France's Top Librarian Attacks Google Online Library

[Kuciwalker]

Why?

[Imran Siddiqui]

And what public non-profit organization is going to put up the money to do it? None have stepped forward.

[Fake Boris]

Well, that's what he wants to do.

Of course, it won't happen. And I trust Google more about the catalogization - whatever the right word is - of the data.

[Imran Siddiqui]

So you are saying that he wants an improbability? So why attack Google and the US/UK over that?

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris
The Fabric

Is 'the fabric' an actual metaphor that used or is it a total failure in the translation?

[Fake Boris]

It's a total failure.

"Toile" has the meaning "Fabric", but also "web". The translator didn't take the right one.

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
So you are saying that he wants an improbability? So why attack Google and the US/UK over that?

He's not attacking them, he's just "reluctant to their advances".

[MarkG]

When Google defies Europe, by Jean-Christmas Jeanneney

His name is christmas???

[dannubis]

the real effort would be to have a huge digital online library that has an independant stature. no single company deciding what translations of what books become available, but an international governamental cooperation.

why governamental ?

well at least you can trust the governement that they won't let their choice of books be guided by the number of hits the titles receive.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by dannubis
the real effort would be to have a huge digital online library that has an independant stature. no single company deciding what translations of what books become available, but an international governamental cooperation.

why governamental ?

well at least you can trust the governement that they won't let their choice of books be guided by the number of hits the titles receive.

exactly. instead with government oversight you will have no idea whatsoever as to why a particular choice of book was made.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by dannubis
the real effort would be to have a huge digital online library that has an independant stature. no single company deciding what translations of what books become available, but an international governamental cooperation.

why governamental ?

well at least you can trust the governement that they won't let their choice of books be guided by the number of hits the titles receive.

Yes, that choice will be made by the bureaucrat de jour.

Kudos to Google for its initiative. Kudos to the EU if it decides to digitize and make available more material. This shouldn't be something that invokes nationalism, turf wars or jealousy, it is in everyone's interest to have readily available and inexpensive data.

[Colon™]

Originally posted by DanS
I think "somewhat working" with regard to creating a multipolar world is a rather generous description. Trade issues are the exception to the rule. The EU has had several decades of integration effort with regard to some economic matters.

I'd say trade issues constitute a big share of international diplomacy, not just any exception, so I stand by my description of "somewhat working".

[Spiffor]

BTW, how exactly will Google Library work? Will the files be digitalized and stored by Google itself (thus making Google deciding the stored files on a commerical basis), or will Google make a dedicated search engine, partly linking to Google's own stored data (with ads) and partly linking to data stored on university/library servers (without ads)?

[DanS]

All of the materials will be digitized and stored on Google's servers. I don't think they will choose what to keep or what to throw away -- they'll keep all of it, as the libraries have done.

The libraries can do with the digitized materials what they wish. Google is giving them a complete digital copy of the works from the library's stacks.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Spiffor


I know it's our fault that our culture is currently on the losing side. There is a synergy (between institutions, companies, artists...) from the Anglo world that promotes its culture however. But this synergy is something every culturally active country would have, and the blame must be laid on those who don't fight back. I'm all for fighting back. But see my response to...

I blame the Academie Francaise.


You can't ring fence a language or culture- and I happen to think that English has benefited greatly from being such a promiscuous language, in terms of adopting words and phrases from other tongues.

Having a foot in both the Romance and Germanic languages camps helps too.

It still surprises me that despite British children routinely learning French as the first foreign language (or sole foreign language) for decades, French popular culture isn't better appreciated.

Which isn't to say that the Brits don't love France and the French, because they frequently do.

L'Entente Cordiale