LibWorm.com provides a librarian RSS filtering service. Over 1500 RSS librarian sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest headlines from journals and sites in the Wikis interest group. http://www.libworm.com/rss/librarianqueries.php Fri, 05 Aug 2011 02:50:14 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://wplbookclub.blogspot.com/2016/04/louis-riel-comic-strip-biography-by.html In 1869, the Red River Settlement area, home to the French-speaking Metis, is sold to the Canadian government. Louis Riel, the de facto leader of the Red River Settlement, demands that they be granted the right to govern themselves. Not suprisingly, the government refuses this. This story relates Riel's resistance to the Canadian government's mistreatment of the Metis community.Louis Riel - Wikipediahttps://owa.fibrehost.net/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_RielLouis Riel - rethinking Riel (CBC Archives)Louis Riel - Trivial Pursuit (CBC Archives) Place a hold on a WPL copy of the book here. (Source: WPLBOOKCLUB) Wed, 20 Apr 2016 04:00:00 +0100 377637 http://catalogablog.blogspot.com/2011/04/worldcat-mashathon-us.html Image via WikipediaThe WorldCat Mashathon US results are in. Some interesting projects.Netflix at My Library by Karen CoombsWorldCat in SciVerse by Remko Caprio, Developer for SciVerseBorrow Direct made Better by Eric James, Kalee Sprague, Daniel Lovins, Analyst and librarians at Yale UniversityCall Number Browse by Andrea Schurr, University of Tennessee at ChattanoogaCatalog Manager for National Digital Newspaper Project enhancement by Ed Summers, Library of CongressSmall library Web presence by Bruce Washburn, OCLC Research (Source: Catalogablog) Mon, 18 Apr 2011 04:00:00 +0100 895890 http://catalogablog.blogspot.com/2011/04/information-standards-quarterly.html Image via WikipediaNISO’s first open access issue of Information Standards Quarterly (ISQ) is now available. The full issue as well as individual articles are available for free download in PDF format. Some of the content is:NISO Year in Review 2010 by Karen WetzelTC46 Year in Review 2010 by Cynthia HodgsonSUSHI Implementation: The Client Side Experience by Omar VillaSUSHI Implementation: The Server Side Experience by Brinda ShahDedicated to Standards by Andrew PaceStandard Spotlight: The OpenURL Maintenance Agency: Extending and Promoting the Use of OpenURL by Phil Norman and Jeff YoungMember Spotlight : American Psychological Association: Using Standards to Improve the Dissemination of Knowledge by Linda BeebeEstablishing Suggested Practices Regarding Single Sign On (ESPReSSO) Working Group by Heather Ruland Staines, Harry Kaplanian, and Kristine Ferry (Source: Catalogablog) Fri, 01 Apr 2011 04:00:00 +0100 895895 http://catalogablog.blogspot.com/2011/03/us-worldcat-mashathon-registration.html Image via WikipediaOCLC announces registration for the US WorldCat Mashathon..Registration is now officially open for the WorldCat Mashathon US, sponsored by the OCLC Developer Network.Join fellow coders, developers and tech-enthusiasts for the next two-day WorldCat Mashathon on Thursday and Friday, April 7-8 simultaneously in 3 locations:Washington, DCColumbus, OHSan Mateo, CAWe’re testing this distributed model, to see if a Mashathon is just as fun (and effective) if it’s run simultaneously in multiple places that are all connected via Webcast. You'll spend the two days brainstorming and coding mash-ups with OCLC Web services and APIs. Developers from the library community and beyond are encouraged to attend. Why attend the WorldCat Mashathon U.S.?Brainstorm potential apps for the WorldCat Search API, MapFAST and other new OCLC Web services.Gain development access to 1.5 billion items from more than 10,000 libraries worldwide.Integrate these resources with many others to create innovative new services.Meet fellow developers across the information industry.Share your creative vision and be a part of the next wave of online library development.Roy Tennant of OCLC Research and longtime Code4Lib participant will kick off the session. OCLC staff will also be available at each location for questions and breakout facilitation—and we’ll connect all the sites together via chat, IRC, video conference and Webcast. Ideas, outcomes and code from the Mashathon, together with a participants list, will be shared during and after the event for others to download and build on. (Source: Catalogablog) Fri, 25 Mar 2011 04:00:00 +0100 895900 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/digizen/~3/vbpnqurgSdM/ Hace ya unas semanas he estado probando Google Chrome y debo decir que se ha convertido en mi navegador por defecto. He estado utilizando FireFox por varios años pero su lentitud y sus “crasheos” continuos me han llevado a migrar a Google Chrome. Seguiré usando a FF pero como navegador secundario. Además de su estabilidad y velocidad, Chrome me ha impresionado por su gran número de extensiones y lo fácil que es instalar y desinstalar las mismas. Comparto una lista de extensiones que son indispensables para el educador 2.0: 1. Diigo: Un complemento esencial para los que usamos el marcador social Diigo. 2. Adblock: Para navegar las páginas web sin anuncios 3. After the Deadline: Excelente corrector gramatical 4. Amplify: Permite cortar partes de una página y bloguear o “tuitear” la misma. 5. Diccionarios RAE: Para buscar  la definición de las palabras que necesite en dos diccionarios  de la Real Academia Española: Diccionario de la Lengua Española y Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas. 6.  Google Quick Scroll: Permite saltar directamente a los temas relevantes de un resultado de búsqueda de Google. 7. Wikipedia Companion: Extensión esencial para los usuarios de Wikipedia   8. Hootsuite Hootlet: Extensión para los usuarios de Hootsuite que facilitar publicación de textos en Twitter y Facebook . 9. Posterous for Chrome: La extensión esencial para usar Posterous desde Chrome 10. Awesome Screenshot: Excelente extensión de los creadores de Diigo para captura toda la pantalla o cualquier porción, anotar con rectángulos, círculos, flechas, líneas y texto, subir y compartir con un clic. 11. Google Reader RSS Subscriber: Permite subscribir un canal de RSS al  Google Reader pulsando un solo botón. 12. Quick Note: Para incluir tus notas relacionadas a determinada página web. También se pueden incluir imágenes. En total estoy usando más de 50 extensiones en Chrome. ... Fri, 31 Dec 2010 15:38:20 +0100 895823 http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/new-free-ebook-about-the-cybook-opus-ereader/ This is a bit different so I thought I’d post it in full – and its free.  It should be of special interest to our European readers: My Cybook Opus Ebook Reader – Adventures of a New User is a free digital reading ebook by Paolo Amoroso of Nostromics. You are encouraged to freely download, use, distribute and share the book under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported license. About the book The book tells the author’s experience in selecting, buying and using a Cybook Opus ebook reading device. The Opus is a popular digital reader manufactured by BOOKEEN. These devices are used for reading electronic books or e-books, i.e. publications in digital form suitable for reading on computers and other digital devices. This work, written from the point of view of a technically savvy user with no prior experience with ebooks, covers some topics about Opus features, operation and maintenance. It is a sort of user diary, a collection of notes of a user learning about the device and ebooks. It is not a comprehensive usage manual or an introductory guide. Download My Cybook Opus Ebook Reader is available for free download in the following file formats for the most popular e-book reading devices and desktop software: ePubDownload My Cybook Opus Ebook Reader in ePub format for BOOKEEN, Apple iPad, Barnes & Noble Nook and other devices compatible with the ePub format. You can download the ePub format and read it on desktop PCs with the following free software: Adobe Digital Editions for Windows and MacOS X. An ePub ebook is a ZIP archive containing other files. The ZIP archive you download should be directly opened with Adobe Digital Editions without further action, not unzipped and opened. ... Fri, 31 Dec 2010 14:06:54 +0100 895814 http://www.lisnews.org/ala_wikileaks_data_hub It appears that the Office of Intellectual Freedom and the Washington Office of the American Library Association have created a new "emerging issues" site to provide rapid response on breaking stories that erupt outside the regular cycle of ALA meetings. Their first topic covered by the site is Wikileaks. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Wed, 29 Dec 2010 17:29:17 +0100 895862 http://lisnews.org/ala_wikileaks_data_hub It appears that the Office of Intellectual Freedom and the Washington Office of the American Library Association have created a new "emerging issues" site to provide rapid response on breaking stories that erupt outside the regular cycle of ALA meetings. Their first topic covered by the site is Wikileaks. (Source: LISNews.org) Wed, 29 Dec 2010 17:29:17 +0100 895562 http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/the-online-future-of-australian-journalism-as-seen-by-the-industry-itself/ I’m a journalist, and a member of the journalists union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (of which the Australian Journalists Association, the AJA, forms part). All members receive a monthly magazine with news and in-depth articles about the industry, but this year is special – it’s 100 years since a wily bunch of Aussie scribblers formed the AJA. So, a century into Australian journalism proper, the union has published a report of the state of the industry, and where it expects the future to lay. (SPOILER: online). The report is called Life in the Clickstream II (a similar report came out two years ago), and I thought I’d share some of it (less than 10% of course, to keep my copyright nose clean!) with you. Keep in mind that this is the industry talking (through the report) about where they are and where they are going, not me. The state of play It’s ugly out there right now. In the federal secretary’s foreword, he talks about the “carnage” that had been forecast for the industry, and how it has been mitigated slightly by the appearance of news apps for phones and tablet computers like the iPad. But the operative word is “slightly”. All the graphs are sliding downwards. In Australia, the industry is on better shape than in the US or UK, but that’s no great prize. Hundreds of journalists no longer have full-time jobs, but here they are finding themselves in part-time or casual positions. I guess it’s better than being laid off. In the US the drop in print newspaper circulations are roughly 30%, in the UK about 20% overall. In AU, the decline is about 3% – the second-best result behind Austria in the Western world. New Zealand fared worse, dropping 13%. So it could be worse. But all but two major metro newspapers lost circulation here, and corresponding sales falls mean that the industry knows it needs to phase in a Plan B. It’s already doing so. ... Wed, 29 Dec 2010 14:21:15 +0100 895516 http://micheladrien.blogspot.com/2010/12/juror-misbehavior-in-information-age.html LLRX.com published an article last Sunday on Juror Behavior in the Information Age: "While the lure of tweeting or doing a Google search or updating a Facebook profile seems all but irresistible, these upheavals are reshaping the social dimensions of the trial and breaking down the barriers that channel the flow of information within the courtroom. Online misbehavior by jurors can be reduced to four principle areas: (1) publishing or distributing information about a trial, e.g., tweeting or posting updates on a social media site; (2) uncovering information about the case by searching the Internet, entering social networking sites or visiting virtual crime scenes; (3) contacting parties, witnesses, lawyers or judges via social networking for example; and (4) discussing or deliberating the merits of the litigation prematurely or inviting outside opinions." "Judges and court administrators are being tasked with responding to this technological revolution in jury behavior. They have been assigned expanded roles in jury selection and policing misconduct before, during and after trial (...)" "This article collects recent and notable examples of juror online misbehavior and highlights scholarship and practice resources concerning its implications for voir dire, trial management and the administration of justice" Earlier Library Boy posts on the topic include:Impartiality of Juries Threatened by Web? (October 22, 2009): "Donald Findlay QC, one of Scotland's top criminal lawyers, has warned that the impartiality of the jury system is at risk due to jurors using internet search engines and has warned that the Government cannot continue with its 'ostrich-like' attitude to the problem (...) "Should Twitter in the Courtroom Be Illegal? (November 11, 2009): "A U.S. ... Wed, 29 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 895632 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/kkJF/~3/p4HQBsv-c4c/mijn-2010-juli.html Juli: De hooimand gaat heet van start dit jaar, zowel sportief als qua temperatuur, maar ondanks die verleidelijke afleidingen begin ik te ontwaken uit mijn junidutje. Ik stel vast dat ik het bloggen nog steeds koester, leg nog eens uit waarom dat zo is en sluit die fase af met het voornemen verontschuldigingen aan anderen over te laten. Daar is na vijf jaar geen lol meer aan. De energie die het kost kun je ook benutten voor wat assertiever gedrag. In dezelfde periode word ik uitgenodigd om mee te denken over dingen die niet helemaal goed gaan en over mogelijke antwoorden op de vragen die dat oproept. Soms moet je de liefde even opzij zetten, om te zien wat er nu eigenlijk allemaal gebeurt. Ik krijg in die dagen ook te horen dat ik mag deelnemen aan een project dat raakt aan iets waar ik al veel te vaak over heb geschreven: samenwerken met Wikipedia. Het is in zekere zin een controversieel project, omdat het vertrouwen vereist in de kennis en in de wil tot bijdragen van de mens die door zelfbenoemde experts zo vaak wordt betiteld als amateur. Ik geloof in de potentie van het project, omdat ik ook geloof in die zo vaak verfoeide 'commons', 'crowd' of 'meent'. Daarom ben ik blij. Blij dat het een kans krijgt. Blij dat mensen uit ivoren torens durven te stappen. Want wat er ook allemaal beweerd wordt: buiten die torens speelt alles zich af, daar liggen de mogelijkheden. Dat het allemaal niet zonder slag of stoot zal gaan mag geen verrassing heten. Men buigt weliswaar, maar  barsten? Dat doet een ander maar! Kaders en protocollen moeten er zijn! Toestemming! Het is begrijpelijk maar als je de 'crowd' eenmaal hebt leren kennen weet je wat die tot stand kan brengen of in stand kan houden. Dan weet je dat initiatieven opeens snel kunnen uitgroeien tot iets moois. Virtueel, in het eggie, of in een combinatie van die twee. We doen het voor de mensen en met de mensen, zo simpel is het, zo simpel zou het moeten zijn. ... Wed, 29 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100 895430 http://www.teleread.com/library/the-masses-help-scholars-transcribe-manuscripts/ From a NY Times Article by Patricia Cohen: The painstakingly slow job of transcribing often hard-to-decipher handwritten documents from history’s lead players — not to mention a lack of funds — has meant that most originals are seen by a just a handful of scholars and kept out of the public’s reach altogether. After more than five decades, only slightly more than half of James Madison’s papers have been transcribed and published, while work on Thomas Jefferson’s papers, begun in 1943, probably won’t be finished until around 2025. Now the scholars behind the Bentham Project think they may have come up with a better way: crowd-sourcing. Starting this fall, the editors have leveraged if not the wisdom of the crowd, then at least its fingers, inviting anyone — yes, that means you — to help transcribe some of the 40,000 unpublished manuscripts from University College’s collection that have been scanned and put online. In the roughly four months since this Wikipedia-style experiment began, 350 registered users have edited 435 transcripts. [Clip] “It’s fairly astonishing,” Sharon Leon, a historian at George Mason University, said of crowd-sourcing’s potential. Ms. Leon recently received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to design a free digital tool — a plug-in — that any archive or library could use to open transcription to the public. Ms. Leon and her collaborators are working with 55,000 unpublished documents from the United States’ early War Department that have been collected, copied and reconstructed in the last dozen year. See Also: Sharon Leon’s Homepage See Also: Center for History and New Media (George Mason University) See Also:  OldWeather.org and a List of Ships Two Crowdsourced Transcription Projects From the UK Via Resource Shelf (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Tue, 28 Dec 2010 16:49:54 +0100 895408 http://www.teleread.com/chris-meadows/quora-the-future-of-blogging-or-something-else/ Robert Scoble has a post on his blog talking about answer-finding service Quora, and why he feels it is significant. He points to a tweet from venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar who believes that it is “the future of blogging.” Blogs may not be e-books, but they are on-line content and certainly that’s a form of TeleReading. I had never heard of Quora before today and was curious, so I went over to check it out. What I found was an answer-finding service, where you post your question and other users will answer it. I wasn’t sure how this was different from Mahalo and Vark, answer-finding services I had used already, So I searched Quora and found some answers people had already given. The problem with Mahalo is that its answers tend to be low quality, and it tends to attract random people who are interested in making money rather than experts. Vark (acquired by Google) uses social networks but isn’t actually social: each person answers individually, without being able to see answers from any of the other people (and possibly be reminded of or catch something that they missed). And though you can share answers or discussion threads, you can’t browse answers others have already given. But I still couldn’t see what this has to do with blogging. After all, a blog is when you periodically write about a topic of interest to you or others, whereas question services are more about getting or giving answers. Blogging—at least the sort of blogging I do—tends to be more structured. What was Scoble on about? So I went back to his post and read it through again, considering. Scoble’s point seems to be that Quora combines the best features of answer services with the best features of social networking, blogging, and wikis—and that it’s a lot of fun. Anyway, I find that there’s something addictive about participating over there instead of here on my blog. ... Tue, 28 Dec 2010 16:15:00 +0100 895410 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web2learning/YOVk/~3/wUD9ApnvecM/4468 This Christmas I got a Nook Color from my hubby and mother. I’ve been using it for a few days and I think it’s time to share my opinions. First things first, if you have an ebook reader you must download Calibre. Calibre is an open source ebook management application that runs on Windows, Mac and Linux (a flavor for everyone). It’s a great way to convert files from one format to another, to manage all of your books and to download news from the web to your reader. I have started with a bunch of free and public domain materials (nothing purchased yet). I chose the Nook over other alternatives because it could open so many formats of ebook and it runs on the Android operating system so that gives me some options for openness should I decide to root the device (a practice that has recently been declared legal). However I have found some downsides to the supposed openness of the Nook. While I can read materials purchased or downloaded from other sites, these materials are treated like second class citizens on the Nook. What do I mean? Well my EPubs and PDFs can’t be mounted on the home screen. I can only access these materials by browsing my shelves or files. I also can’t use the built in social networking functionality on materials that are not from Barnes & Noble. Basically I can read these materials, but they’re harder to get to and not as functional. I’m reading The Art of Community right now and have just figured out how to highlight passages (a big plus). I can also access all of my highlights and notes in one menu. Now for the minus – I can’t find a way to download or share these quotes. If this were a Barnes and Noble publication I could share the quotes one by one with the ‘share’ function, but because this is a PDF (converted to Epub in Calibre) I can just highlight and that’s the end of it. ... Tue, 28 Dec 2010 13:21:38 +0100 895489 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Davidrothmannet/~3/0vakyHjVjog/ I was bit surprised at the response to my post about Libraries and Transliteracy. As long as I’m spouting off opinions on topics that have little substance other than opinion, I may as well go whole-hog and respond to some of the reponses. Marcus Banks writes: “…David goes too far in his highly conservative defense of the English language…this idea that we need to keep a tight lid on the language, or even that this is possible, is foolhardy.” I’m not attempting to defend the English language.  