via private resources such as Google.
posted by David Rothman at 11:10 AM | permanent link

"In the strongest signal to date of its commitment to preserving the nation's digital legacy, Congress has set aside $100 million for the Library of Congress to carry out a plan for collecting and preserving digital information, including images, CD's, Web pages and electronic journals." - New York Times, Feb. 15.

The TeleRead take: So what about modern books? The Times article correctly notes: "The library has digitized some of its physical collection, including items like Civil War photographs and presidential papers. But it is lagging in the task of archiving electronica: scholarly journals, books and magazines that are 'born digital'; CD-ROM's; digital photographs, music and films; and millions of miscellaneous pieces of Internet-based material." Also, remember the difference between prototypes and carrying out preservation and access on a massive scale, as TeleRead advocates. Librarian of Congress James Billington has even gone out of his way to say that the Library will not digitize modern books. We need both old and new items preserved. Who knows which contemporary items will be tomorrow's classics? The likes of AOL Time Warner care less about preservation than about corporate profits, and the recently extended copyright terms in the States will just compound the damage.

Very much on the positive side, an October report from the LOC-related National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Plan addresses many of the issues that TeleRead was discussing years ago--such as the need to deal with competing e-book formats and allow peer-to-peer sharing of material. Clueful. Gasp, the October report even suggest mechanisms for the Library to address the business issues of presevation of books--who'll pay for it? And what about complications from copy-protection schemes or bankruptcies of copyright holders? Mentioned--along with word that the library is experimenting with "safe harbor" arrangements with publishers to allow preservation of material still under copyright. Too bad that such arrangements are needed. They should be built into the law.

I'm not sure if it's there--the .pdf document is horrid to read on the screen and my LaserJet is low on ink--but hopefully the report also discusses the potential of fixed links so that nonfiction digital books could reliably link to each other and hopefuly even to sections within them.
posted by David Rothman at 2:06 PM | permanent link

One of the arguments against a TeleRead-style national digital library system is the potential for privacy violations. We've addressed this by suggesting that tracking of intellectual property use--for the purpose of compensating content providers--could be done through technologies similar to those envisioned for anonymous digital cash. Meanwhile, it looks as if existing Web services are far, far less vigilant. Check out Google as Big Brother in GoogleWatch: A look at how Google's monopoly, algorithms, and privacy policies are undermining the Web.

Google is one of our favorite search engines and is the ultimate deathblow to the old argument that one could never do full-text searching in a national digital library system. Still, we're glad GoogleWatch is around. Now if only Google can include the TeleRead blog among the items indexed in the News section. As GoogleWatch points out, just one company can exercise more than its share of influence in setting the priorities of the Web.

It will be interesting to see when new media giants are subjected to the same scrutiny--in the influence department--that members of the old media are. The intensive scrutiny of AOL-Time Warner merger was a good start even if one of the partners came from the old media.

Irony: Imagine all the retirement accounts, including mine, that would have been better off if Washington had shot down the merger.

(Google item spotted via LibraryPlanet.)
posted by David Rothman at 1:49 PM | permanent link

Handhelds.org promotes "the creation of open source software for use on handheld and wearable computers" and offers some interesting how-tos such as How to Run Linux on iPAQ Handhelds.

Meanwhle Motoroa has unveiled a new Linux-based handheld/phone.

Earlier in this blog, James Linden, TeleRead's CTO, discussed the idea of a tablet-style Linux portable optimized for education.
posted by David Rothman at 1:25 PM | permanent link

Aggressively enforced copyright monpologies will stifle innovation (.pdf file). That's among the arguments of two economists.

David Levine of UCLA and Michele Boldrin of the University of Minnesota invoke a fascinating parallel from the steam-engine era. The reader can immediately apply it to the pay-per-read lobby here in the States and elsewhere.

Of James Watt, inventor of the steam engine, Levine and Boldrin write: "Watt is is a clever inventor, who, after getting one step ahead of the pack, remains ahead not by superior innovation, but by clever exploitation of the legal system. The fact that his business partner is a wealthy man with strong connections to Parliament, is not a minor help." Sound familar? Especially with all the milions in donations that U.S. politicians have collected from Hollywood, publishing conglomerates and others?

