> Your public library and services like Overdrive are "NetFlix for text".
They're NetFlix for books and formal periodical publications, both of which are more movie-like: there are a relatively small number of publishers and publishing a full-length book is a substantial, multi-person project, as is publishing a magazine or newspaper. There's a huge wealth of text out there that has no chance of ever hitting any library or central seller/distributor of etexts.
Judging by the stuff that comes up when you browse categories, or when NetFlix wants to suggest something to you, the only "curation" involved is whether they were able to get rights to display the content. There's no quality standard, and there's no logical standard (like "if we offer the second film in this series, maybe we should offer the first one too") either.
You've clearly never been to my local public library - this is often how things are there - second and fourth book in a four book series there, first and third nowhere to be found.
lmm|7 years ago
They're NetFlix for books and formal periodical publications, both of which are more movie-like: there are a relatively small number of publishers and publishing a full-length book is a substantial, multi-person project, as is publishing a magazine or newspaper. There's a huge wealth of text out there that has no chance of ever hitting any library or central seller/distributor of etexts.
thaumasiotes|7 years ago
Judging by the stuff that comes up when you browse categories, or when NetFlix wants to suggest something to you, the only "curation" involved is whether they were able to get rights to display the content. There's no quality standard, and there's no logical standard (like "if we offer the second film in this series, maybe we should offer the first one too") either.
cuckcuckspruce|7 years ago