librarytwopointzero

New book at the book sale

2009-07-10T13:19:00.002+01:00

I just went to Waterstones on Gower street, where they had a half price sale on for second hand books. So I picked up Nicholas Carr's book 'Big Switch' for £2.97. Along with reading this and this at present I really must get them completed.

Some interesting Mash up idea from mash oop north

2009-07-10T11:40:00.001+01:00

Mash oop north has released 30 ideas (if you ignore my initial idea) submitted by delegates on its web page. Their are some great idea's here and well worth looking at here.

Should I quit blogging post

2009-07-09T12:49:00.004+01:00

(Found via here) Stephen Abram pointed me in the direction of this post 'Should I Quit Blogging?' by Darren Rowse. I have mentioned previously, and although Walt Crawford responded by saying:-

Blogging has had a low persistence rate for years. I'd like to think that the best bloggers are sticking around...but I've always been a Candide at heart.

Rowse's response to the decline of blogging wrote following:-

Blogging is not dead - it’s evolving.

You should be evolving too (read Blogs are Out of Beta, But Bloggers Should always be in Beta)
Keep being useful, keep solving problems and keep meeting needs - whatever the medium this is key.

Keep producing content - people continue to search the web for content in huge numbers. It’s not all about networking and bookmarking - whether it be text, video or audio - keep producing content.

Experiment with different mediums - to the best of your ability keep abreast of the ‘new’ mediums that are emerging.

Build a ‘Home Base’ - many people flit from one medium to another and end up with nothing of their own (read more on the Home Bases and Outposts that I use).

Build a Brand - the mediums are tools. They’ll come and go in time - the key is to build something that lasts beyond them.

Don’t be Precious about your ‘Blog’ and be open to change - there’s no one ‘right’ way to blog. Blogs can have comments or not have comments, have full RSS feeds or partial ones, look like a traditional blog or act and look more like a lifestream or portal. The key is to know what you want to achieve and let that shape what you do with your blog.

Don’t abandon your blog too quickly - your primary efforts may move into a different medium but blogs can be an important part of the mix of what you do online. Don’t abandon your blog - build upon it, let it evolve, leverage what you’ve already built and use it where appropriate in the mix of what you do.

I think its a pretty good article about how blogging is a great tool. I'm hoping to soon add to Darren's list in the near future on why I blog.

Google O/S on the streets soon.....

2009-07-09T09:04:00.002+01:00

(Found via Lisnews), discussed the news that Google is going to release its own O/S. Ishush then discusses how this might be a good thing for librarians saying of this news:-

Which is cool on a number of fronts -- Being an open source system (?) it'll further the general 'biodiversity' of the web as it invites modifications. It'll knock MS hard which is good for all of our imaginations (I'm tired of walking around in a Windows frame of mind, forced to crunch my numbers and words in Windows ways).

Its going to be interesting when its released.

Free Book released

2009-07-09T08:54:00.003+01:00

(Found via ilibrarian), in which Chris Anderson has released his new book FREE for free here. Lets see if I get time to read it.

Mash oop north............lightning talks

2009-07-08T13:21:00.005+01:00

After lunch, the lightning talks started, which were 5-10 minute talks on what could and/ or maybe done at other institutions.

First up was Owen Stephens discussing interactive fiction and information literacy. He pointed us in the direction of this site as an example.

Next up was Tanya Williamson, who discussed Edward.R.Tufte. Tufte she described as an 'artist, economist and statistician'. Tufte also had a thing against, confusion and clutter are failures of design, not attributes of information.' He also had a treaty against PowerPoint (not a bad thing then?)

Next up was Paul Stainthorp and Joss Winn discussed Scriblio. Both looked at the plug-ins for word-press, and how you can create your own database and tags. Both looked at how you could individualise the users experience, which remind me of Nicholas Negroponte Idea of the Daily me and Ranganathan idea :-

These laws are:

Books are for use.
Every reader his [or her] book.
Every book its reader.
Save the time of the User.
The library is a growing organism.

There were more talks, but these are the one's I have notes for.

Anyway, thats it for my write up of the Mash oop north.