The irony is that the excerpt from a Levin-Boldren book, The Case Against Intellectual Monopoly, is presented in Adobe .pdf format, which, due to built-in technical restrictions, meant that I could not copy-and-paste even a short section of the piece into this blog item.

(Via Slashdot.)
posted by David Rothman at 12:35 PM | permanent link

As valuable as tech can be, should President Bush's brother really be warring against the old-fashioned Florida state library, as reported in The Shifted Librarian? Check out an editorial from the St. Petersburg Times.

Meanwhile be assured that contrary to surface impressions, this is not a Florida-only blog, especially with TeleRead originating from the Washington, DC, area. Just looks as if Florida's where the action is right now.
posted by David Rothman at 4:13 AM | permanent link

So what should the tablets computers be like for schoolchildren in Florida? James Linden, TeleRead's chief technical officer, shared his thoughts, which we've paraphrased here.

I've just read the essay below and I'm excited over the possibility of tablet computers for Florida schoolchildren and others. But how could we drive the costs down, perhaps to less than $400 within a year or two?

Mass purchases by Florida--maybe through a consortium with other states--could help. So could the use of the Linux operating system.

The application programs, the word processor, spreadsheet and the rest, would have to work together more smoothly than they do in most cases on Linux systems today. Students should be able to paste effortlessly between programs.

But this could be done very easily within a structured effort. Different vendors could be involved, but design their systems within clearly defined standards.

Here are a few more details about "The Florida Tablet" as David Rothman and I envision it:

Size: 9 by 7 by 3/4 inches, around the dimensions of a small textbook but slightly larger than your average novel.

RAM: 256M, or enough to run multiple programs very gracefully, especially with Linux in use. This memory size would also be good for multimedia.

Mass Storage: 20-gigabyte hard drive.

Keyboard: Detachable, as we see it. Of course, the physical configuration could be a foldout arrangement like the Tablet PC's. One other possibility would be to give the unit a carrying case with straps, and the case might house both the main machine and the keyboard.

Handwriting recognition: None--because the costs are too high and the technology isn't quite there yet. So these computers, in other words, would not turn handwriting into regular "type." But the machines would still capture the students' handwriting when they were taking notes in class.

Wireless connection: Compatible with the most popular wi-fi standards.

Especially interesting is how far we've progressed beyond the specs that David wrote in 1992 for the tablet PC (as he saw it existing in 2012). Back then, a gigabyte seemed like an awesome amount of storage. It's good to have underestimated progress. That means that good things can happen sooner than expected.

Like David, I'm a pragmatist. We feel that the taxpayers would get more for their money with Linux. But Windows tablets would be better than none at all, and, in fact, the program could start out in a small way with them--before the prices came down sufficiently.
posted by David Rothman at 9:21 AM | permanent link

"By giving laptop computers to all high school students and teachers, the state would free up space for more than 1,000 classrooms and save more than $30 million, a Miami Dade teachers' union leader told Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday." - Miami Herald, Feb. 11, via ASCD SmartBrief.

The TeleRead take: Kudos to Pat Tornillo, president of the United Teachers of Dade and vice president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Gov. Bush was most open to the idea of converting computer labs to classrooms. Instead the students would use machines in, say, Spanish class or math class. He said Tornillo's numbers seemed to make sense. Right on, Governor.

Even Dominic Calabro, president of Florida TaxWatch, a group monitoring government waste, calls the Tornillo plan "fiscally aerodynamic."

Keep in mind, however, that we're not just talking about saving money.

Best to think of computers in the context of core academics, as opposed to the separate world of the computer lab.

Ideally the machines will be used at home, too--in line with TeleRead's slogan. "Bring the E-Books Home." The Miami article quoted a staffer at a nonpublic school--already using laptops successfully--who told of the advantages of computers for improved parent-teacher communication.

