The Infinite Library
The Infinite Library
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Undoubtedly 1, it will be a complex task. “It’s not just feeding the books into some kind of digitization machine,” says Susan Wojcicki, leader of the Google Print project. It also includes “taking the digital files, moving those files around, storing them, compressing them, OCR-ing them, indexing them and serving them up,” she points out. “At that point it becomes similar to all of Google’s other businesses, where we’re managing large amounts of data.”
Options for digitization collaborations
Some people are cautious about the leap Google’s partner libraries are taking. Brewster Kahle, founder 3 of a nonprofit digital library, the Internet Archive, argues that all digital library materials should be as freely and openly accessible as physical library materials are now.
Previous digitization collaborations generally followed one of three models.
An example of the first model is Corbis, an image-licensing firm. Since the early 1990s, Corbis has acquired rights to digital reproductions of works from more than 17 museums. In some cases, it’s now impossible to use these images without paying Corbis. Kahle says, “The same thing could happen with digital literature.”
In the second model, parallel public and private databases coexist peacefully. Kahle cites the Human Genome Project, which culminated 5 in a free version produced by government-funded scientists and a private version produced by Celera Genomics.
The third model hinges on partnerships 6 in which private companies offer commercial access to digital books while public entities 7 provide free access for research. An example is the Internet Archive’s collaboration 2 with Alexa, an Amazon.com-owned company that ranks Web sites according to the traffic they attract. After six months, Alexa donates its data to the Internet Archive, which preserves it for noncommercial use.
So which comes closest to Google’s plans? Wojcicki says, “We’re trying to be as open as possible.”
Vocabulary Focus
serve up (idiom) to make something available
culminate 4 (v) [5kQlmineit] to result in; to reach completion
hinge on (idiom) to depend on something or be very influenced by it
Specialized 8 Terms
OCR (n) 光学字符识别 optical character recognition, the process by which an electronic device recognizes printed or written letters or numbers
无限图书馆
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这无疑是个复杂的工程。“Google 印刷品”计划主持人苏珊·华曲斯基说：“不是把书喂入数字化机器就了事。”她指出，还包括了“取出数字档案、移动、储存、压缩、作光学字型辨识及将档案编入索引，再提供数据。”“那时就变得和Google 所有其它的业务类似，也就是管理大量的数据。”
数字化合作的方式
有些人对 Google 的合作图书馆所跨出的一大步持谨慎的态度。非营利数字图书馆网络档案室创办人布鲁斯特·寇尔则主张，所有数字图书馆的数据都应该像现在的实体图书馆一样免费和公开供人取阅。
以前的数字化合作通常遵循3种模式。
遵循第一种模式的例子是影像授权公司Corbis。20世纪90年代初期，Corbis 就已从17座以上的博物馆取得将馆藏作品以数字型态复制的权利。现今在某些情况下，如不付费给 Corbis， 就无法使用这些影像。寇尔说：“相同的情形也可能发生在数字文献上。”
第二种模式是，相似的国家和民营数据库和平共存。寇尔举“人类基因体计划”为例，该计划最后有由政府经费资助的科学家完成的免费版本，也有由赛雷拉基因公司完成的民间版本。
第三种模式取决于伙伴关系。民营公司提供取阅数字书籍的商业渠道，公共实体则提供作为研究之用的免费渠道。“网络档案室”和隶属亚马逊网络书店的Alexa（亚雷萨）公司的合作方式即为一例；Alexa 公司依浏览率为网站排名，6个月后，Alexa再将资料捐给网络档案室以保存作为非商业用途。
那么，哪一种模式和Google的计划最接近呢？华曲斯基说：“我们试着尽可能保持开放态度。”
- It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
- He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。
- The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
- He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。
- He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
- According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。
- The celebration of the centenary will culminate with a dinner.百年庆典活动将以宴会作为高潮。
- Everyone feared that the boundary dispute between these two countries would culminate in a war.人人都担心,这两国间的边境争端将以一场战争到达顶点。
- a gun battle which culminated in the death of two police officers 一场造成两名警察死亡的枪战
- The gala culminated in a firework display. 晚会以大放烟火告终。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
- It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句
- Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
- The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。
- There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
- These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。