On Sat, 13 Nov 2004, Brad Collins wrote:
This is a real polarizing issue, with many academics believing that they are the annointed guardians of literature and recorded knowledge. They feel threatened by groups like PG and DP which have by-passed their institutional traditions. Many academics today feel threatened by etexts in the same way that the clergy felt threatened by the printing press.
And this is one of the reasons they won't accept eBooks, even when I bring them to them personally, free of charge. [Oh, they take them, but the won't allow them in libraries.] They still want to be "A Big Fish In A Small Pond." They don't realize the the walls of academia have been penetrated by the virtual world. . .for them to try to stop eBooks is like James Watson's efforts to stop Craig Venter from mapping DNA, or even his efforts to stop the model building Crick 50 years ago. mh