The Charms of Wikipedia

The Charms of Wikipedia

If you can get past the somewhat smarmy tone of the first couple paragraphs this is a very good and interesting review. Especially noting that the majority of Wikipedia edits are made by the one percent of users; the power laws in effect!

The Fate of Nabokov's Laura, Part II

Big Green Bookshop

One of my current favorite blogs to read is the Wood Green Bookshop Blog located here. It's unfortunately not in the US but in England and it documents the continued process of Simon and Tim establishing, painting and selling books. They haven't actually gotten to selling anything yet but one of them was at least holding a book in the store so I think that's progress. One of the main things I appreciate about this bookstore is the goal to be a community-integrated establishment. The bookstore involved the company from the beginning buy conduting a poll amont the area schools to determine what the bookstore should be named. see article 1stpage and 2ndpage I believe there is, or was, a second poll done to find out which the best font would be for the front of the book store.
I think what these two "blokes" are doing is a necessary attitude for libraries and librarians to take. It's not simply a matter of marekting yourself to be a part of the community just so people come to your establishment, it's necessary to take a legitimate interest in your community and express it in noticeable interactive ways. At the very least, the individual who came up with the bookstore gets serious bragging rights and probably some street cred. I'm not sure though; it might be different in England.

Preservation in the Age of Large-Scale Digitization: A White Paper

I haven't read this whole paper yet but it's remarkably timely and well done. It coincides well with First Monday's most recent podcast and writings.

Web 2.0 in U.S. LIS Schools: Are They Missing the Boat?

This is interesting especially in regards to the first several paragraphs and Noa Aharony's take on the future of LIS professionals in this burgeoning information society. Librarians are going to need to know how everything connects and be able comfortable shifting roles as information technicians.

Glenn Gould Recaptured En Masse

A Journey Shaped by a Guitar

borders self-publishing and the idea of vanity

borders self-publishing and the idea of vanity

One of the most brilliant blogs currently available on books, their future, their impact and their changing methods is the if:book blogTypically I would just share an article like this but Ben Vershbow makes a really good Benjamian point I would like to draw your attention to. After providing a concise and clear cut synopsis of self-publishing using Border's and Lulu as example, Verbshow remarks that self-publication should not convince the reader that the author is more credible than something simply published on the web. Here's the quote :"In fact we must develop better and more sensitive instruments of
bulls*** detection than ever before to navigate a landscape that lacks
the comfortingly comprehensive systems of filtering and quality control
that the publishing industry traditionally provided."
Why is this a good quote?
Because Verbshow, unknowingly or not, is dealing with the problem of proper criticism, Walter Benjamin style. How does one develop a more sensitive instrument of poor quality? One reads, immerses, marinates in good quality so that knowledge is then available to critique based on other's works, not on ones own likes or dislikes. Our previous dependence on "knowing individuals" has been removed. Since the implied process of quality control in the life of the publishing of a book has been removed it is up to the reader to start that process after the book has been published to hopefully 1) encourage people to read if it is a good work or 2) encourage people to not read it if it is not a good work. This encouragement should not be based on the likes or dislikes of the reviewer/critic but based on the critic's knowledge of literature so that the work at question can be evaluated as a work and not as a matter of taste as we decide what jam to put on our toast.
How does one determine what is good quality? That's another discussion but I think that a good work is one that is authentic to the human experience. A quality work is written like poetry, Wendell Berry's Remembering, and resonates with the reader like the Psalms.

In Books for Young, Two Views on Product Placement

Book burning is regarded as one of the most heinous activities. Books are considered as precious items containing either information, direction but above all books give narrative accounts of author's dealing with life's experiences. Either through the lens of another world or through the dissected 10 minutes of a bank robbery or a library where people bring the books they write but never check them out, narrative provides a way of interacting with the tension between man and himself, man against the world, man against machine and man against God. Priceless stories have been crafted on these principles which is why the loss of these original works through fire is considered so atrocious.
I believe book burning is perfectly justified in this case. A story that is crafted around the idea of selling products, in a world that doesn't stop selling, and that publishers and so-called "authors" are ok with this warrants a bit of flame. My favorite quote is toward the end of the article here a publisher for HarperCollins is quoted as saying "If you look at Web sites, general media or television, corporate
sponsorship or some sort of advertising is totally embedded in the
world that tweens live in,” Ms. Katz said. “It gives us another
opportunity for authenticity.”
Authenticity? Really. I was pretty sure that authenticity meant something closer to being true to the work, real. If we are living in a world where advertising is now perceived as authentic there's a bigger issue here.
This issue of product placement in print books illustrates 1) continued death of the printed work and 2) an interesting conundrum for the use of such items like Sony e-reader or Amazon Kindle. ( no I was not sponsored to put those references in there) It is not too far afield to consider these companies would include advertisements between pages, in empty space and so forth.

Gatsby’s Green Light Beckons a New Set of Strivers

Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

HarperCollins Will Post Free Books on the Web

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Google and Microsoft Take Up Battle Stations

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Google Assails Microsoft’s Bid for Yahoo

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BENJAMIN ON STORYTELLING.

BENJAMIN ON STORYTELLING.

Please enjoy this excellent essay on Walter Benjamin and fiction.

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