Archive for April, 2005
Audible Hops on the RSS Train to Syndicationville
April 22nd, 2005What’s this? It looks like Audible is putting out some RSS deliciousness (there’s like 30 of ‘em). Audible librarians of the world, say it with me: Suweeeeeeet! (link via Joho the Blog)
Zeemo
April 21st, 2005I was talking on the phone this afternoon with a prospective author for an Internet Spotlight column (keep those ideas coming) and the subject of virtual reference came up. I kinda “poo-pooed” the idea as one that has been written to death (I think we need to beyond just “virtual reference” - take a [...]
Pilot Study of Del.icio.us Users
April 21st, 2005So, who’s using del.icio.us, where do they come from, how old are they (and more)? Ericka Menchen did a 70 user pilot study (far far far from enough subjects, but interesting nonetheless) and posted her findings. (link via Indefinite Articles)
Search Others’ Bloglines Subscribed Feeds at Feedster
April 21st, 2005Michael Fagan IM’d me this afternoon with a neat but subtle addition to Feedster search. You can now search other Bloglines users OPML file (if its public). So, if you want to search the feeds that I read in Bloglines (which I don’t use anymore - the list is way outdated) for the [...]
Pushing Librarians Into Public Awareness
April 21st, 2005Marylaine Block on using weblogs in libraries. Good advice:
“I really think weblogs are too valuable a tool for libraries NOT to use them. But library directors need to understand that a weblog is a commitment to the user group it serves. It’s not a frill, to be done on the fly when a librarian [...]
Beyond the Typical Library OPAC
April 21st, 2005I love library OPACs that go beyond the typical boring “here’s your book.” Ever use the public computers at Borders? If so, you know what I mean. If not, check them out as they may give you some ideas as to how to improve your public display.
A perfect example of going beyond [...]
Call For Contributor
April 19th, 2005So, I’m in the beginning stages of gathering information for a book that I will be co-authoring (more on that by the end of the summer) and I will start writing after the first of May. I’m trying to clear my writing plate so that I’ll be able focus as much time as possible [...]
2 New Tools
April 19th, 2005Two new online tools came across my aggregator today via del.icio.us:
1) Maple - “Maple is a powerful yet easy to use bookmarks manager extension that adds advanced bookmarking capabilities to Firefox. Maple stores your bookmarks online on our servers so you never lose them if something nasty happens to your computer. Maple can categorize your [...]
Ivan Chew Interviews a Library Blogger
April 19th, 2005Ivan Chew is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogging librarians. He writes about stuff I’m interested in and blows me away with his posts. For example, today, he posted an interview he did with Wendy, a librarian from Ngee Ann Polytechic Library who spoke about her Readers’ Choice blog:
“RL: How does Readers’ [...]
Christina’s Getting Her PhD
April 19th, 2005Congrats to Chrisina Pikas for making the move to get her PhD. Wow, now I’ll know 2 doctor librarians…
Is Your Library Ready for Podcast Books?
April 19th, 2005The first podcast-only novel has a lot of readers, according to a press release:
“The typical print run for a first-time novelist ranges from 3,000 to 5,000 copies. EarthCore, one of the world’s first podcast-only novels, already has over 5,500 readers after just four weeks and five episodes.”
Should libraries be ready? Or is this just [...]
More on “Information Overload”
April 19th, 2005A very well-written and thought out piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education today about “Information Overload” (IO) suggests that we turn off our screens every once in a while (as much as once a week) to secure our sanity and our social lives. I must admit I agree with most of what the [...]
Squik
April 18th, 2005Squik is a open-tagging relevancy-ranking system which could hold one of the keys to fight spam on these types of systems. It follows Digg in a way, in that people are not only tagging, but providing feedback on the content as well. From the site:
“Squik uses a “relative ranking” engine to decide how [...]
Join ITI in Paris
April 18th, 2005Disclaimer: I get paid to blog by ITI. It is not part of my contract to post about their conferences. I do it because I want to.
ITI is having 3 separate workshops in Paris on June 1st through 2nd. The one that made me drool was Collaboration in the e-Workplace:
“Collaboration in the [...]
Say Hello to Bloggy!
April 18th, 2005How cute is this?