Mash oop north......lunch and other points of interest

2009-07-07T20:10:00.008+01:00

Apart from listening to talks in the morning, I was also interested in what else I would learn. Firstly I used twitter a hell of a lot, and could see its advantages in this environment (ie an unconference). I also used the the mashlib hashtag. I was pointed in the direction of many exciting things (see here).

I also did not go and to the mash up in the proceeding rooms, in which case I could have learnt more. I was also not very forward on my networking either. Though I was glad I spoke with Dave Pattern to say thanks for the day

I did enjoy the plentiful supply of food though. I also lived off coffee for the day.

I also forgot to mention that were some pre lighning talks based on Mike Reed's 'Runaround'. These area's included the Semantic Web, Information Literacy, Mobile devices, social networking and discussed by some of the experts there. Everytime runaround was said, you had to move and go to another area (if you wished).

Mash oop north......Mike Ellis talk

2009-07-07T19:48:00.002+01:00

Mike Ellis was next up. He was discussing Scraping, scripting, hacking. Mike looked at how we could scrape data via Yahoo pipes, Google Docs, Dapper, YQL, HTTRACK, Regex (which Mike said was very powerful), Mail Merge (I kid you not), Html tidy, Open Calais (which is better than Regex Mike said) and many more. It was all pretty quick, and I found it hard to keep up with (read I'm not too hot on this). Owen Stephens gives a lot better overview of it here though.

Mash oop north......Richard Wallis talk

2009-07-07T19:21:00.003+01:00

Richard Wallis was up next up. He was Discussing the juice project. The Juice project is open source and described thus:-

A simple componentised framework constructed in Javascript to enable the sharing of Ajax Style extensions to a web interface.

Although the drive for this is rooted in Library OPAC interfaces, the framework is applicable to any environment which, via identifiers contained within a html page, needs to link to or embed external resources.

Or as Richard said, 'it slaps on some mash on the opac'.

There's an interesting article here about the Juice project here. I say this as my notes are VERY poor.

Mash oop north......Brian Kelly talk

2009-07-07T18:39:00.003+01:00

Brian Kelly was the firt speaker I listened to, who discussed 'Enthusiastic amateurs and overcoming institutional inertia', which is something very close to my heart. Brian spoke about how to approach institutions about implementing web 2.0 idea's or just iniatives. He discussed how different people and organisations can bring new idea's in. He discussed how doing something and showing how good it may work within organisation is a good way to implement things (rather than to march over them). A good Idea, if the organisation is open to change.

Paul Stainthorp and his colleague Josh Winn, seemed part of a lucky minority to have less institutional inertia than others (I must ask if they have any opportunities there then.....thats a joke btw)

Brian talked about how we could use recent reports to underline how we could aid are bringing in new 'web 2.0 technologies' to assist our users/students/patrons. He pointed us in the direction of two of them. The Demos report and Higher education in a web 2.0 world. These should be use as indicators to both management and staff to underline our need to go forward and to enable our users rather than to stop them.

Brian discussed the Cilip 2.0 debate also between Phil Bradley and the Cilp CE, and hw Cilip was shown it need to be changed. Very Cluetrain manifesto.

Brian also said another approach to bringing in change is to show your rivals and what they are doing to instigate change. An example would obviously be Sheffield University, which is presently using netflakes, vle etc.

I later spoke 1 to 1 with brian and had an interesting discussion with him. I really found it an informative approach to this problem.

Mash oop north......the come down (south)

2009-07-07T18:26:00.002+01:00

After finally getting to Huddersfield I was struck how nice it was. Being stuck in London, i'm always struck by how flat it is. Huddersfield is a town in a valley with greenery. I got to the university in fairly good time and found Huddersfield University quite nice. As in the previous mash up at Birkbeck, Wi-Fi was a problem, but nothing major, as technology was not the main principle of the event but meeting like minded people.

David Pattern, who deserve a big round of applause for sorting this out opened proceedings. He discussed how different badges on peope would work and how the day would proceed. We then proceeded through the day.

Starting my Cilip chartership

2009-07-07T06:12:00.004+01:00

As mentioned previously, I am about to start on on my Cilip chartership. I meet with my mentor and I've been set a few tsk to do over the next month. Just the thing I need right now to get my intellectual juices flowing.

