The controversial Google project to scan books from libraries, index them, and make them full-text searchable (books.google.com) has been known by several names in its short existence: the Google library project, Google book search, Google books, and now Google Editions. The popular press has repeatedly referred to the project as a “library” even “the Google library.” (See a list of sample quotes here.) But the project is clearly not a “library” but a bookstore, as the recent announcement of “Google Editions” makes clear.
In a recent story on the PBS News Hour, Pam Samuelson, professor at the University of California Berkeley, says this specifically: “It’s basically turned this project into a bookstore, rather than a library.”
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thanks for the post Jim! and there’s every reason to believe that google isn’t even a “book”store but a “word”store. Google is primarily concerned for what’s inside that archaic vessel called a “book” because it’s the words that drive their business model (90+% of revenues are from ads!).
Link | January 7th, 2010 at 4:35 pm