“Inspired by Clocky, the automated clock robot, ibiblio ProductLabs invented Bloggy, a mobile, autonomous blogging robot. Are you too tired to blog? Do you not have enough to say? Bloggy solves all your problems by blogging for you! From the moment you wake up to the moment [...]
New Interface for loc.gov
April 18th, 2005Take a look at the new interface for The Library of Congress. Looks nice. Now, only if they adopted RSS feeds…
Can RSS Save Lives?
April 18th, 2005It looks like Steve Rubel and my mom have something in common. In 1982, the New York Presbyterian Medical Center saved his life. Two weeks ago, my mom was in a terrible car accident here in Suffolk County. A truck hit her on the passenger side of her car, shattering her pelvis [...]
Measuring Wikipedia
April 18th, 2005I’ll have to read this more later on tonight, but it seems worth the effort. Measuring Wikipedia, by Jakob Voss:
“Wikipedia, an international project that uses Wiki software to collaboratively create an encyclopaedia, is becoming more and more popular. Everyone can directly edit articles and every edit is recorded. The version history of all articles [...]
Books We Like
April 17th, 2005Another interesting book reccomendation tool which also acts as a reading list and tagging tool. It’s called Books We Like:
“Use this site to discover books that others love, to recommend your own favorites, and to keep a reading list of books you want to remember. Use it to buy books through Amazon, Powells, etc. [...]
A Two Book Limit on Airplanes
April 17th, 2005Ross Mayfield (subscribe to his blog- great stuff) notes that starting April 14th (three days ago) there may be a 2 book limit on flights. He can’t confirm this and I also haven’t seen anything in my aggregator but if this is true, I’d be outraged (and confused). Has anyone seen any truth [...]
PlaceSite @ Your Library?
April 17th, 2005This is extremely interesting. A social network based on being on the same wireless network. It’s called Project PlaceSite and comes out of research from U.C. Berkeley and could have some implications on the use of wifi at your library. They have two immediate goals:
“1) What information, if any, would people like [...]
Discovery Channel Goes RSS
April 16th, 2005Andrew from the Discovery Channel sent in the feeds vis the LISFeeds contact form. They have 4 of them:
+ Discovery Channel News
+ Animal Planet News
+ Travel Channel News
+ TLC News
The Books are Flying Off the Shelves
April 16th, 2005At the Doe Library at UC Berkeley, you’ll find books everywhere, including those suspended in midair…
Errors in G News?
April 15th, 2005I thought ALA was in Chicago. Google thinks that they are in DC…
“Throw the Tech Savvy Librarians Out of Our Libraries”
April 14th, 2005This should make for interesting conversation. Chuck Munson has posted a rant to his blog against tech-savvy librarians. I’ll quote him a bit:
“New technologies have certainly added something to libraries, but what the [f word] does RSS newsfeeds or XML metadata schemes have to do with serving patrons and getting people to read [...]
Tagging Your Own Blog Posts?
April 13th, 2005I’ve noticed that quite a few bloggers have been tagging their own blog posts on del.icio.us. My belly barometer goes off when I see this. It just doesn’t seem right to me. I find it counter-intuitive to the collective knowledge base. It also seems a bit egotistical. Thoughts?
More On Encarta…
April 13th, 2005A bit of a follow up on the new Encarta editing system. AP has an article on it:
“Encarta is not requiring such novice editors to identify themselves, said Gary Alt, Encarta’s editorial director. But it is asking them to reveal the source of their information if possible, and the editorial staff will check for [...]
Library Blogging Breakdown
April 13th, 2005Ananda has done some calculations of libraries that have weblogs. While her list isn’t exhaustive, it’s the most comprehensive that I have seen. She writes:
“There are currently 245 libraries blogging. Of these 245,
* 107 are academic libraries
* 86 are public libraries (at least 15 of [...]
Networks, Complexity, and Relatedness
April 13th, 2005I just subscribed to this blog. I’m drooling over the description:
“Inquiry and learning into social networks, social network analysis, and the relationships among people and systems in complex organizations and networks.”
Alf Rocks My World Again
April 13th, 2005Check out what the mastermind behind Hubmed just finished working on.
It’s a book/music/dvd review system which is built with the del.icio.us API. When you put your book in, it searches Amazon. Find the right book/movie/dvd, rate it, tag it, write your review, and send it off to de.licio.us. It will automatically provide [...]