NEW – Google Buzz…02.09.10

Facebook Fan Pages With Largest Following Are “Humanized”…02.09.10

Here is an excerpt from an excellent posting by David Lee King titled Humanizing Your Facebook Pages:

“…Why do these Pages have more friends? Glancing through them, it looks like they are doing one thing – they are humanizing their Facebook Pages. What do I mean by that?

They’re ‘doing stuff.’ Stuff like this:

• Posting regular status updates
• Interacting with visitors in the comments of status updates – some status updates have 20-30 comments, as well as “Likes”
• Pointing to stuff that’s happening in the library (ie., lectures)
• Regularly add photos and videos – sometimes hundreds of them.
• They use Facebook’s Events feature to list events…

Basically, activity attracts Facebook users. Think of your Facebook Page like a party. Anyone ever attended a dead party? If there’s nothing going on, the party goers quickly find an excuse to leave, because the party is boring, right? In the same way, if your Facebook Page has no updates … your party is boring, and you are inviting your students to go do something else.

This is easily fixable if you do one simple thing. Post an update every day, and make it interesting…”

Aquabrowser Library Catalog in Bruges Library…02.09.10

Library Digital Reference…02.09.10

Search Everything 2010 Olympics…02.09.10

Searching for 2010 Olympics information, visit Vancouver 2010

FREE Online Webinar – The Future of Libraries, Books, and Reading…02.09.10

From OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries):

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 1:00 Central, noon Mountain, 11:00 a.m. Pacific, and 7:00 p.m. GMT:

FiLBeRt Roundtable Discussion: The Future of Libraries, Books, and Reading

The shared futures of libraries, books, and reading seem very hazy at present. Join us for a monthly, lively, informal discussion of new developments, challenges, and opportunities. It’ll be a roundtable, so everyone is welcome to chime in…

Host: TAP Information Services

Location: OPAL Auditorium

Alfresco – Open Source Content Management…02.09.10

The “Long Tail” of Online Video Sites…02.09.10

From TechCrunch post The Long Tail of Video Sites Capture Half of All Viewing Minutes:

“…According to comScore’s 2009 U.S. Digital Year in Review, more than half of all time spent watching videos on the Web (52 percent) last year was on Long Tail video sites beyond the top 25.  What you see is a real barbell distribution, with Youtube on one end and the Long Tail sites on the other.  Total video views more than doubled between December, 2008 and December, 2009, from 14 billion to 33 billion streams. So there is hope yet for niche video producers…”

Make It Digital – Digitization Resource…02.09.10

This is from the post DigitalNZ launches Make It Digital regarding a source for digitization (of course, “digitisation” for our British & commonwealth friends–Eh?):

“…we’ve recently launched the Make it Digital website, a one stop shop to help people create NZ digital content.

The site is focused on creating and sharing New Zealand digital content, which we’re tackling in two ways:
1. The Guides and Ask a Question sections are designed to help people who are trying to create new digital content, or digitise their stuff. We hope that some of you will be able to share your expertise by answering others’ questions, and helping us to write and update the guides.
2. The Voting section – It’s a public forum for people to share their ideas for new NZ digital content, with voting and commenting functions. There’s some great ideas in there already that you can vote on, for example, School Journal, New Zealand music artwork and Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives…”

“Measuring the Value and Effect of Learning 2.0 Programs in Libraries”…02.08.10

FREE Webinar “Developing a Social Strategy by Objectives”…02.08.10

From Jeremiah Owyang’s Web Strategy blog:

“Organizations that focus on social technologies suffer from the symptom of ‘Fondling The Hammer‘ .  True social strategy stems from business objectives –not the latest technologies.

So often, companies develop social tactics based on the latest tool that’s sprung forth.  Yet, so far and few in between to organizations develop an actionable plan based on business goals.

This second in our no-cost webinar series is coming up on the topic of social strategy.  In the spirit of open research, we’re leading a discussion in public, and encourage you to join, learn, and share with others. Co-hosting with Charlene Li, we’ll be hosting a no-cost webinar to discussin how companies can develop a social marketing effort that meet business goals.

Although not a requirement, our sessions build off each other, read, watch, and listen to our previously recorded session, we discussed how companies should really understand their customers before entering the social space.

