The Interface and Terms of Use
Jul 13
Google has announced new features for usability in Google Books. Some changes are oriented towards navigation and others deal with supplemental material supplied on a book's "About" page. But most interesting (from the perspective of actual usage) is the way in which user tools are handled (or perhaps mis-handled).
Look at the way the system enables a user to direct others to a specific quote within a title. For full view books (primarily those in the public domain), the user may choose the option to do a cut-and-paste of selected text or embed a scanned image of a quoted paragraph or include a link to the direct page of the scanned title within Google Books itself. For books with only a limited preview, the options are reduced to either simple link to a page or the embedding of the page view within a frame of the Google Book interface. For snippet-view-only titles or for titles with no online viewing, of course, not even the option of directly linking to a page exists; one can only drive traffic to the "about" page of a title.
From the perspective of a publisher guarding a firm's assets, I can see where this might appear to be a valid range of flexible choices. From the perspective of a researcher or educated layperson seeking to quote from a scholarly work, the limitations would seem overly-cautious in restricting legitimate use. If I were a student, I'd be caught off-guard and, in all likelihood, affronted.
There is little or no indication to students or researchers of the rationale behind an interface design or side effects in use of the interface. If you are going to strip punctuation from a text block (as Google Books does in the instance of full view titles), then that relevant aspect of use needs to be made clear in advance. Why is a content provider refusing the right to do more than link to a scanned page on a particular aggregator's platform? If licensing terms are going to govern the use of digital content through a particular interface, platform or device, then parties to those licenses owe it to users to make clear the terms of use associated with those agreements.
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