I love many of his concerns. He wants more attention, for example, paid to the origins of documents. “I believe we need new electronic documents which are transparent, public, principled, and freed from the traditions of hierarchy and paper.”
Nelson is worried about the circulation of information shaped by corporate PR people, ideologues and others with agendas, but to me the issues go behond that. Especially, I’d argue, a concern for transparency should apply to electronic editions of old classics. When they go online, we should know which paper editions were used. Even better, we need images so scholars can truly see source documents. E-book publishers have not always sensitive to these needs–some public domain e-books actually mix different paper editions without telling readers–and it’s a pleasure to see projects around like the Internet Archive’s efforts and Google Print, so that scholars can work with the actual sources. While presentation counts–for example, e-book formats–we should never stop caring about the integrity of the content.
i think it’s rather humorous that you would think ted nelson
is in any way sympathetic to your heavy-markup philosophy…
> I’d argue, a concern for transparency should apply
> to electronic editions of old classics. When they go online,
> we should know which paper editions were used. Even better,
> we need images so scholars can truly see source documents.
> E-book publishers have not always sensitive to these needs–
> some public domain e-books actually mix different paper editions
> without telling readers
“rip, mix, and burn” is one of the most valid and creative of
the many potential uses of public-domain material. to act
as if the public-domain is something that is “frozen in time”
ignores some of its most interesting, imaginative applications.
"I agree with MarylandBill, I think most super bookworms have already purchased at least one eInk reader, they would have been the early adapters, not ..."
Ted Nelson is saying that tekkies (“with the best intentions, of course!”) have stolen literature–but now it’s time for humanists to get it back. 
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i think it’s rather humorous that you would think ted nelson
is in any way sympathetic to your heavy-markup philosophy…
> I’d argue, a concern for transparency should apply
> to electronic editions of old classics. When they go online,
> we should know which paper editions were used. Even better,
> we need images so scholars can truly see source documents.
> E-book publishers have not always sensitive to these needs–
> some public domain e-books actually mix different paper editions
> without telling readers
“rip, mix, and burn” is one of the most valid and creative of
the many potential uses of public-domain material. to act
as if the public-domain is something that is “frozen in time”
ignores some of its most interesting, imaginative applications.
-bowerbird