From AtYourLibrary.org:
“With fans and users increasingly becoming content creators, how do you think conventional mindsets and laws about copyright and trademarks need to change?”
“..tell us about the purpose of Creative Commons and how it’s changing the way people can share and expand upon a work…”
“…how he has sees the role of libraries in the future…”
Here is an excerpt from the interesting Top 5 Myths About Google, Inc.:
“When it comes to the Internet, it just doesn’t get much bigger than Google. In the United States, Google consistently gobbles up 70 to 75 percent of the search engine market . In places like the United Kingdom, Switzerland and South America, that number soars to more 90 percent of the market share .
Google has conquered the search engine world so completely that its very name is synonymous with Internet search. How many companies (besides Xerox, of course) are recognized by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as a verb?
Success on this scale is bound to attract some attention, and Google’s success has garnered a lot of it…
The following is a list of the top 5 myths about Google, Inc., in no particular order…
Thanks to Michael Stephens’ post Emotionally Intelligent Signs which points out this great video from Wired:
From jessamyn west:
“We don’t have the archives thing sorted yet, so it’s the Wild West in terms of figuring out what to put online and how to do it. We’ll look at people doing it a bunch of different ways. Proposed panelists include
- George Oates formerly of Flickr and now doing awesome stuff with Open Library through the Internet Archive.
- David Lee King, manager of a virtual branch library at Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library in Kansas
- Josh Greenberg, head of Digital Strategy at NYPL
Everyone will talk quickly and I will promise to keep them all on topic. Join us!”
Thanks to the Centered Librarian for pointing out:
“Interead, maker of the COOL-ER e-reader has partnered with Argos to offer the device in stores across the UK. The COOL-ER is described as a light, small and elegant electronic book reader that is both compatible with Mac and PC computers and runs on Linux…”
From 100 Best Twitter Feeds for Librarians of the Future:
“…Jobs
With these feeds, you can find out about jobs available to librarians.
Here are some insights from Amber Naslund from Productivity and Time Wasters in Social Media which can be useful:
The above is from CNET news article Meraki: Internet usage via handheld devices soars.
Thanks to OPL Plus for Dow Jones on the Hidden Cost of ‘Free’ Information excerpted here:
“Dow Jones has released the e-book, Pay Now or Pay Later: Exposing the Hidden Cost of “Free” Information. It was written by Brigitte Ricou-Bellan, VP & MD, Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group, with the acknowledged help of SLA members Stephen Abram and Mary Ellen Bates.
It is well worth a read.
Here are some excerpts:
“An unlimited amount of free information misleads us into thinking that there is no cost at all. In reality the opposite is true.” “The real issue is value.”
There are 7 sections:
1. The Power of One: Centralize, organize and unify your information resources.
2. The Magic of Me: Customize information to the needs of the individual.
3. Follow the Leader: Establish rules and administrative controls in the organization.
4. A Matter of Trust: Encourage confidence and understand context.
5. The Lost Month: Improve search productivity.
6. People Are Talking: Manage your reputation in a social world.
7. Freedom of Information: Embrace copyrights and protect your organization…”
From Catalogablog:
“News from the Dewey office.
For a long time, we wanted to do something with Linked Data. That is, apply Linked Data principles to parts of the Dewey Decimal Classification and present the data as a small ‘terminology service.‘ The service should respond to regular HTTP requests with either a machine- or a human-readable presentation of Dewey classes. There should be a URI (and, even better, a web page that delivers a useful description) for every Dewey concept, not just single classes. The data should be presented in a format that is capable of handling rich semantic information and in a way that allows users or user agents to just follow their nose to explore the data. For more complex stuff, the service should offer an API-like query access. Finally, the data that are presented should be reusable by anyone for non-commercial purposes.
Some results of these efforts are now available as dewey.info…”
“While there are many unofficial Wikipedia
iPhone apps on the market (some of which work really well), there’s never been an official one from Wikipedia itself. That changed today as the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that runs Wikipedia, has launched an official iPhone application: Wikipedia Mobile [iTunes Link].
