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Published online 20 April 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.377
News: Q&A
Prepare to be digitized
The World Digital Library's director explains his vision.
A digital repository of some of the most important documents in world history was launched this week by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The World Digital Library.
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This new digital library is most welcome. It sounds like a potentially very valuable resource. However, I hope that more effort will focus on the user interface of the new system, particularly making it usable accessible and pleasant to use. The user experience should be a major consideration.
This is really cool stuff to do. Adams is right. The user interface must be real easy for access since the amount of material will be huge and very very diverse. I am eager to see the library in action with all the manuscripts loaded. The documents regarding contents such as Vedic philosophy and science, Greek philosophy and many others would themselves make up a significant portion of a section of the library I believe. However, I have a suggestion about something specific. While arranging the documents regarding Vedic philosophy, I believe, it would be best to consult to a person in the field; because, in many places I have seen that the scripts uploaded are pretty much out of order and contain out of relavence meanings. Well, great Job guys . All the very best. :)
It is a poineering effort to digitize the knowledge of the world and make it acessible to all. Our world has such diverse sources of knowledge and so much of this is inaccessible or we are unaware of, it would be pleasre to know that we can read with the click of a mouse. H.N.Ramakrishna