The podcasting article that I mentioned in the last show by Jaap Van Der Geer is now available online. Here’s a pretty amusing translation of the section about Open Stacks, courtesy of freetranslation.com:
What are now the possibilities of Podcasting for libraries? The first possibility that it offers, is to be stuck something on of colleagues. It let even on self wait, but on 23 January 2005 served self the first podcast on library territory at from America. Greg Schwartz of the weblog Open Stacks (openstacks. just) tells each week over interesting subjects that at library work related are. That can go over affairs as Return On Investment within libraries, selfservice, or an interview with a library colleague. He does relax that on an and open manner. Most recent podcasts are came from the large Computer In Libraries -conference that past Marches in Washington DC held became. The American library practice closes otherwise excellent at by the our. They walk around goes well a to pieces furrow as it webloggen and application of for instance MSN for the informations work, but that makes the alone but more interesting. Already fast other librarians of Schwartz’s example followed. Over the general, it concerned were here librarians (unfortunately not yet in the Netherlands) that already busy with the maintaining of weblogs.
I really do try to “relax that on an and open manner.” Thanks Jaap!
Posted by: Greg Schwartz in Image
I wish I’d seen this article (courtesy of Bookslut) before I recorded the last show:
Check This Out - The National Review’s Dewey Murdock tells you exactly why “Libraries should be a key target of the Patriot Act.”
The basic thrust of the article is that terrorists frequent libraries, so libraries need to be on the list of places that federal investigators can actively track them. But lest we forget, terrorists like food, so you’d better get supermarkets and restaurants on there too. I understand that many terrorists like shopping, so you’d better get all retail locations on there too. And I understand that some terrorists like gas in their vehicles and haircuts, so you might want to add gas stations, barbershops and hair salons.
I don’t mean to make a mockery of a serious issue, but the argument put forth by Mr. Murdock is backed by evidence that is specious in some cases, almost laughable in others.
“While learning to fly, the Los Angeles Times reported on its front page on September 27, 2001, “Atta used computers at the public library and worked out at a Delray Beach health club.”
Uh oh, better add health clubs to the list.
Posted by: Greg Schwartz in Tangent
The Leather Boys
Originally uploaded by planetneutral.
For those of you Flickr fans out there, they’ve finally announced the new pricing info that comes about as a result of the purchase by Yahoo. Pretty good deal if you already had a pro account and now only $24.95/year with twice the upload bandwidth (2GB/month).
It appears that Google is starting to roll out a primitive feed reader within the Gmail interface. (Link via Kottke)
So there’s this post that will be all over the LIS blogosphere tomorrow entitled Primitivist OR Luddite AND Librarian. In a nutshell, it’s a condemnation of the “tech-savvy” librarian. I had some very quick initial reactions that, in the event they do not clear the author’s comment moderation, I’ve listed here for reference.
A few quick thoughts:
1. “Libraries that aren’t playing with the latest tech are backward centers of uncoolness.”
No, libraries that aren’t thinking about how technology is transforming the way their patrons interact with information are uncool.
2. “Libraries should be about the printed word and learning the big picture.” The big picture now extends beyond the printed word. I would think that using the Internet and blogging technology to publish this rant would have made that readily apparent.
3. Writing a sentence such as “Tehc will chane everything, they tell us” lends little credence to your arguments about literacy.
I meant to mention this on the last show, but if you’re at all interested in folksonomies, you need to take a listen to Clay Shirky’s presentation entitled “Ontology is Overrated: Links, Tags, and Post-hoc Metadata.”
Two quick teasers from the summary: “Ontology, far from being an ideal high-order tool, is a 300-year-old hack, now nearing the end of its useful life. The problem ontology solves is not how to organize ideas but how to organize things — the Library of Congress’s classification scheme exists not because concepts require consistent hierarchical placement, but because books do.”
“As we have learned from the Web, when data is decoupled from physical presence, it is fluid enough to be grouped differently by different readers, and on different days. The Web’s main virtue, in handling data, is to transmute organization from an a priori, content-based judgment to one that can be ad hoc, context-based, socially embedded, and constantly altered. The Web frees us from needing to argue about whether The Book of 5 Rings “is” a business book or a primer on war — it is plainly both, and not only are we freed from making that judgment firmly or in advance, we are freed from needing to make it explicit at all.”
This is hot stuff, folks. Guaranteed to greatly inspire some, while boiling the blood of many others.
Update: If you want a little taste of Clay Shirky on folksonomies, listen to the April 7 edition of Future Tense. I still strongly recommend the longer presentation.
Now presenting: Open Stacks #9
Also available via the podcast feed.
17+ minutes of my seriously lacking verbal dexterity (fun game to play at home - count how many times I use the word “interesting”). Due to lack of available hours in the day, I didn’t edit the sound to the extent I might normally. I offer my apologies in advance.
Show notes:
1. Jybe revisited
Here’s the post that Paul (my newest good buddy!) mentions in his comment.
2. Podscope and the notion of “embracing podcasting”
3. The Bibliocasting listserv
4. My experience with screencasting
5. The DVD crisis at Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library
From the Tampa Tribune: County Grabs Library Remote
Michael Pate’s compilation of responses
Posted by: Greg Schwartz in Tangent
By request, I endeavored to work out a smaller file for my screencast. After numerous attempts, I produced an acceptable Flash file that weighs in at 17 MB. I had no luck compressing the audio to mp3 in Camtasia (final video would play without audio) and the other PCM compression option proved unacceptable. So the sound is uncompressed, but the change in video format makes a huge difference. I hope that this compels some of the bandwidth wary to take a look. And again, apologies to the podcast feeders. (The Flash file is not handled as an enclosure, so it will not download automatically. In fact, if you want to download the file, you’ll have to right click and “Save Link as…” or whatever is comparable in your context menu.)
Posted by: Greg Schwartz in Tangent
Update: Thanks to the tireless work of Blake Carver, my comment form is again in working order. By the way, this inglorious post is my 400th.
It appears that my comment form has not been working properly for a few weeks. Unfortunately, I had no idea and anyone who sent me a comment wouldn’t have either. This depresses me to no end. I have never intentionally not responded to a comment, so my apologies to people who sent comments in the past two weeks.
I’d be grateful to anyone willing to actually reiterate their feedback. Until I figure out the problem (and even after I do), why not IM me at planetneutral on AIM or Yahoo? It may say I’m away, but send your message anyway. I have a bad habit of forgetting to set my away message, so I leave it up by default.
Again, my sincerest apologies to those who took the time to comment and received no response.
Update: It works! Thanks Blake.
