Journal Entry #6: Reading in Cyberspace?!?
The Google Book Search tool is used by many to find and preview books that they are interested in or may want to buy. Sometimes, there are no previews. Some have snippet views, others with a limited preview, and some have a full view of the text in the book. This library-based digitization occasionally challenges the relationship of Google with publishers. If a book is determined by Google as “out of copyright”, then a full view of the book would be available to readers. This is very unfair to many authors because even though they may have given permission to them, the preview does give a judgmental impression to readers. A book usually starts to get interesting in the middle where the best information lies, but by only giving a preview of a few pages or so, readers may miss out on good books from first previews.
As well, in response to the challenge, Yahoo! and Microsoft also created a book search tool and that creates chaos. Information from the books is becoming too exposed on the internet and pretty soon there won’t be a need for a library no more. People may just choose to overlook books on these sites and forget all about the joy of actually reading from an actual hard-cover book.
This service is also threatening librarians. Nowadays, there are already holding services available through the internet. If this program continues to develop, pretty soon there won’t be a need anymore to even borrow real books from the library, so why would librarians be needed? It is a serious dilemma that no one has noticed yet.
I, personally, think it is unfair to have this kind of tool. It is convenient I must say, but I feel that it is stepping over the line. To be honest, when websites were first created, books were already pushed to a lower level when the consideration of sources comes to mind. Many people would just Google the topic they need and use the information on the sites as reference. Very little people would actually drive to the library and search up information from books. If this service continues to develop, authors, librarians, and publishers would be at threat. Also, if I was an author, I’d be disappointed that all my hard work isn’t being appreciated by readers. I would really want someone to buy my book and enjoy what I have written. By reading it over the internet is wasting the piece of work and disrespecting it. I feel that this tool shouldn’t be too used by others and should stay the way it is already. Books shouldn’t be replaced by the internet.
As well, in response to the challenge, Yahoo! and Microsoft also created a book search tool and that creates chaos. Information from the books is becoming too exposed on the internet and pretty soon there won’t be a need for a library no more. People may just choose to overlook books on these sites and forget all about the joy of actually reading from an actual hard-cover book.
This service is also threatening librarians. Nowadays, there are already holding services available through the internet. If this program continues to develop, pretty soon there won’t be a need anymore to even borrow real books from the library, so why would librarians be needed? It is a serious dilemma that no one has noticed yet.
I, personally, think it is unfair to have this kind of tool. It is convenient I must say, but I feel that it is stepping over the line. To be honest, when websites were first created, books were already pushed to a lower level when the consideration of sources comes to mind. Many people would just Google the topic they need and use the information on the sites as reference. Very little people would actually drive to the library and search up information from books. If this service continues to develop, authors, librarians, and publishers would be at threat. Also, if I was an author, I’d be disappointed that all my hard work isn’t being appreciated by readers. I would really want someone to buy my book and enjoy what I have written. By reading it over the internet is wasting the piece of work and disrespecting it. I feel that this tool shouldn’t be too used by others and should stay the way it is already. Books shouldn’t be replaced by the internet.
posted by Mz_Clueless at 9:20 AM
2 comments