On our way to the Mash Oop north

2009-07-07T06:02:00.006+01:00

After Setting my alarm for the unearthily hour of 4.30am (that time does exist), I finally got my train from Kings Cross (though I did go to Euston by accident first). I'm really looking forward to this mash up, but coffee is mainly on my mind at the moment. The programme looks especially exciting. I am especially looking forward to the lightning talks, specifically though this one:-

2:30pm - Chris Langham

Drawbacks of using stock recommemdations (i.e borrowers who borrowed this item also borrowed these) in an academic library context.

I've always been interested in whether serendiptous searching. Having written about librarything previously it really is a pet love of mine.

I've started twitter for the conference and set up a Flickr account for the event to. I will keep you updated over the day how it goes. I need caffeine now.

Preparation for the Mash oop north......

2009-07-04T22:04:00.003+01:00

Well as I prepare for going o Huddersfield to the Mash oop north. All my gadgetry is prepared. My Computer (check). Camera (check). External Hard-drive (check). Ipod (check). I've got the tickets, i've got to get up at 4.30 am on tuesday. Wohoo. I'm hoping their is Wi-fi on the train to, so i can blog on the way.

Andrew Keen goes OTT....

2009-07-01T22:17:00.002+01:00

After saying that Andrew Keen is working on The Telegraph, I have seen one of his early articles, entitled Google, the toothless Big brother. Keen feels that Google has lost the power it seemed to havein 2006. He then says this:-

The truth is that the Google search-engine has no more idea of what I want to do tomorrow than a clairvoyant’s crystal ball and it is increasingly vulnerable to next-generation knowledge organisation systems like the recently released Wolfram Alpha.

Wolfram Alpha? Please? How have they impacted on Google? I think he maybe losing it.

Andrew Keen blogging on the Telegraph

2009-06-29T16:58:00.002+01:00

Andrew Keen, author of the wonderfully anti-web 2.0 book The Cult of the Amateur: How blogs, MySpace, YouTube and the rest of today's user-generated media are killing our culture and economy is about to get a blog on the Daily Telegraph. He is also about to start a new book Digital Vertigo: Loneliness, Anxiety and Inequality in the Social Media Age. Will inform when the blog starts.

Big business makes poor decisions.....

2009-06-24T22:36:00.002+01:00

Seems a couple businesses are trying to use the social web for there corporate means. Firstly, Reed Elsevier officials have admitted that it was a mistake for the STM publisher's marketing division to offer $25 (£15).
Secondly, Habitat have had to apologise for using Hashtags on the Iranian unrest on twitter to direct users to there website.
You got to laugh.

Is blogging really dying.....

2009-06-24T20:35:00.002+01:00

The Guardian has an interesting article Blogging : The long and Short of it, which looks at how over the last 6 months that blogging is becoming less popular. The arguments are pretty much on the money. Saying :-

Where is everybody? Anecdotally and experimentally, they've all gone to Facebook, and especially Twitter. At least with Twitter, one can search for comments via backtweets.com – though it's still quite rare for people to make a comment on a piece in a tweet; more usually it's a "retweet", echoing the headline. The New York Times also noticed this trend, with a piece on 9 June about "Blogs Falling In An Empty Forest", which pointed to Technorati's 2008 survey of the state of the blogosphere, which found that only 7.4m out of the 133m blogs it tracks had been updated in the past 120 days. As the New York Times put it, "that translates to 95% of blogs being essentially abandoned".

I think it maybe true. I've noted how I've increased my RSS feeds and get less Blogs.

400 not out....Chris Anderson Caught out......

2009-06-24T17:00:00.003+01:00

This is my 400Th entry. 3 years and 1 month of blogging here and still going strong.
Anyhow, news from Valley wag has it the Chris Anderson, Wired Editor, famed writer of the long tail. Has been caught stealing content from Wikipedia for his new book Free: The Future of a Radical Price: The Economics of Abundance and Why Zero Pricing Is Changing the Face of Business. Seems he's saying it was a mistake, but a pretty silly one seeing he is editor of wired not citing things correctly. Citizen journalism can't be cracked up to what its supposed to be then ;)

Stop the tower

2009-06-22T13:21:00.002+01:00

Whilst in the beautiful city of Seville (as mentioned previously), we came across a protect against the building of the Tower Cajasol. A monstrosity that will tower above the streets of this fantastic city. After signing a petition, we were given a leaflet with a link to there blog (translated to English here). Anyhow, well worth reading, and I just hope it never gets built.

