Archive for October, 2004
Building With Books!
October 31st, 2004Check out what these MIT students are doing with books. My favorite? 98 Directories. Neat.
When No Fact Goes Unchecked
October 31st, 2004Adding to the discussion of Wikipedia and resource trustworthiness, the NYT ran an interesting piece entitled, When No Fact Goes Unchecked. The author of my new favorite book gets a mention:
“To James Surowiecki, the author of “The Wisdom of Crowds,” the emergence of online squads of opposition researchers is mostly a plus. He compared [...]
Welcome Company
October 31st, 2004Hey, look who stopped by today. Great to see you again Andrea.
More RSS Feeds from Nature Publishing Group
October 30th, 2004Tony Hammond writes in with great news from the Nature Publishing Group:
“Nature Publishing Group has just sent out re its latest collection of RSS newsfeeds which are syndicating rich metadata using DC and PRISM terms. This means that effectively all NPG titles now have associated RSS newsfeeeds.”
See the new feeds on the Nature RSS page.
3 More Ways to Use Open WorldCat
October 29th, 2004While the bookmarklet idea that Andrea, Jessamyn, and Michael created has apparently fallen on deaf ears at OCLC (although they do have a nifty one themselves), there are some neat tools that are being created with the software. Three of them are mentioned on a page by Corey Murata. I’m digging the [...]
Add 2 More to the Reading List
October 29th, 2004Two interesting articles (at a quick glance) from the latest issue of AALL Spectrum:
+ Bringing Amazon.com to the OPAC - One library’s mission to enrich its catalog and improve search capabilities- by Patricia R. Monk
+ Mining Information Gold in the Blogosphere - How to use Weblogs as reliable research tools - by Paul J. [...]
Huminity
October 29th, 2004Huminity:
“Huminity is an instant messaging chat software that combines in it full social networking capabilities. It can be installed on any Windows running PC. After installing Huminity and creating a personal contact-tree, Huminity becomes your 6-degree chat software. You can navigate your global map of personal connections, have private chats and chat in chat [...]
More U.S. Government RSS Feeds
October 29th, 2004Gary just IM’d me with great news. The U.S. State Department now has RSS Feeds. Four of ‘em. Very cool.
+ Highlights
+ Briefings
+ Press Releases
+ Secretary Powell Remarks
Delicious Library
October 28th, 2004Is anyone interested in having their own Delicious Library, complete with barcode scanner? I would put this on my “Please Barbie [wife], I HAVE to have this” list, but it is only available for the Mac. Still, that scanner would look great next to my book collection (which at the moment is scattered [...]
Feedster Hacks
October 28th, 2004Last night, I released Feedster Hacks to the public. So, for those keeping score at home, here’s a rundown of the online projects that I currently run/contribute to:
+ Library Stuff
+ Resourceshelf
+ Docuticker
+ Feedster Hacks
+ LIS Blogsource
Bill Cosby once said: “My wife and I have 5 children and the reason we have 5 children is [...]
Neat Del.icio.us add-ons
October 27th, 2004The Social Software weblog has listed a bunch of del.icio.us tools. While I have abandoned my del.icio.us account for Furl, I haven’t played with these, but Wetaste looks nifty.
Blog Watcher
October 27th, 2004Check out the screenshot for Blog Watcher, what seems to be a web-based aggregator. From the blogger:
“It allows for such things as my latest creation, a script I call Blog Watcher that allows me to check all my favorite blogs (there are over 30 now!) at once for signs of new materials. It then [...]
Forrester Research is RSSified
October 26th, 2004Forrester Research now provides RSS feeds. Neat. (link via Charline Li)
Libraries Test Free Wi-Fi, But Mostly for Patrons
October 26th, 2004Glenn Fleishman has been studying Wi-Fi access in libraries:
“Based on some research I conducted recently for a magazine article–link to follow in a few weeks–I’ve discovered that the widely cited availability of “free Wi-Fi” in public and university libraries should be called “patron Wi-Fi.” In the majority of libraries I checked around the U.S., using [...]
More Play for Wikipedia…and a Rant from me.
