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I know the digidivide is a serious issue, but there's an aspect of this project that is completely unique. It will digitise, for example, the entire 19c. records of the Bodleian which will make things available like unpublished hand-marked musical scores by the major composers, and it will also make available for study (by Jo Average anywhere in the world) materials that are currently too fragile for anyone to look at, with or without local access rights.
c'mon guys, this is a spot of great news! The tidal wave of crap on the web is a self-fulfilling exercise anyway, but this marks a very important step in the information age. Go google.
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newbie
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Uh, Musick...that second post was for emphasis. Sorry. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'll tell you what, these title changes have had me grinning!
Reading, studying, experimenting take some mental effort that most people are not prepared to commit in their free time. Our Max being a very notable exception to this; I've never known anyone who studies as hard as he does--from pure self-motivation. A shining example that I admire from the slough of my laziness. Yep, I enjoy learning--but I want it to come easily. Though I suppose that, like any initiative, it can depend on our motivation.
One thing no one has mentioned (at least not by the time I started typing) is research on medical treatments; I began hearing years ago of sick people, or their loved ones, "ransacking" the internet, hoping to find a cure that their doctor wasn't aware of.
Another thing I was thinking of re: in-depth research and learning is the comfort factor: you can lounge with a book, and hold it as near or as far from your eyes as you want. Using a computer for hours on end can result in both muscle strain and eye strain. And it's the latter that would pose the less solvable problem, I think.
Also, it seems to me that two major "cultures" with divisions have been discussed: first-world as opposed to second- and third-world; and people who would be doing all this research as part of their jobs as opposed to individuals who are looking on their own. Perhaps some clarification on which aspect we're talking about could help.
I can't see any downside to the endeavor, either. However, I do feel that there are many individuals who will not make use of the free access, thus furthering the cultural divide; one group being the people whose major (only) concern is how soon they can get high again; another being those who believe that they're making a fine living selling drugs and/or being in a gang; and a third--those who are too poor to own a computer/pay for access and who live too far from a library to get there without great difficulty. And of course some people who are convinced they'd never learn how so why bother trying.
As to research--won't there be gaps in many areas? That is, don't many companies/individuals guard their privacy so others don't beat them to the punch, or whatever?
Also, like many other things, internet info. can be used for good or ill.
Now--having pointed out all those negatives, I will say that I am convinced that people in general are inherently good, and that therefore the beneficial outcomes will far outweigh the bad ones. And, as computers become more and more standard in schools--at least in the U.S.-- that in maybe a generation or so, virtually everyone will be aware of them and comfortable with them; and perhaps more familiarity will breed, if not exactly contempt, at least awareness and standards of use. The internet is the most addictive "new toy" I can think of--probably a "drug" for some people, at least for a while. I am hopeful that kids who grow up with it will therefore not see it as "new", and will then have it as just a part of their lives, not AS their lives. It is a godsend for people who cannot leave their home or their room; but we are social creatures who need the company of others.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Good to see you around these parts, Mav, and I'm with you all the way up to that "Go google" *crack. ***  *** Now musick, that sentence lacks continuity.It was designed to continue later.
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Carpal Tunnel
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>I can't see any downside to the endeavor, either.
The downside will be sudden and dramatic. The dissemination of current knowledge will continue and accelerate, but the accumulation of new knowledge (and particularly of new creative fiction) will grind to a sudden stop.
Believe it or not, people write to make a living. Do any of you think professors write new textbooks for the fun of it? I've written a book; some of you have even read it. I know how much time, effort, and soul I poured into that paltry endeavor. But if I knew that anything I spent all that time and effort working on would be available for free to anyone who has a computer and a CD-W drive I wouldn't f**king bother! You cannot support a writing habit )or a family) on laudatory emails from people who liked your work. And I will bet every last nickel I have that people will not send a voluntary contribution to an author whose work they have already devoured in order for that author to have the whereiwthal to write a sequel.
Google has now effectively eviscerated the pool of present and potential writers throughout the world. The only ones who will write for publication are those who have axes to grind. In other words, eveything new will be propaganda of some form or another.
Certainly there will always be those who love to read, to hold in their hands a book with real pages, something they can feel with their fingers as they travel in their minds to imaginary places and situations; but those few are not enough to sustain an artist who wants to paint pictures with words.
As many of you are aware, there are available several electronic readers that have the size and shape of a book, but with an LCD screen which projects an image of a page. I've not actually seen one, but mark my words, this misguided effort on the part of google will have the effect of putting these contraptions into the hands of every third grader and above.
But in fifty years there won't be anything new to read except for the diatribes of polemicists or the random maunderings of amateurs whose egos are massaged by seeing their names at the top of a manuscript. Either that or governments will have to finance writers, a future I find to dreary to dwell further upon. What will we do, pay them by the download? Let me see, it takes me twenty-seven seconds to download my novel. I get say 50 cents a download. How many times a day can I download that? And use a computer to do it over and over again so I don't even have to be present while I am extorting money from the public fisc.
I consider this a sad day.
TEd
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"Harvard University and the New York Public Library ... will make only a fraction of their expansive holdings available before deciding whether to expand the program."
"Oxford University, in England, has also signed on with Google's digitization project, offering only books published before 1900."
They said these schools would be making "their collections" available online, but they did not say that they would make every book available online. Could this harm new writers? Perhaps. OTOH, having a generally more literate populace - if that is a result - might have the contrary effect.
The use of computers will never replace sitting under a tree by the lake with a cold one, flipping through the pages of some fascinating new story, or sitting at a desk in the evening, wading through a dusty and venerable tome.
I spend nearly my entire workday at the tube. In the evenings, I'm also often on. But one of my favorite things to do is to take a book down to the local coffee- house and just relax. (As my employer loans me a laptop, I will sometimes take IT down to the closest Starbucks and work.)
Things will change. We'll be able to do a lot of things we only dreamt of before, and a few things about which we never even fantasized. Much crap will go down. Rotors will sling much of it about the room. But when the mist settles, I'll still be sitting in the corner with a copy of some classic (in paper or or memory as it suits my mood), clothes-pin on my nose and swigging my favorite caffeinated beverage.
k
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"The downside will be sudden and dramatic. The dissemination of current knowledge will continue and accelerate, but the accumulation of new knowledge (and particularly of new creative fiction) will grind to a sudden stop_______________________________________________TEd Remington 12-16-04 TEd, I have dated your quote above because one day soon it will be cited far and wide with an allusion to the malapropic 19th Century rejoinder "Get a horse!". Consider this... People don't read for fun. People read to learn. Learning is fun. If a writer is writing for money...that ain't fun. And no one wants to learn something that ain't fun.
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yep, that's right FF - a spokesman for the Bod was quite emphatic in BBC interviews today that they would not contemplate releasing anything over which there was even a chance of copyright infringement. So I think your cheque will still be in the email, TEd! in fifty years there won't be anything new to read except for the diatribes of polemicists or the random maunderings of amateurs whose egos are massaged by seeing their names at the top of a manuscript…So, no change, huh?  Thanks for the welcome, Chi! I love your concept of a suspension clause to sentences. Quite right, conversations are designed to
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Hurry! I think that Maverick has fallen floorward in mid-sentence and can't get up! " Thanks for the welcome, Chi! I love your concept of a suspension clause to sentences. Quite right, conversations are designed to
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conversations are designed to
be two-way exchanges and so should leave gaps for others to
(thanks for your solicitude Milum - glad to see you're still around!)
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