I’ve had this posting in my head since the week before Comps but I had to study so here it is:
I was talking to my dad via cellphone and we were discussing digital libraries. He startled me by saying that he didn’t really believe in digital libraries but then he clarified a little. He asked if I had ever read Farenheit 541 and I said no. He hasn’t read it either but he knows the general gist of the story. Apparently the fire fighters are going around burning all of the books in the world because books create ideas and someone has decided that people should not be able to form new ideas. It’s a scary thought.
My dad then said that he doesn’t believe in fully digital libraries where the original copies of things (scanned or digitized) are destroyed because if something happens and a hacker goes in and changes the words of an important doctrine, we won’t know what the original said and this could cause huge problems. Now I want to read the book to see how it turns out. I had no idea that it had such a connection to the digital libraries of today and in the future.
October 19, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Oh, you should definitely read this, because your dad makes such an excellent point. (But it’s actually Farenheit 451, not 541!)
October 19, 2008 at 3:26 pm
That is, Fahrenheit 451: whew!
October 19, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Darn, I transposed the numbers again!
October 19, 2008 at 10:34 pm
It is a very interesting book that poses quite a few questions about books and the information in them. I personally found it disturbing to imagine the world could be like Bradbury describes. But others LOVE the story and the thoughts it provokes.
October 30, 2008 at 1:26 am
I read the book after someone recommended it in another class. Then I bought a copy of the book after I read it with the intention of marking it up and writing notes in the margins. I haven’t gotten this far with it yet. I am not a science fiction reader and I did not particularly like the book, but it is very thought provoking. It is a tool that dictators like to use. If you limit the press or decide what people can read, listen or watch then you can control them. Your father had the main idea right. Information is a way to free people if it is used right. But now my question is how did people verify information before the priniting press? If one scans a book or digitizes it, someone else has the opportunity to change it unless there is some way that a lock can be put on that item. Although people always have had the chance to rewrite or black out portions of a book as well.
October 30, 2008 at 2:41 pm
You raise an interesting question Dolores, how did they verify information before the printing prss? I wonder if that is why some history books have conflicting dates for important events, because someone in the past wasn’t as careful when they were copying the original document. I imagine it was very boring and tedious work to copy the same document over and over and after a while, quality has a tendency to go down.
November 4, 2008 at 1:49 am
Not only does your Dad make an excellent point Claire it should give us all pause to think. As creators of digital libraries now and in the future, what will we do with any “originals”. Earlier in the semester (I’m sorry to say I have no idea where at this point) I was reading about items being scanned and then the original destroyed. With all the talk of preservation and continual emerging technologies this is truly a very scary thought. How much faith do we want to put in the longevity of digital collections? How do we balance space saving digital copies with preservation of original works? Thanks for bringing this up, I have had Fahrenheit 451 in my bag for three weeks because of the big read and have not sat down and read it……..I think I’ll get that out!
November 4, 2008 at 2:39 am
Thanks for your comment Wendy! I also remember the issue of throwing away the original materials after they are digitized. I remember feeling sad about the fact that when you digitize a book, many times you have to completely take it apart, destroying the original. Can you really put it back together, making it as great as it was in its original form? I doubt it. I guess this is more important when the original copy is the only other copy available, like an ancient manuscript or first edition of a famous piece of literature.
November 17, 2008 at 9:32 pm
very interesting post!
November 17, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Thanks!