A beast as powerful as the English language doesn’t need me to defend it. Besides, I happily torture the language when it suits me. I use silly semi-words like ‘geekery’ and ‘libraryfolk.’1 This comment from Marcus, though, underlines a problem I saw in the post shortly after I published it. It isn’t the word, it’s the way the word is used I didn’t intend to say that the word “transliteracy” has no place in the world2, just that I have yet to see libraryfolk using it in a way that adds something previously missing from discussions in librarianship and LIS3. Thus far, it seems to me that the (admittedly cool-sounding) term is thrown around by libraryfolk who (1)admit that they can’t define it, (2)define it so vaguely and variously that it fails to have any coherent meaning, or (3)define it in a way that makes it redundant to a wide assortment of existing terms. What I find baffling is that librarians would use words they cannot define. I had thought (perhaps mistakenly) that librarians tended to be lovably pedantic and semantic nitpickers. I’d like to see some clear indication that libraryfolk are talking about this word for any reason other than novelty or self-promotion. ... Tue, 28 Dec 2010 06:01:26 +0100 895323 http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/026098.html WikiLeaks And The New Corporate Disclosure Crisis - Stephanie Nora White and Rebecca Theim: "If the scandals that have plagued... (Source: beSpacific) Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 895420 http://outofthejungle.blogspot.com/2010/12/many-hands-make-light-work.html I'll never forget the first time I visited University College London and saw Jeremy Bentham's mummified remains on display in a large glass box in the main corridor. The head is not the original, but everything else is what's left of the great Enlightenment philosopher who died in 1832. Frankly, the sight unnerved me a bit. My husband assured me that Bentham had ordered that his body be dissected, embalmed, and displayed, and that his remains were brought out for departmental meetings and other events. The illustration for this post is a photograph of Bentham as he is displayed at UCL.The philosopher was extremely prolific, and UCL began to publish his writings over fifty years ago; so far, only twenty-seven volumes have been published, "less than half of the 70 or so ultimately expected," according to an article in The New York Times. The publication project is under the aegis of the Bentham Project, which has hit upon a novel approach to transcribing Bentham's papers, which are already scanned and available online. There are approximately "40,000 unpublished manuscripts from University College's collection," and the organizers of the Project have turned to the public to help them transcribe the documents. This approach, familiar from Wikipedia, is known as crowd-sourcing, and draws on volunteers--"350 registered users have produced 435 transcripts" so far. No specialized credentials are required of the volunteers, and their work is vetted by editors before becoming part of the print edition of Bentham's collected works. Advocates of this approach point out that it has the "potential to cut years, even decades, from the transcription process while making available to the public and ... scholars miles of documents that are now off limits, difficult to read or unsearchable." As with any new approach, there are those who are not enthusiastic. There is "tension between experts and amateurs. ... Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 895396 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/kkJF/~3/YnB5FtqSxDM/mijn-2010-april.html April: April begint met slechte grappen en eindigt met een nationaal volksfeest. De lente is daar. De zon breekt door. Ik rond de laatste zaken af en neem vooral veel vrij (zie de update bij maart). Enerzijds omdat ik daar gewoon even aan toe ben, omdat ik dingen wil laten bezinken, anderzijds om na te denken over mijn toekomst. Zou een andere manier van werken kans van slagen hebben? Ik twijfel. Er moet wel brood op de plank blijven komen, dat is de basis, als je geld uitgeeft 'alsof er geen morgen bestaat' (om nog maar eens maatje te citeren). Maar er is weinig te verliezen. De toekomst lonkt. Ik koester mijn nieuwe werkschoenen en lees opeens andere boeken. Er is van alles aan de hand. De invloed van internet en technologie is groter dan ooit tevoren. Bibliotheken zoeken naar nieuw bestaansrecht. Zij zien zich geconfronteerd met een ander publiek. Ze beseffen dit jaar pas werkelijk dat zij gewoon opzij worden geschoven door de nieuwe krijgsheren. De krijgsheren die vechten met modernere wapens en met een ander doel. Een leger moet uiteraard eerst gereorganiseerd worden, als de aard en het terrein van conflicten veranderen, maar dat kan alleen in vredestijd. Nu is de strijd om aandacht en informatiegemak al losgebarsten, op volle zee...en helaas is niemand die dreigt te verzuipen bereid te wachten. Ook de goede zwemmer niet. De bibliotheken weten dat ze ook de zee op moeten, ook al kennen ze hun vaartuigen nog niet goed. Vreemd eigenlijk, dat juist dit soort metafoortjes me vertrouwen geven, in de grasmaand. Er zijn simpelweg te veel uitdagingen om de strijd al te staken. Ik ben dan ook meer dan blij als oude bekenden ten tonele verschijnen en mij vragen met hen mee te denken en te doen. Mijn twijfel is voorlopig weggenomen. Vanuit het oude centrumfort, naar de burchten in het Zuiden en Oosten. Ik teken ervoor, met open vizier. @ Afbeelding Willem Hermansz. ... Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:09:00 +0100 895272 http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/new-ereader-app-hits-the-ipad-iflow/ eBook Magazine is reporting on this ereader app. It’s been out for the iPhone for a while, but the iPad version is new: A new ebook app combining a bookstore for new purchases with the ability to import titles purchased from any retailer which supports epub files protected Adobe DRM launched earlier this month for Apple’s iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. By mimicking the ‘buy anywhere, hear here’ approach of standalone ebook readers such as those from Sony, the free iFlow Reader app follows txtr and Bluefire in ending the segregation of books within vendor-specific apps. iFlow also offers readers to look up words and phrases on Google, Wikipedia, or dictionary.com as well as integration with Facebook allowing the sharing of excerpts and comments via the social networking site The iFlow website is here. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Mon, 27 Dec 2010 16:04:15 +0100 895265 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/kkJF/~3/gd-z9wauRvM/mijn-2010-februari.html Februari Er broeit iets. Onvrede. Ik mopper en stuiter. Ik begin te beseffen dat grenzen reëel zijn en zelfs op het terrein waar ik zo graag opereer, ontwaar ik hobbels. Ik krijg een serieuze uitbrander, haal bakzeil en heroverweeg mijn positie binnen het geheel. Het voelt niet goed. Dan een druppel en die spreekwoordelijke emmer. Ik schop en spartel nog wat. Ik zoek nog iets. Ik stel me nog een beetje aan. En dan is het opeens genoeg. Ik meld me ziek en trek me terug van de ellende. Het wordt tijd om door te pakken, maar ik weet even niet waar ik het zoeken moet. Het goede nieuws is dat Wikileaks weer in lucht is. Dat is op dat moment echter nog geen onderwerp voor op verjaardagen. @ (Source: Digitaal Inlichtingenwerk Zeeuwse Bibliotheek) Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:54:00 +0100 895274 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pandia/vfbc/~3/3qpfEe2LYmc/3358-7-sites-for-information-on-busnisses-and-organisations.html Whether you are a business owner looking for information on your competition, a consumer wanting to make informed purchases or an information professional or journalist doing research, the call for transparency that has resulted from social media has led to a number of web sites where businesses share their info for free or where customers share their opinions. Here are 10 places to go to find info on all kinds of businesses and organisations. LinkedIn LinkedIn used to be a place to display your business card on-line with the option to add information about your education and past and present jobs. Today, LinkedIn hosts profiles for both businesses and people in addition to groups for discussing all kinds of professional themes. The profiles might also contain information from blogs, presentations from Slideshare and more. Examples: Search Engine Land business profile SEO SEM group Facebook Facebook started out as a web site for freshmen at Harvard to get to know each other. It soon opened to students at other schools and is now open for anyone to join. It is no longer just a place where teenagers share photos from parties. Here in Norway, 50 % of the population has a Facebook profile. This makes the site a great place for businesses to market themselves and for consumers to pool their knowledge. Examples: WikiLeaks’ page Google’s page Wikipedia On LinkedIn and Facebook, the companies themselves write their profiles and can, to a certain extent, control the content. Wikipedia has guidelines that prevent people with close ties to a business from editing the article about that particular company. Examples: British Petroleum Nestlé Youtube Every minute 24 hours of video content is uploaded to YouTube. ... Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:36:51 +0100 895392 http://www.slaw.ca/2010/12/27/lawyers-and-their-love-of-semicolons/ Came across this article and thought SLAW readers might find it useful. It was originally published in the December 2010 issue of Deadbeat, the Ontario Bar Association’s Trusts & Estates Section newsletter. Spelling and Grammar Query Susan J. Stamm* Lawyers love long and complex sentences. Lawyers love lists. Lawyers love semicolons and colons. If we are to maintain our love of semicolons, we must use them properly. Typical usage of semicolons by lawyers is in long complex sentences, or in lists. However, either way, two primary rules must be followed: You can use the semicolon to connect two independent clauses together into one sentence. You can use it as a super-comma. There are also some optional uses. To Connect Two Independent Clauses Independent clauses are series of words that could stand alone as complete sentences (i.e., they have both a subject and a verb). When you have two otherwise complete sentences that you want to connect to form one long sentence, use a semicolon between them. Example: Jane is a dependent child of the deceased; she is the applicant in these proceedings. If you put a comma where that semicolon is, you will have committed a “comma splice,” which some consider a serious grammatical mistake. There is, however, one exception that can cause you a problem. You don’t use a semicolon to connect two complete sentences if there’s a conjunction between the clauses (and, but, etc.). In that case, use a comma. I don’t know why. That is the rule. Example: Jane is a dependent child of the deceased, and she is the applicant in these proceedings. Adding that single word, the conjunction “and,” means that you must change that semicolon into a comma. However, if the first sentence already has one or more commas in it, you do use the semi-colon. ... Mon, 27 Dec 2010 13:00:38 +0100 895176 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LawLibrarianBlog/~3/Bm7l0crjhDc/ralph-nader-really-congressional-hearing-on-the-espionage-act-and-the-legal-and-constitutional-issue.html On December 16, 2010, the House Committee on the Judiciary conducted a hearing on the Espionage Act and the legal and constitutional issues raised by WikiLeaks. The link to the video webcast is available of this page. The witness list... (Source: Law Librarian Blog) Mon, 27 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 895850 http://librarychronicles.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html#1196159277505788215 Yes, it's 2010: The Year of the Unfinished Blog Post. And I was all set to say fuck it once again and half-assedly dump some fragments of what could have been the last two weeks'game recaps when Sports Nation Atlanta had to go and drop this shit bomb on us this morning. Hurricane Katrina, conversely, is no laughing matter. Ask Roddy White, who found out last week that even though New Orleans has exploited every iota of their 2005 disaster to better celebrate a Super Bowl win, any mention that the "Who Dat Nation" might be a little self-righteous in their usage of Katrina as a plot device is simply off-limits.Roddy's tweet exposed a loophole that's gone previously unnoticed by most NFL fans: New Orleans is more than willing to capitalize upon Hurricane Katrina as a means of fabricating a redemption narrative for their football team. But those same opportunists squawk with incredulity when opposing fans, players and media treat that horrible disaster with the same triviality.Before we address this question of whether we have the right to tell victims of horrific tragedy the ways in which they are and are not allowed to "capitalize upon" their misfortune, let's take a minute to look at where this so-called trivialization originates.American football fans spent 40 years not paying very much attention to the way New Orleans had woven its underperforming football team into its highly ritualized civic and spiritual calendar. New Orleans has a way of elevating or infusing joy into things that other cities may find embarrassing or, worse, take for granted. People think this is a lazy or backward or half-assed place but one thing New Orleans does not do half-assed is love. And New Orleans always loved its football team. For a while last year, people outside of New Orleans were forced to pay some attention to that. And many of those people, as is often the case, just didn't get it. And that's okay if they don't get it. ... Mon, 27 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 895469 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/26/julian-assange-book-deals WikiLeaks founder says he had to sell rights to autobiography to cover legal costs and keep website afloatThe founder of the WikiLeaks website, Julian Assange, has said he expects to earn more than £1m from book deals.Assange, who achieved global notoriety after his whistleblower website began releasing more than a quarter of a million diplomatic cables, said he would use the money for legal costs.The 39-year-old is fighting extradition to Sweden, where two women have accused him of sexual misconduct. He denies the allegations.Since being released on bail earlier this month pending extradition proceedings, Assange has been living under virtual house arrest at Ellingham Hall, a Norfolk country mansion, from where he regularly gives media interviews.He told the Sunday Times that he was forced to sign a deal worth more than £1m for his autobiography due to financial difficulties. "I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he said. "I have already spent £200,000 for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."He will reportedly receive $800,000 dollars from Alfred A Knopf, his American publisher, while a British deal with Canongate is said to be worth £325,000. An estimated £1.1m will be generated from the deal, including serialisation, he said.Previously Assange told the Guardian that WikiLeaks does not have enough money to pay its legal bills, even though "a lot of generous lawyers have donated their time to us".Legal costs for WikiLeaks and his own defence were approaching £500,000, he said. The decisions by Visa, MasterCard and PayPal to stop processing donations have cost the organisation £425,000, enough to fund WikiLeaks' publishing operations for six months. At its peak the organisation was receiving £85,000 a day, he said. ... Sun, 26 Dec 2010 18:17:49 +0100 895076 http://www.librarymonk.com/2010/12/from-dan-on-twitter-this-week-85/ well delicious isn't quite dead yet, mostly dead? undead? what's the best term here? # Now I'm thirsty… http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/amazon-provides-a-dose-of-humor # My Blackberry Is Not Working! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI # CIA? WTF? http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/22/cia-wikileaks-taskforce-wtf # Powered by Twitter Tools (Source: Library Monk - the blog of Dan Greene) Sun, 26 Dec 2010 16:16:00 +0100 895627 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/26/20-things-we-learned-in-2010 Observer writers and experts chart the concepts, trends and buzz words that defined the past year and are likely to shape the next one1 The new politics is, in fact, the old politicsNick Clegg will regret many things about 2010. One will be his decision to produce a Lib Dem election poster warning that the Tories would raise VAT. A few weeks later Clegg, installed as deputy prime minister, was backing coalition plans to – yes – raise VAT.Then there was the pre-election pledge to vote against any rise in tuition fees. Six months later Clegg was pushing a policy to triple them.These shifts were damaging not just because they were old-fashioned U-turns but because they fatally undermined the party's raison d'etre – its commitment to deliver a new, honest politics. A vote for the Lib Dems, Clegg had said, would be "a vote that counts".It was all part of his broader attempt to promote the merits of voting reform – the Lib Dems' core policy. Fair votes through proportional representation would mean that everyone's vote would matter and everyone's voice would be heard.Floating the idea of "new politics" and calling for an end to the duopoly of the "old parties" made Clegg more popular than Churchill for a while. But it is dangerous to take the moral high ground in politics.A mid-December poll for the News of the World found 61% of respondents saying that they didn't trust Clegg, compared to 24% in April. In a few months, he had gone from being one of the most trusted politicians to one of the least trusted.To many, the "new politics" had begun to feel very much like old politics – if not rather worse, as angry protests hit the streets and chants rang out about promises broken. Toby Helm2 Kanye West is pop's top innovatorIn 2009, Kanye West had the distinction of being called a "jackass" by the US president, after rudely interrupting an acceptance speech by his fellow performer Taylor Swift at an awards show. ... Sun, 26 Dec 2010 00:07:13 +0100 894991 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/26/buzz-words-of-2010-explained Every year sees new words coined and old ones gain new meanings. Rafael Behr decodes some of the key terms of 2010Assange – The act of dressing self-indulgence up as piety, eg "don't tell me you only stayed in the pub to look after your mate. That's a load of assange and you know it!"Austerity – Sanctimonious meanness.Bigot – Person whose determination to have a point of view interrupts your busy campaigning schedule.Blowout preventer – Device on deepwater oil rigs that, confusingly, doesn't prevent blowoutsBondage – The sado-masochistic relationship between financial markets and European economies.Cable – Any communication that is supposed to be private but ends up embarrassingly public.Chilcot – A shade of quick-drying white paint used for covering unsightly stains on a former prime minister's reputation.Cleggmania – That brief moment when shopping where you consider being adventurous and trying something new before deciding to stick with the usual.Coalition – One of those weddings where the bride and groom are clearly ill-matched and only temporarily infatuated and where all the guests gossip about how long it will last.Debate – A TV game show in which three politicians are asked questions from a studio audience and have to try to remember the questioner's name.Debt – A curse and a blight, except when incurred by students to pay university tuition fees, in which context it is an opportunity and an engine of social mobility.Deficit – An excuse to do anything really out of order, eg: "Yes, I did spill red wine on your new white carpet, but what you must remember is that Labour left that carpet with a deficit of red wine; my spillage was the only responsible course of action."Ednostic – The state of sharing Ed Miliband's social democrat views, while not being persuaded he can ever win an election.Election – Reality show for unattractive people in which members of the audience only get one vote. ... Sun, 26 Dec 2010 00:05:58 +0100 894993 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/26/20-things-we-learned-2010 It was a year in which game-changing developments in social media competed with a new political turf wars over the 'squeezed middle'. Here a team of Observer writers and experts chart the concepts, trends and buzzwords that defined the last year and are likely to shape the next one1 The new politics is, in fact, the old politicsNick Clegg will regret many things about 2010. One will be his decision to produce a Lib Dem election poster warning that the Tories would raise VAT. A few weeks later Clegg, installed as deputy prime minister, was backing coalition plans to – yes – raise VAT.Then there was the pre-election pledge to vote against any rise in tuition fees. Six months later Clegg was pushing a policy to triple them.These shifts were damaging not just because they were old-fashioned U-turns but because they fatally undermined the party's raison d'etre – its commitment to deliver a new, honest politics. A vote for the Lib Dems, Clegg had said, would be "a vote that counts".It was all part of his broader attempt to promote the merits of voting reform – the Lib Dems' core policy. Fair votes through proportional representation would mean that everyone's vote would matter and everyone's voice would be heard.Floating the idea of "new politics" and calling for an end to the duopoly of the "old parties" made Clegg more popular than Churchill for a while. But it is dangerous to take the moral high ground in politics.A mid-December poll for the News of the World found 61% of respondents saying that they didn't trust Clegg, compared to 24% in April. In a few months, he had gone from being one of the most trusted politicians to one of the least trusted.To many, the "new politics" had begun to feel very much like old politics – if not rather worse, as angry protests hit the streets and chants rang out about promises broken. ... Sun, 26 Dec 2010 00:05:53 +0100 894994 http://rabid-librarian.blogspot.com/2010/12/nice.html Cherokee, Apple partner to put language on iPhones According to Wikipedia, 'since 2002, all Apple computers come with a Cherokee font installed.' Also, 'Cherokee Nation members Joseph L. Erb and Roy Boney, Jr. developed an iPhone application for Cherokee language text messaging and are in the process of developing Cherokee language social network and video games.' The Cherokee language, Tsalagi, has a written syllabary invented by Sequoyah in the early 19th century--which was particularly interesting as Sequoyah did not read any other script prior to his work on the syllabary. (Source: The Rabid Librarian's Ravings in the Wind) Fri, 24 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 895452 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LawLibrarianBlog/~3/Df9EGlOa5co/wikileaks-founder-assanges-first-cable-news-intervice-since-being-released-fro-jail.html Details with MSNBC interview video here. [JH] (Source: Law Librarian Blog) Fri, 24 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 894850 http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/62874 WikiLeaks: A Critical Catalyst, But for What End? Launched in October 2006 with the byline of “we open governments,” WikiLeaks has positioned itself in the eye of more than one media storm in the past 4 years. The site presents itself as a “non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information [...] (Source: ResourceShelf) Thu, 23 Dec 2010 18:24:00 +0100 894682 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/kkJF/~3/Md5H3R7Qglg/middelburg-dronk-bij-omroep-zeeland.html Had ik al verteld dat veel van mijn aandacht uitgaat naar Middelburg Dronk, momenteel, en dat ik er steeds meer plezier in krijg? Nog een paar aanvullingen: maandag maakte ik een Twitteraccount aan en startte met het volgen van zo'n 150 Zeeuwen, waaronder veel Middelburgers en een aantal mensen van de regionale media. Een dag later (!) kreeg ik al een DM van Remco van Schellen, wat er toe leidde dat ik vanochtend kort te gast was in de radio-uitzending van Omroep Zeeland. Liefhebbers kunnen dat gesprekje terugluisteren op de website van de omroep (vanaf 51,30 minuten). Niet alleen Omroep Zeeland besteedde al zo snel aandacht aan het hobbyproject; ook het weblog van het Zeeuws Archief (Lineke van den Bout) en Hosternokke.nl (Peter Ingelse) verwijzen deze week naar de Wiki. Ondertussen krijg ik ook al mailtjes van mensen die ik helemaal niet ken, met feiten en data en de belofte dat er navraag binnen de familie zal worden gedaan. Je begrijpt: ik ben in mijn nopjes. In de bibliotheek heb ik dinsdag 10 boeken geleend over de geschiedenis van Middelburg en a.s. dinsdag ga ik met Eric-Jan Keulemans naar het Zeeuws Archief, waar we -met hulp van medewerkers Lineke en Poulus- verder gaan graven. Er is namelijk al veel meer uitgezocht en beschreven dan je zou denken. Dit zijn geen dingen waar een ZP'er rijk van wordt, maar leuk dat het is! Geschiedenis heeft altijd op mijn belangstelling kunnen rekenen, maar nu, met deze focus, kijk ik opeens heel anders naar de stad waar ik al sinds 1978 woon. Ik heb er in twee weken tijd al meer over geleerd dan in de 32 jaar daarvoor. Prachtig toch? @ Afbeelding veerdienst Blauwedijk 1890: Beeldbank Zeeland. (Source: Digitaal Inlichtingenwerk Zeeuwse Bibliotheek) Thu, 23 Dec 2010 11:44:00 +0100 894681 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blogpocket/~3/ljQc4rh2ilA/ El otro día, Alfredo Rivela me pasaba un vídeo muy bueno, con una animación acerca de una de las conferencias de Ken Robinson. Sobre Ken Robinson puedes leer en la Wikipedia y buscar en Google. Para resumir digamos que es un experto en educación. Si no lo conocías, como yo, y te interesa no solo la innovación en la educación, sino también la innovación en cualquiera de las facetas de tu vida, te invito a ver los siguientes vídeos (con subtítulos en español). Para Ken Robinson, el futuro no se puede predecir. No sabemos lo que sucederá dentro de 4 años y los niños que estudian en el colegio ahora, seguramente realizarán trabajos que todavia no están inventados: “Para que las economías prosperen necesitamos niños que piensen de forma creativa y entiendan los valores culturales. Necesitamos profesores que no sólo sean capaces de enseñar cosas, sino que dejen a los niños espacios para cultivar su talento. Cada persona aprende de forma diferente, por eso es importante la forma de enseñar“. 1. ¿Matan las escuelas la creatividad? Este vídeo es la versión subtitulada en español de Do schools kill creativity? (2006), en una de las conferencias de TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) y en ella Ken Robinson habla de cómo la educación que se imparte en las escuelas mata la creatividad, algo que él mismo define como “ideas originales que tienen un valor“. Click here to view the embedded video. 2. La educación necesita una revolución 4 años más tarde de la conferencia del vídeo anterior, Ken Robinson, ampliaba su discurso en Bring on the learning revolution! : “Nuestro sistema educativo no necesita una reforma. Necesita una revolución. Durante demasiados años hemos fomentado la educación a base de un modelo de comida rápida. ... Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:55:04 +0100 895125 http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/62815 U.S. Cybersecurity Predictions, Resolutions and Wishes for 2011 With the abundance of high-profile and potentially damaging cybersecurity failures — the Aurora breach, China's mysterious hijacking of Internet traffic, the powerful Stuxnet worm, and of course, Wikileaks — the year 2010 won't go down as the best one for cybersecurity. What's scarier, in [...] (Source: ResourceShelf) Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:33:00 +0100 894530 http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/6526 BERKMAN CENTER FOR INTERNET & SOCIETY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY Upcoming events and digital media // December 22, 2010 [SAVE THE DATE 1/11] Berkman Center Luncheon Series: "The Master Switch" with Tim Wu, author of The Master Switch and Professor of Law at Columbia University (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2011/01/wu) [SAVE THE DATE] BERKMAN LUNCHEON SERIES on THE MASTER SWITCH ================================================================================== 1/11/11, 12:00pm ET, Harvard Law School **Please note earlier start time for this date only** RSVP is required for those attending in person to Amar Ashar (ashar@cyber.law.harvard.edu) Topic: The Master Switch Guests: Tim Wu, author of The Master Switch and Professor of Law at Columbia University Tim Wu presents his widely acclaimed new book THE MASTER SWITCH:  The Rise and Fall of Information Empires. "A Masterpiece" - Lawrence Lessig.   "A ripping yarn" - The Atlantic About Tim Tim Wu is an author, policy advocate and author of The Master Switch.  He is a professor at Columbia Law School, the chairman of media reform organization Free Press. Wu was recognized in 2006 as one of 50 leaders in science and technology by Scientific American magazine, and in 2007 Wu was listed as one of Harvard's 100 most influential graduates by 02138 magazine. Tim Wu's best known work is the development of Net Neutrality theory, but he has also written about copyright, international trade, and the study of law-breaking. He previously worked for Riverstone Networks in the telecommunications industry in Silicon Valley, and was a law clerk for Judge Richard Posner and Justice Stephen Breyer. He graduated from McGill University (B.Sc.), and Harvard Law School. Wu has written for the New Yorker, the Washington Post, Forbes, Slate magazine, and others. He can sometimes be found at Waterfront Bicycles, and he once worked at Hoo's Dumplings. ... Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:48:00 +0100 894458 http://infobib.de/blog/2010/12/22/google-datawiki/ Google legt momentan ein flottes Tempo vor. Über den nGram Viewer wurde inzwischen anderswo so viel geschrieben, das spare ich mir erstmal. Auf Shared Spaces wurde hier noch gar nicht eingegangen. Aber DataWiki kann man hier nicht unerwähnt lassen. Es handelt sich hierbei um ein Wiki für strukturierte Daten. In eigenen Worten With DataWiki it should be easy to: * create and edit structured data * create simple mashup applications in a few minutes * define formats in terms of others, e.g. Missing Person reports = vCard (who) + GeoRSS (last seen) + string (current status note) * share information with other systems via built-in federation * enable easy input/output from a variety of endpoints, e.g. via Twitter, ODK or SMS from a remote location Es gibt ein Gästebuch, an dem man ein wenig probieren kann. Einträge erstellen und suchen (z.B. nach Hans Dampf) kann man auch hier: Finden Erstellen Name: Comment: Gender: Country: Homepage: Name: Comment: Gender: Country: Homepage: Eine kleine Dokumentation gibt es auch, ebenso die Möglichkeit, DataWiki (Open Source) selbst zu installieren. Man kann seine Daten also in der Cloud lagern, muss aber nicht. Wer sehen möchte, was in Googles Laboren noch alles entwickelt wurde und wird, sollte sich diesen kurzen Überblick ansehen. (Source: Infobib) Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:28:57 +0100 894697 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ouseful/~3/CsLaTMVW30I/ Lots of deleted stuff I might have regretted posting… (I also apologise in advance for what some might take to be the self-aggrandising nature of this post…) Anyway, that’s all as maybe… One of the ideas I started trying to develop in preparing the promotion case was the notion of “influence”, and how online, network based activities might result in payoff for someone else, through being influenced, that could in part trickle back through some sort of recognised acknowledgement, or feed forward into a payoff that makes the academic or host institution more productive. So here are a handful of examples from the last week or so that provide anecdotal evidence about the influence and reach of posts appearing on OUseful.info: I flashed up on screen a post from Tony Hirst’s OUseful blog where he confessed to ‘hassling’ Simon Rogers over the formats of some of the information in the Guardian Datastore. Tony’s contributions are fantastically useful, and the team have now changed some of their workflows to try and include more universal identifiers. On datasets with country lists, for example, they now aim to provide the two letter ISO country code in order to get around confusion when comparing datasets that might feature Burma or Myanmar for example. - news:rewired – “Reader-centred journalism” [C]hanged some of their workflows… right… so that might make it easier for others, such as academics stooping so low as to use news media published data rather than “original” sources in their own work. Or it might mean that folk who are not academics putting the data to work because it’s now easier for them to do so, and getting real value out of it. ... Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:34:25 +0100 895051 http://infobib.de/blog/2010/12/22/1932-taschentelefon-mit-sprachsteuerung/ Aus: Kästner, Erich (1987): Der 35. Mai oder Konrad reitet in die Südsee. Unter Mitarbeit von Horst Lemke. 48. Aufl. Hamburg: Dressler, S. 106 Ein Herr, der vor ihnen auf dem Trottoir langfuhr, trat plötzlich aufs Pflaster, zog einen Telefonhörer aus der Manteltasche, sprach eine Nummer hinein und rief: “Gertrud, hör mal, ich komme heute eine Stunde später zum Mittagessen. Ich will vorher noch ins Laboratorium. Wiedersehen, Schatz!” Dann steckte er sein Taschentelefon wieder weg, trat aufs laufende Band, las in einem Buch und fuhr seiner Wege. Die Android- oder iPhone-Debatte war 1932 zwar noch nicht aktuell, aber die Vision eines sprachgesteuerten Handys bestand offensichtlich schon. Update: Kaum veröffentlicht, trudelt schon eine Mail herein, dass dies doch auch schon im Wikipedia-Kapitel zur Geschichte des Mobiltelefons zu finden sei. Richtig, war mir nicht bekannt. Sonst habe ich Wikipedia allerdings fast durch, Dubletten werden hoffentlich nicht mehr vorkommen. (Source: Infobib) Wed, 22 Dec 2010 13:58:38 +0100 894698 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JohnBattellesSearchblog/~3/SW12BPQvIpM/the_year_in_writing_2010.php This has become something of a tradition at Searchblog (well, OK, it's the second time in three years), in which I review the year in posts and note those of which I am particularly proud. For me it's a way to remember what I've been on about, and catalog some of my sketches for further work (perhaps as a book, ahem). So in chronological order, here are the posts I liked from these past 12 months, with some commentary as well: January Predictions 2010 I'll be getting to this in a post later this week. Search Getting Worse? What Did I Mean?! I wrote a series on this. This is a summary. Google's Tortured History With China In which the eventual unraveling of Google's business in China began. The Evolving Search Interface: Mobile Drives Search As App Or why mobile is a major threat to Google, and why Google responded with Android. Why The Apple iPad Will Disappoint (The Obama Effect) I was wrong about the iPad being a dud, but not wrong about it disappointing me. It pretty much made everyone else happy, but I don't like it mainly for the politics of it. And it did disappoint nearly everyone when it was announced, but then became a major hit. As to why I was unhappy: The Tuesday Signal: Birth of Another Orifice Google Rolling Out Social Search: But Does It Leverage Facebook?  