The free app does exactly what you’d expect it to do: access Wikipedia. The focus, according to the Foundation, is ‘on being very simple and very fast.’ The entire thing is community-built and open-source, and in the nature of Wikipedia, they’re looking for more people to contribute…”
The Times Online’s story today Google Breaks Into French National Library is excerpted here:
“Get ready for some Anglo-Saxon gloating. We hear today that France is giving up its four-year struggle to keep the barbarians of Google from Gallic gates, at least in their literary form.
‘Google has won’, said the headline inLa Tribune, a business daily. It reported that the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF) — the national library — is on the verge of a deal under which Google will add its stocks to its controversial digital library.
The pact will mark a big climb-down because the BNF led the counter-attack that was noisily launched by President Chirac in early 2005 against what France saw as a dangerous new American imperialism. That spring, Paris mustered continental backing for a European Union virtual library called Europeana, which has had a shaky existence since it went online last year…”
LifeHacker’s post today titled Generate PDFs and Multi-Article Books from Wikipedia is interesting on many levels excerpted here:
“Lifehacker reader John is a finance student who found something very helpful in Wikipedia’s new beta design. Any article can be downloaded or printed as a PDF, and multiple articles can be combined into a PDF book.
It may not be an entirely new-new feature for those who have long logged in and enabled beta features in their Wikipedia accounts, but it’s a fairly recent addition for anyone who logs in at the mass-edited encyclopedia. In the left-hand sidebar, under ‘Toolbox,’ you’ll find a ‘PDF version’ link that uses Wikipedia’s servers to generate a highly printable PDF of any Wikipedia article, no third-party tools needed.
More clever and interesting, however, are the ‘Create a Book’ tools, which lets you add pages in real time as you dig through Wikipedia’s knowledge tunnels…”
Here is an interesting and valuable post from Social Networking in Libraries titled How Social Networking Can Ruin Your Library’s Reputation:
“…Here are some things that could happen and how to avoid them.
1. Trying to use too many social networking sites to promote your library. This can confuse your patrons and staff and be too time consuming. Pick one or two and focus on these.
2. Angering your patrons. If a patron becomes angry enough or annoyed enough they may use social networking to tell everyone about it and this can end up being a nightmare.
3. Not keeping track about what is being posted on your library social networking sites. This can cause content or comments to be posted that are spammy or that are not what you would like. If you are going to use social networking with your library then you need to keep track of what is being said and posted…”
OCLC announced a new feature to WorldCat:
“A library search feature is now available to WorldCat users. Users can search for libraries by name/keyword, location or zip/postal code – and refine their search results by library type, such as Public Library or Academic Library (results via the ‘Library type’ filter on the top-right of the results set).
The order of library search results will vary depending on the type of search that is conducted:
- If ‘zip /postal code’ is used to search, libraries in that code will be returned. The results will be ordered by proximity to the zip/postal code center.
Please note: At this time, the WorldCat library search is unable to include libraries in nearby cities and in some cases nearby zip/postal codes- enhancements to this feature are planned in the near future.
- If library name/ keyword is used to search, results will be ordered alphabetical by all libraries with that search term in the library name.
- If specific location search is used, such as ‘city, state’; results will be listed alphabetical by library name within that location.
Google Maps have also been integrated into the experience to make it easier to find a library near you…”
Thanks to ITART – Information Technology and Access Round Table for pointing out the easy-to-use ConvertIcon:
“Converticon is a simple icon utility. It can import ICO, PNG, GIF, and JPEG formats and export to high-quality PNG or ICO files. There is no software to download and it’s 100% free…”
From the Librarian in Black today:
“Today our library, the San Jose Public Library, launched our new Text a Librarian service. As far as I can tell, we’re the first public library in California to offer text messaging services.
Here are the details:
The service is run through Mosio’s Text a Librarian.
Text your question to 66746 and start the message with AskSJ
The library responds to the user through the interface of our choice (web browser, email, IM, or text messaging) and the answer shows up to the customer as a text message
Customers are encouraged to add 66746 as a contact for easy future access
The library currently is answering questions from 1-6pm, Monday-Friday
The service is completely secure & private – customers are assigned random user IDs so the library staff don’t see phone numbers connected with questions
The service is mobile carrier certified, so we don’t need to worry about Verizon or AT&T blocking our number from sending messages to customers.
