Sunday 20 February 2000

Pic of the day: Winter road.

"Kast alle papirene" - throw away all the papers - seems to be the new hit by deLillos, the Norwegian pop group. I just happened to hear it on radio this evening, as I switched on the tuner out of curiosity. Usually I don't listen to radio much anymore, though I did when I was younger. These days, I don't much learn of new songs unless someone plays them where I cannot avoid it: On the bus, typically. Or when I visit SuperWoman and her family. She actually likes some music that I learn to like too. Though not all of it.

Anyway, I hate the premise of that song. I guess it is meant to be ironic, though it is very hard to tell these days. Basically it says: Throw away all the papers that reminds you of a past you have otherwise forgotten. Since you have forgotten it, it is obviously not worth keeping. Throw it all away.

It is a safe bet I wouldn't be writing this if I thought like that.

I do however think that we could throw away lots of paper - as soon as we have the same stuff in machine readable form. I know some perfectly rational and intelligent people who make paper copies of online journals. And not only their own, either. What? What?? It is already there, why cut down more trees to change it into another format? Of course, paper may just prove to be more durable than today's magnetic media. But that should be years into the future, and by then we may have far superior means of storage.

I see this at work. I send e-mail to my coworkers. I spesifically prefer e-mail wherever applicable. It is fast, it is cheap, it is convenient. You know what they do? Uh oh. They print it out, then delete it. Hello? HELLO?? Anybody home? It is far easier to manage the folders on your disk than the binders on your shelves (which are already overcrowded). And for each passing year, we consume more and more paper. It costs money, money that we could have used for other things. There must be tons of paper carried in and out of that storage room during a year. Much of it for no good reason, as the info was already on the screen. And will not be read again after it is archived in the fat binder. Throwing away the paper!

Already there are quite a few books available on the Internet, legally. Though this kind of intellectual property is eclipsed by music, these days. Some rather few books are spesifically published on the Internet. There are even some "hyperfiction" that is written with hyperlinks throughout. Al Schroeder (of Nova Notes fame) has not only his own online hyperfiction, called Decajour. He has also recently taken to making a linkzine, WEBWRITTEN. I guess that would interest you if these things interest you. And besides, I am too lazy to compete. Enjoy the fruits of his toil. See you later, I hope.

For the more traditional books, there is always the Project Gutenberg. It contains thousands of classics where the copyright has expired, and some voluntary donated books with copyright restrictions. On a related note, I barf on the attempts to prolong copyrights into the infinite after the death of the authors. I can see the good in keeping things restricted while the writers children and grandchildren still may benefit from the sales. But the recent push for extended copyright is not driven by this, but by greedy publishing houses. That's OK, mind you, greed is the foundation of capitalism. But it must be kept in balance. And the greed of the publishing houses should in this case be weighed against the greed of the reading public. Who has the best cause here? The idea behind copyright, patents etc is that it should protect those who have invested time and money in it. I say, when all the biological persons who did so are dead, release the work. Let its spirit fly free, too.

Oops, got a little carried away there. The sad fact is that I have downloaded exactly one book from Project Gutenberg: Adam Smith's "Wealth of nations". It is a rather small book, too. And without it, the world we know today would not have been possible, Internet and all.

Yeah, yeah. The idea of having thousands of books online makes me so excited I'm practically wiggling in my chair. But when do we actually read books? In my case, I must admit, on the bus. When in front of a computer, I tend to do other things: Games, e-mail, games, newsgroups, games, diary, games, fiction, games, surfing, games, chat, stuff like that. Well, this does not quite apply at work. I generally avoid games at work. It is very irritating to be in the middle of a game and have your boss or coworkers disturb you with some petty mundane matter. May as well not start.

So, how does that work with my lust for online books? Not well. At present I have enough paper based stuff to more than tie me through the bus and train rides I normally have. But I hope for a future in which we will have e-books that are actually usable. Work is in progress. I doubt that any of the proprietary technologies will become a standard, though. I find it more likely that portable computers will actually become good enough for casual reading in crowded places. This will take some work, but once there, the world will be open. The artificial borders will collapse between books, magazines, letters, memos, and e-mail. They will all be one.

And we can throw away all the papers.