Some Stuff I’ve Seen
October 17th, 2006ALA Legislative Action Center - Complete with RSS Feed.
Library Job RSS Feeds - (Beyond the Job - 10/17/06) - “I’ve just put a page up on LISjobs.com listing library job sites with associated RSS feeds. Please do e-mail in suggestions for any additions or changes. You can also download the associated OPML file for easy import into your newsreader of choice. Enjoy!”
Sic, Sic, Sic - (Yahoo Buzz Log - 10/16/06) - “We know some of our searchers aren’t dexterous when it matters most. Misspelling your query in the Search box used to lead to disastrous results. But thanks to our advanced computerized technology, we can catch most of your mistakes and provide you with the correct result. For folks whose spelling skills leave something to be desired, we provide this list of our top 20 misspelled searches. Study it and learn from the errors of your fellow searchers ways…”
America’s Next Top Librarian! - (Bookburger - 10/11/06) - “Next week is Teen Read Week. So read, teens, read. In honor of the occasion, we’re running the search for America’s Next Top Librarian! Many library divas are drenched with fabulosity, helpfulness, intelligence, and coolness. Only a few are shush-monsters in moth-nibbled cardigans.”
TechSmith Debuts Screencast.com - (Business Wire - 10/17/06) - “TechSmith Corp., the world’s leading provider of screen capture and recording solutions, today announced the general availability of Screencast.com, a Web-based service in its beta stage for business and academic professionals who want to share information, ideas, and knowledge in an engaging online multimedia experience. At Screencast.com, users can watch, share, and upload video, audio, and multimedia content that retains its original quality, size, dimensions, and professionalism.”
MetaFilter: Going Your Way (Library Journal - 10/15/06) - “[W]hat do you get when you start with an existing community and then create an online space where visitors can ask questions? You get Ask MetaFilter.” (via)
Windows Live Search: OPML Generator - “This app runs your query against the Live Search API with the feed: syntax, returning RSS feeds, and assembles an OPML file. You’ll get the chance to choose from the results before generating the subscription list.” (via)
Criminal Records Erased by Courts Live to Tell Tales - (NYT - 10/17/06) - “In 41 states, people accused or convicted of crimes have the legal right to rewrite history. They can have their criminal records expunged, and in theory that means that all traces of their encounters with the justice system will disappear. But enormous commercial databases are fast undoing the societal bargain of expungement, one that used to give people who had committed minor crimes a clean slate and a fresh start.”
Flickr is the Web Photo Tool Preferred by Superheroes and Librarians - (LLRX - 10/15/06) - “What truly sets Flickr apart as a Web 2.0 application, however, is the tagging. Tagging allows everyone to search for photos of the same subject. The tags also indicate which photos belong to a specific group. As with other social software of its ilk, there is no subject authority. Everyone does his or her own tagging. Photos by other people can also be marked and saved as “favorites” and individuals can add each other to their contact lists. Photos can be made either publicly available, or marked as private for viewing by invited friends and family. With all this functionality, no wonder Flickr was acquired by Yahoo! back in 2005.”
Corporate America embraces social networking - (Inside Bay Area - 10/16/06) - “Programmers at Almaden designed a posting, tagging and networking component to Big Blue’s employee directory so that the 330,000 IBMers spread around the world can find out more about each other when looking for collaborators or in-house expertise.”
What’s an Online Community’s Value? - (ClickZ - 5/18/06) - “Today, I’ll discuss the leading marketing strategies that consumer-centric organizations use to create and grow online communities in support of their brands. I’ll also explore metrics for measuring a community’s impact (and proving its value to your overall business).” (via)
NotePage’s SQL2RSS Script Converts Databases to RSS Feeds - (EContent - 10/1706) - “NotePage, Inc. has announced SQL2RSS, a new php script that allows users to convert MySQL databases to RSS feeds. RSS is a format for syndicating information on the internet. This new SQL2RSS script allows users to convert information that is stored in a database into an RSS feed, for syndication and distribution.”
Library is welcome to breastfeeding - (Daily Evergreen - 10/16/06) - “Neill Public Library is an important community resource with the mission of providing “an open environment in which people may freely avail themselves of the widest variety of stories, ideas, information and opinions.” We are aware that the public is never of the same opinion about any issue, including breastfeeding in public, however “the act of breastfeeding or expressing breast milk is not indecent exposure” (RCW 9A.88.010) and is welcome in the library.”
Ohio Historical Society bringing its records into the 21 st century - “The Ohio Historical Society will begin putting documents online next month to explain the significance of items the group has. Among its collection: a porcelain stick given to Indians in the 1700s, above, and a shawl pin swallowed by a girl in the 1860s.” - (The Columbus Dispatch - 10/15/06)
New(ish) Librar* Blog - Heather’s Art Blog - “I am a fibre artist living in Toronto. I have an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Art and Art History from the University of Toronto and Sheridan College, and I am currently completing a Masters in Library and Information Studies at the University of Toronto. I am a past director of White Water Gallery in North Bay and the current associate publisher of FUSE magazine in Toronto.”
Debate 2.0: Weighing the merits of the new Webocracy - “The Internet has become a wildly optimistic and democratic medium, rife with community-based sites that draw millions of fans and disrupt scores of industries.” - (San Fransisco Chronicle - 10/15/06)