I read about this source at Librarian in Black and have been enjoying exploring its features.

FictionDB has a searchable database of 50,000 book lists and 200,000 titles which can be searched free in a number of ways.  Simple title, author, genre, and series searches should be expected, but the addition of summaries, reviews, new release information, and links to other sites of interest to fiction readers are bonuses.

FictionDB also has a subscription option for $29.99/year that opens “premium” features such as advanced searching, your own bookshelf, wishlist, archive, and access to book buying and selling.  You can sign up for a free trial to see what works best for your situation.  Check out the FAQ and the Blog.

Google’s “Knol” is now open to everyone, The Official Google Blog announced yesterday.

The idea is to help capture the expertise residing in people’s heads and provide a place for them to author a variety of articles.  For instance, early entries range from “How to Backpack” to information about lung cancer from a thoracic surgeon.  Authorship is known and those who would like to make contributions or edits may make their suggestions to the author, who retains control.  Google is calling this “moderated collaboration.”

Google also has done a deal with the New Yorker which allows any author to add one cartoon per knol from the magazine’s extensive repository.

Knol says it offers:

• Ease of use — All you need is an account, a name and a desire to write and we’ll take care of the rest.
• Control — You specify the level of collaboration you want with the community. Your knol, your voice.
• Community — You can connect with other experts in your area of interest to share and grow knowledge.
• Visibility — We value and promote authorship. Great content will be visible on any search engine.
• Growth — Sharing your knowledge with the world is rewarding for everyone.

Here are some selected resources related to copyright law and fair use:

• Online Digital Slider for Copyright  From the American Library Association’s Office of Information Technology Policy, the most recent useful tool for determining whether a work is still under copyright.  See image below.
• LLRX resources on copyright  Law and technology resources for legal professionals.
• Checklist for Fair Use (PDF)  From the Copyright Management Center at IUPUI.  IUPUI has other reliable information on copyright.
• Fair Use guidelines  From Dartmouth.
• Fair Use Chart  From Association for Research Libraries.
• Teacher’s Guide to Fair Use and Copyright   “Modeling Honesty and Resourcefulness.”
• Creative Commons (CC)  How creators can share their work but retain some rights.
• How to choose a CC license that works for you.

Here’s another contribution to Wikipedia that may be of interest to both scientists and the general public.  According to the Seattle P-I, authors of the “gene wiki” have created 7,500 Wikipedia entries on different genes and are editing another 650 already existing entries.

The group’s plans appear in the Public Library of Science’s online journal, PLoS Biology, a free access online journal which I have mentioned before on brain research.

The authors of the gene wiki are from the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in San Diego, San Diego State University and Washington University in St. Louis.

The researchers could have chosen to publish in more authoritative sources, but note that the data model used by gene portals and model organism databases focuses on large contributions from a relatively small number of contributors.  They chose Wikipedia instead, because it uses a different model for collaboratively synthesizing knowledge and is very popular.  The site’s volunteer editors tend to quickly correct inaccuracies.

“We believe that this effort will encourage further contributions from scientists around the world and become a robust, cross-referenced tool for students, educators, and researchers everywhere.  With the entire community’s input, we envision this gene wiki evolving into a collection of collaboratively created, continually updated, community-reviewed review articles for every gene in the human genome,” the authors wrote.

QuestionPro online survey tool
Looking for another online survey tool, or your first?  QuestionPro is similar to Zoomerang and SurveyMonkey.

The free version includes 2 surveys, survey templates, an unlimited number of responses and survey duration, and real-time reports, though you can only have 10 questions per survey.  The pro version offers more surveys and additional features, starting at $15/mo.  [via LibrarianInBlack]
 
Future novel: mashed-up “entertainment package”
Read/WriteWeb asks the question, what would a novel look like when it is adapted for the Internet?

Canadian author Nicola Furlong thinks the answer is a new web publishing format she’s calling a “Quillr.”

Furlong’s latest novel, a “supernatural suspense thriller” called Here Ends the Beginning, is the first to be released using the Quillr format.  The concept, created by Furlong and colleagues Glynne Turner, a video producer and songwriter, and Charles Ormiston, a web designer, “mashes up text, video, audio, and photos to create a new type of ebook that the three hope resonates with the YouTube generation.”

