The Information Age
Google, the operator of the world’s most popular Internet search service, plans to announce an agreement today with some of the nation’s leading research libraries and Oxford University to begin converting their holdings into digital files that would be freely searchable over the Web.
This spells good news for all of those Bloggers frantically searching for documents supporting their argument(s). I won’t mention any names…
Hot tamale, this project is amazing! U of M’s full collection of 7 million books will be digitized over the course of seven years. The project would have taken 1,600 years to complete without Google’s help! Insane. And to think that I was excited to have a mere library card….
This is exciting and I’m glad to see you put up the post. As a student in the School of Information at UM (formerly the library school), I know firsthand the terror that many librarians (especially those in reference) feel at these kinds of changes. But isn’t this the goal of information professionals?…making more information more accessible to more people more easily??? Librarians and archivists are definitely going to need a different skill set to address these changes, but instead of fearing it I think we should embrace the opportunities this kind of access brings. Hey, by the way, you should consider adding a freedom of information/information activism section to this blog collective. i know the perfect person for the job (hint, hint).
What do you want to call it?
hmmmm…information activism? i’ve been thinking about doing a blog like this for quite a while. There are so many issues out there to talk about related to information and access to it and too many of my fellow archivists are content to follow the status quo.
info activist?
To match the theme I think it should be something a bit more vague. Like an abbreviated quote or something:
“Information is not knowledge.” -Einstein
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance.” -James Madison
“Getting information off the internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.” -Mitchell Kapor
“On the internet, inside information is currency, and there will always be counterfeiters among us.” -J Michael Straczynski
Or maybe something like:
Information and Meaning
Conflicting Information
Acquiring Information
Understanding Information
I don’t know.. Just some thoughts..
out of the stacks? maybe this is too inside for outside of the library clique.
okay, i think i’ve got it-knowledge is power, information is liberating
I like “out of the stacks” best…
Dharma, the blog is all set. Register your user name and I’ll boost your preferences..