Are Wii the Children of the Revolution?

Journal Entry Question for Everyone
( # 6)

The latest gaming system from Nintendo is the Wii. So, is this new console a true technological revolution or just hype? Well in my opinion, it is just hype. The Wii is the first gaming system to come out with a motion sensing remote, and that is without saying totally awesome, but a revolution? Not really. Gaming systems have advanced quickly and this is just the next step in the process. Consoles will continue to create new ways to entertain the one playing; it will not just stop at a motion sensing remote. I think that some people are putting too much emphasis on the Wii remote. Whatever happened to the old-fashioned controller? But the Wii is still something that should be experienced. It is fun and can actually make games easier when targeting or aiming is required.

The Wii is a very interesting gaming system, but the true purpose behind the console design is in its name itself. It is no coincidence that this gaming console is pronounced "w-ee", or that it has two "i"s. Its pronunciation is to indicate that it is to be played by more than one person, just as the double "i" in the name represents 2 people. Another benefit of the Wii's pronunciation and spelling, is that it is the same in every language, unlike Nintendo's previous vision, the Gamecube. Creating this name was the first in many efforts by Nintendo to create a gaming system that can be enjoyed and played by people of all age groups including adults. It is because of the Wii's ability to do this that adds once again to the hype of the Wii being a revolutionary product. But I do no think the Wii will be able to "democratize" gaming for people of all ages because adults will not care to play it. They will maybe play it once, and probably enjoy it, but it will not matter. Adults simply to do have the time or the patience needed to really play the games available for the Wii.

Personally, I feel that the Wii is a good product and fun to play, but it still is just a console for video games. Nintendo did make a good effort in trying to bring people together to play with this system, but the fact still is that video games are designed for teenagers and kids; they will never attract adults in the same way no matter how the format for game play changes.

Reading In Cyberspace ?!?

Journal Entry # 5

This new library-based digitization will weaken Google's relationship with publishers. This is because the publishers do not believe that what Google is doing (providing an access to books limited by their copyright and consumer availability status) should be considered "fair use", and is therefore illegal. Google has three categories of books contained in its index. The first category is for books who are not under copyright and are assessable to the public (books that are in print). These books are fully displayed by Google and so can be read online. The second category is for books who are under copyright and are available to the public. For these books Google will display as much as the publisher will allow. Take for example you search a certain word in a book. Google will find a few pages that center around that word and let you read. The third category is for books who are under copyright and are not necessarily available in print. For these books Google will only display "snippets". This means that if you were to search a word in a book, Google will only let you read a couple sentences around that word. This is because for most of these books there is no publisher or copyright owner to contact in order to discuss how much of the book can be displayed. It is this third category that is causing controversy. Because Google is not able to ask for permission to display the "snippets" of the books and because Google is profiting from the book fragments, publishers believe that this is going against the law of "fair use", and is illegal. So far this has not been proven true, but it has dramatically weakened the relationship between Google and publishers.

Google Book Search has not only been able to obtain the attention of publishers, but also of other competing companies. Despite Google's battle over what is "fair use", its profits still continue to grow. As an attempt to keep up with Google, other companies are joining together, such as Yahoo! and Rogers. This can only be expected as the Google industry continues to grow.

This project will only increase the access people have to information. Because of this new project, people can research and find books that they would not be able to find in a store. They would either be able to read a whole book online, or just a few pages of it, and then decide if they want to buy it. But the whole potential of this Google project is that a history would be preserved. Because the majority of books held in Google's index is not available in print, most of those books will be forgotten. But what Google has done, is found a way to preserve them. One would easily be able to search over a relative history of books and compare them to what is available now. We would be able to see the evolution of the written word over the century that has just past and up to today. Not only would the access of modern information increase, but also older information.

Librarians will not be threatened by the new development. This is because Google only gives full displays of books that are no longer in print, and only parts of those that are available. You could research a book on line but you would not be able to read the whole thing. Therefore people will not just stop going to libraries because of Google Book Search. If you wanted to read a book, you could find it on Google, read a couple pages, and if you found it interesting you could borrow it from the library. Librarians would not be threatened because there is no threat.

I think that the Google Book Search is a good idea, but I would not use it that much. If I did use it, it would only be for modern books and those who are still in print. I do not think that it would be of use to me because I doubt I would spend the time to look up only small parts of books. I prefer to go to book stores and look at the books there. I think that the Google Book Search is legal and does not break the "fair use" law. I think that his project should be allowed to continue because although I don't find much use of it, other people probably do.