Great ALA Conference session on Technology & the Developing World. See Research4Life.org , inveneo.org, and laptop.org.
More to follow!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
ALA Conference Notes (COGNOTES) goes digital
ALA Conference Live!
I took a break to check mail, tweet, post to blogs and facebook. It is a day before the ALA annual conference and exhibits really start, but the crowds of librarians are building. Waiting in my email was a digital version of COGNOTES, the daily conference newsletter. I've been looking forward to the exhibits and also was curious about which vendors were library "Champions", the highest level of supporters. Well, COGNOTES has a fancy version of its exhibits floorplan. Some booths are colored blue and some are red. Blue ones indicate Library Champions -- click on the blue and go to their website. For example, Demco and WH Wilson are Library Champions. Red colored booths indicate vendors who have paid extra for a link to their website.
I took a break to check mail, tweet, post to blogs and facebook. It is a day before the ALA annual conference and exhibits really start, but the crowds of librarians are building. Waiting in my email was a digital version of COGNOTES, the daily conference newsletter. I've been looking forward to the exhibits and also was curious about which vendors were library "Champions", the highest level of supporters. Well, COGNOTES has a fancy version of its exhibits floorplan. Some booths are colored blue and some are red. Blue ones indicate Library Champions -- click on the blue and go to their website. For example, Demco and WH Wilson are Library Champions. Red colored booths indicate vendors who have paid extra for a link to their website.
ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO OPEN DIGITAL LIBRARIES / GOOGLE BOOKS SETTLEMENT
All Day OPEN WORKSHOP on Alternative Approaches to Digital Libraries and the Google Book Settlement, 7/31/09. Harvard Law School registration is required. *
Announcement:
"The proposed Google Book Search settlement creates the opportunity for unprecedented access by the public, scholars, libraries and others to a digital library containing millions of books assembled by major research libraries. But the settlement is controversial, in large part because this access is limited in major ways: instead of being truly open, this new digital library will be controlled by a single company, Google, and a newly created Book Rights Registry consisting of representatives of authors and publishers; it will include millions of so-called “orphan works” that cannot legally be included in any competing digitization and access effort, and it will be available to readers only in the United States. It need not have been this way.This workshop seeks to bring a fresh, unique perspective to a complex and widely debated topic. It will focus not on the specific merits and demerits of the settlement itself, or the particular antitrust and privacy and other objections that have been raised. Instead, it will examine the idea of possible alternative universes and offer specific proposals for scenarios that may arise whether or not the settlement is approved . What can libraries, or universities, or non-profits, or Congress, do in the current landscape? And how might these possibilities help us to define a better world than the one that we have today and, more importantly, than the one that will exist if the Google settlement is approved in its current form? Regardless of what happens with respect to the Settlement, what alternative possibilities could lead to a richer, more open and better information ecosystem than the one we have today or might have tomorrow with the Settlement? By exploring these alternatives, this workshop seeks, in the end, to help inform the debate over the Settlement and its terms and to illuminate some of the key policy considerations that are at stake. Its ultimate goal is to develop a series of options and proposals that could improve on the status quo in novel ways."
*Registration is not required for remote participation.
Follow the Berkman Center on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/berkmancenter
Join the IRC: irc://irc.freenode.net/berkman (requires an IRC Client such as Chatzilla)
Questions? Contact Amar Ashar at ashar@cyber.law.harvard.edu.
Announcement:
"The proposed Google Book Search settlement creates the opportunity for unprecedented access by the public, scholars, libraries and others to a digital library containing millions of books assembled by major research libraries. But the settlement is controversial, in large part because this access is limited in major ways: instead of being truly open, this new digital library will be controlled by a single company, Google, and a newly created Book Rights Registry consisting of representatives of authors and publishers; it will include millions of so-called “orphan works” that cannot legally be included in any competing digitization and access effort, and it will be available to readers only in the United States. It need not have been this way.This workshop seeks to bring a fresh, unique perspective to a complex and widely debated topic. It will focus not on the specific merits and demerits of the settlement itself, or the particular antitrust and privacy and other objections that have been raised. Instead, it will examine the idea of possible alternative universes and offer specific proposals for scenarios that may arise whether or not the settlement is approved . What can libraries, or universities, or non-profits, or Congress, do in the current landscape? And how might these possibilities help us to define a better world than the one that we have today and, more importantly, than the one that will exist if the Google settlement is approved in its current form? Regardless of what happens with respect to the Settlement, what alternative possibilities could lead to a richer, more open and better information ecosystem than the one we have today or might have tomorrow with the Settlement? By exploring these alternatives, this workshop seeks, in the end, to help inform the debate over the Settlement and its terms and to illuminate some of the key policy considerations that are at stake. Its ultimate goal is to develop a series of options and proposals that could improve on the status quo in novel ways."