Register: Developing a Social Strategy by Objectives, Hosted by Altimeter Group
Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST…”

Google Working on Language Translator Phone…02.08.10

From Australia’s Herald Sun article Google Leaps Barrier With Translator Phone:

“The Sunday Times of London reports that by building on existing technologies in voice recognition and automatic translation, Google hoped to have a basic system ready within a couple of years.

If it worked, it could eventually transform communication among speakers of the world’s 6000-plus languages.

The company already created an automatic system for translating text on computers, which was being honed by scanning millions of multi-lingual websites and documents.

It added Haitian Creole last week to bring the language total to 52.

Google also has a voice recognition system that enabled phone users to conduct web searches by speaking commands into their phones rather than typing them in.

Now it was working on combining the two technologies to produce software capable of understanding a caller’s voice and translating it into a synthetic equivalent in a foreign language.

Like a professional human interpreter, the phone would analyse so-called packages of speech, listening to the speaker until it understood the full meaning of words and phrases before attempting translation…”

Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Meet 21st Century Skills…02.08.10

Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Meet 21st Century Skills – Presentation & Digital Repository: eTech Ohio – Ohio Educational Technology Conference

Simmons GSLIS to Offer “Extending Mobile Library Services with QR Codes” Online Workshop…02.08.10

Extending Mobile Library Services with QR Codes

June 1 – 30, 2010
$250 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $200)

Are you experiencing mobile delivery services for your library or library department? Are you looking to extend more mobile offerings further? QR codes offer many exciting and easily implementable opportunities and possibilities.

The first week of the workshop will cover the basics of QR codes – what are they, and how to do they work? Week two will cover devices and software, cost-effective library set-ups, and simple QR code knowledge mashups. In the third week, we’ll explore how QR codes function out in the world, linking together people, knowledge, and physical locations in an interactive manner. During week four, we’ll cover building QR code applications for your library, examining 20 different QR code applications that librarians can easily and cost-effectively implement at their libraries.

Workshop participants will leave the course with a solid understanding of the basics and mechanics of QR codes and 20 easy ways to implement QR codes in their libraries and communities. This is a self-paced four week workshop with discussion and email support. Workshop materials will be available to participants after the conclusion of the workshop, should they wish to explore any of the subject areas in greater depth.

Instructor: Bonnie Peirce is Head of Children’s Services at the Dover Town Library and was recently profiled in Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers as a ‘Web 2.0 guru’. Bonnie is the founder of B3OK, an open global mobile knowledge network connecting the physical and digital worlds. She is an avid advocate for incorporating new media tools and mobile devices into public library services; wizardhere@gmail.com

Great Google Superbowl Commercial…02.08.10

Extractiv – “Content Provisioning”…02.08.10

This sounds really interesting and potentially useful from Extractiv:

“Extractiv is a new kind of content provisioning service which is making the Web truly actionable. Rather than simply passively ‘monitoring’ the Web, our industry-leading data harvesting and content extraction goes out and delivers the information that really matters to you and your business.

With Extractiv, it’s easy to build semantically-aware applications – regardless if you’re a newcomer to the Semantic Web or a deep believer in the power of semantic metadata. Let us show you what we can do for you!

Extractiv is currently in alpha…”

Research for Pro Football Lovers on Super Bowl Sunday 2010…02.07.10

From the Professional Football Researchers Association website:

“The Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the history of professional football. Formed in 1979, PFRA members include many of the game’s foremost historians and writers. The PFRA is also for any fan interested in the history of professional football. The PFRA is incorporated in the state of Connecticut and has 501(c)(3) status as an educational organization with the Internal Revenue Service.

PFRA members receive six issues of our official magazine, The Coffin Corner. Each issue is 24 pages crammed with pro football history: articles on great players, teams, and games of the past (and some not-so-great), occasionally a stat article, some opinion, and organization news. This site contains articles that have appeared in the The Coffin Corner over the years, with the exception of the last couple of years. For instance, a recent issue includes articles on the Detroit Lions’ Thanksgiving games, the WFL’s Chicago Fire, the Ice Bowl and Jim Brown.

We’re into our 30th year, so we must be doing something right. Anyway, if you decide to join the PFRA, we’ll be happy to have you. For information on joining, contact Ken Crippen

Either way, check out the site. There are articles on just about every aspect of pro football history either here or on the way. If you’re interested in the people, teams and events that made the game of professional football great, you’ll want to bookmark this site and check back often…”

CHOOSE THE BEST SUPERBOWL AD:

You Are Not a Gadget – Book Review…02.07.10

An interesting read is You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier which the author discusses in an article in the Wall Street Journal excerpted here:

“All too many of today’s Internet buzzwords— including ‘Web 2.0,’ ‘Open Culture,’ ‘Free Software’ and the ‘Long Tail’—are terms for a new kind of collectivism that has come to dominate the way many people participate in the online world. The idea of a world where everybody has a say and nobody goes unheard is deeply appealing. But what if all of the voices that are piling on end up drowning one another out?

