You can imagine the wonder that arose in people's minds when the first house of scrolls or clay tablets or books was built. Imagine! So much knowledge that a separate building is needed to house it all. We still use the word "library" for any collection of information as in "film library" or "music library".
When a whole new type of information collection arises, it may not be all that noticeable at first. Even now, after decades of public libraries and centuries of public education, it doesn't often happen that people can take a moment to run to the library and investigate an idea. Yesterday, I wanted to know whether raw or cooked broccoli was more nutritious. Did I run to the local library? I did not. I used Google, if you can imagine that.
At 6 PM this Friday, our town will have its 46th consecutive enormous trivia contest, where 400 teams of varying size will work for 54 consecutive hours at answering trivia questions. What color was Joan Cusack's dress after she ran out of the bar in frustration in the 1997 film "In & Out"? Some people in our town have played this game each spring for 46 years. They have seen the nature of the contest change enormously since Google and good internet connections came to town. Now we can look up the answer to virtually any question, translate many languages, find pictures of just about anything in a flash.
Next fall, I am giving a talk on sources of non-fiction information that are free and helpful. There are a great many but I have focused on TED talks, Great Courses and YouTube. I have a theory of my own that over time, the desire for interesting and correct information will grow and grow and those three sources are rich in that way. Just two days ago, a friend remembered Rudolph Nureyev dancing with the Muppet Miss Piggy in the famous ballet "Swine Lake". Bingo, found it right away on YouTube. Not life-changing but fun.
But since yesterday, I am turning my attention to a 4th source of modern information: podcasts. As far as I know now, they are nothing more than sound recordings of a speaker, called podcasts from their use on the Apple Computer's iPod, a small sound file player. I learned about Freakonomics Radio, a collection of talks centered around the ideas from the books Freakonomics and Think Like a Freak. There are many Freakonomics talks, maybe 50 of them, and they are very interesting and eye-opening. Not that all that many eyes need opening these days but I am just saying….
So the new library I am trying to highlight here is the internet's library of podcasts. Apple has a slew of them but there are many other sources, such as Wisconsin Public Radio's "To the Best of Our Knowledge" (TTBOOK). A friend listens to various downloaded podcasts and favorite music while driving. Not a bad practice and free.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
