Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton

IL2009: Opening Keynote (Paul Holdengraber interviewing Vint Cerf)

Vint Cerf is the Chief Internet Evangelist for Google.  Paul Holdengraber is the Director of Public Programs at NYPL.

The session started with Paul asking Vint about his known quote that “sleep is a waste of time.”  Cerf only sleeps 4-6 hours a day.  Holdengraber said that the moment our brain is most productive is when we are asleep.  Although Cerf is known as one of the fathers of the internet, he says that he is only one of many fathers.  Cerf won the Turing award for his work in 1978, along with Robert Kahn, creating some of the technologies that allow for the internet to work.  They were trying to find a way to successfully connect packet switch networks.  The simple question truly was how to help one computer talk to any other computer on the same network.  They wrote a description of the TCP protocol (later broken into TCP and IP).

Holdengraber asked Cerf about the naming of Google (the company was originally going to be spelled “Googol” [as in the number] and the lawyer filing the papers mis-spelled it as “Google”).  Only 25% of the world’s population is online currently, so some of Cerf’s job is to go to parts of the world that are not connected and build the infrastructure to support that connection.

He also hit upon how the internet is still quite young and many of its possibilities are yet undiscovered.  There are some parts of the world that don’t like that people can share information with each other freely.  There are others who like the old model of copyright (ARGH, DISNEY!) and do not like how the internet provides copying abilities for many types of content.  Cerf was the first to connect an email system to the internet at large, by connecting MCI Mail.

Hodlengraber talked a bit about the information overload coming from the internet, and too much attention being diverted from rest and recovery time.  Cerf responded that younger people who grow up learning to multitask can adapt better to this influx of information.  Cerf likes to multitask himself (!!).  Dr. Kissinger apparently once said that blogging, Tweeting, and other activities tend to reduce the amount of time we spend actually think about things, so the concern is that we aren’t going to be paying attention to problems for enough time to solve those problems.  A quote from Holdengraber: “What does it mean to be attentive in an age of distraction?”  Cerf responded that even PowerPoint reduces thinking to a certain level of brevity.  A quote from Cerf: “Power corrupts and PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.”  The concerns are the speed, lack of depth, shallowness, and lack of perceptivity.

Holdengraber asked Cerf about the “bit rot” problem.  The problem is that there is always digital decay, a decay of bits.  Someone announced recently that he invented a technology that preserves bits for 1000 years, but the problem is also the software and hardware required to interpret the bits.  You may have the hardware, but the software may be under copyright and have intellectual property rights that don’t allow you to use it in 500 years.  Same problem with the hardware – how do we keep that data, knowing that there might not be backward-compatible.  Cerf stated that cloud computing may turn out to be a helpful element in digital preservation–the storage of files and data in a large scale computing cloud of computer technologies.

Holdengraber asked about compatibility issues between eBooks readers, as an example (Sony & Kindle).  Cerf talked about the problem of not being able to sell, give away, or loan the books you buy on these eBook reader platforms (known as the First Sale Doctrine).  Again, a copyright/digital rights management issue.  Cerf predicted that we will still have books in 50 years in their traditional forms, but that most of the information we deal with day to day will be dynamic/digital.  (Sarah’s note: I think we’re already a that stage of the future).

Holdengraber asked Cerf about Google trying to work closer and better with schools.  Cerf said that information is obviously increasingly accessible in an online form.  Therefore, many of the static books do not server their users as well as an online format might work.  Cerf wants to abolish the word “teach” from the language.  He said that watching people learn is a learning experience in and of itself, recognizing the power of learning by doing.  Holdengraber asked if the internet induces or facilitates passivity.  Cerf adamantly said no.  The internet lets people try new things, put out applications, webpages, and other creations.  That openness inspires activity, not passivity.

Holdengraber asked about the necessity of open access to the net.  Cerf noted the broadband market is not very competitive, especially in rural areas where you have one service provider option.  Holdengraber also asked Cerf about net privacy – Comcast recently announced a data harvesting project.  Cerf believes that anonymity is important in a network environment too.  He touched briefly on the issue of authentication as serving an important purpose but also putting up an access barrier to users.

Holdengraber asked Cerf about what Google Wave is.  Google colleagues in Australia observed that we had all of these different ways of interacting. He noted that bloggers could be sitting anywhere…that you might be seeing comments coming in via email, via RSSS, via SMS, etc.  It’s a confluence of different interactions and different formats.  Because portable devices are becoming more and more available at lower and lower price levels, more people can create content and post it to the web.  Cerf talked a bit about some of the cyborg-esque medical implants already available to replicate neural signals, including his own wife.  One of the things she did after receiving cochlear implants was to call up the library to order some Recorded Books – to hear words pronounced that she never heard before.  At the moment Cerf is re-reading the Lord of the Rings series, an annual tradition for him.

IL2009