14 Sep
Reading a book on Google Books and deciding not to buy it
Today my attention got caught by the title of the book Networks, Trust, and Social Capital: Theoretical And Empirical Investigations from Europe. I then found it on Google Books. It is the first time I read a book on Google Books, it is really great, for this book there are most of the scanned pages (I would say 150 out of 239 pages) so I was able to “read” the book by simply scrolling extremely fast with my mouse over the almost entire book. In this way I was able to decide that I’m not interested in buying and reading it. But what I would have done in a pre-GoogleBooks era? I would have thought “well, based on the title there should be at least one or two articles interesting for me, go and buy it” and I would have wasted some euros for a book I would have not read. Is the present situation better from a consumer point of view? Of course it is. Google Books or any similar program is helping in sharing knowledge and making informed decisions and this is what every author at the end really wants.
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Posted by Folletto Malefico on 14.09.07 at 7:48 am
A little correction, at least about myself: what I’d lose was my time, not my money, since to buy that book I had to go to a library and see it, before buying.
So, with software like Google Books, I gain more time and nobody else loses nothing (no money before, no money after).
Posted by paolo on 14.09.07 at 7:48 am
Yep, that’s true but I know some people that decide to buy a book simply based on what they read online and after few minutes (still at their computers) they are on Amazon (or better with BookBurro clicking the infamous “buy with one click” button ;-)
I think this kind of behaviour will become more and more common.
Posted by Folletto Malefico on 14.09.07 at 7:48 am
Oh yes, I was thinking more today-vs-yesterday than this tool in the actual context. :)
Posted by reza on 14.09.07 at 7:48 am
Dear Friend,
A group of researchers at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, are investigating effects of Weblogs on “Social Capitalâ€. Therefore, they have designed an online survey. By participating in this survey you will help researches in “Management Information Systems†and “Sociologyâ€. You must be at least 18 years old to participate in this survey. It will take 5 to 12 minutes of your time.
Your participation is greatly appreciated. You will find the survey at the following link. http://faculty.unlv.edu/rtorkzadeh/survey
This group has already done another study on Weblogs effects on “Social Interactions†and “Trustâ€. To obtain a copy of the previous study brief report of findings you can email Reza Vaezi at reza.vaezi@yahoo.com.
Posted by paolo on 14.09.07 at 7:48 am
Thanks Reza for letting me know. I participated in the survey, interesting survey and it is always good to help other researchers ;-)
Yes, please, send me a copy of the previous study on trust and blogs. Thanks!
Posted by Folletto Malefico on 14.09.07 at 7:48 am
I just completed the survey. :)