quinta-feira, maio 18, 2006

Publisher, be very, very afraid?

Publisher, be very, very afraid?: "By tim I just saw a printed copy of the New York Times Magazine issue that contains Kevin Kelly's brilliant essay What Will Happen To Books? (It's called 'Scan This Book!' in the online version.) Kevin did an amazing job of bringing the potential of the universal electronic library to life, and highlighting both the issues and the opportunities. So I was really disgusted to see the cover treatment of the article bearing the subtitle, 'Reader, take heart! (Publisher, be very, very afraid.)' This is yellow journalism, pandering to fear of the future. Publishers need to get with the opportunity, not be afraid of it! As I've argued previously, in essays like Piracy is Progressive Taxation, the role of 'publishing' is rediscovered in each new medium after a period in which everyone argues that the playing field has been leveled once and for all. I was writing about music and film being threatened by peer-to-peer networks, but the same argument applies to books: The music and film industries like to suggest that file sharing networks will "