During a recent discussion at a research committee meeting about plans to destroy unused books in offsite storage at the University of Queensland’s library, I asked what seemed the obvious digital-era question: Why not scan the books before pulping them, just in case?
The library representative said that scanning had been considered, but the library figured it would be cheaper to assume that Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) would eventually do the digitizing itself and make the materials available to university libraries.
Given that Google has not made public the financial terms of any such plan, it was a highly speculative assumption -- just another example of the blithe way in which we are coming to treat the developing commercial infrastructure of the Internet as if it were a public utility.
Recent revelations about Google’s collaboration with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) to create a plan for tiered Internet access over wireless networks should remind us that Google is not a public utility: It’s a private, for-profit, commercial enterprise that makes money by providing convenient services, amassing information about our online activities, and selling customized advertising. The details of its business model may change over time -- but the data-driven, profit-making imperative will not.
We’ve had plenty of reminders about this in the recent past. Remember the time that people logged on to their email accounts only to discover that Google’s “Buzz” application had automatically displayed their frequent email contacts on their public profiles for all to see, including, notoriously, abusive ex-husbands?
The goal, of course, was to jumpstart Google’s new social networking utility, but it had the disturbing side effect of revealing users’ frequent contacts to one another -- like having one’s recent list of phone calls texted to all one’s friends. As The New York Timesnoted: “E-mail, it turns out, can hold many secrets, from the names of personal physicians and illicit lovers to the identities of whistle-blowers and antigovernment activists.”
Google's "clumsiness" in rolling out something like this lies in the way the company views information, which has much to do with finding applications for making sense out of (and putting to use) large amounts of data. Our contact lists, viewed in this light, are just one more data-set that can be multi-purposed, for them and for us. From Google’s perspective, it might seem like a waste not to put that information to "good use."
The Buzz incident is just part of a series of revelations regarding what it means to rely on commercially supported platforms for an increasing range of our communication and information-related activities. Consider the way in which applications like Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, and Blogger have come to serve as the infrastructure for our social and professional lives. It's really an unprecedented level of commercialization and privatization.
Against the background of Google taking over university email (and perhaps, eventually secondary school email accounts, document storage, and so on) previous concerns about commercial organizations in the schools seem quaint.
The "value proposition" is clear: Companies will provide us with a range of communication and information services in exchange for detailed data collection about an increasingly broad swath of our lives -- data that can be used in non-transparent ways to sort, manipulate, and market to us.
It's not the kind of choice we might make in theory, when laid out in such stark terms, but it does seem to be the kind of choice we're willing to make in practice, if only for a lack of alternatives.
— Mark Andrejevic is a Researcher at the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland.
Great Post. Awesome. This may be one of the clearest and best said comments on social media and web 2.0.
The "value proposition" is clear: Companies will provide us with a range of communication and information services in exchange for detailed data collection about an increasingly broad swath of our lives -- data that can be used in non-transparent ways to sort, manipulate, and market to us.
The word "manipulate" and to a lesser extent "market" are powerful and scary words - but few are really scared. In exchange for the value, the fun and the social benefits - folks appear willng to be manipulated.
I freely admit I have an addiction - but at least it's a relatively harmless one... I think. I've been collecting books since I was 5 years old. I don't think I'll ever stop, but for physical books I will have to slow down. I even got a friend of mine who borrows my books to get an e-reader and now she's hooked on ebooks, too.
Well, SecTech, you beat out Alan, who mentioned in a comment on the threat about digital books that when he moved, he had 3000 volumes. I never counted the number of books in my household. I think I don't even make the 1000 mark. But the overwhelming majority of the books read by my houseful of readers are owned by our local libraries. I can't imagine where we would fit all the books that have been checked out over the years if we we bought rather than borrowed.
"Now while sold books do go on living to some extent, it is not quite the same as having them accessible to any library borrower."
I can't speak for other library systems, as they all seem to have their own set of standards they use to determine when a book should be withdrawn from circulation. Here, if it's a fiction book and remains unchecked out for 2 years, it is withdrawn from circulation. For nonfiction if it remain unchecked out for 10 years it is withdrawn. Withdrawn books are then either placed in the gift shop for sale, or packed in boxes according to type and kept for the book sale. What is the point of leaving them in the library if no one is checking them out? Unfortunately a sad fact is that librarys have a finite amount of space for keeping books on shelves.
I understand their woes. My personal library currently stands at over 5000 volumes and I have started the move to e-books simply because I hardly have enough room for the books I have. Reading is my vice and addiction - one I refuse to give up. I have a library card, but only use it to check out e-books. Checking out physical books doesn't work out because I never know if or when I'll have time to get to the library to return them. Besides, I hate waiting for new releases by my favorite authors.
The libraries in my district also hold book sales. In fact, it seems that there is always a table or some designated shelves to hold the items for sale. Instead of being voted off the island, they are voted out of the library holdings. I am not sure how the powers that be decide what to sell because there is also a storage area in which books that are not popular enough to take up prime shelf space are kept. A lot of older nonfiction is usually there. Now while sold books do go on living to some extent, it is not quite the same as having them accessible to any library borrower.
Consider Ray Bradbury's novel Farenheit 451, and even Orwell's 1984. Once books are digitized and then "pulped," and their existence centralized in a few repositories (what we call "libraries"), think of how easy it would be to simply block access to them and thus, to have them fade in our memories. Soma, anyone? Welcome to dys-utopia.
Here, our public library holds book sales 3 times a year and has a gift shop in the main branch of the library where you can go and buy books that have been withdrawn. the prices are really reasonable, compared to what you pay retail and on the last day of the book sale (it usually runs for 4 or 5 days) you can get a bag of books for $4 - as many books as you can get in the bag. They also put DVD's, Videos and CD's that have been withdrawn for circulation. The Gift Shop and Book sale are sponsered by the Friends of the Public Library and the money raised goes toward aquisitions, speakers and other events that we wouldn't normally have access to with budget limitations of the library. I haven't missed a book sale in 18 years. And, if that is not a viable idea, there are all kinds of literacy programs, youth organizations, etc. that would take the books as a donation.
You know it's the second part of that Schmidt quote that is so often left out -- the part that bridges the public and private sector: Google's info could be the government's info. If we start to treat Google as our worldwide library, it's worth keeping that in mind, especially considering the heroic job that the public librarians have been doing of standing up for civil rights in the face of some of the more Draconian provisions of the Patriot Act.
i agree. i think their answer should be something in the line of destroy it because national archive would have one not Google would have one. It is very dangerous to give such a total power to a private company knowing things could change @ any given time.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
Businesses often struggle to decide which domain to use. When it comes to purchasing a domain name, you have plenty of extensions to choose from, ranging from .com and .net, to .me, and even .mobi. But which one should you pick?
I've been writing about how the next evolution of the Internet might just be an advertising revolution, and how corporate IT can stay involved as the enablers and providers of the technologies that make this possible.
In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M.
The smartphone market reached a significant milestone, a breakthrough that may cause vendors to celebrate but could strain the capabilities of IT service desks.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
your weekly update of news, analysis, and
opinion from Internet Evolution - FREE! REGISTER HERE
Wanted! Site Moderators Internet Evolution is looking for a handful of readers to help moderate the message boards on our site – as well as engaging in high-IQ conversation with the industry mavens on our thinkerNet blogosphere. The job comes with various perks, bags of kudos, and GIANT bragging rights. Interested?
To save this item to your list of favorite Internet Evolution content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
Email This
