The trouble with Google Books - Laura Miller
Depending on who you ask, Google Books — the pioneering tech company’s ambitious plan to “digitally scan every book in the world” and make them searchable over the Web and in libraries — is either a marvelous, utopian scheme or an unprecedented copyright power-grab. The people who can claim to fully understand the Google Books Search Settlement — the resolution of a class-action suit filed against the company by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers — may be as few as those who comprehend the theory of special relativity. But everyone seems to agree that Google Book Search represents a revolutionary boon to scholars, especially people embarked on specialized research but without ready access to a university library. But is it? Nunberg, a linguist interested in how word usage changes over time, noticed “endemic” errors in Google Books, especially when it comes to publication dates. What is metadata? Metadata is data about a text or work. Yes.
How Can Libraries Use the Cloud? Tame The Web
I’ve been using Apple’s .mac service for years, since 2001 as a matter of fact. The recent upgrade from .Mac to MobileMe has garnered a lot of press for the problems, breakdowns and failures of the service meant to “push” data to my iPhone, my Macs and to the service itself, described as a “cloud.” Luckily I haven’t had much issue with the upgrade/switchover. I will say, however, that I think for a couple of weeks in July some emails I sent took a long time to get where they were going as did some I received. Compared to folks who lost loads of mail, that’s not the end of the world. Apple is trying – as are other companies – to tie into this idea of cloud computing. For more, don’t miss Robin Hastings’ presentation “Collaborating in the Cloud” at Slideshare So, we’ve reached a time when much of my data could be stored in other places and accessed from anywhere. What do the next 5,000 days of the internet look like?
How Government Data Can Improve Lives - Economic View
Take data that you and I have already paid a government agency to collect, and post it online in a way that computer programmers can easily use. Then wait a few months. Voilà! The private sector gets busy, creating Web sites and smartphone apps that reformat the information in ways that are helpful to consumers, workers and companies. Not surprisingly, San Francisco, with its proximity to Silicon Valley, has been a pioneer in these efforts. Another example involves weather data produced by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Several other departments in the Obama administration are looking to expand the use of such techniques. Now the administration is pushing to use this concept as a tool for regulation, and as a method of avoiding more heavy-handed rule making. Two cases are under discussion right now. First, the Department of Transportation is considering a new rule requiring airlines to make all of their prices public and immediately available online.
Librarians: Masters of the info universe
CNN librarian Kerith Page McFadden works at her desk in Washington. It's National Library Week; past library workers include world leaders and a famous lover"Star Wars" creator George Lucas has his own research library on his Skywalker Ranch.The chief librarian of Basra, Iraq, removed 30,000 books from library before it was destroyedA librarian found one of Beethoven's final compositions at Palmer Theological (CNN) -- Librarians, information specialists, knowledge managers or whatever title a librarian might have -- their skills are in high demand. And, though you might not know it, they are everywhere. And so in their honor during National Library Week, we enjoy the following tidbits of information. Famous people who were librarians FBI Director J. Librarians are techno-savvy Librarians don't just use books anymore. At a time where anyone can Google just about anything, librarians don't just find information, they find the correct information -- and fast. Filmmaker's library Good advice.
Digital Age is Slow to Arrive in Rural America
As the world embraces its digital age — two billion people now use the Internet regularly — the line delineating two Americas has become more broadly drawn. There are those who have reliable, fast access to the Internet, and those, like about half of the 27,867 people here in Clarke County, AL who do not. For many here, where the median household income is $27,388, the existing cellphone and Internet options are too expensive. The above is from an article in the the NY Times about the lack of connectivity in most of rural America. Gina Wilson, director of the Thomasville Library, oversees 11 terminals with lightning-fast Internet access.
'Scrapers' Dig Deep for Data on the Web
Bulletin December 2008/January 2009
Bulletin, December 2008/January 2009 Explaining Free and Open Source Software by Scot Colford Scot Colford is web services manager at the Boston Public Library. Communicating the benefits and limitations of free and open source software to the less technically experienced can be (to say the least) challenging, so before attempting to do so, the smart professional will prepare himself or herself with three things: A thorough (but concise) description The ability to correct misconceptions A list of open source applications an organization can (and may already) benefit from. What It Is In the introductory technology course I teach for graduate LIS students at Simmons College, students usually grasp the concept of compiled software (vs. scripting) fairly easily, so I often approach the topic of open source as a metaphor. Imagine that it's your job to buy a cake for a co-worker's birthday. Often, a student will then ask where open source software may be purchased. Me: ...
State of the indy music industry looks rosy, so why all the doom-and-gloom about music?
TuneCore's Jeff Price has a six-part series analyzing the financial state of the music industry from the point of view of an independent artist. Price offers compelling reasons to believe that although the labels are experiencing a severe downturn, artists as a group are earning more than ever, thanks to the Internet. I have a feeling that the record industry's rejoinder to this would be, yes, more artists are earning some money from their music, and all told, there's more money going to artists than ever before, but there are fewer opportunities for an artist to sign up to a label like ours that controls so much of the distribution channel that we can guarantee large sums of money for these lottery winners. In other words, the music industry today is much less winner-take-all, with the benefits diffused to a larger pool of artists at the expense of the few who did so well under the old system. The State of The Music Industry & the Delegitimization of Artists (via EFF Deep Links)
