Date posted: July 6, 2008

The Difference Technology Makes (2)

The internet has given my ability to do research a tremendous boost. Nowadays, if you know where to search you can find almost any academic book, journal or article online.

I still buy books, more than ever actually, because I prefer reading from a book to reading from a computer screen. But for finding a particular passage or to get an idea what the book is about those pdf files are ideal. Many of my philosophy books I've read in the original language, French or German. If you want to quote a passage in an English paper you have to use the official English translation. For that those pdf files also come in handy.

Once these files are in the public domain they are there to stay. This is the insight the economist Hal Varian had in the late 90s. So I don't think the current academic publishing business model is tenable in the long run. This is good, I think. For many years these publishers raked in excessively high profits, because libraries and students were forced to buy the books. Libraries often only have/had a budget for one or two copies, which meant that some popular books are/were only available on overnight loan to give as many students a chance to have access to it.