Okay. So it looks like Google is trying to counter-act is copyright infringe issues associated with the Google Books program by teaming up with Litcam and UNESCO to bring literacy to the world. I can applaud that. Is this technology-driven universe, what better company than Google to bring literacy to parts of the world where there is no running water?
Makes me think of the book I'm reading, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization, by Thomas L. Friedman. In it, he gives quite a few examples and a good deal of background on the development of globalization and how technology is driving force. By technology, Mr. Friedman really means the Internet.
So, in that sense, it only seems logical that an Internet company like Google would bring literacy to the world. The Internet gives new meaning to the phrase "freedom of information" since anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world has access to information, which is another point Friedman makes, and the very importance of how to organize and re-structure that information for the consumer as well as the business.
The other thing I just noticed is that the authoer of the post on Google's Literacy Project is not affiliate with Google. How interesting, and what a leap of faith we all take in believe that it is really a person not affiliated with Google.
What a leap of faith we all take every time we read a blog, even this one, that the person posting is who that person claims to be. That got me thinking of an article I saw online in the Economist yesterday about Second Life which is a very advanced online community. Actually, it's a virtual community, a virtual economy, a virtual society.
Are we looking at the next generation of living?
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