by 
Chris
ANSWERS: 10
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Right now, theyre making an impact. They are accessible by the whole world, regardless of location. You do need power, though... No more candle lit reading. A good example of what a digital library would be like is Answerbag.com. The concept is there. Now we just have to add some bread crumbs, and start making meatballs. Im glad Im along for the ride.
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Less trees will be cut down.
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I suppose books will disappear entirely and be replaced by CD's, DVD's, whatever. So you will either download to your computer or put the disk in your CD player and listen. Think of all the trees we will save! But it is a very sad thought!
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I already have a collection of e-books that I read on a handheld PC. The hundreds of titles I have take up the space of a pocket PC (or a Palm Pilot). So, it's less paper, less space, easy to transport, etc. Plus, as you've already stated, there are Internet resources as well that provide information like AB or Wikipedia. To put it simply, information is readily available.
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We are in the process of accepting the digital phase in every walk of life, like downloading pictures instead of pasting those in a huge album. With books it is the same. I have several books already downloaded in my documents - or I download, read and delete, it depends. I don't know whether it will really change the world but it will have an impact on the "physical" libraries.
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Yes, it would revolutionalize the world. We would have the world's libraries in our very bedrooms or study rooms. It becomes so when we become internet savvy.
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Wikipiedia is about as good as paid Data or programs Information will soon be free.
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While digital libraries are becoming more common, there are many more questions to be answered before books and paper media disappears. Copyright issues need to be resolved. Google is trying to digitize thousands of books, but copyright permission needs to be given to do this. Also, cost is a HUGE consideration. Digitization costs a lot of money, and where is this going to come from? We will see specialized libraries, but general public digital libraries will be more difficult to build. How about the digital divide? Internet access that some on AB already mentioned? Can everyone afford a computer, e-book reader, or $50 and up for broadband? How about the magic of going to the library and browsing thru the shelves and finding a treasure of a book. Digital libraries are a concept that can work, but it will be many more years before libraries are replaced, if ever. Personally I think digitization is a great goal, but not everything can be scanned, digitized and put online. People still go to libraries to get help from librarians and access the exact information they need.
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It will change many things, culture, languages and information will be easier to access by those who can not afford books which are quite expensive. We will stop cutting down trees to make paper, so yes it will be very good. Actually you can get CDS for the blind by which what the book says is beautifully read to them, the advantage is that the little players that are used have spoken instructions on how and when to load/unload the CDS. Regards.
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Yes! And they already have. Wikipedia has enlightened an innumerable amount of people in different areas. From pop culture to intense chemistry, wikipedia has it all :D
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