Video of Aaron Swartz discussing the Open Library

media-cyber.law.harvard.edu

7 points·AaronS··7 comments

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I don't really see what problem is solves... maybe I don't have such a passion for books.

Sounds like unless you want really detailed information on out of print books, what already exists is good enough.

Am I missing the killer feature?

Aaron Swartz is the "killer" feature. How long before this goes the way of abandonment?

A fair question. Looks like other folks are doing the bulk of the coding:

http://demo.openlibrary.org/about/relnote

The problem is that books can be inaccessible. Here are some possible reasons:

-[Cost] You can't afford any books

-[Geographic] There are no libraries or bookstores where you live

-[Rarity] Only 3 copies are extant, and some jerk at Harvard has them all checked out until 2012

If you don't care about books, then no, this probably doesn't directly help you.

The Open Library is also a non-commercial source of information about books, i.e. an alternative to Amazon.com. See this article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6924022.stm

what's he staring at? the hand gestures are kind of distracting too. should have used apple remote with that keynote.

oh and as an aside, i'm starting to notice that "structured wiki" might be the new buzzword of 2008. hey, what you making? i'm making a web 2.1 app that's a structured wiki with digg style voting to help you find a babysitter ONLINE; i'm going to get microsoft to value it at 15 billion.

Can I buy some shares? I will bring you oranges.

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