[iDC] Re: Re: Everything is Miscellaneous

[trebor at thing.net]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for input. I may have to respectfully disagree here.

>In discussions about David Weinberger's interesting book I'm often struck by
>the  disconnects between examples cited and actual experience.  For instance,
>Trebor states:

>In 1999 the BBC started spending $100 million a year to convert its archived
>material into digital format, making it available for reuse.

>Reuse by whom?  The suggestion is that digitization suddenly opens up access to
>collections.  This is possible, but far from inevitable.  Copyright, license
>agreements, union contracts and a licensing-oriented culture restrict reuse of
>BBC materials to those willing to pay hefty license fees.  But unrestricted
>items in their collections have always been available for licensing and reuse;
>when it's time to make a copy, the film or tape goes to the lab for
>duplication.  In any case, if the implication is that the world is going to be
>able to reuse BBC collections, this is not so.

As far as my review is concerned, I'm not misrepresenting David's
characterization of the BBC digitization effort.
(If in doubt, please read pp 96-97, which address this issue.)

-Trebor