In Here Ends the Beginning, “The text is punctuated throughout with video clips and photographs of actors recreating the characters and scenes.  Music and sound effects further enhance this novel experience,” said Quillrist Furlong.  The first 5 chapters are free, the remaining chapters can be purchased online for $12.95 CDN.

I’ve written about the Kindle — today and previously several times, but what does the publishing industry think of ebooks and ebook readers?

John Blossom reports that despite its limitations, the Kindle “is the darling of book-readers on the go who can’t afford the space, time or trouble of loading multiple books in their overnight bags and pocketbooks.”

The Kindle is also becoming popular among the traditional media outlets because it enables them to maximize revenues when a title gains its peak value in a short period of time.

In fact, although highly speculative, he says that if the Kindle business scales as quickly as Apple’s iPod/iTunes business scaled it’s possible that Amazon could be enjoying more than $740 million in combined Kindle device and content sales by 2010.

If that happens, “then book industry executives may be wondering why they didn’t consider the music industry’s death at the hands of iPod’s proprietary 99-cent downloads as a lesson to have been studied more carefully.”

I confess to being attracted to Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader (now available and recently reduced in price — click on the image).

One of the things that has held me back is that I like free books which I get on loan from my library. There are numerous sites, however, that point you to free books that you can download to your Kindle. What’s not to like about that?

The main sources noted in a recent post at 43 Folders include Project Gutenberg, Manybooks.net, and Feedbooks.

Of great interest is Feedbooks where you can download one Kindle/Mobi book containing clickable links to more free and Creative Commons-licensed books that can be quickly downloaded directly to your Kindle.

I was also very impressed by Free Kindle Books and Free Ebooks Online where you can find links to a large collection of free stuff for your Kindle.

A couple of the links are of special note: an ebook search engine and a link to free audio books in the public domain.

Mobile picture books
Hot sellers in Japan are made-for-mobile picture books for kids.  One publisher plans to have 50 titles and 10,000 downloads by next September. [via iLibrarian]

How Americans use the Internet for purchase decisions
“The internet plays an important role in how people conduct research for purchases, but it is just one among a variety of sources people use and usually not the key factor in final purchasing decisions,” notes this Pew Internet & American Life report (PDF).

Among online Americans who use the Internet for product research, online resources make shopping more efficient by helping them explore options and compare features.  Although many use online resources to look for better deals, few actually make the purchase online.  Among the product purchases examined were music, cell phones, and new housing.

New instant copyright licensing services
In response to growth in blogging and social networking, iCopyright has launched two new instant licensing services – Instant PDF E-Prints and Instant Web Post – to help online publishers promote lawful reuses of their copyrighted content while protecting their rights.  See LISWire for details.

 Adobe Systems Inc. launched a new version of its document sharing software Acrobat, and this time it can package videos, reports Wired.

Acrobat works across different hardware and operating systems, making it an extremely useful document packaging software.  With the addition of video-enabling Flash to Acrobat version 9, users can now include rich media in PDF files that can be read by anyone who has the free Adobe Reader installed.

With Acrobat 9 Pro, for instance, users could package a Power Point presentation not just with images, but also with an audio of the presenter’s voice.  “You can now send someone a presentation that speaks on its own all through a PDF,” said Adobe spokesman Kevin M. Lynch.

Adobe also launched Acrobat.com, which will host Web-based software services to support document creation and sharing.

Several versions of Acrobat 9 are for sale.  Take a look at this chart to compare the features available in each. 

Amazon has reduced the price of its ebook reader to $359. When first introduced, the Kindle sold out immediately and was not available for months — now the deal includes a price reduction and free two-day shipping.

The Amazon Kindle allows you to purchase instantly and wirelessly over 120,000 books, newspapers, magazines and blogs. Wireless connectivity enables you to access the Kindle Store anywhere a cell connection can be established, but there are no wireless charges, service plans or commitments involved.

Kindle’s high-resolution screen looks and reads like paper, but unlike it, the size of the text can be adjusted to meet your preferences. You can download and read free book samples before you buy, and purchases are delivered wirelessly in a minute. Many New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases cost $9.99 — significantly less than paper versions. American and international newspapers and magazines can be purchased, as well. Free wireless access to Wikipedia is included.

The Kindle stores over 200 titles, while being lighter and thinner than a typical paperback book. Click on the Kindle image to access the site for a video demonstration and more details.