Bringing the computers home would offer yet other educational benefits, particularly with a coherent plan to get the right content online, not just provide the machines.

Especially, Pat Tornillo might want to check out a European study showing the strong connection between students' academic accomplishments and the number of books in a household.

He and others could come up with proposals to encourage parents to talk about books with their children at the dinner table and actually read on their own.

One approach would be for educators, librarians, employers and the press to team up in a massive media campaign--and encourage workers to read e-books and other texts to upgrade job skills. Or maybe just for sheer enjoyment. If parents don't read well themselves, then schools and libraries can reach out to them. The best way to help your child read is to be a good role model.

That's a big reason why TeleRead calls for all kinds of books to be in a well-stocked national digital library system, not just those for K-12 students.

In Florida and elsewhere, the literacy crisis is all too real. Tens of thousands of books appear each year, but they can do only so much good for learning if students lack easy access to those matching their needs and interests. Just ask John Iliff, a former reference librarian in Pineallas Park, Florida.

John wrote our Update #15 and has vivid memories of the frustrations students suffer when they cannot find books in a timely way.

"My school doesn't have enough books to go around," he recalled a young mother saying, "and I really need to study. I need to graduate from high school. I need this book now! I work for minimum wage, there's no way I can buy it."

"I'm burned out that night," John wrote. "The best I can do is shrug."

Guess which two words a student will most hate in a situation like that. "Interlibrary loan."

Imagine, too, the advantages of e-books for special-needs children, as Amos Bokros of Braedenton, Florida, who is on the verge of becoming a substitute teacher, has shown elsewhere on this site.

And now a few more details. Let's hope that Floridians will understand that tablet-style machines with detachable keyboards would be the best solution, as opposed to conventional laptops. You want computers that will be the most comfortable for a child to curl up on the sofa with.

So tablets, or laptops that can double as them, would be better than ordinary portables. If I were a TabletPC maker, I'd get on the phone to Gov. Bush's office immediately to urge a mass purchase of Tablet PC-style computers when the prices came down.

Ideally the machines would come with software to allow legalized file swapping, with tracking of use, so that the kids could share knowledge without being accused of ripping off publishers. The computers could be wireless, as Florida educators have already suggested--which in turn would make file sharing even more attractive.

Sharing is one of the key precepts of the TeleRead plan, which first appeared in print in 1992 and several years later called for this important addition.

No, the technology for reading books off screens isn't perfect, but the e-book approach would make up for this by increasing the range of up-to-date reading available and improving access to classics.

Plus, e-books are much easier on students' backs than paper textbooks.

And screens? Well, at least one academic study shows that they're already good enough for students using e-books to learn as well as those working off p-books.

Furthermore, the era of electronic ink, which will lead to e-books with flippable pages and print much like conventional books', will eventaully be here.

So now is the time to prepare by working toward that well-stocked national digital library system.

The new threats to the Library of Congress and other important libraries, from terrorists who hate U.S. culture and would love to destroy America's national memories, are just one more reason to put libraries online--perhaps even with backups on servers in other countries, as TeleRead was suggesting years ago.

Disclosure: United Teachers of Dade has connections with both the American Federation of Teachers--already noted--and the rival National Education Association. Over the years an AFT local has been among my favorite editorial clients.

Just as with TeleRead, however, which is not part of AFT and is neutral on labor matters in schools, the laptop question isn't an issue of teachers' unions vs. management.

Everyone would indeed win here, especially the students.

Gov. Bush deserves credit for his open-mindedness, and ideally the national teachers' unions and the National School Boards Association will also hear out Pat Tornillo.

And if they can go on to the next step--and think about the TeleRead plan, in terms of providing the content and helping to drive down the cost of appropriate, book-friendly hardware--then so much the better!
posted by David Rothman at 9:21 PM | permanent link

We'll never shy away from taking potshots at Microsoft. Here at TeleRead, we've been at this for years. That said, may we suggest that the European Union not fixate on anti-trust enforcement while ignoring other solutions?

