Literature as a (Web) Service

Peter BrantleyDigital Library Federation

10 Feb 2009

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When we think of books …

we think of books as objects …

(albeit of a special sort)

sometimes

we even

behold them as

works of art

“hand°i°craft°Art”, Vali..., Flickr

\\

books are

machine things

“M&H Type Arion Press Tour”, inarge, Flickr

(sans dynamism, texture)

(size shape proportions)

2 ✚D(very limited conception)

the book is a

social construction

a successful

commodity

“a book is a machine to think with.”

- I. A. Richards

- Principles of Literary Criticism

- 1924

Nota Bene:

booksneverstatic.

we read books.

“Northfield Carnegie Reading Room”, Olivander, Flickr

reading

is itself a

social

product

a commodity

in concert with

language, and

a conception of

personal space.

what the heck?

\ now our

\ analog culture

\ is being

uplifted

|

to

|

digital

“The Rocket blasts off”, Phil Gyford, Flickr

and what is a “book”

is about to be redefined

not just in the context of itself

“This is No Barnes and Nobel: El Ateneo Bookstore”, longhorndave, Flickr

new form of commodity

a new set of relationships

books are now

networked

commodities

“Network Operations Center at NPR”, Collapse the Light, Flickr

“reading”

becomes

redefined

“Things to do while traveling by train”, Akbar Simonse, Flickr

reading

(silently)

always before

a solitary act

1 person + 1 book

reading many things[in the context of others]

reading will be increasingly

embedded in & produced in

highly networked contexts

So,

what I want to say ...

what is published

will become

less about the

books

than the

people who read them

“reading in the sun”, gnackgnackgnack, Flickr

Booksto

People

extract

what’s important-

[inside the books]

words, ceoln, Flickr

the words

that the books

contain.

words that

represent

• fact

• beauty

• thought

• expression

digital

words

can be –

described by other words

joined across books

linked with data

“MMMMathemmmmmatics”, Flickroff, Flickr

words that:

describe themselves

↓

words that:

build new services

ah, let me explain that ...

“The P Word”, racineur, Flickr

via a torturous analogy

... ... ...

Gemeinschaft books

Gesellschaft books

future:

when we

read a book

(networked)

we don’t need to stop at

the “cover” of the book

(read just

the words

in the book)

“book cover collage”, monkeyc.net, Flickr

an environmentof participatoryengagement

environmentis emerging

across books

any book

can be a passage

into the world

of all the thoughts

that can be found

in the book

“books strung up by their spines, and the words that fell out of them”, glitter feet, Flickr

books can now work together

words of books

can be associated

among each other

“now”, quinnnchick, Flickr

(via Shelly Jackson’s The Skin Project)

literature

can become a

(web) service

“Teaching How to Dance”, William Forrester, Flickr

Homework Exercise

Imagine-1:

1. All digitized non-fiction books

2. ... a rough machine translation

3. ... the major world languages

jumble of words

ruptured contexts

- but -

“knowledge tokens”

preserved

a highly derivative work

indexed and searchable

awareness of knowledge

becomes accessible

to a huge portion

of the world

“book”, mybloodyself, Flickr

Imagine-2:

1. Wikipedia entries

2. ... machine-enhanced

3. ... linked to books

data in wikipedia

with

data in books

linking_data

Linked Data– .– using the web – to connect data– .

Linked Data

uses words

--- to join ---

other words

“Xarxa”, Xarxes socials i llengües, Flickr

new awareness /

new knowledge /

machine generated

machine enhanced

we can do

these things

: today :

(Google does)

“Platinum spiral catalyzing methanol oxidation”, ystenes, Flickr

we are

thinking of the things

you make

the words

the ideas

as a catalyst

for new services

(not products)

Δrequireschanges

we have to think

of (IP) rights

in a new way

just as we think

of our books

in a new way

upsidefor developers of services

services

generate

renewable

revenue

In ∑ …

books

are empowered

in the digital age

by

words

And the peoplewho read them.

“At The Bookstore Café”, erix!, Flickr

Google figured this out

(Google Book Search)

When you

think of literature

as a catalyst

as a whole

assemblage

of thoughts

concepts

ideas

you are limited

only by your

imagination

“Sweet dreams for Christmas...”, carf, Flickr

kthxbai!

peter at diglib.orgnaypinya {twitter, skype, slideshare}