Re: The Superhighway Steamroller

Nick Arnett (nicka@mccmedia.com)
Mon, 27 Jun 1994 09:46:16 -0800


At 10:54 AM 6/27/94 -0400, Jeff Barry wrote:

>Evidently, you haven't heard "Professor" Hart in action.

I've "heard" him on the net for a long time, particularly in his posts on
Interpedia. Discussion there seemed to die when it changed from a listserv
to a newsgroup, so I guess I haven't had a good dose of Hart-isms for a
while.

>Hart's uses a pool of volunteers who either keys in or scans texts from
>literary sources which are no longer under copyright.

Of late, I've become much more interested in this because we're looking at
employing refugees, students and others to do much the same for the
Sarajevo library project. So I'm paying a bit more attention, but a little
voice has told me not to solicit advice from P.G.

>...I do wonder why anyone thinks a
>reasonable human would prefer to read a novel on a VT100 monitor rather
>than out of a 75 cent paperback from a used book store or a hardcover
>volume from the local library.

Of course. It makes limited sense when your country is at war and books,
when journals etc. are too heavy to airlift in.

>I believe Hart claimed he was being quoted out of context.

I was a journalist for 15 years, so that particular flame doesn't bother me
a bit. All quotes are out of context.

>Since librarians have been
>putting up with him for years on the network, thought I would let the
>rest of you know his "reputation."

My intutitive decision not to seek his advice appears to correct... ;-)
You've strengthened it.

Nick

Multimedia Computing Corp.
Campbell, California
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