Google's World Brain

I've often wondered how Google convinces libraries, such as Harvard, to allow the super-rich company to digitize books for free. Now I know. A new documentary "Google and the World Brain", which, by the way, is described by TechCrunch as a very anti-Google movie, explains: "They pitch it as a way to avert disasters like the burning of Alexandria or the flooding of Tulane University’s library during Hurricane Katrina." Of course, any librarian worth his or her salt would want to avoid a disaster. But authors, in particular the Author's Guild, have objected and asked the courts for $3 billion from Google for scanning copyrighted books. However the Guild settled for $125 million; but then a District Court judge dismissed the settlement. So we are unresolved. The bottom line to understand about all this is that Google is not interested in making books available for reading as much wanting to mine the data for all its worth.

Brazil's surprise

In Brazil, you'll need a dance card to keep track of the contestants. In the ebook world, Kobo, Google and Amazon opened their virtual doors in December 2012. The opposition, one would think, would be Saraiva, and digital distributor Xeriph. But seven of the largest publishers had banded together in April 2012 -- in anticipation of Amazon's arrival -- to create Distribuidora de Livros Digitais (DLD). According to Publishing Perspectives: "It looks like the DLD gamble has paid off. According to research by PublishNews Brazil’s Carlo Carrenho presented last week at the Digital Minds Conference during the London Book Fair, sales through DLD — which is believed to account for about 30% of ebook market in Brazil — more than doubled, reaching 39,210 ebooks in December."

Going Dutch

From all around the world, I think you'll be reading more reports like this one in Publishing Perspectives: "The National Library of the Netherlands (KB) and Google Netherlands, which began in 2011 to digitize 160,000 books from the library’s collection, yesterday announced that 80,000 of those titles have been scanned and are now available to the public. . . The digitized books are 'full text' searchable and available for free through Google Books as well as the web service boeken.kb.nl." I know for instance that the British Library is doing a similar thing. And libraries throughout the world should be following suit. Back to the Netherlands. So if you want to read a book in Dutch, you're in luck. You'll be as they say "Going Dutch" with a little help from Google.

Going Dutch

From all around the world, I think you'll be reading more reports like this one in Publishing Perspectives: "The National Library of the Netherlands (KB) and Google Netherlands, which began in 2011 to digitize 160,000 books from the library’s collection, yesterday announced that 80,000 of those titles have been scanned and are now available to the public. . . The digitized books are 'full text' searchable and available for free through Google Books as well as the web service boeken.kb.nl." I know for instance that the British Library is doing a similar thing. So if you soon want to read a national book in Dutch, you'll be in luck. You'll be as they say "Going Dutch" with a little help from Google.

Ebooks' Tower of Babel

In the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel, people woke up one morning and began to talk to each other as usual, but could no longer understand each other. In the global expansion of ebooks, that is what the world is waking up to today. France and Germany, in particular, with their strong history of book culture, has resisted Google's attempts at, in its own words,"organizing the knowledge of the world". They have taken Google to court, and started their own digitization projects -- Gallica, Europeana and Libreka -- according to O'Reilly's "The Global Ebook Market:Current Conditions and Future Projections", which is downloadable for free here: http://search.oreilly.com/?q=global+ebook+market&x=22&y=15 . What is the future of digital reading and learning? A patchwork of different formats, devices and accesses. You can't help but sense, as you read this wonderfully comprehensive report, that the very real execution of ebook globalization will be the opposite of a one-world dream, the hope of all globalists. What is the opposite of being a globalist? Let's say being a globalister. Then, a globalister is someone who knows that the example of the Tower of Babel applies to the worldwide expansion of digital communication.