Glimmerings of what has become a full out data sharing war between the rivals. February Thursday Signal: Are You Checked In? I realize, in this post, that checking in is a new field in the Database of Intentions. Updated: Google to Air "Search Stories" Ad During Super Bowl... My big scoop of the year. Sigh, I guess Searchblog isn't much of a news outlet, is it?! The Thursday Signal: Is Google Losing Its Customer Focus? In which I determine it is, based on Buzz. I Don't Like The iPad Because... I guess I had to keep hammering on this. This is about how the iPad is loved by all traditional media because of its locked distribution model. ... Wed, 22 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 894485 http://www.slaw.ca/2010/12/21/a-conversation-about-secrecy-and-privacy/ There’s an interesting conversation over at Edge — not the legal consulting company, but the foundation that holds colloquiums on important issues in science, philosophy, and art. This discussion is entitled Who Gets to Keep Secrets? and the question was posed by Daniel Hillis, a computer scientist, who amplified it thus: The question of secrecy in the information age is clearly a deep social (and mathematical) problem, and well worth paying attention to. When does my right to privacy trump your need for security? Should a democratic government be allowed to practice secret diplomacy? Would we rather live in a world with guaranteed privacy or a world in which there are no secrets? If the answer is somewhere in between, how do we draw the line? As you might imagine, Wikileaks features prominently, as does law: law constituting governments, law delimiting privacy rights, and law shaded into ethics and morality. Those who responded to Hillis included: the Provost of Georgetown University; the ED of the Electronic Privacy Information Center; the Editor of the Arts section of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung; George Dyson, the science historian; and Clay Shirky, adjunct Prof. at NYU. Hillis replied to many of the comments, and was in some cases replied to. (Source: Slaw) Wed, 22 Dec 2010 01:58:59 +0100 895196 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TameTheWeb/~3/-9Wsb8wf7eM/ I contributed my final post as a regular author this week at ALA TechSource. I must say it makes me a bit emotional but it’s time to move on to focus on other things. I thought I take this chance to point back to some of my favorite posts from the last 5 years of writing at TechSource. One of my favorite things to do was a “back and forth” interview/discussion style post. Here are some of the best of the best: John Blyberg: On the L2 Train | Information Experience Michael Casey: Where Do We Begin? | Better Library Services for More People Robert Doyle (Illinois Library Association) Michael Edson (Smithsonian Institution) Michael Golrick | Stacey Greenwell | Christopher Harris | Cliff Landis And some of my FAVORITE solo posts: November 2005: Do Libraries Matter: On Library & Librarian 2.0 The library encourages the heart. As we reach out to users, we must remember all of the folks we serve. To me, Library 2.0 will be a meeting place, online or in the physical world, where my emotional needs will be fulfilled through entertainment, information, and the ability to create my own stuff to contribute to the ocean of content out there – the Long Tail if you will. Librarian 2.0, then, will be available to guide me and teach me to use the systems provided by the library to do just that. As Abram said, librarians will provide clarification: Librarians need to position themselves and the library to help with finding the answers to: how? and why?” February 2006: Are You Dreaming? That’s where dreaming comes in. Have you had the chance to dream at your library job? Have you had the chance to stop for a minute in the buzz buzz of your routine and think about the future? Are you encouraged to innovate? If not, then I urge you to do so. And I urge library administrators to encourage dreaming on the job. ... Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:57:37 +0100 894289 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blogpocket/~3/u5H_uEEmAr0/ Otra jornada pegados a Twitter, como antaño nos pegábamos a los transistores. Entre momentos de confusión, salvados por algún que otro tuit explicativo de los más duchos en enmiendas y contraenmiendas, finalmente se rechazaba la denominada Ley Sinde con la que se podría cerrar cualquier sitio web arbitrariamente. Tras una larga espera (y 9 horas de retraso), la Disposición Final Segunda (la que contiene la Ley Sinde) se vota separadamente y se rechaza con 20 votos en contra y 18 a favor. La postura de CiU fue determinante al no encontrar el pacto con el PSOE. Aplausos en la sala y alegría generalizada en Twitter. Esta es una gran noticia para la sociedad. La Ley de Economía Sostenible pasa al Senado el próximos 18 de enero, sin la disposición final segunda; aunque al parecer se podrían añadir todavía modificaciones, incluida otra vez la dichosa ley sinde. La Ley Sinde nunca debió aparecer sobrevolando nuestras cabezas. Nuestra legislación es muy clara respecto a las webs que contienen enlaces, y así se ha demostrado en numerosos juicios: no es delito. No se puede anteponer la propiedad intelectual al derecho a la libertad de expresión y a los derechos fundamentales de los ciudadanos. Pero se tuvo que crear este despropósito debido a oscuros intereses, según pudimos saber por WikiLeaks. No a la Ley Sinde. Sinde dimisión. Blogpocket.com: blog ganador en los Premios Bitacoras.com 2010, en la categoría Premio Especial Honorífico También puedes leerme en Twitter y en Weblog Magazine Y si te gusta la música, no dejes de suscribirte a Acordes Modernos, finalista en los Premios Bitacoras.com 2010, en la categoría Mejor Blog Cultural (Source: blogpocket 6.0) Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:03:07 +0100 895127 http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/62798 Apple Removes WikiLeaks App From App Store Looks like an unofficial iPhone and iPad app that let you view WikiLeaks site content and follow the WikiLeaks Twitter account on the go has been removed from the App app store earlier today. The app used to be available here (here’s the Google cache ). [...] (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:40:00 +0100 894305 http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/dec/21/1 What we enjoyed readingJoshua Rozenberg, columnistThe Life of Hersch Lauterpacht by Sir Elihu Lauterpacht (Cambridge University Press, £85)This 500-page biography, with copious source material, charts the Jewish immigrant who arrived in London in 1923 with little more than his towering intellect and who, just over 30 years later, was elected by the United Nations to be Britain's representative at the most important international tribunal in the world. Eli Lauterpacht, himself a distinguished international lawyer, reveals how his father was supported by the Foreign Office for appointment to the International Court of Justice, even though a junior minister, Selwyn Lloyd, thought that "owing to his origins", Lauterpacht "would not perhaps be what we should regard as entirely sound from our point of view on matters of human rights" – and even though the Attorney General, Sir Lionel Heald, thought it was desirable that "our representative at The Hague both be, and be seen to be, thoroughly British; whereas Lauterpacht cannot help the fact that he does not qualify in this way either by birth, by name or by education".Editor's note: Hersch Lauterpacht is Philippe Sands' legal hero.Gill Phillips, director of Guardian Editorial Legal ServicesReputation in a Networked World: Revisiting the Social Foundations of Defamation Law (pdf) by David S Ardia A thought-provoking article about what is reputation, whether a party has been defamed and if so to what degree, and who should be the judge of that - the complainer, or their relevant community. It also offers a fascinating analysis of the possible harms that defamatory speech can cause. ... Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:16:38 +0100 894247 http://www.lisnews.org/apple_drops_wikileaks_app_app_store Apple became the latest company to step back from WikiLeaks when they removed an unofficial WikiLeaks app from the App Store. According to TechCrunch, Apple approved the app earlier this month and added it to the store. The WikiLeaks app cost $1.99 and allowed you to simply view the content of WikiLeaks. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:26:14 +0100 894883 http://lisnews.org/apple_drops_wikileaks_app_app_store Apple became the latest company to step back from WikiLeaks when they removed an unofficial WikiLeaks app from the App Store. According to TechCrunch, Apple approved the app earlier this month and added it to the store. The WikiLeaks app cost $1.99 and allowed you to simply view the content of WikiLeaks. (Source: LISNews.org) Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:26:14 +0100 894222 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/21/julian-assange-memoirs WikiLeaks founder expected to publish book in March, through UK publishers CanongateJulian Assange is understood to have sold his memoirs, to publishers Canongate in the UK and Knopf in the US. The news leaked appropriately enough via a tweet from Spanish publisher Random House Mondadori, with head of the literary division Claudio Lopez telling the world that "Manuscrito listo en marzo" — the manuscript will be ready in March.Online money and finance website DailyFinance said Canongate publisher Jamie Byng had confirmed the news to the site by email, telling them that the UK publisher was handling all the translation rights. Literary agency Peters, Fraser and Dunlop declined to comment on reports that agent Caroline Michel had sealed the English language deals for the WikiLeaks founder's book.Assange is currently on bail in England, and defending himself against the Swedish authorities' demands that he return to the country to face questioning over allegations of sexual assault.Assange's memoir would come hard on the heels of a volume from his former second-in-command Daniel Domscheit-Berg, whose Inside Wikileaks: My Time at the World's Most Dangerous Website is set to tell the inside story of the whistle-blowing site in the new year. The book is due out from German publisher Econ Verlag on 27 January.Contacted by the Guardian this morning, Canongate refused to "confirm or deny" the story.PublishingJulian AssangeWikiLeaksBenedicte Pageguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (Source: Guardian Unlimited Books) Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:08:07 +0100 894244 http://www.slis.indiana.edu/careers/view_job_specific.php?job_id=8991 State: Illinois The Aleph Support Analyst is one of a team of 1st line support staff providing world class customer support for Ex Libris’ North American Aleph Integrated Library System (ILS) customers. Tracking of support incidents is managed through a web-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Communication with customers about their incidents is handled through the CRM, by telephone and via email. The Aleph Support Analyst's primary responsibilities include the analysis and remediation of Aleph applications problems. As an Aleph Support Analyst, your work will include: Problem diagnosis and remediation by providing first-line support for Aleph administrators at customer sites: analyzing and troubleshooting functionality, configuration, security, interface, and interoperability issues. This includes product customization to suit customer needs and goals. Documentation and knowledge sharing through activities such as: •Creating FAQ’s and knowledge base entries to facilitate customer troubleshooting of problems. •Reviewing documentation and creating documents tailored for North American customers. •Helping create and deliver web-based training and support sessions for Aleph customers. Telephone support, including taking regular shifts answering customer calls, primarily redirecting them to the web interface. Escalation Management, including: •Creating detailed replication scenario and problem analysis documents to escalate problems to 2nd Line Support and Development. •Testing proposed fixes to problems. Communication in all facets of the position, including: •Communicating customer issues and requests to the members of the Ex Libris development teams for resolution and possible inclusion in future product releases •Participating in new initiatives for communicating with and providing technical support to customers. Other tasks, as assigned, will also be part of your job. ... Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:30:02 +0100 894153 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/9TP7Qm8IC2g/latest-from-lab.html Over the last couple of weeks, lots of apps have debuted on Google Labs, a laboratory where our more adventurous users can try our experimental products and offer feedback directly to the engineers who developed them. Teams at Google are gearing up to deliver more and more cool innovations to users, and this month alone, we’ve launched six new products on Google Labs. Here are the highlights of our recent releases.App Inventor for AndroidApp Inventor for Android makes it easier for people to access the capabilities of their Android phones and create apps for their personal use. Until now, it was only available to a group of people who requested and received invitations. Last week, we announced that App Inventor (beta) is now available to anyone with a Google account. Visit the App Inventor homepage to get set up and start building your own Android app—and be sure to share your App Inventor story on the App Inventor user forum!Body BrowserBody Browser is a demo app that allows you to visualize complex 3D graphics of the human body. It works in the latest beta version of Google Chrome and uses WebGL, a new standard that enables 3D experiences in the web browser without any plug-ins. Using Body Browser, you can explore different layers of human anatomy by moving the slider to rotate and zoom in on parts you are interested in. Not sure where something is? Try the search box. You can also share the exact scene you’re viewing by copying and pasting the corresponding URL.DataWikiDataWiki is a wiki for structured data, extending the idea of a normal wiki to make it easy to create, edit, share and visualize structured data, and to interlink data formats to make them more understandable and useful. The project is inspired by the need to create customized data formats for crisis response, for example to quickly create a person-finder application after an earthquake, or share Internet and cellular phone connectivity maps from an affected area. ... Tue, 21 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 894544 http://mcls.org/blog/?p=828 In just a few short days, your library patrons will be opening gifts of new Kindles, Nooks, iPads, and other eReaders.  After reading their pre-loaded books, these patrons will descend on your libraries in droves, asking for help to download eBooks and audiobooks from your catalog.  Are you ready for the onslaught? On April 28, 2011, MCLS is hosting a special program in Lansing, Michigan, on digital books and eReaders.  Our keynote presenter will be Bobbi Newman (librarianbyday.net) speaking on “Choose Your Own Adventure: the Future of eBooks and Libraries.”  We will have a speaker addressing legal issues related to eReaders, and Kathy Petlewski will present on the practical side of helping patrons to download eBooks to a variety of eReaders.  During the breaks, Kathy will also host “Petlewski’s Petting Zoo” where attendees can try out different eReaders hands-on.  