tech bros on twitter arguing against libraries in favour of "spotify for books" because authors/publishers (or rather VC investors) can't use libraries as their primary source of profit is just a perfect example of silicon valley's willful ignorance or complete contempt for the ideas of public service and the commons.
rather than everybody creating a public space and sharing resources they'd have us all completely separated and paying countless times over for the same thing.
@cocoron Silicon Valley is populated by Ferengi.
@cocoron libraries are one of the few places left you can just go to, and not get kicked out for loitering if you aren't spending money
@vantablack it's so gross that every interaction with others is being increasingly defined as ultimately a financial transaction
I don't think it's just an obsession with money but with measuring things. They want metrics for everything.
But the things that we value most are usually things that can't be measured ( ✊ ❤️ 🙏 ), so they are invisible in metrics. These things might get lip service in speeches or PR copy, but they never appear in strategies or spreadsheets.
@vantablack @cocoron sad trombone, i've been kicked out of a library for just hanging around before
never as a kid. but. as an adult
@cocoron mfw cooperative games usually yield higher efficiency than non-cooperative games
@cocoron I am sure libraries would be highly illegal and frowned upon if they were a new technology. Libraries are radical. More radical than skateboards probably.
@Alonealastalovedalongthe @cocoron
Fairly safe to say the publishing industry would be lobbying hard against them.
@switchingsocial @cocoron Can you imagine if someone made a library for video games? Like you could take out a digital copy of a video game, play through it, and then return it for free. Can you imagine how insanely quick that would get napalmed?
Console games would suit the library format, because they're very expensive to buy and most people only play them through once.
They are where books were when libraries were founded.
@switchingsocial Right and like movies it would make sense to have them at libraries. However, even before the current wave of tech companies and digital stores, blockbuster was making money off of being a for-profit library. That is how radical libraries are. As far back as the precambrian age of tech, capitalism was working hard to strangle libraries.
@switchingsocial @Alonealastalovedalongthe actually a decent number of public libraries do lend out console games now! my library doesn't, but we're part of a consortium with several libraries who do so i've gotten DS games sent over for me before
@Alonealastalovedalongthe @cocoron
They are, and will be so long as the books in them inspire ideas, and controversy. AND perhaps even solve a few problems.
I already use spotify for books. It's called Overdrive. And it's on my library website.
@cocoron Other than being a disgusting replacement for books it's also one that publishers have vehemently opposed. They screamed at Kindle Unlimited and did their best to kill it. What makes techbros think that publishers will go for this model any more than Kindle Unlimited?
@cocoron also in the UK authors *do* receive money when their books are loaned out.
@cocoron see https://www.bl.uk/plr
I think there are various international equivalents, too.
@cocoron they can take this library card from my cold dead hands!
@cocoron my public library has ebooks, videogames and music
but tbh I don't use their offer (maybe because I'm stupid or something)
@cocoron so my local bibliography offers free rental via the internet. I can borrow a ebook for 14 days and once the time is up I can't open the file anymore.
I don't see exacty how this works. Does this require an authentication server? Some special PDF tag which can be bypassed by converting?
Either way i /might/ try it in the future.
@cocoron i looked into it and I think it's similar to kindle unlimited.
I won't use that service tbh
Yet the Santa Clara County library system is the best I have ever seen. A decade ago we voted to support the library with mill tax on property, dedicated exclusively to support of the 8 library branches.
There is money for new books and ebooks, and internet access is provided by fast free WiFi and banks of computers, all equipped with word processing and spreadsheet software. There are outlets everywhere.
Their policies are liberal and efficient. They are always busy.
@cocoron What's mindblowing about this to me is how people can want to jump into a sphere where they clearly haven't done the research at all. Like, I read upwards of 10 e-books a month from the library. There are multiple apps that support this. Hell, even if you want to talk about it in the context of paying, Amazon has Kindle Unlimited which is literally the same model as Spotify/Netflix. "Do you even read, bro?"
@SuzanEraslan research and relevant experience don't matter, when you're a white dude working in silicon valley, you're an expert on literally anything
@zaitcev you know, you might get a healthier sense of the world if you leave the house a bit more and actually go to places
@cocoron libraries also provide ebook lending services. Boom! Spotify for books! Techbros. Pull a Mozilla or Wikipedia and start a non-profit to improve that existing sys…oh wait no, you just want to make money don’t you?
I miss the early tech pioneers who cared about the public good :(