October 26th, 2004Yet another article on Wikipedia, this time from the Guardian. A few interesting quotes, one from librarian Phil Bradley (who apparently didn’t like his quote):
“”Theoretically, it’s a lovely idea,” says librarian and Internet consultant Philip Bradley, “but practically, I wouldn’t use it; and I’m not aware of a single librarian who would. The main [...]
Welcome Back Jenny.
October 25th, 2004Oh thank goodness! You have no idea how much I’ve missed my morning readings of TSL (I mostly read her posts in the AM, as she works an hour behind me and posts too late for me to read at night). Tonight, I jumped on my aggregator before bed and there she was. [...]
Factiva jumps on the RSS Apple Picking Wagon
October 25th, 2004Gary just IM’d me with the great news. From the Factiva press release:
“Targeting the U.S. government sector, this free RSS feed will continuously update the campaign issues being reported, enabling users to view a three-paned window that allows them to quickly scan campaign issue headlines. If they see an update or issue that [...]
Newsweek on Wikipedia
October 24th, 2004Jessica links to a Newsweek article on wikipedia. A few interesting quotes from the article:
“It’s one part reference tool, one part fascinating social experiment. Visitors can create their own entries or change existing ones, contributing their bookish wisdom and, yes, sometimes mistakes or outright misinformation as well.”
“Some professional researchers even use it, though cautiously. [...]
Someone’s Been Reading Your IMs
October 24th, 2004When I first read about Google desktop (GD) search, I was thrilled. Well, thrilled turned to shock when I learned that GD would be able to index all of my IM conversations. While the concept is amazing (I would love to get access to some conversations that I have had in the past), [...]
Photo Blog
October 23rd, 2004I’ve started a Photo Blog. For those that care to see updated pictures, you may want to subscribe to the feed.
Why I love Michael Stephens
October 23rd, 2004Because he totally gets weblogs as a collaboration/communication tool. I post a few suggestions for internal weblogs in the library (not truly thought out - just stuff that came up in initial brainstorming), and Michael writes up Ten Guidelines for Developing Your Internal Blog.
Great work. Love ya buddy!
Radical Collaboration
October 22nd, 2004Radical Collaboration Five Essential Skills to Overcome Defensiveness and Build Successful Relationships:
“Collaborative skills have never been more important. At work, you can’t afford to be defensive, hostile, or even too cynical. It’s never easy, but getting along with your colleagues or customers is imperative, whether you’re on a long-term assignment, a temporary project, or a [...]
Blogs for Internal Communication
October 22nd, 2004Amanda is now collecting weblogs that are being used for internal communication within the building. She has created an RSS Feed for the collection. I love this! Go Amanda!
Here is a list (not inclusive) of library weblog content that can be placed on an intranet:
+ FARQs (Frequently Asked Reference Questions)
+ Any new happenings that [...]
Happy Birthday Andrea
October 22nd, 2004Andrea joins the 30 year old club. Welcome aboard and enjoy the ride to 40…
Yet another way to market your weblog…kinda
October 21st, 2004This morning, during a presentation in Connecticut on weblogs/RSS, one of the audience members asked how to get readers to go to their weblog on a consistent basis (in other words, how to build readership). I came up with a few responses, such as writing “good stuff” everyday rather than just linking to content [...]
Juice Bookmarklets
October 19th, 2004Lots of neat Juice Bookmarklets. I like the Feedster bookmarklet, for reasons that will become clear within a week or so….
Just added to my aggregator
October 19th, 2004Charlene Li’s Blog - “Charlene Li’s insights on technology developments in media and marketing” (RSS Feed) - (link via SEW Blog)
Karen Coombs Rocks My World
October 18th, 2004Why? Because of this:
“After several hours of work this week I got an RSS feed of checked out books for a user created. It took quite a bit of playing but it is working quite well now.”
Interesting Statistics
October 18th, 2004From a WorldBiz press release:
“71% of marketers reported time as a key concern in managing a business blog for their company or organization according to results from a recent WordBiz survey. 45% were unsure what to write about, 18% questioned if the content needs to be edited or pre approved and 15% wondered who would [...]
Law.com Newswire RSS Feeds
October 17th, 2004Genie points out that Law.com now offers RSS Feeds for their newswire daily legal updates. Very nice. Consider me subscribed. Hopefully, this will prompt their local newspapers (ie The New York Law Journal - A must read for me every AM) to do the same.