Online registration for this special program is available on the MCLS Workshop Registration web page: https://members.mcls.org/workshops/viewcourse.html?id=252 For help with eReaders prior to April 28, here are some helpful links: Julia Walkuski’s LibGuide (U of M Dearborn) http://libguides.umd.umich.edu/ereaders Paul Gallagher’s DALNET presentation http://www.dalnet.lib.mi.us/def.html Kathy Petlewski’s Thoughts from a Well-Rounded Librarian blog http://kpetlewski.wordpress.com/ eBook Reader Review http://ebook-reader-review.toptenreviews.com/ eReader Comparison http://chamberfour.com/ereader-comparison/ eBook Reader Comparison http://www.ereaderleader.com/ereader-comparison/ Note: the above links are posted on the MCLS Michigan & Indiana Libraries Wiki at: http://mcls.org/wiki/index.php/EBooks_and_eReaders Please feel free to add links to other eReader resources to this Wiki page! (Source: MLC Blog) Mon, 20 Dec 2010 20:18:40 +0100 894102 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/kkJF/~3/5viFUTcGxcQ/middelburg-dronk-update-ii.html Dat van die hals had ik al vastgesteld maar nu ik eenmaal ben begonnen met het vullen van de Wiki Middelburg Dronk kan ik daar aan toevoegen dat het steeds gekker wordt. Ik begin een beetje verslaafd te worden aan dit hobbyproject. Dat heeft alles te maken met het feit dat er weliswaar nog ontzettend veel informatie ontbreekt, maar dat ik met behulp van bronnen als de Beeldbank Zeeland, Krantenbank Zeeland, Zeeland in Beeld, Geschiedenis Zeeland en Google Books toch steeds meer gegevens boven water krijg. Inmiddels heb ik er ook voor gekozen om het onderwerp iets ruimer te nemen. Aanvankelijk wilde ik het beperken tot cafés van ca. 1960 tot nu, maar inmiddels heb ik besloten de beperking in tijd los te laten en voeg ik ook andere gelegenheden toe, zoals discotheken en herbergen. De voorwaarde is dan wel dat de consumptie van drank minstens even belangrijk is als de andere activiteiten. Of belangrijker uiteraard. Omdat ik me nu ook moet gaan verdiepen in de oude geschiedenis van Middelburgse cafés (die heetten vroeger koffiehuizen, en nog vroeger dus herbergen) moet ik me automatisch ook wat meer gaan verdiepen in de geschiedenis van de stad. Ik wist bijvoorbeeld niet dat Napoleon nog eens op bezoek kwam, in Herberg Het Groenewoud en las met open mond dat sommige zaken in de jaren '70 Fransen die werkzaam waren bij Pechiney weerden. Terwijl er puzzelstukjes op hun plaats beginnen te vallen wordt de puzzel groter en groter. Dat geeft allemaal niets. Ik word er niet minder enthousiast door, integendeel. Het project leert me nu wel goed hoe beperkt Google eigenlijk is, als het gaat om informatie van tien jaar geleden of daarvoor. Oude foto's krijg je in veel gevallen niet boven water, oude nieuwsberichten ook niet. Als het gaat om krantenbanken is het juist de periode na de Tweede Wereldoorlog die nu nog niet beschikbaar is. Ik kan nauwelijks wachten tot die periode beschikbaar komt... ... Mon, 20 Dec 2010 16:47:00 +0100 894077 http://infobib.de/blog/2010/12/20/wer-traut-der-cloud/ Gartner hat Cloud Computing zu einer der Strategic Technologies for 2011 erklärt. In Wikipedia ist Cloud Computing folgendermaßen zusammengefasst: Ein Teil der IT-Landschaft (in diesem Zusammenhang etwa Hardware wie Rechenzentrum, Datenspeicher sowie Software wie Mail- oder Kollaborationssoftware, Entwicklungsumgebungen, aber auch Spezialsoftware wie Customer-Relationship-Management (CRM) oder Business-Intelligence (BI)) wird durch den Anwender nicht mehr selbst betrieben oder bereitgestellt, sondern von einem oder mehreren Anbietern als Dienst gemietet. Die Anwendungen und Daten befinden sich dann nicht mehr auf dem lokalen Rechner oder im Firmenrechenzentrum, sondern in der (metaphorischen) Wolke (engl. „cloud“). Das Bild der Wolke wird in Netzwerkdiagrammen häufig zur Darstellung eines nicht näher spezifizierten Teils des Internet verwendet. Es geht als darum, Ressourcen zu sparen. Klingt attraktiv, doch kann man der Cloud wirklich trauen? Zwei Fälle in der jüngsten Vergangenheit sollten mindestens misstrauisch machen. Yahoo vs. Delicious.com Yahoo will Delicious verkaufen. Zumindest nicht mehr schließen, wie es kurze Zeit hieß. Auch wenn sich die erste Aufregung schon wieder ein wenig gelegt hat, steht fest, dass Delicious und ähnliche, in der Cloud gelagerten Dienste nicht Teil einer kritischen Infrastruktur sein dürfen. Wenn die Linksammlung einer Bibliothek kurze Zeit ausfällt, bis sie zu einem anderen Dienst übertragen ist, wäre das nur ärgerlich. Es sind jedoch auch Szenarien denkbar, in denen ein Dienst wie Delicious eine für den Fortgang einer Bibliothek oder eines Forschungsprojekts wesentlichere Funktion einnimmt. Wikileaks vs. Amazon Man mag von den Cablegate-Veröffentlichungen halten, was man will. Fakt ist, dass bislang niemand für die Veröffentlichung der Depeschen verklagt oder gar verurteilt wurde. Dennoch hat sich Amazon, wo Wikileaks bislang in der EC2-Cloud gehostet wurde, dazu entschieden, Wikileaks auszusperren. ... Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:10:30 +0100 894700 http://freegovinfo.info/node/3141 It's been a busy couple of weeks here. I've got a bunch of tabs open that I've been meaning to read/watch. And the end of the year is about lists anyway, so here's a list of randomly interesting things to read and watch. And by all means, read and comment on the recently released draft documents at FDLPmodeling!! Wikileaks related links: Wikiriver WikiLeaks-related news feeds put together by Dave Winer at ScriptingNews Cablegate the game. Makes a game of sorting through the huge mass of #cablegate leaks. "The Revolution Will Be Categorized!" (thanks /.) Cable Search: CABLESEARCH is an attempt for an user friendly search engine of already published documents from Wikileaks. Wiki Rebels the documentary (YouTube) "Espionage Act makes felons of us all" by Darlene Storm. Dear Americans: If you are not "authorized" personnel, but you have read, written about, commented upon, tweeted, spread links by "liking" on Facebook, shared by email, or otherwise discussed "classified" information disclosed from WikiLeaks, you could be implicated for crimes under the U.S. Espionage Act -- or so warns a legal expert who said the U.S. Espionage Act could make "felons of us all." Why the Library of Congress Is Blocking Wikileaks. I think I already linked to this in earlier wikileaks comments, but be sure to read the (currently) 164 comments Other links of interest: Old Weather: This is a cool project to crowd source old weather observations made by UK Royal Navy ships around the time of World War I in order to assist with climate model projections and improve a database of weather extremes. The human eye is still far better than any OCR software so please help! Part of the zooniverse of crowd-sourcing projects to help scientific projects. Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) FDLPmodeling has a couple of draft documents ready to pick through and comment on. Please do so early and often. ... Mon, 20 Dec 2010 05:03:17 +0100 893923 http://librarytwopointzero.blogspot.com/2010/12/real-wikiman-is-writing-book.html The real wikiman has revealed he is writing a book. In the post he says the following:-this isn’t a book about marketing the profession (or the industry) – it’s about marketing your specific library. So, I would absolutely love to hear what you think you’d like to see in such a book. Each chapter will be on a different theme, and they’ll all feature a case-study. I’m yet to finalise the proposal with Facet, so if you can give me your ideas quick I’ll try and make sure they’re addressed!.Sounds interesting. He also asks anyone to send him any idea's, saying:-I would absolutely love it if you can leave me some comments, or email me your thoughts if you’d rather it be private, and tweet a link to this post to encourage others to do the same (or share it on Facebook).So I'll put my totally unoriginal idea's here. These idea's I expect Ned already knows. First up, read Brian Mathews Marketing Today's Academic Library: A Bold New Approach to Communicating with Students I suppose is the first step. Secondly, ask Joanne Alcock about her dissertation which was about 'marketing in HE libraries in the UK'.Thirdly, check Nancy Dowd's blog and Book called The Accidental Library Marketer.Fourthly, Marilyn Johnson This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All. I remember reading a chapter in the book that described a librarian at New York library and would introduce himself to authors, offering to assist them if needed. These would then assist him when setting up any financial events they may need for the library.Anyway. I expect he knew this already. (Source: librarytwopointzero) Mon, 20 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 894436 http://catalogablog.blogspot.com/2010/12/epub-metadata.html Image via WikipediaIt seems those ePub books I've been downloading form Project Gutenberg have metadata. It is based on Dublin Core but does provide more specific terms for the creator. Talat Chaudhri at UKOLN writes about why ePub is of interest from the point of view of metadata and application profiles, in What is ePub?Is anyone harvesting ePub metadata? It seems it would be trivial to provide OAI-PMH interface to ePubs. (Source: Catalogablog) Mon, 20 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 894146 http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/2010/12/british-government-wants-to-block-porn.html I will do my best to ensure that my sarcasm doesn't entirely take over this post, but I can't promise it. The insanity, fear and hatred of the internet as shown by this shower of imbeciles continues unabated. Claire Perry, a Tory (it would have to be really wouldn't it) wants to block all UK access to pornography. Now, I'm not going to get into a debate about the merits or otherwise of pornography itself - it's a worthy debate to have, but I'm coming at this from a different tack. Perry is reported to have said to the Sunday Times “We are not coming at this from an anti-porn perspective. We just want to make sure our children aren’t stumbling across things we don’t want them to see.” So once again, we're back to the 'we must protect children' approach. Shouldn't the government rather be encouraging parents to take responsibility for their own offspring? She has also proposed that all internet service providers (ISPs) should block porn universally - and adults should ask for blocks to be lifted if they want to look at it. Now, the first issue here is 'what exactly is pornography?' We don't have a definition in the UK other than 'material likely to deprave or corrupt' which puts the onus on the ISP to decide for themselves, moving the job off the Government and putting the responsibility into the hands of ISPs who no doubt will be dragged before a court if they get it wrong. If the Government can define pornography on the net, they'll end up defining it for print material as well, unless they take the view that it's what children can see. To be honest, I'd rather block access to violent and racist material first, or actually, I'd rather not block access to anything based on what may or may not affect a child. ... Mon, 20 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 894048 http://outofthejungle.blogspot.com/2010/12/defending-against-hacker-attacks.html Another interesting article in the Boston Globe, by the wonderful Hiawatha Bray, about companies whose business is defending against distributed denial of service attacks, as well as other internet attacks. Denial of Service attacks (DDS attacks) essentially seek to overwhelm the victim's resources by sending so many requests simultaneously that the victim's computers cannot respond to legitimate requests, and crash, or simply slow too much to be useful. The attacker assembles a zombie like army called a botnet by sending a code to random computers via e-mail attachments or a computer worm. The botnet computers then work together to send out the DDS attack in a coordinated way. The owners of the botnet computers may never know their computers were involved. OOTJ readers probably remember when Google publicized its attack by hackers from the People's Republic of China. Twitter and Facebook have also been attacked, and as former supporters of Wikileaks have withdrawn financial support, they are facing similar attacks from outraged Wikileak friends. The article in the Globe seriously (and perhaps intentionally) oversimplifies the matter of defending against DDOS attacks. The primary defense appears to be providing a large enough number of alternative servers to soak up the attacks. Quoting from the article: Akamai relied on the simplest defense: a network of servers and data lines with such huge capacity that it can’t be overwhelmed by such an attack.“If your pipe is bigger than their pipe, you win,’’ said Bruce Schneier, chief security technology officer at the British telecom giant BT Group.The biggest DDOS attack ever to hit an Akamai customer occurred on July 4, 2009, when several US government sites were attacked by a botnet based in South Korea. But that attack generated a stream of data equal to just 4 percent of Akamai’s average daily traffic load, and was easily absorbed. ... Mon, 20 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 894005 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Davidrothmannet/~3/6YXVIrAb6lc/ It is entirely possible that I’m just dense, but everything I’ve read recently about libraries and “transliteracy” seems like nonsense to me. Here’s how I’ve been thinking about it. Literacy Very briefly, the term literacy1 refers to either: 1. The ability to read and write or 2. Knowledge of, skill in, or competence in an specific area or subject. The former is a very real concern if the university professors and academic librarians I know are to be believed.2 Still, I think we’re mostly concerned with the latter. Sorts of Literacies: My wife and I frequently talk about our aspirations for the cultural literacy of our children. We think that they need to hear stories from Mother Goose, the Brothers Grimm, Aesop’s Fables, and (to the surprise of some who know us) both the Hebrew and Christian bibles. We’re atheists, but we know that stories from the bible(s) are frequently referenced in literature and in life- and that knowledge of these stories will enhance their understanding of the world around them. Plenty of people tell me that they need help with something because they are not computer literate. I don’t know that I much like this term (I think that lack of confidence is a more frequent problem than actual incapability), but the popularity of its use can’t be denied. People know that to be “computer illiterate” is to be unskilled in the use of computers. ... Mon, 20 Dec 2010 02:47:30 +0100 893912 http://textundblog.de/?p=3903 Kennt Ihr die Generation 45 plus? Nee? Ich auch nicht. Aber Reader’s Digest weiß, was das für Leute sind: Im Vergleich zu früheren Generationen ist sich 45 plus sicher, heutzutage mehr aus dem Leben machen zu können. „Menschen jenseits der 45 Jahre haben durch ihre weitgehend abgesicherte wirtschaftliche Position eine neue Selbstwahrnehmung für die eigenen Möglichkeiten entwickelt“, sagt Max Bieniussa Leusser von Reader’s Digest Deutschland. „Das positive Lebensgefühl hängt mit der Tatsache zusammen, sich mehr leisten zu können und das auch zu tun.“ Ich fall’ da irgendwie noch aus der Zielgruppe. Bildquelle: Wikipedia © Markus Trapp auf Text & Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: (Source: Text & Blog) Sun, 19 Dec 2010 23:45:17 +0100 894693 http://ec3noticias.blogspot.com/2010/12/incrustados-e-integrados-en-la.html Ayer publicamos, a través de Iwetel como siempre, una de las primeras notas Thinkepi que nos tocaba titulada "Incrustados e Integrados en la Investigación: la Perspectiva de los “Embedded Librarians". La reproducimos a continuación:1. IntroducciónLas bibliotecas universitarias entendidas en el sentido tradicional de un espacio físico bien delimitado e identificado que acoge y centraliza los diversos servicios que se ofrecen a la comunidad investigadora han sido víctimas de una enorme pérdida de protagonismo en la última década. Si hablamos de investigación y dejamos al margen el gran segmento de los alumnos podemos decir que el investigador se ha independizado del bibliotecario, al menos físicamente. Las causas de todo esto son evidentes y conocidas: el consumo en exclusividad de información electrónica por parte de los investigadores, la facilida d para acceder a ella y el contar con usuarios cada vez más avezados los ha alejado de nuestro lecho. Una de las primeras consecuencias que ha traído consigo este nuevo escenario es la pérdida de contacto directo con los investigadores lo que ha provocado un aislamiento cada vez más mayor que, finalmente, ha acabado desembocando en un menor conocimiento de sus necesidades. Comenzados por tanto esta nueva década en un momento interesante en el que tal vez tengamos que repensar cuáles son nuestras funciones y como debemos orientar los servicios de las bibliotecas destinadas a la investigación.Recientemente y en el contexto que hemos descrito en diversas bibliotecas universitarias he ido impartiendo una serie de charlas sobre las posibles nuevas tareas y roles que podían ir asumiendo los bibliotecarios para la puesta en marcha de nuevos servicios de asesoramiento y apoyo en la investigación. ... Sun, 19 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 894832 http://outofthejungle.blogspot.com/2010/12/dont-ask-dont-tell-passes-both-houses.html The Boston Globe reported today on the Senate vote that finally passed the end of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy that affected so many gay and lesbian members of the military in recent decades. (111 HR 2965 and 111 S4023 which will become P.L. 111- ?; See Wikipedia article for a role-call vote) It was a lousy compromise policy when it was promulgated during the Clinton presidency, and has remained a terrible policy since. It has resulted in the dismissal from the military of too many willing members in high-need positions simply because their sexual orientation came to be known. The new policy just voted in is much better. It no longer matters. And I am glad that it's a legislative policy, rather than a judicial decision, though I was worried that it would not actually come to pass. Well done, and thank you to the handful of Republicans who listened to their constituents, and represented their interests. Jubilant supporters likened the vote to President Harry Truman’s 1948 order to desegregate the military: “We’ll some day look back and wonder what took Washington so long to fix it,’’ said US Senator John F. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat.Maine Senator Susan Collins, a Republican who was among a small group of senators who led the repeal fight in the Senate, thanked gay troops now serving in Afghanistan and Iraq: “We honor your service, and now we can do so openly.’’(snip) “It is time to close this chapter in our history,’’ Obama said in a prepared statement after the vote. “It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor, and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion, or creed.’’(snip) The Senate vote completed a remarkable political turnaround for the “don’t ask’’ repeal authorization, which looked dead just 10 days ago after the Senate failed by three votes to approve a massive defense spending bill that included language to end the policy. ... Sun, 19 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 894007 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/smwm/~3/F6QJhH-5dh4/medlibmob-medical-apps-mobile-medical.html Join MedLibMob Community Facebook Fan Page: *  http://www.facebook.com/pages/MedLibMob/173310729366445  or the The MedLibMob Group: *  http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_174021102617943  As we are busy in our library (Central Medical Library, University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands) with an iPad on Loan Project, ánd working on a new mobile library site, I suddenly thought how easy it would be to have community of medical librarians & libraries to: exchange information and experiences with (creating) mobile medical library sites and/or apps. create listings of existing and future content providers supporting mobile devices share knowledge about and review the fast growing range of Medical Apps for mobile devices on any relevant platforms (iPhone, iPads, Android, etc...) This new Facebook group has CHAT features (till we reach >250 members), post, links, photo's, videos, events. To connect several platforms there is also: * Twitter account http://www.twitter.com/medlibmob * Netvibes Public Page to aggregate existing web content into one place:    http://www.netvibes.com/medlibmob       and a collection of * Delicious Bookmark: http://delicious.com/medlibmob I started a new Google CSE "Medical APPs Search" MAPPS to test if this could be helpful in finding medical apps more easier.  