It’s staffed jointly with the San Jose State University Library librarians and a number of our public library staff at our main King Library and at our many branches…”
Socialnomics will release Aug. 26. Check out the Socialnomics – Social Media Blog.
Here is an e-reader comparison chart in a wiki that may be helpful. Click through to the complete chart/comparison and all the details.
From David Rothman’s post Bookeen: Opus E-Reader is Safe in Your Pocket If You’re Careful:
“ActuaLitté wonders if the little five-inch Opus e-reader is safe to carry in your pocket—following the damage to a test unit’s E Ink display.
Yes, says Bookeen, just so you’re careful. The words ‘Pocket Friendly’ even appear on the home page of the Bookeen site. Summing up the company’s position, Michael Dehan there has emailed TeleRead:
’1) The device can remain in one’s pocket (loose or tight) as long as one doesn’t sit on it or sustain a shock.
’2) We provide a protection sleeve by default in the box to protect the device while transported in a bag or purse.’
From the Mashable post If Twitter Consisted of Only 100 People
Educause has released 7 Things You Should Know About Cloud Computing. From the abstract:
“Cloud computing is the delivery of scalable IT resources over the Internet, as opposed to hosting and operating those resources locally, such as on a college or university network. Those resources can include applications and services, as well as the infrastructure on which they operate. By deploying IT infrastructure and services over the network, an organization can purchase these resources on an as-needed basis and avoid the capital costs of software and hardware. With cloud computing, IT capacity can be adjusted quickly and easily to accommodate changes in demand. Cloud computing also allows IT providers to make IT costs transparent and thus match consumption of IT services to those who pay for such services. Operating in a cloud environment requires IT leaders and staff to develop different skills, such as managing contracts, overseeing integration between in-house and outsourced services, and mastering a different model of IT budgets.”
Here is a good audio and video presentation from Dave Lankes worth the time viewing titled Change Management for Connecticut Screencast which he did forf the CLA/CLC Connecticut Leadership Institute.
Thanks to Stephen’s Lighthouse for pointing out the following from “Gartner’s 2009 Hype Cycle Special Report Evaluates Maturity of 1,650 Technologies“:
From the Gartner report:
“…Additional analysis on some of the technologies and trends at the Peak of Inflated Expectations that will reach the plateau in two to five years are included below:
Cloud Computing. As enterprises seek to consume their IT services in the most cost-effective way, interest is growing in drawing a broad range of services (for example, computational power, storage and business applications) from the ‘cloud,’ rather than from on-premises equipment. The levels of hype around cloud computing in the IT industry are deafening, with every vendor expounding its cloud strategy and variations, such as private cloud computing and hybrid approaches, compounding the hype.
E-Book Readers. Sony’s e-book reader and Amazon’s Kindle have attracted a great deal of attention during 2009. However, the devices still suffer from proprietary file formats and digital rights management technologies, which along with price, are limiting their adoption and will drive them into the Trough of Disillusionment.
The following have tipped just past the Peak of Inflated Expectations:
Social Software Suites. Awareness of social technology is high because of the popularity of related consumer social software and Web 2.0 services. Within businesses, there is strong and rapidly growing evidence of experimentation and early production deployments. The movement from point tools to integrated suites has brought broader adoption but also high expectations. Disillusionment is beginning based on the realization that, even with a suite, much work must be done to build an effective social software deployment.
Microblogging. Microblogging, in general, and Twitter, in particular, have exploded in popularity during 2009 to the extent that the inevitable disillusionment around “channel pollution” is beginning. As microblogging becomes a standard feature in enterprise social software platforms, it is earning its place alongside other channels (for example, e-mail, blogging and wikis), enabling new kinds of fast, witty, easy-to-assimilate exchange…”
The Lone Wolf’s twitter account is LoneWolfMLS.
Seth Godin pointed out the following Recession-Proof Graduate from Charlie Hoehn that clearly differentiates between interning and free work which is worth reviewing and passing along.
