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Licence Culture Wars! Treating Would-Be Borrowers as Would-Be Pirates

April 5, 2011 //

In February, the Globe and Mail ran an article proclaiming the pending demise of eBook piracy. The nails in the coffin were eBook lending sites like Lendle. It took just over a month from that article for Amazon.com to put the breaks on that.

Now, Amazon’s lending restrictions on Lendle basically make lending eBooks an activity for speed readers who prefer random, unpopular books. I suppose in light of those events, eBook piracy will live a little longer. Especially if borrowing eBooks and eAudiobooks  legitimately continues to be unfriendly to users.

My personal experience with OverDrive (the unchallenged content software for eBook excited libraries) via the Ottawa Public Library hasn’t made me (and a lot of other people) optimistic . To download to an audiobook, it required so much hoop jumping and the installation of  software that I gave up. eBooks work a little easier, but it’s still not a smooth process.

Out of curiosity, I found the same audiobook on a popular torrent site in about 30 seconds. It had enough people actively sharing the file that it could have probably downloaded in a few hours. After which, were I so inclined, I’d have unlimited use of the audio files for as long as I wanted and on any platform I wanted.

I imagine the process on a Kindle or Kobo or whatever must be strikingly easier than using OverDrive. Publishers have a clear interest in making lending more difficult for libraries or collaboration minded groups of  individuals. The Globe article had a fairly telling quote on that matter:

Not all publishers are assured [about eBook lending sites, including libraries/OverDrive], including Macmillan U.S., whose president Brian Napack recently defended his company’s go-slow policy at a conference in New York. “The fear is I get one library card and never have to buy a book again,” he said.

If you want to make money, sharing (legal or otherwise) is the worst possible business model. So of course publishers want a few roadblocks.

But, those roadblocks essentially treat would-be borrowers as would-be pirates.  The outcome for users being one of three things, paying for the eBook, putting up with  second class free service/access at dwindling levels of quality, or pursuing less “legitimate” means of access. (I guess you could use a mix of these three.)

If past experience with the music industry has shown anything, it’s that increasingly draconian attitudes do not translate into sales. It seems to me, that those who pay for eBook access were going to pay anyways. Everyone else? Well, there are three choices.

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Categories Book News, Library News, Public Libraries, Services, Technology, User experience, web tools

On Things Recently Declared Dead: the Web

March 28, 2011 //

Have you heard the news?

Recently, Wired magazine declared the death of the web:

You wake up and check your email on your bedside iPad — that’s one app. During breakfast you browse Facebook, Twitter, and The New York Times — three more apps. On the way to the office, you listen to a podcast on your smartphone. Another app. At work, you scroll through RSS feeds in a reader and have Skype and IM conversations. More apps. At the end of the day, you come home, make dinner while listening to Pandora, play some games on Xbox Live, and watch a movie on Netflix’s streaming service.

You’ve spent the day on the Internet — but not on the Web. And you are not alone.

This is not a trivial distinction. Over the past few years, one of the most important shifts in the digital world has been the move from the wide-open Web to semiclosed platforms that use the Internet for transport but not the browser for display. It’s driven primarily by the rise of the iPhone model of mobile computing, and it’s a world Google can’t crawl, one where HTML doesn’t rule. And it’s the world that consumers are increasingly choosing, not because they’re rejecting the idea of the Web but because these dedicated platforms often just work better or fit better into their lives (the screen comes to them, they don’t have to go to the screen). The fact that it’s easier for companies to make money on these platforms only cements the trend. Producers and consumers agree: The Web is not the culmination of the digital revolution.[full article]

Or in Clue-speak:  it was the User in the Internet with the App.

Declaring things dead doesn’t have the same bombast it used to, and it’s not entirely new news. Web 2.0 has been pushing it’s way into the Internet-user’s life for a few years now, and Wired is talking about the logical extension of that trend.