Perhaps the time has come for a national digital library approach--to spread around open-source programs--as well as more funds for coordinated development of such software. Here's to another C Word: coherence! We know the havoc that Linux can wreak on the nontechnical because the gears don't always mesh in a neat, logical, complete way. Linux still isn't tamed for the typical desktop, as Lee Dembart's column in the International Herald Tribune makes abundantly clear. The Dembart computer "hangs up, does strange and unexpected things, refuses to do what it's supposed to and presents me with incomprehensible error messages." As fate would have it, I read the piece today just hours after wiping Linux off my hard drive.

Yes, Microsoft software can be buggy, one reason I myself had returned to Linux recently. What's more, I would love to see the company split up into separate corporations for Windows, applications, Internet infrastructure and all that. I'm especially concerned about Microsoft's use of its power to associate e-books and other content with specific formats and Operating System W at the expense of competitors--and, more importantly, the public in general.

Still, I'd caution the Europeans against taking the lazy way out and thinking that anti-trust is a panacea. Here's a little question for Mario Monti, the anti-trust enforcer--the Euro Darth Vader who slaughtered GE. How much has he actually worked with Microsoft alternatives? Does he use Linux and the rest in his daily routine, and without help from his IT people? I myself greatly prefer the stability of Linux and the absence of intrusive commercialism, such as the incessant promos that Windows users suffer on their screens for various Microsoft products, and I'm really hoping that Linux will be ready one day for the typical user. Will be. Those are the operative words. Recovering from my second brush with Linux, I feel more than a little grouchy. The word from certain trade publications was that the OS had improved to the point where one could do useful work, and I'm sure that's true for server crews and for large corporations that can customize Linux just so and come up with the right blend of applications and tweaks to spread around on their local area networks. But as I discovered, Linux is still not an operating system for us plebes without IT minions.

Using Red Hat 8.0, I could not paste reliably between Mozilla's email module and OpenOffice Writer, and as I expected, Red Hat just brushed me off, saying that I needed to turn elsewhere for advice since this was not a pure Red Hat matter. So what about an alternative to Mozilla-style email? With a slightly dated version of Evolution, an Outlook clone that Red Hat provided from Ximian, I could paste. But emailed Web pages often displayed miserably. Not to mention the operating system's bizarre habit of asking me for a "Psyche 8.0 disk" or whatever when I wanted to add a new program off CD. A joker's virus? So I turned to a product that both Linux buffs and Microsoft would regard as both a virus and a joke: Lindows, which, come to think of it, is a little Microsoftish, given all the hype and a focus on a corporately blessed solution.

Lindows boosters said I could paste between Netscape and Star Office. Well, I could. But only short stretches, unless I used a clipboard program. Worse, the clipboard, at least in its default setting, didn't work with HTML. Mercifully, through an optional $100-a-year Click N Run subscription, I could at least download a newer version of Evolution without fuss. But guess what. It didn't come with the proper dictionary file for the speller. In theory you could install the speller easily enough through Ximian's Red Carpet installation and updating program, but as I discovered from an old item on the company's mailing list, the Brand X people wouldn't support Red Carpet on Lindows systems. Oh, what a fun Catch 22.

I know I could eventually have gotten Linux apps to work just right--I'm confident that a reader of this blog will tell me I've ignored something screamingly obvious. He or she will undoubtedly have a retort for Lee Dembart, too--especially since the Dembart tested Lindows rather than "real," unadulterated Linux. Point is, however, that if I, an experienced computer user, am having trouble, what about the rest of the world? I've got too much work to do to become Linus Torvalds II.

Now, back to Mario Monti. If Linux-based alternatives aren't ready for prime time for the pubic at large, isn't it possible that in hurting Microsoft, EU enforcers might actually harm businesses not only in the States but in Europe? Particularly if the war against bundling isn't carried out in an intelligent way? Remember the good side of Microsoft. The trains-run-on-time side. When I reinstalled Windows on my main box, a Dell Optiplex, I once again could merrily copy-and-paste away. Earlier today I whipped through a series of memos for an editorial client, and it was no big deal not just to send Web pages as attachments but even to paste them into already-written messages. That's what happens when programs work together. It can be done through a corporation such as Microsoft. Or maybe through a standards body. But it just could be that with more government intervention--through grants and through national libraries of coordinated software, as opposed to onerous laws--Linux could take off much faster as a Microsoft alternative.