*Registration is not required for remote participation.
Follow the Berkman Center on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/berkmancenter
Join the IRC: irc://irc.freenode.net/berkman (requires an IRC Client such as Chatzilla)
Questions? Contact Amar Ashar at ashar@cyber.law.harvard.edu.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Wordnik - A non-Dictionary and more
Bloglines helps me track hundreds of current and former participants in School Library Learning 2.0 professional development course. It is most rewarding when I learn new cool tools from former "students". That is how I learned about wordnik, an online dictionary of sorts. Thanks, Joan!
According to the wordnik website, it is still in beta test mode. It defines itself as "An ongoing project devoted to discovering all the words and everything about them." The team behind the site is based in Chicago -- wonder if I'll get to meet them at the American Library Association conference this week?! Stay tuned.
According to the wordnik website, it is still in beta test mode. It defines itself as "An ongoing project devoted to discovering all the words and everything about them." The team behind the site is based in Chicago -- wonder if I'll get to meet them at the American Library Association conference this week?! Stay tuned.
Friday, July 3, 2009
BagIt - Digital Preservation
The Library of Congress offers an easy and free digital preservation solution called BagIt. Here is a description from the website:
"The Library – with the California Digital Library and Stanford University – has developed guidelines for creating and moving standardized digital containers, called “bags.” A bag functions like a physical envelope that is used to send content through the mail but with bags, a user sends content from one computer to another.
Bags have a sparse, uncomplicated structure that transcends differences in institutional data, data architecture, formats and practices. A bag’s minimal but essential metadata is machine readable, which makes it easy to automate ingest of the data. Bags can be sent over computer networks or physically moved using portable storage devices.
Bags have built-in inventory checking, to help ensure that content transferred intact. Bags are flexible and can work in many different settings, including situations where the content is located in more than one place. This video describes the preparation and transfer of data over the network in bags."
The Library of Congress has been adding to its digital collections for years. Over time, LOC has refined its digital preservation standards.Aviary - Copy Web Pages With Ease
Foxfire's tool for copying a web page, Aviary, captures a full website, not just a screen shot. Now, there is a new tool that allows you to simply insert ‘aviary.com/’ in front of a URL. I experimented with my 2CoolTools blog and several professional development sites:http://aviary.com/2CoolTools.blogspot.com (too large -- but can crop.)
http://aviary.com/ClassroomLearning2.blogspot.com (Just right!)
http://aviary.com/DiscoveringAT.blogspot.com (Just right!)
I'm taking an introductory art DESIGN course, so finding this site is timely. For a novice art student, a free digital imaging tool is an attractive alternative to pricey software. Below is a video clip about Aviary.
Friday, June 19, 2009
8 Ways to Create Paperless Business Cards
Thinking ahead to the next set of conferences and meetings where I'll be meeting f2f rather than online, I'll need a business card or slip of paper to give a lot of new contacts. I've been without a printed card for about 6 months and have managed just fine, but... Just in time, here is an item on "8 Ways to Create Paperless Business Cards" from Mashable, the Social Media Guide.
- Wireless phone: SMS. Beam your business card via text message to interested parties.
- Wireless phone: Mobile Web and iPhone-optimized web sites
- Wireless phone: E-mail.
- Wireless phone: iPhone.
- Social Media Profiles: Social Networks (LinkedIn, Facebook)
- Social Media Profiles: Google profiles
- Social Media Profiles: Twitter
- Social Media Profiles: Profile aggregators
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)