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Lydia Wong wrote:
>
> Amen. As a former librarian, I cringe when folks say they did extensive
> research on the internet, but didn't go to a library. Maybe I'm just old,
> but a person is uninformed if they think that all the information in the
> world is at their fingertips on the internet.
I'm haunted by the thought that, every time a new technology comes
along, information is either lost or ceases to exist for practical
purposes. Librarians at one local university tell me that, when card
catalogues were computerized, the inputters couldn't be bothered to
add all the cross-references. The cross-references had taken years
to build up, but most of those connections are now lost for good.
Similarly, for many people, a book or article that is not on-line
might as well not exist. When the Internet first started being used,
many people - such as those in Project Gutenberg - saw the web as a
means of preserving works, but, now, I suspect that many more works
are virtually lost (pun intended).
In this respect, the rise of the Internet might represent a loss as
great as the burning of the Library of Alexandria (whether you think
that the Romans or the Arabs are responsible for that particular
cultural atrocity).
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Contributing Editor, Maximum Linux
604.421.7189 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com
'And do you mean to say that you've built up this important business
and amassed a fortune of thirty thousand pounds without being able
to read or write? Good God, man, what would you be now if you had
been able to?'
"'I can tell you that, sir,' said Mr. Foreman, a little smile on his
still aristocratic features. 'I'd be verger of St. Peter's, Neville
Square.'"
- Somerset Maugham, "The Verger"
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