FWIW I've been arguing there needs to be a *content* type for "interactive" for a long time. Interactive media is only going to become more prevalent in libraries, not less.
However I'm not sure "interactive" would be an appropriate carrier type--"A categorization reflecting the format of the storage medium and housing of a carrier in combination with the type of intermediation device required to view, play, run, etc., the content of a resource." It's a good question, though. Mutatis mutandis--is a television (if one were for some reason want to catalog it) "unmediated"? After all, all you do is flip a switch and watch it... --Ben Benjamin Abrahamse Cataloging Coordinator Acquisitions, Metadata and Enterprise Systems MIT Libraries 617-253-7137 -----Original Message----- From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:RDA-L@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca] On Behalf Of Layne, Sara Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 2:58 PM To: RDA-L@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca Subject: Re: [RDA-L] eBooks & Playaways Maybe we need a new media type (or would it be an unmediated carrier type??) that is something like "interactive"?? In all the examples so far (Playaway, music box, Kindle), the user needs to do something to make it work, even though the user does not need an *additional* device to gain access. Just a thought. Sara Shatford Layne Principal Cataloger UCLA Library Cataloging & Metadata Center -----Original Message----- From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA] On Behalf Of Kelley McGrath Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 11:48 AM To: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA Subject: Re: [RDA-L] eBooks & Playaways I guess I'm not sure that a Playaway is unmediated. It's just that the mediation is transparent to the end user. The user doesn't have to put a disc in; they just put in batteries and push play. Mediation for digital content is likely to become increasingly transparent. In a sense everything tangible that we catalog is an object, but a Playaway is presumably wanted not as something to be looked at or touched, but as an integrated audio carrier. If you could move content on and off the Playaway, would that change your opinion? If a library circulates audiobooks on ipods or ebooks on a Kindle, should those records also be for objects? This actually seems to be an unsettled area. Kelley On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 1:35 PM, Robert Maxwell <robert_maxw...@byu.edu> wrote: > In my opinion a Playaway is unmediated. You don't need anything other > than the object itself (and a source of electricity) to get the > information, in contrast to, say, a CD, which you need to put in a machine in > order to use. > Media type is "a categorization reflecting the general type of > intermediation device required to view, play, run, etc., the content > of a resource." No intermediation device is needed to hear/play the > content of a Playaway. > > I find it analogous to a music box, which would also be unmediated. > > There is not a good unmediated carrier type (yet) for a Playaway. But > as noted below, there isn't a good carrier type under the other > categories either.
