I’ve always had a place in my mind for this guy. Here’s his latest piece: Scan this book! Kelly claims that the days of the printed book are over and done. We’re entering the era of universal library and snippet online-reading. Well, nothing new so far.
One of his more interesting claims is that 75% of all books in libraries are orphan – that is, out-of-print, under copyright, without clear understanding of who owns the scanning rights. But he doesn’t see that to be a major problem because the “copy” is dying. Forget copyright, Kelly says, because scanning is so easy and cheap. If it’s not Google, it will be the Chinese. In Kelly’s world, the almighty technology will always prevail.
Where Kelly shines is his compelling and clear argumentation. He is an excellent writer. However, his weak side is the prophetic, always-optimistic tone. With some practical experience, I do have reservations regarding the death of copyright and the “conservative” industries behind it. If the dot-come boom busted, contrary to Kelly’s visions, why would this time be different?