Medical Apps Search (MAPPS) http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=004308201683882109473%3As7kc4_l-vry Drop me a link, post or message if you have any suggestions! If you are a medical librarians (or related, or just want to know about them), come & join me! Join The MedLibMob Group: *  http://www.facebook.com/home. ... Sun, 19 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 893828 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ouseful/~3/m2KrZS8kXyc/ Over the last three or four weeks, I’ve been finding myself on all manner of foreign language (i.e. non-English) web pages, and increasingly accepting Google Chrome’s offer to translate the page to English when it recognises the page isn’t in English… It’s still a bit ropey (as a close inspection of the above might suggest (‘select your drive‘???!) but as the algorithm used is powered by a Google training algorithm, the quality is likely to improve as the Goog indexes more and better translations of documents: Anyway – a couple of things came to mind: - translations aren’t into native speaker English, or German, or French, they’re into Google Statistical English, Google Statistical French etc etc - I hope that the Goog doesn’t treat it’s own translations as training documents (though it could end up with some intriguing mistranslations…) - Mandelbrot comes to mind, and the question whether anyone has done a limit cycle translator that takes a foreign language document, translates it into English, back to French, back to English and so on unti the English translation is stable? If the translation at each (English) step was fed into a wiki, could the wiki history be used to compare versions of the document and ‘colour’ different parts of it depending on how quickly those areas of the document converge to a stable translation? Does convergence happen at a different rate if you translate through different routes that appear to be more stable (for example, Austrian-German-English rather than Austrian English?!) - Google has started doing “reading levels” as an advanced search switch, so will we start seeing “translate this “advanced” English page into “basic” English? Or maybe Google will offer the ability to translate all pages, including those ... Sat, 18 Dec 2010 19:10:11 +0100 893804 http://infobib.de/blog/2010/12/18/yahoo-zum-delicious-verkauf/ Yahoo hat sich jetzt selbst zur drohenden Schließung von Delicious geäußert. Im Blog heißt es: No, we are not shutting down Delicious. While we have determined that there is not a strategic fit at Yahoo!, we believe there is a ideal home for Delicious outside of the company where it can be resourced to the level where it can be competitive. Das klingt schon wesentlich optimistischer. Kandidaten werden zur Zeit noch und nöcher diskutiert. Sogar die LoC war im Gespräch: The Library of Congress should have bought it, similar to the way it has now archived every Tweet ever tweeted. So much value. So unappreciated. So tragically lost. Where will we all gather next, where our bookmarks can be centralized for maximum network effect? Perhaps this story demonstrates that’s not the right question to ask. Wobei es dann vermutlich schwierig wird, seine Wikileaks-Linksammlung über Delicious zu organisieren. (Source: Infobib) Sat, 18 Dec 2010 13:54:14 +0100 894701 http://librarytwopointzero.blogspot.com/2010/12/5-uk-library-stories-of-2010.html Last year I did a blog post entitled 5 UK Library stories of 2009. So, being someone with an originality, I thought I would repeat the top five stories for this year. I do say, some may disagree with my choices, but its just my view point.1. Last year at number 1 I had the CILIP 2.0 discussion, that Phil Bradley had started. Phil had discussed the need for change within CILIP. So much so that Phil is now Vice President of CILIP. It was interesting in it seemed to be very much a twitter campaign for canvassing. It was also good news for library professionals in the UK, in a year with very little cheer.2. The creation of Voices for the library. Created as an advocacy site to stop the library public closures and underline what libraries offer, the site has even been mentioned within the Guardian after being online for just four months. The people working on it are doing an excellent job.3. The real wikiman's post and presentation with Woodsiegirl entitled Escaping the Echo Chamber – presentation. Again, looking at how we can go beyond just talking to our own community of librarians to underline a librarians value to customers, society and the economy.4. Thank you for not tweeting, was a post about tweeting at a CILIP event and how other users didn't like it and told people off (myself included). 5. And last but not least my own post entitled Good Library blog.....missing the point.....as usual in which I looked in which Tim Coates wrote an inflammatory post about library closures and his attempt at 'assisting' libraries from closing. 25 comment later, seems neither party could agree who was correct.Well, thats it. (Source: librarytwopointzero) Sat, 18 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 894438 http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/6518 What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below. * Joseph Reagle analyzes Wikipedia's first six weeks * Harry Lewis explains that the Fourth Amendment now applies to email * David Weinberger critiques Time's Person of the Year * John Palfrey downloads his first book-as-iPad app * Creative Commons celebrates its birthday with videos (CC-licensed, of course) * Weekly Global Voices: "@MedvedevRussia, Are You Listening? A Story of 6 Months on Twitter" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The full buzz. "The reconstruction is not perfect, there are patches that won't apply, manually moved articles, and text encodings that I don't manage to guess at. But it does permit some preliminary browsing, which leaves the following initial impressions: There is a lot of silly stuff in there.Tim Shell contributed a fair amount of content.Popular topics seemingly include philosophy, geography, the Dewey Decimal System, Ernest Hemingway, the United States (and its Constitution), Isaac Asimov, the Japan Constitution, Metallica, statistics, and -- my goodness, true to the Objectvist conspiracy theories -- a huge collection of articles on Atlas Shrugged." From Joseph Reagle's blog post "Wikipedia 10K redux" "I'm glad that Time took MZ [Mark Zuckerberg] over Julian Assange. Facebook is truly influential and important. WikiLeak’s importance is primarily symbolic, and it has been given that symbolic importance mainly by forces that want to use it as justification for killing what they don’t like about the Internet — its openness, its bottom-uppity character, its distrust of extrinsic controls...in other words, all that makes it the Internet." From David Weinberger's blog post "Face of the Year" "I chose to read NONOBJECT for its form, not so much its substance. ... Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:34:11 +0100 893531 http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/6513 The Berkman Center's Law Lab is pleased to announce the launch of the initial prototype for its Digital Law Library wiki . Initiated in 2010, and led by Law Lab Director Oliver Goodenough in close collaboration with Tracy Bach, a professor at Vermont Law School and Yaya Bodian, Maître Assistant at CREDILA, Université Cheikh Anta Dioin, in Dakar, Senegal, this effort is focused on cataloging and analyzing Senegalese and other West African law and putting it online in a searchable and easily accessible format. In partnership with local lawyers, professors, researchers, and students, the initial stage of this project seeks to improve online access to the laws and other materials for a variety of actors, including government representatives, NGOs, scholars, and citizens. The Law Lab has supported CREDILA in establishing this access-controlled curated wiki for Senegalese law, with a particular emphasis on commercial and business related laws. The site covers lawmaking in all three branches of Senegal, in addition the law of international bodies, like treaties, as well as that of regional organizations like ECOWAS and the AU. It also consists of both links to relevant websites containing Senegalese law, like those of government ministries, as well as original material not available online elsewhere (like the scholarly review published by CREDILA annually). Additional information regarding the project, which has been funded with generous support by the Kauffman Foundation and the wiki can be found at the Law Lab site. An introductory tutorial is forthcoming. As always, feedback is encouraged and most welcome. (Source: Berkman Blog) Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:58:55 +0100 893532 http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/dec/17/internet-problem-choice-self-publishing Self publishing a book provides a wealth of opportunity, but decisions are harder when there are no constraintsThe internet has created many problems in its young life – making various industries obsolete, enabling new forms of surveillance and control, exposing good, well-meaning people to crazy, vituperative trolls. But my internet problem is the surfeit of opportunity.If there's one thing the network does brilliantly, it's reducing coordination costs. The two best examples, of course, are the GNU/Linux operating system and Wikipedia. Whether you use these or not, whether you believe them to be of high or low quality, it's impossible to imagine how decentralised collectives could produce either an operating system or an encyclopedia without the internet.(I like to daydream fleets of Analogue Wikipedia lorries racing around the world with filing cabinets representing the day's edits, then racing back to the enormous Wikipedia Central Printing Office to retrieve a new load to deliver.)When I began writing, I imagined that the central problem of my working life would be figuring out which books to write, and how to produce the best books I could. These problems decompose into a lot of smaller problems: which books and music and movies should I consume to inspire my work? Which experts and artists should I seek out and converse with in order to improve my work?Once upon a time, the questions of which books, music, experts and experiences you should try were largely answered by circumstance. Which books to read? Which ones can you afford, which ones are on the library's shelf, which ones are in the shop, which ones can you discover? The pool of experts was limited to people who lived nearby or those to whom your immediate circle could introduce you. Half the problem was solved by default – the cost of seeking out a very rare book almost always exceeded the value you'd get from reading it. ... Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:31:00 +0100 893353 http://www.umm.uni-heidelberg.de/apps/bibl/mwbnews/?p=1537 Ein kanadischer Kollege hat sich die Mühe gemacht, die derzeit interessantesten Wikis im medizinischen Bereich aufzulisten: Top Medical Wikis. Die Kurzbeschreibung der einzelnen Wikis enhält die Zielgruppe, die Autoren und die erstellende Organisation, die Anzahl der enthaltenen Seiten, die Sprache, die abgedeckten medizinischen Fachgebiete, die zugrundeliegende Lizenz sowie die verwendete Wiki-Software. Ein Beispiel daraus: Website: http://askdrwiki.com/ About: nonprofit educational [...] (Source: Newsblog) Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:22:56 +0100 893671 http://infobib.de/blog/2010/12/17/ein-paar-links-zu-wikileaks/ Ein paar Links rund um Wikileaks: Was WikiLeaks mit Internetsperren zu tun hat Hätten die USA ein Zugangserschwerungsgesetz, wie es Ursula von der Leyen einst vorgeschlagen hat, hätten sie die nötige Infrastruktur – wie würden sie heute verfahren? Würde dieses Werkzeug weiterhin nur gegen Kinderpornografie eingesetzt? Oder wäre ein Land, in dem man Soldaten das Zeitunglesen verbietet, nicht womöglich doch bereit, eine solche Infrastruktur auch zum Schutz der eigenen Bevölkerung vor allzu viel Information zu nutzen? Wären Wikileaks.ch, Wikileaks.de und all die anderen Alternativadressen (mittlerweile sind es weit über 2000), unter denen man die Botschaftsdepeschen und andere Dokumente heute selbst nachlesen kann, von den USA aus noch zu erreichen? Oder würde im Interesse der nationalen Sicherheit nicht vielleicht doch gefiltert? Heinrich C. Kuhn zieht die Konsequenz aus einer befremdlichen Diskussion über Wikileaks in Inetbib und meldet sich nach ca. 15 Jahren ab: Wenn in einer Liste zum Bibliothekswesen nicht mehr einhellig die Freiheit der Information aus öffentlich zugänglichen Quellen verteidigt wird, wenn in diesem Kontext Schreiben über Netiquette wichtiger ist als Erwägen inhaltlicher Argumente und Erwägen was gültige Argumente sind, und was nicht, und warum: wenn dem so ist, dann bin ich zu sehr zum Dinosaurier geworden als dass meines Bleibens noch wäre. Der Punkt ist erreicht. Grund dürften unter anderem die absurden Behauptungen sein, die in dieser Diskussion aufgestellt wurden. Völlig unbeleckt jeder Tatsachen vermuten “Informationsprofis” alles mögliche über Wikileaks. Dabei ist eine Faktenprüfung kaum je einfacher gewesen als im Falle Wikileaks. Man nehme: die FAQ zu den Cablegate-Dokumenten. Zweit- und Drittmeinungen und Expertisen jeglicher Couleur sind darüber hinaus einfach zu recherchieren. ... Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:42:17 +0100 893461 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lint/~3/7C3Ugc6Nyvg/ Fresh from the press, a leaked presentation to Yahoo’s internal staff, has shown that amongst other things, they will be shutting down delicious, the pioneering social bookmarking website. Yahoo product consolidation Yahoo has laid off quite a few staff of late and as a result is consolidating its products: shutting down some, merging others and putting their emphasis on yet others. You can read all the details and see the evidence for yourself at Tech Crunch. A petition is underway via Twitter, to try and save delicious and in a very short time has picked up a lot of momentum. However, its hard to say whether it will have any impact. So if it doesn’t and there is no way to save delicious, what do we do with all our bookmarks that we have fastidiously saved and organised there?  You have to love Wikipedia. They have a great list of social bookmarking sites for you to explore. At least you now know what you are going to do on your holidays.      Any recommendations? (Source: librariesinteract.info) Thu, 16 Dec 2010 22:07:14 +0100 893409 http://www.lisnews.org/library_christmas_carol From The Wikiman Blog, a "Library Christmas Carol", a seasonal look at changes in libraryland. The story has the classic characters of Scrooge and Marley, but is updated to include online subscriptions, social media, the Ghosts of Libraries Past and other Library 2.0 stuff. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Thu, 16 Dec 2010 18:36:43 +0100 893510 http://lisnews.org/library_christmas_carol From The Wikiman Blog, a "Library Christmas Carol", a seasonal look at changes in libraryland. The story has the classic characters of Scrooge and Marley, but is updated to include online subscriptions, social media, the Ghosts of Libraries Past and other Library 2.0 stuff. (Source: LISNews.org) Thu, 16 Dec 2010 18:36:43 +0100 893191 http://textundblog.de/?p=3895 Allgemeine Erklärung der Menschenrechte der Vereinten Nationen: Artikel 19: „Jeder hat das Recht auf Meinungsfreiheit und freie Meinungsäußerung; dieses Recht schließt die Freiheit ein, Meinungen ungehindert anzuhängen sowie über Medien jeder Art und ohne Rücksicht auf Grenzen Informationen und Gedankengut zu suchen, zu empfangen und zu verbreiten.“ Der Freitag, die tageszeitung, die Frankfurter Rundschau, Perlentaucher.de, European Center For Constitutional Rights (ECCHR), Der Tagesspiegel und die Berliner Zeitung haben heute zeitgleich diesen Appell gegen die Angriffe auf Wikileaks veröffentlicht: Appell gegen die Kriminalisierung von Wikileaks. Ich begrüße das ausdrücklich und habe den Appell bei Der Freitag unterzeichnet. Zum Thema WikiLeaks verweise ich nochmals auf die sehenswerte Dokumentation WikiRebels – The Documentary. © Markus Trapp auf Text & Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: (Source: Text & Blog) Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:18:36 +0100 893446 http://micheladrien.blogspot.com/2010/12/death-of-delicious-social-bookmarking.html Delicious, the popular social bookmarking service owned by Yahoo! that allows users to store, annotate and share bookmarks, may be shutting down, according to various web sources.ResourceShelf is not so sure.Many libraries have been turning to web 2.0 tools such as Delicious:MIT Updates Virtual Reference Pages Using Social Bookmarking (July 9, 2007): "The library at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is using the social bookmarking site del.icio.us to keep its virtual reference web pages up to date (...) What is interesting is that MIT uses an RSS feed to send the links from the del.icio.us account to its virtual reference collection, making maintenance a much easier task."Use of Social Tagging in Libraries Spreading (September 17, 2007): "The article Tags Help Make Libraries Del.icio.us in the online version of Library Journal describes how more and more libraries are turning to social bookmarking tools such as del.icio.us to organize information about recommended resources and replace the traditional subject guide."More News From Federal Library Web 2.0 Interest Group (September 16, 2008): "In the summer, federal government librarians in Canada created a Web 2.0 Interest Group (WIG) to explore ways of incorporating collaborative technologies into their work (...) It was a great opportunity to see what work has been done on the Web 2.0 front. Here are a few of the projects mentioned at the roundtable that opened the meeting: ... The Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information has launched a CISTI Facebook group, a wiki for posting known problems about its online services, and has created dozens of subject guides using delicious.com social bookmarks ... The Communications Security Establishment, Canada's electronic intelligence agency, uses wikis, mashups and social bookmarking ... Natural Resources Canada uses screencasting, wikis, blogs, and delicious. ... Thu, 16 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 893286 http://www.lisnews.org/ten_stories_shaped_2010 It's time again to take a look at the memorable headlines of the year. 10. YouTube Sensations Although viral videos are nothing new, libraries found themselves involved in a few catchy clips this year, and even got Old Spice guy involved in their cause. 