Meanwhile there's also a lesson here for those who talk vaguely of open-source approaches to the digital library question but don't really have a system in mind to cover both technical and business issues (so often related to each other). As the fragmentation of the Linux world shows, the need exists for coherence. Linux software can efficiently make use of modules from many programmers. But often these modules don't work together when used in an actual word-processors or office suite. Witness the Lindows version of Evolution without the dictionary file needed for the speller! If ever a need existed for human and AI software librarians to make order out of chaos, this is it. Similarly we need librarians, human and machine, to deal with the torrents of knowledge unleashed on the Net. In TeleRead's case, a structured national digital library system with reliable archives and fixed links for books would allow the medium to be used much more effectively than otherwise. Such a system would be much more valuable to the public, especially in students and researchers, who could spin intricate knowledge webs, yes, webs, plural, many, while knowing that the strands would remain in place.

Whether it's an operating system or a national digital library system, the public will benefit from true coherence. Must this always be burdensome like Microsoft's? Of course not. The problem with Microsoft isn't coherence--it's abuse of power. Both in the States and Europe, society needs to strive for the former without the latter.
posted by David Rothman at 6:36 AM | permanent link

Brewster Kahle of Archive.org delivered a fascinating ebrary-related presentation at the Library of Congress--viewable via RealPlayer. Along the way he mentioned his Internet Bookmobile project, which allows a book to be printed out for a $1 or so. Kahle suggested that writers of copyrighted books could get another dollar. Pay per library access? That's possible, but what to do about the best-seller such as the Harry Potter series, so they won't devour too much money from limited library budgets, but still give publishers a chance to make money? Enter TeleRead, which would let publishers of all sizes participate without turning libraries into Barnes and Noble clones. Meanwhile back to Kahle, who served up a fascinating stat. Of some $12 billion a year that public libraries spend in the U.S., a mere several hundred million at most is going to get materials online despite the popularity of the Net among the young. He thinks that perhaps as much as 20 percent of the $12 billion could go toward that end. I'm not so sure. LIbraries are pretty underfunded as is. But surely we can do better than several hundred million, which is what TeleRead is all about.
posted by David Rothman at 3:06 PM | permanent link

"The new Harry Potter novel, 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,' will break more than just sales records when it's finally released in bookstores this summer. Carrying a suggested price tag of $29.99, it will also become the most expensive children's book in history." - Washington Post, Feb. 8, 2003.

The TeleRead take: The publishers may congratulate themselves on the higher price. Longer term, though? This is exactly why book sales haven't been growing as quickly as they should, and why it's time to think about new business models.
posted by David Rothman at 2:06 PM | permanent link

The word from Opera is that Microsoft has deliberately configured MSN pages so that users of Brand O browsers see less than those of Brand M. True? We won't take sides about what's going on technically. Still, if what Opera says is true, this would be in character for Microsoft, which, after all, releases e-books in formats that you can't read if, say, you're using Linux.

It's another reason why we need a well-stocked national digital library system that would not force one company's format, or series of formats, on unwilling users.
posted by David Rothman at 12:14 AM | permanent link

Copyright and trademark zealots have usually prevailed in Washington in recent years. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is one of the worst horrors--a byproduct, of course, of massive campaign contributions. In Copyrighting Freedom of Expression, a New Times writer provides vivid examples of the act's perils, such as the shutdown of "a parody Web site that targeted Dow Chemical and the infamous chemical spill that killed an estimated 20,000 people in Bhopal, India. "
posted by David Rothman at 4:20 PM | permanent link

O'Reilly is among the most Net-oriented of publishers, and recently Andy Oram, one of the editors there and a friend of mine, came up with thousands of dollars of consulting advice for free use by all content-providers. Check out Media is Ripe for a Convergence of a Different Sort. Much of the Oram article consists of advice, such as to stop using obnoxious copy controls and also to grasp the commercial upside of fair use. But he includes, too, a gem of an observation on Napster:

"In retrospect, it's obvious that the problem with Napster was not its success--which brought all the negative studio attention--but the fragility of its success. Left to its own devices, Napster would have collapsed along with the rest of the dot-com fly-by-nighters, because it had a rather inscrutable business model and depended for its income on advertising. The few portals left that keep going on the basis of advertising, like Yahoo, offer their users a lot more than a song directory.

