Time Waster - WSJ.com
Time Waster - WSJ.com
Who is Tim Spaulding?
Very little is actually known about the elusive Tim Spaulding. He is a lover of ancient Greek literature and a computer programmer who has created several social networking sites: a wiki for ancient literature, mothboard, a collaborative writing site and, most recently, Librarything. Of this list of creations it is Librarything that, at only a year old, has taken off and attracted tens of thousands of users (some paying, some not). Two of the sites I checked no longer function (mothboard and the writer's project). It seems that they are just two more pieces of garbage floating aimlessly in cyberspace. Librarything, however is a growing, profitable project for Spaulding who can now live off the profits it brings him.
So what is my problem? Spaulding is profiting on information that people are giving him willingly. These people are given the ability to socially network with other bibliophiles and their books get neatly tagged and cataloged. Its a win-win situation, right? Well, perhaps, for those who do not question who is tracking all of this information that is being volunteered. According to the Wall Street Journal article I have linked this blog to, Spaulding has decided to pair up with "AbeBooks.com, an online service that connects independent booksellers to customers [and AbeBooks has] purchased a 40% stake in his site." Show me the love.
I may not know much about who Spaulding is, but I know one important thing about who he is not: a librarian. He does not keep the records of his users private. He expoits those records for his own personal gain. Do users of his site really realize that in addition to possibly paying him a fee outright they are contributing to his wealth by divulging their collections? Have users contemplated the reasoning behind librarians standing up to warrantless law enforcement officers in the interest of protecting patron privacy and intellectual freedom? The biggest question I have is who would Spaulding willingly give your personal information to if he believed it to be in his best interest (financially or not).
Who is Tim Spaulding?
Very little is actually known about the elusive Tim Spaulding. He is a lover of ancient Greek literature and a computer programmer who has created several social networking sites: a wiki for ancient literature, mothboard, a collaborative writing site and, most recently, Librarything. Of this list of creations it is Librarything that, at only a year old, has taken off and attracted tens of thousands of users (some paying, some not). Two of the sites I checked no longer function (mothboard and the writer's project). It seems that they are just two more pieces of garbage floating aimlessly in cyberspace. Librarything, however is a growing, profitable project for Spaulding who can now live off the profits it brings him.
So what is my problem? Spaulding is profiting on information that people are giving him willingly. These people are given the ability to socially network with other bibliophiles and their books get neatly tagged and cataloged. Its a win-win situation, right? Well, perhaps, for those who do not question who is tracking all of this information that is being volunteered. According to the Wall Street Journal article I have linked this blog to, Spaulding has decided to pair up with "AbeBooks.com, an online service that connects independent booksellers to customers [and AbeBooks has] purchased a 40% stake in his site." Show me the love.
I may not know much about who Spaulding is, but I know one important thing about who he is not: a librarian. He does not keep the records of his users private. He expoits those records for his own personal gain. Do users of his site really realize that in addition to possibly paying him a fee outright they are contributing to his wealth by divulging their collections? Have users contemplated the reasoning behind librarians standing up to warrantless law enforcement officers in the interest of protecting patron privacy and intellectual freedom? The biggest question I have is who would Spaulding willingly give your personal information to if he believed it to be in his best interest (financially or not).
posted by Swicky at Wednesday, September 27, 2006
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