9. Libraries and DVDs and Netflix, Oh My Libraries check out a lot of movies, in case you haven't heard. A library touting their use of Netflix, however, ran afoul of many due to the admitted violation of Netflix's terms of use. 8. Piracy Crackdown Many Chicken Little essays cropped up over the seizure of domains by Homeland Security, questioning the due process involved and decrying the potential for censorship that the new law affords. 7. Under New Management The corporate takeover of public libraries and the commercialization of academic libraries should have us all thinking about our workplace of the future. 6. Gizmo of the Year: iPad Since its spring release, Apple's life-changing tablet has been put to use by many libraries. How is your library using iPads? 5. I For One Welcome Our New Media Overlords My how times have changed. Gone are the days of video stores and print magazines, right? 4. Web 2.0 Fatigue Oops, I forgot, it's called "emerging technologies" now. With all the information overload surrounding social media and who knows what else that's on the horizon, many of us may feel sympathetic with this take on the next big thing. 3. Sign of the Times: Libraries = Offices for Unemployed Hardly a news flash, but as library budgets continue to spiral while others question the need for libraries at all, library use during the recession has filled a need for those seeking employment. 2. Google eBookstore Opens The advertising company that organizes so much of the world's information is, gasp, actually going to try and make money by selling it. The Google eBookstore launched this month. ... Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:26:03 +0100 893515 http://lisnews.org/ten_stories_shaped_2010 It's time again to take a look at the memorable headlines of the year. 10. YouTube Sensations Although viral videos are nothing new, libraries found themselves involved in a few catchy clips this year, and even got Old Spice guy involved in their cause. 9. Libraries and DVDs and Netflix, Oh My Libraries check out a lot of movies, in case you haven't heard. A library touting their use of Netflix, however, ran afoul of many due to the admitted violation of Netflix's terms of use. 8. Piracy Crackdown Many Chicken Little essays cropped up over the seizure of domains by Homeland Security, questioning the due process involved and decrying the potential for censorship that the new law affords. 7. Under New Management The corporate takeover of public libraries and the commercialization of academic libraries should have us all thinking about our workplace of the future. 6. Gizmo of the Year: iPad Since its spring release, Apple's life-changing tablet has been put to use by many libraries. How is your library using iPads? 5. I For One Welcome Our New Media Overlords My how times have changed. Gone are the days of video stores and print magazines, right? 4. Web 2.0 Fatigue Oops, I forgot, it's called "emerging technologies" now. With all the information overload surrounding social media and who knows what else that's on the horizon, many of us may feel sympathetic with this take on the next big thing. 3. Sign of the Times: Libraries = Offices for Unemployed Hardly a news flash, but as library budgets continue to spiral while others question the need for libraries at all, library use during the recession has filled a need for those seeking employment. 2. Google eBookstore Opens The advertising company that organizes so much of the world's information is, gasp, actually going to try and make money by selling it. The Google eBookstore launched this month. ... Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:26:03 +0100 892952 http://litablog.org/2010/12/call-for-bloggers-midwinter-2011-schedule/ Do you plan to attend ALA Midwinter in San Diego? Take this opportunity to become a LITA Blogger. The LITA Blog (http://litablog.org) will again be on hand to report what is happening and share the terrific Midwinter experience with those who cannot attend this year. If you like to write and are looking for new ways to get involved (or have blogged in the past and would like to blog again), please email me at thebrewinlibrarian@gmail.com and let me know what sessions you would like to cover. The blog schedule for Midwinter is below and will be updated as we receive volunteers. Names of bloggers appear in bold next to session. If there is no name after a session title, please feel free to sign up for it! We will be taking volunteers up to and during the conference. Thank you very much in advance! Matt Hamilton, LITA Web Coordinating Committee FRIDAY, JANUARY 7 Creating Library Web Services: Mashups and APIs 9:00 am- 4:30 pm SDCC-Room 24 A del.icio.us subject guides, Flickr library displays, YouTube library orientation; with mashups and APIs, it’s easier to bring pieces of the web together with library data. Learn what an API is and what it does, the components of web services, how to build a mashup, how to work with PHP, and how to create web services for your library. Participants should be comfortable with HTML markup and have an interest in learning about web scripting and programming and are encouraged to bring a laptop for hands-on participation. Open Source CMS Playroom 9:00 am- 4:30 pm SDCC-Room 24 B Open source content management systems present an opportunity for libraries to distribute content creation and maintenance and add Web 2.0 features to library websites. This workshop will provide an overview of several content management systems, compare and contrast system functionality and features, and demonstrate how open source CMSs can be used to enhance library websites. ... Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:15:50 +0100 893198 http://web.resourceshelf.com/go/resourceblog/62643 In addition to the release of the actual cables by Wikileaks the response to there release by the U.S. Government and in this case the U.S Air Force, is an equally important story. According to the Wall Street Journal more than 25 media sites that have published State Department cables made public by [...] (Source: ResourceShelf) Wed, 15 Dec 2010 20:38:18 +0100 893019 http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/6510 BERKMAN CENTER FOR INTERNET & SOCIETY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY Upcoming events and digital media // December 15, 2010 [TUESDAY 12/21] Berkman Center Luncheon Series: "Application Developers and the Future of Music" with Jim Lucchese, CEO of The Echo Nest (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2010/lucchese) Special announcement: The Berkman Center is currently accepting applications for 2011-2012 fellowships through our annual open call. The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. ET on December 15, 2010. http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/getinvolved/fellowships/opencall20112012 [TUESDAY] BERKMAN LUNCHEON SERIES on APPLICATION DEVELOPERS AND THE FUTURE OF MUSIC ================================================================================== 12/21/10, 12:30pm ET, Berkman Center Conference Room @ 23 Everett St., Cambridge, MA RSVP is required for those attending in person to Amar Ashar (ashar@cyber.law.harvard.edu) This event will be webcast live Topic: "Application Developers and the Future of Music" Guests: Jim Lucchese, CEO of The Echo Nest In the same way that music's format shift from analog to digital democratized music distribution for artists, the next digital format shift is leveling the playing field for the creation of music applications. Any developer with talent and vision can now build an app that re-shapes the way we experience music. Some of these apps do so on a large scale by including the totality of recorded music, or, on a smaller scale with specialized functions, like that T-Pain autotuner app everyone was talking about last year. In a few short years, app developers have already changed music's role in our lives with new solutions for music discovery and recommendation, blog and news aggregators, music games, location-based listening, interactive remix apps, social music sharing, and countless other new music experiences. ... Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:13:14 +0100 893062 http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?p=1520 Today we are going to ignore all the news items about WikiLeaks and Google eBooks and look instead at movies. It’s been a while (4cast #193) since we looked at developments in ways to deliver movies to at-home viewers. Movies are, of course, a substantial portion of the total circulation of library items, but you might want to consider these news stories before you order more shelving for your DVDs (or VHS tapes). The biggest news was the late-November announcement from Netflix that they will offer a download-only subscription service to movies and TV shows, and industry reaction to that news. Netflix intros $7.99 streaming-only plan (Ars Technica/Jacqui Cheng)  ”‘You might also wonder why we haven’t introduced a new plan that includes only DVDs by mail,’ [Netflix VP of Marketing Jessie] Becker wrote. ‘The fact is that Netflix members are already watching more TV episodes and movies streamed instantly over the Internet than on DVDs, and we expect that trend to continue.’” Netflix’s move onto the Web stirs rivalries (New York Times/Tim Arango and David Carr)  ”The dilemma for Hollywood was neatly spelled out in a Netflix announcement Monday of a new subscription service: $7.99 a month for unlimited streaming of movies and television shows, compared with $19.99 a month for a plan that allows the subscriber to have three discs out at a time, sent through the mail, plus unlimited streaming. For studios that only a few years ago were selling new DVDs for $30, that represents a huge drop in profits.” Amazon working on rival to Netflix streaming-only subscription service (ReadWriteWeb/Mike Melanson)  ”Already, Amazon offers streaming television shows and movies through its Video On Demand product, which is available on both computers as well as Internet TV devices, but this provides more of an à la carte offering. ... Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:36:34 +0100 893894 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FreakonomicsBlog/~3/aTwjKFhYq84/ Annie Duke, the professional poker player and Rock Paper Scissors tournament winner, has a new internet show. A recent episode included appearances by Rafe Furst and Jason Calcanis, discussing privacy and responsible journalism in the face of the recent WikiLeaks scandals. (Source: Freakonomics Blog) Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:42:40 +0100 892987 http://www.betabib.org/2010/12/15/open-linked-data-and-europeana-and-libris/ Jag nöjer mig med att citera följande angående ett tidigare inlägg om LIBRIS som Linked data och att vara med i flera sammanhang. Open Means Open The ethos of Open Linked Data is to enable the widest possible use of data. The current non-commercial clause in the data provider agreements must be removed in order to allow Europeana to make its metadata resources available as Open Linked Data. What does the clause restrict? Imagine a BBC documentary on Mozart. It could be shown on a website, alongside a widget that uses data from Europeana to introduce the BBC audience to cultural objects about Mozart. This would expose thousands of people to your collection who would not otherwise visit Europeana or your website. The BBC, however, has advertising on its website. The non-commercial clause would rule out this use. If Europeana and its providers do not enable uses such as this, we will fall behind in a rapidly changing environment. Wikipedia and others will take our place as the only available authoritative source for contextual data. This carries the risk of undermining the position of cultural heritage institutions as relevant information providers. When we can supply Open Linked Data to other providers, we will all benefit by placing ourselves at the forefront of the technology revolution and establishing ourselves as the trusted and authoritative source on cultural heritage information. - http://bit.ly/drVw2Y (Source: betabib) Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:22:58 +0100 893916 http://www.affordance.info/mon_weblog/2010/12/les-gazouillis-du-mercredi-1.html Rubrique "bibliométrie" a donc un H-Index de 4 sur Google Scholar http://code.google.com/p/citations-gadget/ #snif #jesuisunlooser Rubrique e-reputation et gadgets grâce @CaddeReputation découvre le joli néologisme d'egographie découvre un truc rigolo et perd 10 minutes. http://www.ionz.com.br/ Rubrique Economie des moteurs (et de Google) wow. une mine ! http://www.autoritedelaconcurrence.fr/user/avisdec.php?numero=10-A-29 #google #publicite #concurrence Rubrique Facebook & lol très très très très fort http://twitpic.com/3flknf :-) via @MathieuFlex Rubrique "plateformes de blog académiques / universitaires" Wow wow wow : l'outil idéal pour les universitaires (moins lourd que moodle, plus "ciblé" que wordpress) : http://openscholar.harvard.edu/ Rubrique politique (LRU et IUT) http://bit.ly/hIQOnN très mauvais titre. Il faut lire, le MEDEF (= unpiut = présidents des conseils d'IUT) veut s'affranchir de tutelle univ (http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2010/12/10/les-iut-veulent-s-affranchir-de-la-tutelle-universitaire_1452014_3224.html) Rubrique à brac on est passé du text-e à l'e-text. #enfaitcestsimple #lelivrenumeriqueexpliqueamagrandmere de quoi procèdent sites miroir de Wikileaks à l'aune de la théorie de la redocumentarisation ? (Source: affordance.info) Wed, 15 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 894272 http://ramblinglibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/12/principles-and-strategies-for.html The Creative Commons Australia just published this document, "Opening Australia’s Archives: Open Access Principles for Australian Collecting Institutions" (version 1, Dec 2010), for Australian Collecting Institutions (e.g. galleries, libraries, archives and museums).I felt the guidelines would be useful if your institution is exploring a Creative Commons (CC) or Open Access policy, and would like to know where/ how to start. Or simply to go through all critical considerations, in order for the institution to make an informed decision whether to adopt a CC/ Open Access policy, or not.The document also describes examples of institutions that have adopted CC/ Open Access (see the Case Studies section).The 38-page* document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence.*It's 38 pages when I opened with Open Office, which seem to have different pagination.From its Introduction: The Opening Australia's Archives project aims to address this problem by working with Australia’s collecting institutions to increase the public’s ability to access and reuse our national collections. Run by the Innovation Law program of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation at Queensland University of Technology the project encourages the adoption of open access approaches through coordinated policy, implementation and advocacy initiatives across the collecting sector. Opening Australia’s Archives: Open Access Principles for Australian Collecting Institutions were prepared in consultation with representatives of the Australian collecting sector commencing with a series of meetings held nationally during 2009. For more information on the meetings, principles and project see the Opening Australia's Archives website. ... Wed, 15 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 892835 http://textundblog.de/?p=3893 Ich bin vollkommen fassungslos und meinem Blogwichtel (Hintergrund) unendlich dankbar für diesen großartigen Artikel: — Vor einhundert Jahren begann die Geschichte des FC St. Pauli, und im Jubiläumsjahr findet sich der Traditionsclub in der obersten Fußball-Liga wieder. Selbst zu Zeiten der zweiten Liga waren die “Weltpokalsiegerbesieger” in ganz Deutschland bekannt, die Totenkopf-Flagge der Fans ist ein Symbol von hohem Wiedererkennungswert. Die Hamburger sind einfach Kult. Quelle: Wikipedia Auch andere Vereine werden von ihren Fans abgöttisch verehrt, und erfolgreiche Clubs wie Bayern München sind europaweit bekannt. Doch St. Pauli gewinnt die Herzen der Menschen, genießt auch ohne Titelgewinne Anerkennung weit über die Grenzen des Landes hinaus. Selbst die Fans wirken entspannter: Mit Menschen, die ein Pauli-Sweatshirt tragen, kommt man immer gut zurecht. St. Pauli – schon im Namen schwingt Fernweh und Sehnsucht mit. Unweigerlich denkt man an die Reeperbahn, die grosse Freiheit und Hans Albers, an Seebären und andere Vergnügungssüchtige, die durch den zwielichtigen Rotlichtbezirk ziehen und Spass suchen. Man hat Bilder von leichten Mädchen und wilden Schießereien im Kopf, wenn man an St. Pauli denkt. [Star-Club anno 1962, © Blogwichtel] Natürlich sind die wilden Zeiten längst vorbei. Die Seefahrt ist längst ein knallhartes Termingeschäft ohne Romantik, an den Landungsbrücken legen lange schon keine Transatlantik-Dampfer mehr an. Jede größere Stadt hat einen Straßenstrich, und die ersten Auftritte der Beatles im Star-Club sind auch schon 50 Jahre her. Doch noch immer spürt man bei einem Hamburg-Besuch den besonderen Flair. Mit einem Astra am Elbstrand sitzend den Containerschiffen nachschauen bringt einen immer noch zum Träumen. Die Davidwache mit ihrem 80er Jahre Charme weckt Erinnerungen an die Serie Grosstadtrevier, und die Kunstszene der Hansestadt ist nach wie vor stilbildend. ... Tue, 14 Dec 2010 23:20:46 +0100 893448 http://litablog.org/2010/12/join-lita-tech-set-authors-for-a-conversation-at-ala-midwinter/ The LITA Publications Committee will be hosting a conversation and open discussion with three of the LITA Tech Set authors: Marshall Breeding, author of Next Gen Library Catalogs and recognized expert on all things ILS and library technology. Marshall was the 2010 recipient of the prestigious LITA/Library Hi Tech Award for Outstanding Communication in Library and Information Technology. Kelly Czarnecki, author of Gaming in Libraries. Kelly is a technology education librarian at ImaginOn, an innovative collaboration between Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and the Children’s Theater of Charlotte. Lauren Pressley, author of Wikis for Libraries and So You Want To Be a Librarian? Lauren also writes one of the leading library blogs, http://laurenpressley.com/library/. Please join Saturday, January 8, 2011, 1:30-2:30 pm SDCC 31B for a lively exchange with these top technology authors. (Source: LITA Blog) Tue, 14 Dec 2010 23:05:19 +0100 893199 http://mcls.org/blog/?p=807 MCLS is pleased to announce Jackie Licalzi’s promotion from MeLCat Librarian to MeLCat System Administrator. Jackie will begin her new duties on January 3, 2011. Jackie came to MCLS (then MLC) in October 2006 as a MeLCat trainer. Since that time, she has had a hand in all things MeLCat — conducting orientations, training library staff, providing support to member libraries, and doing presentations. Jackie was the lead person on implementing the MeLCat AV Transition a few years ago and played a key role in the development of the MeLCat Wiki. In her new role as MeLCat System Administrator, Jackie will be responsible for the operation and support of the MeLCat servers and serve as the primary technical liaison to Innovative Interfaces and the State of Michigan’s Department of Technology, Management and Budget. Congratulations Jackie! (Source: MLC Blog) Tue, 14 Dec 2010 19:17:41 +0100 892812 http://freegovinfo.info/node/3140 Last week, the University of Washington's Master of Communication in Digital Media program hosted a public forum at Seattle Public Library to discuss the swarm of stories surrounding Wikileaks. "Open Secrets: An Open Conversation about Wikileaks and Information Transparency in America" featured a panel of local "thought leaders": Mike Fancher, Retired Executive Editor of The Seattle Times; Brett Horvath, Director of The Leaders Network; and Sarah van Gelder, Editor-in-Chief, Yes! Magazine, a progressive magazine. The discussion exemplified the difficulty, perhaps impossibility, of getting a handle on so many fractured and simultaneous dimensions at the moment they're occurring, as if trying to gather one's most precious possessions from the air in the middle of a tornado. But to the credit of the moderator, panelists, and audience, the discussion was civil and wide-ranging, creating a public forum for whatever sense-making is possible at this stage. Even in a story that's evolving moment by moment, with a steady din of conjecture and partial information, the troops are already lining up behind their chosen heroes and challenging designated villians. Friday's discussion was no exception. The general consensus seemed to be that Julian Assange, a clever though flawed hero, has done democracy a service by tossing raw classified information into the winds. A few participants in the audience raised questions about how people who work in government (the government is comprised of people, after all) are to conduct themselves in earnest, without the expectation that each datum will be publicly available, suggesting that indeed there may be some role for classification under certain circumstances. Their questions found little traction or response. My own conjecture is that their comments met a general climate of suspicion, an assumption that government is insidiously secretive by default. ... Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:59:50 +0100 892751 http://www.slis.indiana.edu/careers/view_job_specific.php?job_id=8890 State: Washington, D.C. Web Developer AA Gelman Library The George Washington University Libraries Responsible for designing and implementing web-enabled strategies to support the goals, objectives and/or functions of George Washington University Libraries, and for providing primary support for new initiatives in web presence, resource discovery, and scholarly communication. The position provides the opportunity to work in a highly collaborative environment on creative and innovative projects within the George Washington University Libraries. Posting Number: 0602335 Working Title: Web Developer Full-Time/Part-Time: Full-Time Work Schedule: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Total Hours Per Week: 40 Pay Grade: 18 Recruitment Salary/Range: Commensurate with Experience Required Licenses/Certifications and other Specifications: Credit Criminal History Screening, Education/Degree/Certifications Verification, Social Security Number Trace, Sex Offender Registry Search, and Prior Employment Verification Job Open Date: 12-02-2010 Job Closing Date: Open Until Filled II. DEPARTMENT INFORMATION Campus Location: Foggy Bottom Division: Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs (AA) College/School: Not Applicable Department: AA Gelman Library III. JOB VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT INFORMATION Minimum Qualifications: A Bachelor's degree in an appropriate area of specialization and 3 years of appropriate experience. Desired Qualifications: A Bachelor's degree in an appropriate area of specialization, plus three years of relevant experience. MLS (Master in Library Science) / MLIS (Master in Library and Info Science) / MIS (Master in Management Info Systems) / MIM (Master of Info Management) / MCS (Master in Computer Science or equivalent) from an accredited institution preferred. Equivalent education and experience may be considered. ... Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:00:02 +0100 892594 http://infobib.de/blog/2010/12/14/zb-med-befreit-katalogisate/ Im Rahmen der Expertenkonferenz Open Access and Open Data hat die Deutschen Zentralbibliothek für Medizin (ZB MED) in einer Pressemitteilung bekannt gegeben, dass die Katalogisate der ZB MED ab sofort unter CC0 zum Download, zur Verbreitung, Bearbeitung etc. bereit stehen. Die Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Medizin (ZB MED) stellt ab sofort ihre Katalogdaten zur freien Nutzung bereit. Dazu gehören über 1.000.000 Medien – unter anderem Bücher und Zeitschriften – aus den Fachbereichen Medizin, Gesundheit, Ernährungs-, Umwelt- und Agrarwissenschaften. Durch eine Freigabe der Daten unter einer CC0-Lizenz ist es möglich, ohne jegliche Beschränkung die Daten herunter zu laden, zu modifizieren und für eigene Zwecke zu nutzen. Die Daten sind auf der Open-Data-Seite im HBZ-Wiki im Format RDF – ISO 2709 zu finden. Die Daten sind vom Mai 2010 und in zwei Downloads (“Ernährung, Umwelt, Agrar” und “Medizin, Gesundheit”) unterteilt. (Source: Infobib) Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:22:49 +0100 893462 http://librarywriting.blogspot.com/2010/12/cfp-ir-120-12th-annual-international.html CFP: IR 12.0 (12th Annual International and Interdisciplinary Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR))URL: http://ir12.aoir.org/October 10-13, 2011Renaissance Hotel, SeattleSeattle, Washington, USAPeople perform identities, worry about economic performance, expect better performance from technologies, and feel pressure to perform as employees or in other roles in life. We observe or participate in artistic performances, ritual performances, and the performance of experiments. Join us in considerations,analyses, and celebrations of the many types of performance and participation online and in blended online/offline contexts. We look forward to creative articulations of the many meanings of the term performance and to the many ways of considering types of participation.To this end, we call for papers, panel and pre-conference workshop proposals from any discipline, methodology, community or a combination of them that address the conference themes, including, but not limited to, papers that intersect and/or interconnect with the following:* Creative performances and digital arts* Participatory culture and participatory design* Critical performance and political participation* Identity performance* Exclusion from participation* Economic performance of Internet-related industries* Game performance* Performance expectations (as workers, citizens, etc.)* Ritual performances and communal participationSessions at the conference will be established that specifically address the conference themes, and we welcome innovative, exciting, and unexpected takes on those themes. We also welcome submissions on topics that address social, cultural, political, legal, aesthetic, economic, and/or philosophical aspects of the Internet beyond the conference themes. In all cases, we welcome disciplinary and interdisciplinary submissions as well as international collaborations from both AoIR and non-AoIR members. ... Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 893697 http://www.affordance.info/mon_weblog/2010/12/google-launches-its-bookstore-google-edition.html There are currently 3 particularly “hot” topics in the small world of techies and geeks of all kinds: the new version of Facebook profiles (an advice: wait a bit before changing) Wikileaks (an advice: if you are to read one article on the subject, it should be the one by Dominique Cardon (in French), and enjoy playing with this application) and the launch of Google Edition My students will confirm it, in 2006 I had already announced that Google would one day become a bookseller. And I also said it would not be later than 2010. That was close (just 25 days left before 2011), but I won my bet :-) December 6 will remain as the official date of the launch of Google Edition: http://books.google.com/ebooks. Available only in the United States, opening for Europe (and France?) is announced in early 2011 (“first quarter 2011″). One question, first. Why start Google Edition now and in some kind of hurry? Because it is nearly Christmas and … / … all indicators and all analysts say this Christmas is that of touch pads and other e-readers. For info, and according to a study by Forrester cited here, “the U.S. market represents nearly $ 1 billion in 2010 and is expected to triple by 2015“, on the other hand, here, “the e-book market is growing : +200% of sales in 2009 for the United States.” The issue of numbers. Tough one. For some, adopting the firm official communication, Google Edition represents “three million books out of the 15 million books that have been digitalized up to now by the search engine, taken from catalogues of 35,000 publishers and over 400 libraries.” The truth is likely to be sought in the Book Review from the Los Angeles Times: 2. ... Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 892713 http://splat.lili.org/node/419 On Tuesday, December 7, 2010 Google announced the deployment of its Chrome Opearating System (OS) to a live audience (see above) and streamed the presentation via YouTube. The presenter talked about how Google wants everyone to use the cloud, and what better way to do that than to develop a Google laptop that uses cloud computing and the Chrome OS to do everything. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/cloud-computing-latest-chapter-in... What is cloud computing? It is “Computing in which services and storage are provided over the Internet (or "cloud")” --from en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cloud_computing. You don't store anything in physical devices like your computer, but on powerful servers housed in distant lands. Cloud computing is not really new—Google already stores your e-mail on their servers, along with everything else, readily available on demand over an Internet connection. So now that Google has developed their own OS, it will be delivered in two ways: one is via a new 12.1” netbook called CR-48 (the name will probably change when it's ready for sale), and another through Google's browser, Chrome. The netbooks won't be available until 2011, but if you use Google's browser Chrome, then you're already using Google's OS. The Google's netbook is a cloud computer, and it uses Chrome as its main OS. Think of it as a browser made into a netbook, since the netbook itself doesn't have any other function than to house Chrome, and use the Internet over a wireless connection to do its thing. I was lucky enough to receive a bare bones, beta-tester CR-48 netbook, thanks to the magic of a QR code (I'll tell you that story some other time), and sure enough it is a sleek and spartan netbook. If you already use Google, then your Google login and password are all you need—all the other services you depend on (Google Docs, forms, sites, etc.) are automatically loaded because, well, they're online too, tied to your Google account. ... Tue, 14 Dec 2010 04:33:37 +0100 893647 http://www.alia.org.au/blog/ Margaret Allen, ALIA Vice-President talks about our right to access information in her latest blog entry (Source: ALIAnet: ALIA home page news) Tue, 14 Dec 2010 03:08:29 +0100 893985 http://www.alia.org.au/advocacy/internet.access/ Access to information, free discussion and uncensored debate are the hallmarks of democracy. A key object of ALIA is to promote the free flow of information and ideas in the interests of all Australians and a thriving culture and democracy. We believe that freedom can be protected in a democratic society only if its citizens have unrestricted access to information and ideas. The Wikileaks issue has brought the concept of information access to the attention of the wider community and governments internationally and we welcome that attention in the hope that decision-makers will be conscious that the clear understanding of issues to facilitate informed decisions is only possible when there is a free flow of information. We also encourage members of the profession and the public to get involved in discussing the issues and staying informed. ALIA's position statement internet access can be found here (Source: ALIAnet: ALIA home page news) Tue, 14 Dec 2010 03:04:35 +0100 893986 http://www.lisnews.org/why_wikileaks_matters_libraryland From NPR: "This is the biggest free speech battle of our lifetimes," says Marcia Hoffman, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "This is the moment when we will see whether publishers can continue to freely distribute truthful political information online." While some might find the statement of this EFF attorney to be a bit of hyperbole, there is an undeniable underlying idea being tested here: the scope of information distribution in the digital age. It is important because what happens now has implications for the dissemination of controversial information in the future. While we in the United States enjoy excellent free speech rights, the rules of expression can changes dramatically outside of the country. This is certainly not a new notion or concept; however, within the international framework of the internet, it creates its own new unique dynamic. It matters to libraryland for several important reasons. First, in expanding our holdings to include digital collections, we are becoming more reliant on content that is delivered via the internet. While we may not be collecting the kind of sensitive information that Wikileaks has been publishing, the important notion is that there are individuals, corporations, and governments who could potentially exercise control over any point in the connection from the server to the end user. Not only could local officials pull the plug on a server or block traffic, but internet service providers (ISPs) could be pressured into not allowing traffic to move their networks. Or ISPs could regulate the amount and type of traffic that goes through their servers. (Think Comcast vs. Netflix, only with streaming video databases.) While there are ways around such things (mirrors for servers, rerouting of traffic for connections), it is up to the profession to be vigilant for such actions taken against digital information providers. ... Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:48:33 +0100 893527 http://lisnews.org/why_wikileaks_matters_libraryland From NPR: "This is the biggest free speech battle of our lifetimes," says Marcia Hoffman, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "This is the moment when we will see whether publishers can continue to freely distribute truthful political information online." While some might find the statement of this EFF attorney to be a bit of hyperbole, there is an undeniable underlying idea being tested here: the scope of information distribution in the digital age. It is important because what happens now has implications for the dissemination of controversial information in the future. While we in the United States enjoy excellent free speech rights, the rules of expression can changes dramatically outside of the country. This is certainly not a new notion or concept; however, within the international framework of the internet, it creates its own new unique dynamic. It matters to libraryland for several important reasons. First, in expanding our holdings to include digital collections, we are becoming more reliant on content that is delivered via the internet. While we may not be collecting the kind of sensitive information that Wikileaks has been publishing, the important notion is that there are individuals, corporations, and governments who could potentially exercise control over any point in the connection from the server to the end user. Not only could local officials pull the plug on a server or block traffic, but internet service providers (ISPs) could be pressured into not allowing traffic to move their networks. Or ISPs could regulate the amount and type of traffic that goes through their servers. (Think Comcast vs. Netflix, only with streaming video databases.) While there are ways around such things (mirrors for servers, rerouting of traffic for connections), it is up to the profession to be vigilant for such actions taken against digital information providers. ... Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:48:33 +0100 892563 http://www.hsdl.org/hslog/?q=node/5888 Wikileaks is an international new media non-profit organization that publishes submissions of documents from anonymous sources. Over the last six months, Wikileaks has released over half a million leaked classified U.S. war documents and diplomatic cables. These releases have become one of the most popular topics discussed in the media. The Pew Center conducted a study to determine public opinion on the issue. Regarding the leaked documents from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, 42% of Americans surveyed believed their release served the public interest, while 47% believed they were damaging. Concerning the leaked diplomatic cables, only 31% of Americans believed their release served the public interest, while 60% believed they were damaging. So when the majority of Americans believe Wikileaks is damaging public interest, what should the government do? Some in the government have claimed that Wikileaks should be labeled as a terrorist organization due to the clear and present danger it poses to the national security of the United States. Others have called for a less heavy handed approach. However, one thing that most policymakers agree on is that more should be done to protect sensitive information and that the United States should do everything possible to shut down the Wikileaks website. The Congressional Research Service recently released a report titled "Criminal Prohibitions on the Publication of Classified Defense Information." This report highlights one of the problems in protecting classified information from being released to the public. According to the report: "Leaks of classified information to the press have only rarely been punished as crimes, and there are no case in which a publisher of information obtained through unauthorized disclosure by a government employee has been prosecuted for publishing it. ... Mon, 13 Dec 2010 22:00:57 +0100 892566