The Death Of Books?

Thursday, October 27. 2005

In years past, global knowledge was captured in books. Educated people with access to a library could tap that knowledge.

Now, global knowledge is mostly captured in the "knowledge cloud" of cyberspace. Anyone with access to a computer (or, increasingly, other devices) can tap in. The knowledge cloud comprises digital forms of all types of content -- web sites, papers, articles, audio files, video files -- all in formats that are easier to search and access.

The content "odd man out" is books. By and large the content in books remains trapped in books with little access in cyberspace. Google is trying to access that trove of information with their Google Print initiative. Yahoo and MSN have signed onto a competing open source venture. Because of technical and legal obstacles, both ventures are at least a decade away from offering comprehensive results.

This means that, at least for the time being, books are one of the worst vehicles for global communications. With respect to the global knowledge cloud, books are "information prisons". They might be great for credibility or appearance, but in 2005, they are not a good choice effective communications.

Posted by Jim Cashel in Communication at 13:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (2)

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Influence covers innovations in communication, Internet technology and strategy to generate influence on important public policy issues. Chris Wolz manages this blog with the help of his colleagues at Forum One Communications, a web strategy/technology firm in the Washington DC area.