Scanning Books

The NY Times Magazine did an interesting piece on scanning books:

(it is also very pro FC)

Google announced in December 2004 that it would digitally scan the books of five major research libraries to make their contents searchable, the promise of a universal library was resurrected. Indeed, the explosive rise of the Web, going from nothing to everything in one decade, has encouraged us to believe in the impossible again. Might the long-heralded great library of all knowledge really be within our grasp?

As the article noted, this harkens back to the Great Libary of Alexandria, which also came close to having all works in one place.  

It also provides great possibilities for the future:

The real magic will come in the second act, as each word in each book is cross-linked, clustered, cited, extracted, indexed, analyzed, annotated, remixed, reassembled and woven deeper into the culture than ever before. In the new world of books, every bit informs another; every page reads all the other pages.

Editorial note: While I agree with the author on many points, I hope that actual physical books don't go the way of the buffalo.

Graduation, but there are still things to fight for!

Well, Nick is graduating leaving what is an enormous void in F and M Free Culture.  I trust that Nick has built the foundation for a successful club that will continue to grow and flourish in the future.  Best of luck to him who will be studying at Columbia in the fall.  You'rs truly has graduated as well and am mid job search.  

What, as likely parting words, do I have: there are things worth fighting for.  Free Culture like Franklin and Marshall College is rooted in the heritage of our founding fathers.  Our values that we've held since the founding of our great nation are always being challenged, so as patriots and members of the Franklin and Marshall College community it is incumbent on us to protect the sacred values of our forefathers to build a better nation for generations to come.  

Case in point, EFF covered this today:

 Early Saturday morning, in the darkest hours of the night, the Department of Justice made good its threat to file a motion to dismiss our class-action lawsuit against AT&T, contending that AT&T's collaboration with the NSA's massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications (which violates the law and the privacy of its customers)–despite being front page news throughout the United States and the subject of government press conferences and Congressional hearings–is a state secret. The motion was accompanied by declarations by Lieutenant General Keith B. Alexander, Director, National Security Agency and John D. Negroponte, Director of National Intelligence. We will vigorously oppose this motion. Donate to EFF and help stop the illegal spying!

There are things worth fighting for and members of Franklin and Marshall College Free Culture stand strong in our convictions, foster debate about the issues, and seek solutions that will improve the quality of lives for average Americans.   

E-Testify

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has opened an online forum where young people may submit "testimony" in support of lower interest rates on student loans.  This testimony will be read on the floor of the House of Representatives.  This is your chance to have your exact words delivered to all members of Congress.
Are you drowning in debt because of college?  Are you paying off your student loans and feel like you already have a mortgage? Have you had to decline a job you wanted to take because it didn't pay enough to support your debts? Are you limiting the choices of schools you will attend because you are concerned you cannot pay for them?

Young people are falling into debt faster than any other generation of America students. Our generation is beginning to be defined as the "Indebted Generation." The skyrocketing cost of tuition and housing has the average student in almost $20,000 of debt before they graduate, and now we are expected to pay almost 50% more in interest. This means Congress is tacking on thousands of dollars more on your student loans.

If you are paying off loans and would like to pay less, tell YPAC your story. 

E-testifying is a testament to the power of the internet.  

Markey Introduces Network Neutrality Act

Markey has introduced the Network Neutrality Act:

Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) threw down the gauntlet just moments ago, introducing the Network Neutrality Act of 2006 [full text HERE], which "[offers a] choice between favoring the broadband designs of a small handful of very large companies, and safeguarding the dreams of thousands of inventors, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. This legislation is designed to save the Internet and thwart those who seek to fundamentally and detrimentally alter the Internet as we know it."

Time to call your Congressman:

Rep. Joe Pitts

Lancaster County Court House
50 North Duke Street
Lancaster, PA 17602
(Duke and Orange Streets)
717 393-0667
717 393-0924 (fax)

Save the Internet

Congress is now pushing a law that would end the free and open Internet as we know it. Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment and the key to Internet freedom. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. So Amazon doesn't have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer. Many members of Congress take campaign contributions from these companies, and they don't think the public are paying attention to this issue. Let's show them we care – please sign this petition today.

Happy petition signing! 

From the NY Times:

WRITING last Monday at SepiaMutiny.com, a Web log dedicated to the Southeast Asian diaspora, a user called RC declared that "there is no scientific way to compare works of literature."

This observation was prompted by news, published a day earlier in The Harvard Crimson, suggesting that the budding novelist Kaavya Viswanathan, a Harvard sophomore, was actually a plagiarist who had served up large, sometimes verbatim helpings of two young-adult novels by Megan McCafferty — "Sloppy Firsts" and "Second Helpings" — in her lucrative first yarn, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life."

Just where science fits into the weeklong fracas that followed is an open question. The news broke the old-fashioned way: in a newspaper. And the expanding scope of the scandal — first 12 passages were questioned, then 29, then 40 — was driven by findings from Ms. McCafferty's publishers as much as anything else.

Certainly has a pro-free culture bent on many angles including the support of wikis, online communities, and their involvement with the story.

This article and situation begs plenty of questions too:

1.  Newspaper broke the story.  What is the role of old media?

2.  Where do we draw the line between plagiarism and borrowing?

3.  Also, is this a hard and fast line in the sand or do we make wiggle room for other cultures (a question the article brings up tacitly)?