Hi Jakob-

Yes, I think you are correct that it is a bit much to think that a
distributed archiving model is a bit much for libraries to even consider
now, but I do think there are useful insights to be gained here.

As it stands now, linux developers using Git can carry around the entire
change history of the linux kernel (well, I think they just included the
2.6 kernel when they moved to Git) on their laptop, make changes, create
patches, etc and then make that available to others.  Well, undoubtedly
change history is is a bit much for the library to think about, by why
not, for instance, and entire library catalog?  If I could "check out" the
library catalog onto my computer & use whatever tools I wished to search,
organize, annotate, etc., then perhaps "mix-in" data (say holdings data
from other that are near me) OR even create the sort of relationships
between records that the Open Library folks are talking about
(http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/berkman_lunch_aaron_swartz_on.html)
then share that added data, we have quite a powerful distributed
development model.  It may seem a bit far-fetched, but I think that some
of the pieces (or at least a better understanding of how this might all
work) are beginning to take shape.

-Peter

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007, Jakob Voss wrote:

> Peter wrote:
>
>> Also, re: blog mirroring, I highly recommend the current discussions
>> floating aroung the blogosphere regarding distributed source control (Git,
>> Mercurial, etc.).  It's a fundamental paradigm shift from centralized
>> control to distributed control that points the way toward the future of
>> libraries as they (we) become less and less the gatekeepers for the
>> "stuff" be it digital or physical and more and more the facilitators of
>> the "bidirectional replication" that assures ubiquitous access and
>> long-term preservation.  The library becomes (actually it has already
>> happended) simply a node on a network of trust and should act accordingly.
>>
>> See the thoroughly entertaining/thought-provoking Google tech talk by
>> Linus Torvalds on Git:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpnKHJAok8
>
> Thanks for pointing to this interesting discussion. This goes even
> further then the current paradigm shift from the old model
> (author -> publisher -> distributor -> reader) to a world of
> user-generated content and collaboration! I was glad if we finally got
> to model and archive Weblogs and Wikis - modelling and archiving the
> whole process of content copying, changing and remixing and
> republication is far beyong libraries capabilities!
>
> Greetings,
> Jakob
>
> --
> Jakob Voß <[log in to unmask]>, skype: nichtich
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