Don’t let a good story get in the way of... a good story
There’s been something of a social media scuffle of late, this time focusing on the document-sharing site Scribd. The site, which is rather like YouTube for the written word, encourages users to upload and share documents with other readers – from books to short stories, academic papers to presentations, 50,000 new writings and documents are uploaded every day.
The Times reports that authors (including J K Rowling) are currently fighting piracy that unfortunately comes as standard with a service such as this: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article5998918.ece In the interest of balance, Scribd have responded to the allegations on their own blog: http://blog.scribd.com/2009/03/30/what-ever-happened-to-fact-checking/
It’s a shame that Scribd is being used in ways that bring the service into disrepute. As the company explains in its response to the negative press, ‘Scribd is a document sharing site where people come to publish their grandmother’s 80-year-old pierogi recipe, to find Barack Obama’s latest economic plan, to read The New York Times’ official Madoff filing, to receive feedback on their new screenplay, and to reach a community of over 55 million readers’. It’s not a book-sharing site (although working with publishers is a part of the offering) but is in fact a great resource that unfortunately, like many other web-based services, can be misused at times.
Maybe it’s time that the publishing industry – like the music industry – started to work with this new concept of online sharing, rather than fighting against it. Because, while writers should of course be properly rewarded for their work, we can’t afford to attack such informative and educational resources as Scribd in a bluster of media hype. Obviously, regulations must be put in place to protect authors, but isn’t it an incredible thing that knowledge can be shared so easily? That young people can search for anything from great literary works to the latest political proposals, all at the click of a button?