But, the article makes an important distinction between “browsing” and “getting.” This has to do with the rise apps-based user expectations and an achieved critical mass of online-content. I think browsing was useful in the past because there was no guarantee anything you wanted was out there. Now, Internet-savvy users are  surprised when something is NOT online. So, it’s not about finding, it’s about retrieving.

Libraries should play close attention to this, not because we’re not in the information/content retrieving business. This is what a good library does well, after all.

The issue at stake is competition.

The barriers to entry in the library’s field of online content delivery (eBooks, reference information, audio books, etc.) have been knocked down or scaled by competition that doesn’t share the same value system, operations cost, or even expectations of open access.

Again, this is not new news, just more pressure on libraries to innovate.

Looking for a counter-point? Try What’s Wrong With ‘X Is Dead’, from the Atlantic

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Categories Academic Libraries, Library Bric-a-brac, Library News, Public Libraries, Services, Technology, User experience

Social Media Clutter? Must We Add Four Square?

February 11, 2011 //
A lonely man on the four square field.

A random lonely man on the four square field.

The below infographic has been bumping around (It came to me via Stephen’s Lighthouse, who got it here.).

four square growing

It’s good news for Four Square. Is it good news for us? Is it yet another social media time drain we have to adopt to survive online?

At the moment, I personally don’t really get Four Square. Why would someone want to be mayor of a retail outlet, like Starbucks or wherever?

In that light, Four Square looks like a thin game layer draped over an overt marketing carrot-and-stick. Looking at the top check-ins that the infographic lists, it’s clear that Four Square wants to make sure businesses see the value.

Four Square could be a new outlet for vacuos, vain consumer culture. But, that’s what people we were saying about Twitter a couple short years ago.

As one friend noted, Egyptians are using the Internet to free their country and we’re using it to show we went to Wendy’s. That’s the point. It took a few years for people to find ways to do such impressive things with  Twitter and Facebook.

I may not start my Four Square account this weekend. I’m still not completely sold on Twitter (but it’s growing on me). There is a part of me that will try anything (at least for a while) once I have the time.

Should libraries get in on Four Square?

There are so many competing social media demands, that taking on a new platform can drain other efforts. It’s important to weigh the cost/benefits of getting involved and to develop a manageable, adaptable, and achievable strategy.

Librarians are already hatching ideas and talking about it.

 

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Categories Public Libraries, Technology, User experience, web tools

Crowd Sourcing Maps and Volunteer Geo-Information

February 8, 2011 //

Map of London

Hand-drawn map of London by Stephen Welter

The New York Public Library hosted a neat looking panel today.

Future Library: Socializing History with Maps, Hosted by The New York Public Library

Event Description:

Speakers:

  • Matt Knutzen, Geospatial Librarian at the New York Public Library
  • Alex Rainert, Head of Product at Foursquare
  • Jesse Friedman, Product Marketing Manager at Google Maps and Earth
  • Jack Eichenbaum, Queens Borough Historian[NYPL’s event listing]

It’s a shame when you hear about something interesting, and it’s too late, and it’s in another country. Where are the teleporters, already? Science, I’m looking at you

Moving on, it’s exciting to imagine maps being used like wikis.  It’s a field that has largely been dominated by businesses and advertising, but there is a lot of potential here for less commercial uses. OpenStreetMap is an open source project already doing this.

Other popular free(but not commercial free) resources, like Google Maps or Bing’s equivalent, can be an underused tools for pushing community information out to library users and visitors.

Imagine walkable or bikeable tours you could follow via smart phone, with info links, archival photos galleries, recorded personal testimonials, and other information. Online maps can be turned passing on community knowledge that is often lost or fragmented by .

Or arts walks. Or even digitally augmented literary scavenger hunts combining geo-caching and book releases.

Like most web-based tools, I’m pretty sure the most en-genius ideas haven’t been thought of yet. The opportunity is there for any locally minded persons who want to plant a few flags in the digital world.

Also, how cool would it be to be a Geospatial Librarian. I want one of those business cards!

***Addendum***

Stephen Welter’s portfolio site. Why not promote the analog approach?

