Whole Lot of Scanning Going On
Posted On Oct 20 2006I have to admit that “mass digitization” is one of those phrases that makes me laugh a little. It’s one I like to hear people attempt after a couple of drinks in the conference hotel bar. It’s what George Carlin would call “euphemistic language” that softens what is going on–a whole lot of scanning. But I will admit, digitization sounds cooler than scanning. Kirtas Technology announced this month that it has signed an agreement with Microsoft Corporation for the digitization of both publisher partner copyrighted works and select collections of public domain materials. The books will be available to Windows …
Re-kindling the E-book Fire
Posted On Oct 12 2006Can Amazon rekindle the the smoldering fire of e-book devices? I’ve waited a month since Engadget put this scoop out on their website–the Amazon Kindle. News of Amazon’s apparent attempt to go head-to-head with Sony by launching its own e-ink reader were thwarted, however, by a withdrawn FCC application and relative silence from the online book retailer. We were all left guessing. This slightly less-than-casual observer still believes that there is a market for good e-book devices that will be born out by mass digitiztion projects, increased wireless access, and an awakening on the part of publishers (OK, maybe that last …
Endings and Beginnings
Posted On Oct 4 2006I got an e-mail today from the RedLightGreen team at RLG. RedLightGreen provided inspiration and set the bar in many respects long before anyone had uttered the words “next generation catalog.” The much-lauded interface to the research union catalog is fading away in the wake of the OCLC RLG merger. Fortunately, this is not as much a deprecation as it is a passing of the baton to WorldCat.org, which launched in beta status last month. WorldCat includes both the faceted navigation and “Editions” feature (tying like titles together into a single record display) made popular by RedLightGreen. The second mouse …