Blog 7
Watt - Scholars Perspective: Impact of Digitized Collections on Learning and Teaching
It's difficult for me to assess the financial aspect of digital archives, mostly because I do not directly know the cost for subscriptions. As we discussed in class before, we are automatically given access to multiple online databases for being IC students. Once we leave the college, we would have to purchase subscriptions to some digital collections individually. If I want to know the cost for subscribing to a particular database, I would have to go and look up prices for each one (due to limited time, I will not do that now). For now, I will just lump the cost of access in with tuition (for many students, it is a significant amount of money). The numbers from the 2007-2008 Almanac of Higher Education can also be used for comparison. That being said, Watt asks the reader, "Do we really need these expensive virtual libraries?" (p. 4). He answers his hypothetical question with "no."
I wonder if his answer will change in a few years; with advances in technology, could we end up switching to entirely-digital production of text? I certainly hope not, but Watt does mention that people are using the internet to look up information more and more each year/month/day/etc.. If that is the case, there could be multiple works that have only online access. It is possible that there currently are many in existence (whether they are quality works or not, I am not sure). Online databases, therefore, could become more than just a convenience.
Even if it is only a convenience, there are still multiple scholarly works that get published online; that is intellectual property, and the cost of it should not (in my opinion) change regardless of form of publication. The only reduction in price that seems reasonable is for the physical printing and printed copies of the work.
Mullin - IMSLP Review
To preface, I actually do not use IMSLP; I try to avoid it as much as possible, so I do not have much of a personal relation to this article. I experimented with the site a little bit in my undergraduate studies looking for trumpet ensemble music. I was excited that I could find music online and be able to view/download it. When I viewed my results, however, I found next to nothing. When I was able to find some material, there were issues with the individual parts (wrong notes, odd arrangements of the original piece, etc.). Since then, I have not attempted to use IMSLP.
Looking back on it, my search scope was not exactly very popular (4-7 trumpets is not a common instrumentation). After reading Mullin's review, my perspective on the site slightly changed. It seems really nifty that composers actually use the site as a discussion forum. There are still issues with availability (inaccuracies, copyright issues between the U.S. and Canada, poor scanning), but the intent of the site is very intriguing. Any user who has a score that they wish to upload can do so, and they take the initiative to gather all historical information on the pieces they upload. It shows that people have formed a community dedicated to giving people access to music. I guess that is why my friend referred to IMSLP as "a smaller version of 'Wikipedia' for music."
Baio - "Never trust a corporation to do a library's job" & West - "Google's slow fade with librarians"
These articles are depressing to read, but they raise an interesting question: Is it worth preserving the past, as opposed to focusing on the present and future? Both Baio and West would answer in the affirmative, arguing that people still care about the past. According to them, Google is not an archive, nor is it a library; it's a corporation that seeks profit. While it was interesting to read Baio's article on accessing the Oregon Trail computer game through the Internet Archive, the fact that Google changed its objectives and dropped Google Books, Google News Archives, and other research-based efforts is very troubling. We are becoming (or have already become) a society that does not value preservation of information over making money. Perhaps I may be biased in this case; to me, it is depressing to see an ambitious project basically get tossed away. The silver lining to this issue is that enough people still care enough to develop the Internet Archive in their spare time.
Lepore - "Can the Internet be Archived?"
It's mind-boggling what can be found on the internet by using a basic search engine. Billions of sources are available online, and that is simply for today. Knowing that the Internet Archive can take snapshots and preserve web pages dating back to the days of the internet's creation is astounding. That being said, it is very interesting how people can go back through the internet and find old blogs, comments, and messages that have since been deleted. The Britain Conservative Party's website, Strelkov's comments about downing a plane, and BuzzFeed's numerous "stupid-sounding" articles would not have been able to be resurfaced if it not were for the Internet Archive. I searched for images of the Archive, and while I only could see parts of certain rooms, I can only imagine how much is physically stored there.
It's difficult for me to assess the financial aspect of digital archives, mostly because I do not directly know the cost for subscriptions. As we discussed in class before, we are automatically given access to multiple online databases for being IC students. Once we leave the college, we would have to purchase subscriptions to some digital collections individually. If I want to know the cost for subscribing to a particular database, I would have to go and look up prices for each one (due to limited time, I will not do that now). For now, I will just lump the cost of access in with tuition (for many students, it is a significant amount of money). The numbers from the 2007-2008 Almanac of Higher Education can also be used for comparison. That being said, Watt asks the reader, "Do we really need these expensive virtual libraries?" (p. 4). He answers his hypothetical question with "no."