There’s no escaping collectivism in our online world. If you search about most any topic online, for instance, you will likely be directed first to Wikipedia, a collective effort. Google Wave, a new communication tool that is intended to supplant email, encourages you to blur personal boundaries by editing what someone else has said in a conversation with you, and you can watch each other as you type so nobody gets a private moment to consider a thought before posting. And if you listen to music online, there’s a good chance your listening will be guided by statistical analysis of Internet crowd preferences.

Most people know me as the ‘father of Virtual Reality technology.’ In the 1980s and 1990s, I was a young computer scientist and entrepreneur working on how to apply virtual reality to things like surgical simulation. But I was also part of a circle of friends who tried to imagine how computers would fit into the peoples’ lives, including how people might make a living in the future. Our dream came true, in part. It turns out that millions of people are ready to contribute instead of sitting passively on the couch watching television. On the other hand, we made a huge mistake in making those contributions unpaid, and often anonymous, because those bad decisions robbed people of dignity. I am appalled that our old fantasies have become so entrenched that it’s hard to get anyone to remember that there are alternatives to a framework that isn’t working…”

USGS Topographical Maps Downloadable FREE…02.06.10

It’s frequently hard to find printed topographical maps without getting them from  the rare physical locations that stock them from the USGS or by ordering ($$) them online.  The United States Geological Survey digital beta maps now provide many FREE downloadable topographic maps. Recently I downloaded one for my last solo hike with a portion, including “The Narrows” – see my photos below) of the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge and printed a magnified portion of it:

NYPL Map Rectifier – New York Public Library…02.06.10

February 2010 Edition of LC Digital Preservation Online…02.06.10

The February 2010 issue of the Library of Congress Digital Preservation Newsletter is now online.

JISC on Social Media…02.06.10

The Evolution of Twitter Visualized…02.06.10

Disaster Response in the Library…02.06.10

QR Codes Appear on The Weather Channel…02.06.10

Librarian Teachers…02.05.10

JooJoo (aka CrunchPad) Brings iPad Competition…02.05.10

The Boy Genius Report today says:

“…[JooJoo] the internet tablet formerly known as the CrunchPad has finally entered into production and should begin shipping later this month. To retail for $499 USD, the JooJoo features a 12.1″ multi-touch capacitive display with native resolution of 1366 x 768, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, 4GB SSD, front-facing camera, accelerometer, support for Flash (HD Flash will be all systems go when 10.1 comes out of beta) as well as a bunch of givens like integrated speakers, a 3.5mm headphone jack and USB port. Also announced today is Fusion Garage’s intent to open an app web store in which JooJoo owners will be able to grab whatever developers can make using some proprietary ‘but standards driven’ APIs…are rather confident that their device will be able to take on competitors such as the HP Slate and Apple iPad, even going so far as to say of the later that the JooJoo is bigger, fully supports Flash (the real internet) and will beat its major competitors to the market…”

“Laws of Knowledge Management” Redux…02.05.10

Excerpted from Laws of Knowledge Management on the Librarians as Knowledge Managers blog:

Seven spiritual laws of successful knowledge management, by Marcus Speh Birkenkrahe [1. The Law of Unity; 2. The Law of Giving; 3. The Law of Cause and Effect; 4. The Law of Least Effort; 5. The Law of Intention and Desire; 6. The Law of Detachment; 7. The Law of Purpose in Life]

Are There Laws of Knowledge Management? by Stephen Denning, Michel Pommier and Lesley Shneier. [1. Knowledge sharing is essential to economic survival; 2. Communities of practice are the heart and soul of knowledge sharing; 3. Virtual community members also need physical interactions; 4. Passion is the driving force behind communities of practice; 5. Communities enrich organizations and personal lives; 6. Knowledge sharing has inside-out and outside-in dynamic….”

“Funky Libraries” from the BBC…02.04.10

2010 Top World Repositories…02.04.10

From the Top 400 List of Ranking Web of World Repositories: