Great intro to open source software
Michael Sauers posted a great presentation introducing the ideas and practical aspects of open source software, with examples from desktop applications to Linux to server software and library examples. He explains the concepts in a way that’s highly suitable for non-techies. If you’re curious about OSS I recommend it.
I like that Michael discusses the pros and cons in pretty honest terms here, and his point of view is (to borrow from Karin Dalziel) “OS agnostic” in a sensible way. I’d have liked to hear a little more about library-specific applications, but cramming that into a 30-minute introductory presentation would have been tough.
It’s a half-hour audio presentation and his slides are available as well (though the audio stands fine on its own).
Introduction to Open Source Software
(And another example of Twitter is becoming more useful to me: if I hadn’t been following Michael on Twitter I probably would have missed this.)
Passionquilt meme
Okay, I’m late to the party on this one. Amy at informing MUVES in forming thoughts tagged me a couple of weeks ago and I was having a bad week and then went on vacation, so….
Yes, anyway. The idea is:
Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title. And link back to this post.
I choose to interpret “kids” as the college students I work with, but I’d occasionally like to wave this in the face of some librarians too.
Original photo by “matteo_dudek” on Flickr.
I’m not going to tag anyone, but feel free to tag yourself in the comments.
Atlanta BIG, May 23 2008
I’m attending the Atlanta Area Bibliographic Instruction Group 2008 mini-conference in two weeks, “In Queue - Getting Online with Instruction” (even though I don’t know what the “in queue” part means). Remarkably, I’m actively interested in all three presentation topics. We don’t have distance education students at Emory, but I’ve been kicking around the idea of offering an experimental online workshop so I’ll be interested to hear about that.
If you’re in the Atlanta area, it’s free!
As I posted a couple of weeks ago, author Cory Doctorow is making copies of his new young adult novel Little Brother available free to librarians and educators who work with kids. He’s doing this by matching donors who liked the free e-book edition and want to pay him for it with appropriate recipients. This is one of those “so simple it’s genius” ideas.
ALA has created a Google Maps mashup listing all ALA-accredited library and information science programs. I know a lot of people (myself included) come to librarianship later in life when we’re married, own homes, etc., and relocating can be a major concern.
It’s nice to see ALA using some technologies a little more modern than HTML.
ALA-Accredited LIS Programs on Google Maps
My friend Beth Gallaway, a library trainer and consultant, was interviewed yesterday on New Hampshire Public Radio about video games. The main guest was Cheryl Olson, author of Grand Theft Childhood. Beth talked about the role of video games in libraries. Beth’s main specialty is in young adult programming and she does a lot of work with gaming; she’s the author of the forthcoming book Game On: Gaming at the Library.
It’s so great that they thought of getting a librarian perspective! Beth made us sound smart. Listen here.
Podcast: “Fall Preview”
This is the last library podcast episode we’re producing for students until the fall. We took a different tack this time and are promoting projects we’ll be working on over the summer that they can expect to see when they come back to school.
Author Cory Doctorow is planning to start a “matchmaking” service between schools and libraries that would like to receive free copies of his new novel Little Brother and individuals who want to give them. He mentioned in his podcast last week that he often gets e-mail from readers who enjoyed the free e-editions of his books and want to pay him but not receive a physical copy. This way sales will still support his work via his publisher, and theoretically the book should reach a lot more than two readers per sale.
I’m sure it’ll show up on Boing Boing or Craphound as soon as the matchmaker system is up and running.
Flashing Lights Warn Library Visitors to Be Quiet
“When [noise] exceeds the level by at least 15 decibels, the red light illuminates and a siren can go off, too.”
Good plan. That’ll help maintain a subdued study space.
(Via Wired Campus)
Awesome Highlighter
Thanks to the Swiss Army Librarian for posting this tool: The Awesome Highlighter.
It allows you to select and literally highlight text on a web page, and creates a custom URL for your highlighted version that you can share. It adds a “jump to highlights” link at the top of the page to make it easy to spot your emphasized section.
For example, I highlighted a few words on the Library Society of the World FAQ. You can see my highlights at http://awurl.com/lxsevi52186.
How great would this be for IM or e-mail reference, to point out a particular area on a typical over-texted library page (cough)? The only hitch I can see is that it wouldn’t work with most of our licensed databases since they don’t generate stable URLs.