Good news for me

2009-06-18T08:43:00.004+01:00

Firstly, i'm off to Seville with my Girlfriend for a long weekend today and taking no phone, ipod or internet. We have one day around the town on friday and a wedding saturday, but it will be nice to get away.
Secondly, my contract was extended for a year and being moved to a new department.
Thirdly, because of two I can start my Cilip Chartership. This was spurred on by a recent post I read and that I know have a years security.
This also means I can use some of my holiday time up on projects like using Yahoo Pipes, Moodle and Flash MX. Am I happy ;)

An interesting book out on monday

2009-06-11T23:32:00.002+01:00

Thomas Vander Wal releases his book on monday called Understanding Folksonomy: Catalyzing Users to Enrich Information. Most people know Thomas Vander Wal as the inventor of the term Folksonomy. It is well worth getting alongside Gene Smith's Tagging book.

An interesting course from OU

2009-06-11T22:35:00.002+01:00

(Found via here) I saw this Open University course called The evolving information professional: challenges in a digital world. Its £495, so not something I can afford at the moment then, but something I might do in the future (aka when I am no longer a temp).

My favourite London Bookshop

2009-06-10T20:08:00.002+01:00

I read recently a meme about your favourite bookshop (I can't remember where), but this is my favourite shop its Judd books. Its brilliant for social science, history and fiction and the books are fairly cheap. I have picked up these two books there. If you get chance, go in.

10 things librarians hate....

2009-06-06T22:31:00.002+01:00

(Found via Adventures in Library Land) pointed me in the direction of Swiss Army Librarian blog entitled Top 10 Patron Pet Peeves. There really had some resonance upon me. Especially number five which says:-

Patrons with no cell phone etiquette Cell phones aren’t banned from my library - we just ask people use them politely.

I did also feel that i'm a bit of a grouch at work when I read Liz's comments in which she points out librarians failings:-

Fair enough. But having been to three separate libraries in the span of four days recently, please allow me to pose a few Librarian Pet Peeves:

1. Treating patrons as inconveniences. I’m so sorry to tear you away from your hard work on eBay or that juicy phone call about your sister-in-law’s illegitimate child’s paternity suit, but may I please ask you a question without being sneered at? If it is something important and work-related, a simple “I’ll be with you in a moment” is greatly appreciated.

2. Using nondescript or derogatory references to coworkers. For some reason, it bugs me when one librarian will say to his or her colleague, “Yeah, this girl / lady / woman has a question about WestLaw” - how about “This PATRON has a question”? My favorite was a reference helper who had to get the head reference librarian; when she came from her office and asked him who had the question, he responded “The chick in the blue shirt over there.” Nice and professional.

3. Pointing. Me: “Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find the updated State Codes and Regulations, please?” Help Desk Librarian: (points to the… SSE’ern-ish corner?) “Over there.” I understand time is short and I don’t expect to be led there by the hand, but descriptive directions, such as “Just past the reference materials here on the last shelves on the left” is far more helpful than a finger.

4. Disappearing. This happens more than I care to admit. Occasionally while answering my question or checking out materials, the librarian who has been assisting me will just get up and wander away. Usually it’s to get more information or to ask a colleague for help, but I would appreciate knowing that. This is another instance in which a few extra words, such as “This book isn’t scanning properly - I’ll be right back” are incredibly appreciated.

I’m sure none of you wonderful and dedicated individuals reading this blog are guilty of any of the above, but maybe you have a colleague or two who has a habit of doing them. Of course I don’t wish to sound ungrateful - my school and county libraries are wonderful and the staff works hard to be helpful, but these little annoyances often keep me at home accessing materials electronically rather than in person.

Interesting stuff.