I wonder if his answer will change in a few years; with advances in technology, could we end up switching to entirely-digital production of text? I certainly hope not, but Watt does mention that people are using the internet to look up information more and more each year/month/day/etc.. If that is the case, there could be multiple works that have only online access. It is possible that there currently are many in existence (whether they are quality works or not, I am not sure). Online databases, therefore, could become more than just a convenience.
Even if it is only a convenience, there are still multiple scholarly works that get published online; that is intellectual property, and the cost of it should not (in my opinion) change regardless of form of publication. The only reduction in price that seems reasonable is for the physical printing and printed copies of the work.
Mullin - IMSLP Review
To preface, I actually do not use IMSLP; I try to avoid it as much as possible, so I do not have much of a personal relation to this article. I experimented with the site a little bit in my undergraduate studies looking for trumpet ensemble music. I was excited that I could find music online and be able to view/download it. When I viewed my results, however, I found next to nothing. When I was able to find some material, there were issues with the individual parts (wrong notes, odd arrangements of the original piece, etc.). Since then, I have not attempted to use IMSLP.
Looking back on it, my search scope was not exactly very popular (4-7 trumpets is not a common instrumentation). After reading Mullin's review, my perspective on the site slightly changed. It seems really nifty that composers actually use the site as a discussion forum. There are still issues with availability (inaccuracies, copyright issues between the U.S. and Canada, poor scanning), but the intent of the site is very intriguing. Any user who has a score that they wish to upload can do so, and they take the initiative to gather all historical information on the pieces they upload. It shows that people have formed a community dedicated to giving people access to music. I guess that is why my friend referred to IMSLP as "a smaller version of 'Wikipedia' for music."
Baio - "Never trust a corporation to do a library's job" & West - "Google's slow fade with librarians"
These articles are depressing to read, but they raise an interesting question: Is it worth preserving the past, as opposed to focusing on the present and future? Both Baio and West would answer in the affirmative, arguing that people still care about the past. According to them, Google is not an archive, nor is it a library; it's a corporation that seeks profit. While it was interesting to read Baio's article on accessing the Oregon Trail computer game through the Internet Archive, the fact that Google changed its objectives and dropped Google Books, Google News Archives, and other research-based efforts is very troubling. We are becoming (or have already become) a society that does not value preservation of information over making money. Perhaps I may be biased in this case; to me, it is depressing to see an ambitious project basically get tossed away. The silver lining to this issue is that enough people still care enough to develop the Internet Archive in their spare time.
Lepore - "Can the Internet be Archived?"
It's mind-boggling what can be found on the internet by using a basic search engine. Billions of sources are available online, and that is simply for today. Knowing that the Internet Archive can take snapshots and preserve web pages dating back to the days of the internet's creation is astounding. That being said, it is very interesting how people can go back through the internet and find old blogs, comments, and messages that have since been deleted. The Britain Conservative Party's website, Strelkov's comments about downing a plane, and BuzzFeed's numerous "stupid-sounding" articles would not have been able to be resurfaced if it not were for the Internet Archive. I searched for images of the Archive, and while I only could see parts of certain rooms, I can only imagine how much is physically stored there.
I can't believe that you have made it this far without using IMSLP! It's pretty impressive really. I have noticed that IMSLP does not carry a lot of pieces written for interesting instrumentation, for example I cannot find a large amount of brass quintet pieces. I do, however, use IMSLP for one of the groups that I play in because we only play pieces in the public domain.
ReplyDeleteThat's cool that you searched in the internet archive, I did not think to test it out! It's a little unnerving to know that everything we have ever put on the internet could be archived somewhere...forever and ever if someone wants to find out something about the past they have the chance to find it! No hiding or burning evidence from anything in some bonfire anymore!
Steve, I also haven't used IMSLP much but I know there is a lot of great music out there. My trumpet professor from Lawrence recently posted a link to a big list of trumpet solos on there that are fun to look at, and may be good for students depending on the situation. Of course, the content of IMSLP changes all the time, so there may be more trumpet music on there now than the last time you looked.
ReplyDeleteMy mind was similarly blown with the scope of the Internet Archive. I really had no idea that was a thing before taking this class, so seeing the numbers they are talking about and trying to wrap my head around that is staggering. I'm glad someone is trying to do it, and I hope that their efforts can be sustained. I don't really fault Google for quitting though. They are a company out to make money, archival duties for the betterment of society really are better left in other hands. I think that's ostensibly why we have public libraries, governments, and non-profits. They work towards a mission which is unrelated to profit.