The karma of virtual libraries
Do books want to be free?
Folks at BookCrossing.com think so, and they might have stumbled onto a way to turn the world into a virtual lending library, something that would have made Benjamin Franklin, proponent of the first public library in the United States -- which opened in 1731 -- very happy.
The Open Source software movement popularizes the notion that "information wants to be free," but Franklin originated the idea of a public library where ideas could be accessible to anyone, not just people with the means to buy books.
This is where karma comes in. It is a cross between "if you love something, set it free," and "cast your bread upon the waters."
CNN.com
Folks at BookCrossing.com think so, and they might have stumbled onto a way to turn the world into a virtual lending library, something that would have made Benjamin Franklin, proponent of the first public library in the United States -- which opened in 1731 -- very happy.
The Open Source software movement popularizes the notion that "information wants to be free," but Franklin originated the idea of a public library where ideas could be accessible to anyone, not just people with the means to buy books.
This is where karma comes in. It is a cross between "if you love something, set it free," and "cast your bread upon the waters."
CNN.com
posted by das at 10:31 PM
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