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Categories Library Bric-a-brac, Public Libraries, Services, Technology, User experience, web tools

Bibliotheca Alexandria Safe-ish

February 3, 2011 //

Egyptian Muesum Protected by Army Egypt’s been in the streets for a week now (and it’s clearly getting crazier). With the Egyptian Museum threatened and under the army’s protection, what about another valuable (albeit, less famous) cultural and knowledge centre: the reduxed Library of Alexandia.
Good news:

The library is safe thanks to Egypt’s youth, whether they be the staff of the Library or the representatives of the demonstrators, who are joining us in guarding the building from potential vandals and looters. I am there daily within the bounds of the curfew hours. However, the Library will be closed to the public for the next few days until the curfew is lifted and events unfold towards an end to the lawlessness and a move towards the resolution of the political issues that triggered the demonstrations.[from the BA’s site]

They’ve posted a photo gallery of citizens and librarians banding together to protect the building.

History shows that times of upheaval are not particularly kind to libraries and museums.

I have my fingers crossed that the outcome will be different this time. Here’s to speedy, safe(r), and democratic peace in Egypt.

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Categories Library News, Security

Libraries Under Siege! Pictures Worth Cash… Hopefully

January 24, 2011 //

save out library please

Faced with hard cuts from state funding, Floridian public libraries are making a dramatic effort to prove their worth to their communities.

The libraries are taking part in a statewide event, Snapshot: A Day in the Life of Florida Libraries, coordinated by the Florida Library Association. Other states have conducted similar programs but this is the first one in Florida, said Faye Roberts, the FLA’s executive director.
Libraries will gather statistics on customer usage, take photos of activities and collect comments from patrons. Roberts said her organization will use the results to remind elected officials of the importance of adequate funding for libraries.[Full article here]

This is a great. It has got every piece necessary to give a human side to what’s at risk when cuts to libraries are made.

And, if the most hard-hearted budgetary wonk’s heart won’t melt, they’ve got some numbers to help them:

Faye Roberts cited a recent study that found that libraries have an economic impact of $8.30 in public services for every $1 invested in them.

Is this enough?

When so many demands on state/provincial, municipal, and federal funding compete, public libraries need to show system-wide thinking to find ways to prove their worth. It’s a frustrating cause in the US, where state and municipal budgets are bound by law to not run a deficit.

The outcome is all too often lose-lose… which sucks.

Efforts like the Florida Library Association’s are what’s called for.But, libraries should not wait for Mr. Big Cuts to come knocking. I think most libraries should have something like this ongoing and in their back pockets. Now’s the time. Rally the staff! Rally the users!

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Categories Public Libraries, Services, User experience

Amazing News! Crowd-Sourced Astronomy!

January 13, 2011 //

Space's Green Blob

Space is a strange, magical place! From NPR.org:

Hubble Telescope Sheds Light On Mysterious, Green Space Blob

Back in 2007, as part of a crowd-sourced study program called Galaxy Zoo, a Dutch school teacher discovered a very odd celestial object: It looked like a great, green blob floating in space and at the time it was inexplicable.

Today, thanks to the Hubble telescope, we have an unbelievable picture of Hanny’s Voorwerp, or Hanny’s Object, as it is now known. And we also have a better idea of what it is: Researchers said the blob is not a galaxy but a “twisting rope of gas, or tidal tail, about 300,000 light-years long that wraps around the galaxy [IC 2497].”…

First, that very young stars are forming inside the tidal tail. “The region may have been churning out stars for several million years,” said Keel. “They are so dim that they have previously been lost in the brilliant light of the surrounding gas.”

Keel told us that this is remarkable because this is not the kind of environment in which you would usually find star formation.[source article]

Two things cool about this: crowd-sourcing being used for more than marketing or spamming/winning elections AND strange green space blobs.

Please check out Galaxy Zoo. It’s zany galaxy-classifying fun. And, there’s apparently an iPhone app so you can help chart space on the bus or during meetings or wherever. Hopefully, an android app is not far behind!

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Categories Amazing News!
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