Then there are different types of content: there’s content that’s wide open in the public domain that has no restrictions on access and then there’s another type that is in the scholarly arena and has a short period of generating revenue, after which it might become more broadly available, then there’s the “Disney” type of content that would have to be paid for, either on the front end or the back end. But again, who knows. There’s a lot of work that’s going to be done on this, so I can’t say at this point.
Has there been any discussion about the inclusion of news products? Such as current or archived magazines or newspapers?
Yes, we had the National Digital Newspaper project here. Because, again, no one wants to create some dusty vat of stuff that no one wants to look at. Newspaper content is another highly requested chunk of content. So, yes, we’re definitely thinking about that.
Holy shades of the Memex!
Vannevar Bush begin this conversation in 1945., and 60 years later we're still talking about it, while:
• print journalism is dying;
• bloviators have co-opted the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle;
• But, hey—at least we have "American Idol" and "Dancing With The Stars"
rogerscime.com
#1 Posted by Roger Scime, CJR on Sat 12 Mar 2011 at 10:30 AM
Kudos to Bob Darnton, John Parfrey, Maura Marx and colleagues for working to interest librarians, academics, and the media in the national digital library issue. And thanks to CJR, too, for running the interview.
For a somewhat different perspective, see librarycity.org, with pointers to related writings at TheAtlantic.com, Chronicle.com and elsewhere. As I personally see it, the Digital Public Library of America should immediately drop the "Public" from its name to avoid quite accidentally weakening the franchise and branding of traditional public libraries. The current ambiguities could be very damaging. In no way must the DPLA lead people to think it aspires toward being the actual digital public library system. Rather the DPLA could focus most of all on Robert Darnton's excellent Republic of Letters vision--using it to enrich our public libraries and schools. Meanwhile the Library of Congress could provide the infrastructure for the actual public side, with all kinds of valuable advice and other help from the DPLA, as well as public and foundation support.
David Rothman
Co-Founder, LibraryCity.org
#2 Posted by David Rothman, CJR on Tue 15 Mar 2011 at 06:55 PM