"What Napster needed was to be taken under the wing of a sympathetic, worldly-wise, older guide, as Thomas Middlehoff of Bertelsmann AG tried to do. (Whether Bertelsmann really had the key to success, and would have followed through after a change of executives, are questions I can't answer.)

"But even though Napster probably lacked several key elements necessary for long-term success, it offered several lessons. It showed everyone the dream of a worldwide repository of all the music that anyone would want--a powerful dream that provides a major justification in itself for the existence of the Internet. If we had even one such dreamer somewhere among the managers of major film and music studios, think of what we could accomplish."

Thought: What was that? "Worldwide repository of all the music that anyone would want"? Same would apply to books. Of course, as a practical matters, different nations have different cultural values, which is why TeleRead is about well-stocked national digital libraries, plural. Still, the basic concept would apply. The more choice for readers, listeners, or viewers, the stronger the medium involved.

An aside: Yes, TeleRead would still allow readers in different countries to download books from publishers directly or through subscriptions to other national libraries. What's more, countries with compatible values could enter into library allliances.
posted by David Rothman at 2:29 PM | permanent link

TeleRead has long argued that the quality of books would go up if readers and librarians counted more in the grand scheme of things and marketers counted at least a little less.

Now, from New York Magazine columnist Michael Wolff, comes a rather blunt portray of the business in its present incarnation. Industry insiders may dismiss it as a caricature, but there's more than a litte truth there.

"I mean, books suck," Wolff writes. "Most books are dopier than television or movies or even advertising (many books tend to be just collateral promotions or the lesser offspring of dopey television, movies, and advertising). Even if there are precious exceptions, the overwhelming number of big-money, industry-sustaining books are incontrovertibly dum-dum things. More cynical, more pandering than any other entertainment product. Calling them books may be a substantial part of the problem with the book business. It provides undeserved and unfair dignity (perhaps there should be a way to certify something as an actual book). Working at a magazine where every day random books come flying in by the bushel (along with the calls from sluggish book publicists), you get a sense of the magnitude of the wasteland. Books may be the true lowest-common-denominator medium."

That ties in well with the thoughts of many a New York agent. They'll no longer touch nonfiction book projects from nonVIP writers unless the proposals have some kind of promo built in—such as a corporate tie. Can't blame the agents. They're just realists with grocery bills to pay.

Meanwhile Gresham's Law may be manifesting itself, with the bad driving out the good, even at libraries. Over the weekend, at a used book sale at the Sherwood Library in Fairfax County, VA, I found a hardback copy of Invisible Writer: A Biography of Joyce Carol Oates, by Greg Johnson. Date of publication? As recent as 1998. Price $2. Reason for availability, noted with a rubber stamp? "Withdrawn because: Low Demand." Doesn't that say something? What's also interesting here is that the American Library Associated named Invisible Writer the "Best Academic Book of the Year." Yes, this is happening within a library system, not a book chain. And if anything, libraries are more patient with books than the commercial side. That's the book biz today.

TeleRead would not turn every child into a voracious reader, but at least, by putting thousands of modern copyrighted books online for free, along with the classics, it would make the reading of good books an easier habit to acquire. Just a reminder, of course: TeleRead calls for tight integration with local schools and libraries and efforts to encourage families to read together. Just getting the books online won't by itself do the trick.

(New York Magazine item spotted via the Publishers Lunch newsletter.)
posted by David Rothman at 1:41 PM | permanent link