Library Stuff

It looks like Radio-Canada is putting out some content via RSS (34 Feeds!). The page is in French, so I turned to babelfish for a translation:

“The wire of new RSS (RDF Summary Site) of Radio-Canada enable you to take note of the news at the time which is appropriate to you best. By using a reader RSS or by incorporating the food in your blogist (or notebook personal Web), you can have access to the last news of Radio-Canada.ca in the environment of your choice. Choose among the national , regional or international current events, the sporting, economic or scientific news, and more still!”

Well, that clears it up! (link via Richard Akerman)

Update (2/27): Thanks to a tip from this comment, I learned that Radio Canada is the “French-language arm” of the CBC. English feeds are available as well. Keep those comments coming. They really work to keep me in check and assist in any mistakes I make. Nobody is perfect.

Updated yet again to fix CBC (I wrote CBA). Thanks Robin.

In what was probably is one of the neatest reactions to the Gorman attack on bloggers Walt Crawford writes:

“Consider that most of what I make available for public consumption–publish, if you will, not including this blog lite–bypasses editorial control and traditional publishing, putting me pretty squarely in that ignorant semi-literate group of folks with nothing worthwhile to say.”

He’s thinking about starting a weblog (He’s thinking about it – it’s not definite) and he wants your help in naming it (He’s offering prizes):

“If I started up a real weblog (not just this blog lite), combining quick thoughts that might eventually turn into columns or C&I fodder, library-related (and policy-related and technology-related and media-related) stuff that would never make it into C&I, and some of the personal oddments hat come up, what should I call it?”

“Assume that it won’t have daily posts and won’t have loads’o'links, and that I’ll be as open to comments and “conversation” as possible (but forbid anonymous comments), while necessarily retaining the right to delete spam and viciousness.”

Walt and I had a funny conversation over drinks at ALA Midwinter. I said that Walt has a blog. He said that it was a journal. We kept on going back and forth, drink after drink. He settled on calling it a blog-lite, although I still don’t buy it. He has comments, permalinks, and an RSS Feed. It’s a blog. But I digress.

So, help Walt out and Name That Blog (and push him to pursue the possibilities).

The Gorman piece is currently number 11 on the Daypop Top 40. It is being mentioned all over the place.

To clarify a point. I have no issues with those who don’t understand blogs. That’s what education is for. Gorman has a right to his views on bloggers. What ticked me off was that he called us stupid (again, my words, but it was definitely implied), to which I took personal offense. Here’s the quote again:

“Given the quality of the writing in the blogs I have seen, I doubt that many of the Blog People are in the habit of sustained reading of complex texts. It is entirely possible that their intellectual needs are met by an accumulation of random facts and paragraphs.”

Gorman need not issue an apology for his misunderstanding of blogs or his views on the Google digitization project, but he should retract the above comments. They are mean-spirited, wrong, and prejudiced.

One last point: I have had only positive experiences with ALA and its divisions (especially PLA) in the past and will continue to do so in the future. I write for Public Libraries, had a book published by ALA Editions that sold very well, and took part in the PLA Blog (which will be starting up again – we promise). Gorman’s comments will not reflect on my work with ALA or its divisions. In fact, my (our) work will only prove him wrong.

I came across Dave’s blog through one of my customized RSS Feeds. His perspective on short versus long postings made for interesting reading:

“[H]ow can I keep myself swimming in the river of deep thought when all around me swirl the droplets of tactical, reactive water? I’m not averse to writing shorter entries and sharing interesting news, but I want to dip my toe into the tactical while still ensuring that everything I blog is consistent with my long-term strategic vision and thinking.

“Blogging is just a tool, and RSS is just an information distribution mechanism. They’re neutral and different people approach them differently. You, dear reader, might well prefer weblogs that offer one, two, even a dozen or more 10-50 word briefs throughout the day, and more power to you.”

I included that last paragraph to point out that Taylor understands that people have different preferences on what thet want to get out of the blogging experience. In my case, I am a half long-poster and half get-to-the-point-right-away poster. It all depends on what I’m talking about. If I just want to mention a cool tool or resource, it will most likely be short. If I am in a ranting mood (which happens occasionally – yesterday being the last time), then I’ll have longer, thought out posts.

This was one point which struck a nerve for me in Gorman’s article about the Blog People. He seemed to be so against the short and sweet posts that many of us put up quickly without a thought. Why is that not allowed? The very nature of weblogs is that you can do that. The software allows us to. I’d rather shoot up a one-liner that reads, “Hey, check out this tool/resource/RSS Feed”, than have to wait and write up a long post about it (I might even forget about it and have my readers miss out on something that might make their jobs easier) later on.

Blogs work because they are flexible.

Oooh. Neat. An RSS Reader just for Flickr:

“Flickr RSS Reader is an application built in Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Professional. This application reads RSS Feeds from www.flickr.com. It can run on your computers’ hard drive or on your website.”

I was chatting about Flickr with Jessamyn the other day and how it can be used to give virtual library tours. She had been talking to Aaron about a similar issue. This could a tool to help out with that. (link via RSS Blogger)