I have a question for all of you creatives… What is your opinion of how recent changes in technology have changed your creative process? Do any of them make you worried? Excite you? Confuse?
I ask, because I am a huge library lover (especially for reference books and those huge tomes I would love to fill my house with, but my husband would rather I did not), and one of my favorite online resources is The Internet Archive. The access to rare and out of print resources the IA offers to someone like me, who lives out in the boonies but is blessed to have solid cable-modem service, a way to look up odd bits and see old texts (such as this example… my son found volumes 2-4 at a book sale and wanted to read them, but we couldn’t find the 1st volume at the time). However… its recent project The Open Library is stirring up some controversy in some circles because of copyright violation.
I am a bit divided on this issue. I do believe that we need more ways for people to access books, but theft stinks, even unintentional thievery (which is what these seem to be, since the files have an active DRM protection on them). The problem is that there are people out there who are stripping off this copyright protection and then reposting authors works as their own because of the formats used to make the books available o the Open Library, depriving those who did the real, creative hard-work of credit and pay.
Something’s got to give… I have my own ideas for possible solutions. How about you? Have you had any experience (good or bad) with the Internet Archive/Open library or with pirating? Do you think technology is making more problems for writers or offering some of the best solutions?
No matter what is happening in the publishing world however, we at the ROW80 have your check-ins covered. You can post here at out little linky froggie, on our Facebook page, in the comments below, or any combination of the three. Just let us know how you’re doing. We lover to hear from you.
A Round of Words in 80 Days: The Writing Challenge That Knows You Have A Life 
I had a bad week with technology, but I have to admit for all the bad things that come with it, there are a lot of good as well. I guess we just need to keep things in perspective and keep plowing forward.
True! I guess it really isn’t all that different from the days when Gutenberg started printing Bibles… there was an outcry then about how the “unwashed masses” would start questioning the Church if they could read it for themselves. That it would be the collapse of society.
It did cause questioning, but those seeds I’m sure were already there. And yes, some serious wars were fought about the differing interpretations but it didn’t destroy society… just altered it.
Some years ago, I put together a fan newsletter for our local Starfleet chapter. One month, I wrote a poem I shared in the newsletter, which was cut and pasted.
A few months later, I found my poem in another chapter’s fanzine. I don’t remember if they credited me, but I know for certain that they didn’t ask my permission.
It doesn’t matter what the technological level is – some people will use what they want for their own purposes without regard to proper permissions.
Good point! The only question then remains, do we think the changes in technology are making this process easier for pirates. And, is the trade off in ease for ourselves worth it.