Siva Vaidhyanathan, of Sivacracy.net, author of several books, and NYU professor, will be at GSLIS on Thursday to deliver this year’s Windsor Lecture.
This talk will explore the ways that large-scale digitization projects such as Google Book Search affect those who research and write books. It will examine the ways full-text searches might affect research, how widespread access to digitized books will alter market demands for authors, and how technological changes could alter the modes of composition and distribution of books in the near future. Critical of Google for its lack of quality control, this talk will argue that the public debate (such as that between John Updike and Kevin Kelly) has been misguided and misplaced. The real questions for authors will be how we will gather and represent the raw materials for our work.
Thursday, October 12th, 11:30 AM – 1 PM, GSLIS Room 126.
Be there, or don’t. Me, I’ll be there. My noon time professor is encouraging us to go, and I probably would anyway. While I don’t agree with everything Siva writes, I do agree with much of what he says. He also pays more attention to the intersection of pop culture, the academy and the corporate world than I am able to. I, for one, am glad he’s looking into some of the things that overlap with, and have a major impact on, my world.
9 responses so far ↓
1 CW // Oct 10, 2006 at 1:48 am
Wish I could! Are you going to be blogging it?
2 Mark // Oct 10, 2006 at 7:05 am
Hi CW! Yes, although maybe not live blogging it. I have come to realize that I need to take notes and post later if I want to get anything out of a talk. My typing is atrocious, esp. with a laptop balanced on my knees, and all the corrections just get in the way.
So, I will be reporting on his talk. It may just be a few hours later–I have 2 classes back-to-back immediately after the talk.
3 T Scott // Oct 10, 2006 at 11:29 am
I saw Siva do a presentation about a year and a half ago and he was superb. Provocative, thoughtful, engaging — definitely worth going to see.
4 ranger // Oct 10, 2006 at 1:05 pm
Dang it! We tried to get him here for a symposium but…I do hope to see him sometime. Enjoy.
5 Mark // Oct 10, 2006 at 6:40 pm
Hi T Scott and ranger,
I do look forward to a provocative, thoughtful and engaging presentation. I hope to learn and to question.
ranger, are you at the right Texas school for Siva?
Might have something to do with it.
6 Jenica // Oct 10, 2006 at 7:10 pm
Siva was the keynote at last year’s SUNY Librarians’ Association conference, and while I’m not in full agreement with his positions, he was a fantastic and thought-provoking speaker. My favorite bit was when he exhorted us, as state agencies, to challenge copyright restrictions, saying, “Why are librarians so afraid of copyright law?” and “you’re the STATE — you can’t be sued for damages — so no one’s EVER going to sue you, because it’s not worth it. So push the limits!” (I am, of course, paraphrasing.) I was laughing out loud with glee that someone was actually calling us on our bad behavior regarding copyright. Why ARE we so afraid, anyway?
7 Mark // Oct 10, 2006 at 7:25 pm
Heehee! Yes, I agree. While I am a fair use moderate, in my opinion anyway, I do agree that educational institutions do need to push the envelope so to speak. Especially state agencies!
My e-reserves work was heavily impacted by copyright considerations. And while I love my old boss to death and always will, this was one of the areas where I wished we had pushed things a bit more. I did my best, and think I always succeeded, in leaving these decisions to her though. I often took things to her that I was certain she’d say, “Go for it!”–if only to make sure I I left the professional judgement up to her, and to ensure that my own views didn’t creep in.
Me, I’d have pushed a bit more though. Kenneth Crews came and taught a 2-day workshop once and he also was saying to “Push it!”
Exactly, just what are we afraid of? I am not advocating wholesale abuse of fair use and neither do I think you are, but just what are we afraid of?
8 Jenica // Oct 10, 2006 at 7:32 pm
We’re afraid of the monster in the closet and the one under the bed and the one outside the window, I guess.
In grad school at UW-Madison, Kristen Eschenfelder taught a class on Information Policy, and that was where I first learned that copyright is a section of a code, not a clearly defined law, and what those differences meant in the real world. It’s also where I learned that most of the professional library-based interpretations of copyright are based on our concern that we’ll do something ‘wrong’ and be sued.
I just *object* to that idea in a really visceral way.
I think we should interpret the code to our best benefit while still honoring its spirit and goals… and then let them sue us, if that’s what they think is right, and let the law play out the way it’s supposed to. Instead, we’re becoming the most restrictive agents of copyright out there, by self-censoring out of fear. We’re writing our own nightmare.
I don’t want to live or work in that world!
(Ok, happy little rant over… )
9 Mark // Oct 10, 2006 at 7:38 pm
Perfectly acceptable rant here. In fact, I fully agree. I, too, “don’t want to live or work in that world!”