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September 30, 2009
Streaming Media and Consumers
Here's the evidence that the US public is ready for streaming media big time on the level already seen in Europe and the Pacific Rim. DVD and VHS are undergiong a very temporary up tick in circulation from recession weary consumers. Ultimately they will be a small niche market for libraries like vinyl and cassettes.
ResourceShelf points out these statistics:
From the Announcement:
"August 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that 161 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month, the largest audience ever recorded. Online video reached another all-time high in August with more than 25 billion videos viewed during the month, with Google Sites accounting for more than 10 billion.
Google Sites continued to rank as the top U.S. video property in August as it surpassed the 10 billion videos viewed threshold, representing 40 percent of all videos viewed online. YouTube.com accounted for 99 percent of all videos viewed at the Google Sites property. Microsoft Sites ranked second with 547 million (2.2 percent) followed by Viacom Digital with 539 million videos viewed (2.1 percent) and Hulu with 488 million (1.9 percent).
More than 161 million viewers watched an average of 157 videos per viewer during the month of August. Google Sites attracted 121.4 million unique viewers during the month (82.8 videos per viewer), followed by Microsoft Sites with 54.9 million viewers (10 videos per viewer) and Yahoo! Sites with 51.6 million viewers (6.9 videos per viewer)."
Other Facts from the Report:
+ 81.6 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
+ The average online video viewer watched 582 minutes of video, or 9.7 hours.
+ 120.5 million viewers watched nearly 10 billion videos on YouTube.com (82.6 videos per viewer).
+ 44.9 million viewers watched 340 million videos on MySpace.com (7.6 videos per viewer).
+ The average Hulu viewer watched 12.7 videos, totaling 1 hour and 17 minutes of videos per viewer.
+ The duration of the average online video was 3.7 minutes.
Source: comScore"
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:39 PM | Comments (0)
Top Reference Questions
You know I continue to be surprised by the huge difference in the top questions in libraries and what the same consumers do online in Wikipedia and search engines.
Top 100 Most Visited Articles on Wikipedia in 2009
I suppose I shouldn't be but I am.
I guess if we're not even competing on the same questions, we're not really competing at all?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:07 PM | Comments (3)
Free?
If 'free' is Google's magic sauce, then what is a library's magic sauce? Most have been free to end users for many years. Free is obviously not sufficient over time.
Just askin'
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:38 AM | Comments (3)
The Value of Information
There is a free and excellent ebook from Dow Jones called "Pay Now or Pay Later: Exposing the hidden cost of "free" information".
I find it well done and it covers the 7 key points to make about quality information versus the free web. Yes, the free web is great but it is not sufficient for the important questions of life, business or necessarily the most productive use of every person's time in an organization.
Check it out here:
Pay Now or Pay Later: Exposing the hidden cost of "free" information(18 page PDF)
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:24 AM | Comments (0)
September 29, 2009
News Credibility
I am thinking today about credibility and libraries.
I'm thinking about things like trustworthiness, truthiness, earnestworthiness, authority and the like.
So, thinking about where we get our news, I found this chart useful:
What is more interesting is that the credibiility of online news sources in increasing according to this poll.
"Interestingly, credibility ratings from participants for nearly all types of media rose slightly from a year ago. Here is how they scored them in terms of credibility:
- Television: 6.5 on a scale of one-to-10 (down .1 from a year ago)
- Daily newspaper: 6.3 (same as last year)
- Radio: 6.3 (up .3 from a year ago)
- Online: 5.7 (up .1)
- Weekly community papers: 5.4 (up .2)
- Magazines: 4.9 (up .3)
- Free shopper newspapers: 4.3 (up .8)"
As libraries position themselves as trustworthy sources and services . . .
[insert your question and strategy here]
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)
September 28, 2009
Reading is NOT down.
Don't let people tell you people are reading less.
We all know library circulation is up across the board (and I don't believe this is entirely recession-driven either). Now we know books are still OK too:
Anyway, check out this release from the Association of American Publilishers (AAP):
Book Publishing Sales Post Gains in July
"New York, NY, September 23, 2009— Book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of July increased by 2.0 percent at $1.54 billion and were up by 1.9 percent for the year.
The Adult Hardcover category was up by 6.9 percent in July with sales of $88.7 million; year-to-date sales were down by 15.5 percent. Adult Paperback sales increased 9.0 percent for the month ($124.0 million) but decreased by 11.2 percent for the year. The Adult Mass Market category was down 13.5 percent for July with sales totaling $68.2 million; sales were down by 5.3 percent year-to-date. The Children’s/YA Hardcover category decreased by 5.4 percent for the month with sales of $55.8 million, but sales for year-to-date were up by 22.2 percent. The Children’s/YA Paperback category was up by 4.1 percent in July with sales totaling $58.2 million; sales increased by 2.0 percent for the year.
Audio Book sales posted an increase of 3.5 percent in July with sales totaling $11.7 million; sales to-date decreased by 29.9 percent. E-books sales reached $16.2 million, reflecting a 213.5 percent increase for July, and a 173.9 percent year to-date. Religious Books saw a decrease of 9.3 percent for the month with sales totaling $42.4 million; sales were down by 8.1 percent for the year.
Sales of University Press Hardcover books reflected a 15.1 percent decrease in July with sales of $5.2 million; sales decreased by 8.6 percent for the year. University Press Paperback sales posted a decrease of 3.2 percent for the month with sales totaling $8.8 million; sales were down 5.5 percent for the year. Sales in the Professional and Scholarly category were up by 13.2 percent in July ($117.7 million) but decreased by 2.3 percent for the year.
Higher Education publishing sales rose by 0.9 percent for the month ($941.5 million) and increased 19.0 percent for the year. Finally, the net El-Hi (elementary/high school) basal and supplemental K-12 category posted a decrease of 32.2 percent in July with sales of $675.9 million; the category was down by 27.6 percent for the year.
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies—small and large. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities.
NOTE: All sales figures cited in this release are domestic net sales"
I hear so many people telling eachother stuff about reading (and about kids) that is uninformed by the facts and research. That's sad.
And we won't even get into the growth of the web sites, searching, gaming, and downloading music and streaming video. Try and do that with poor reading skills!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:33 PM | Comments (1)
September 26, 2009
Plus ca change . . .
Quote of the Week
By Richard on Quotes
“There is no practical obstacle whatever now to the creation of an efficient index to all human knowledge, ideas and achievements, to the creation, that is, of a complete planetary memory for all mankind…the whole human memory can be, and probably in a short time will be, made accessible to every individual. And what is also of very great importance in this uncertain world where destruction becomes continually more frequent and unpredictable, is this, that…it need not be concentrated in any single one place.”
H.G. Wells, 1937 (talking about micro-film)
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:45 PM | Comments (0)
Don't Miss This Online Seminar!
The Art of Fundraising and Grant Writing: An Online Conference
In these tough economic times with travel budgets being cut, librarians need an inexpensive and efficient way to continue their education. Libraries are also relying more and more on fundraising and grant writing. Alliance Library System and LearningTimes are hosting and SirsiDynix is sponsoring “The Art of Grant Writing and Fundraising” on Thursday November 19. The conference program will offer a number of programs for beginners through intermediate and advanced levels of all aspects of grant writing and fundraising. The day will kick off at 10 am central time/11 am Eastern time and run through 4:30 pm central/5:30 pm Eastern.
Keynote speakers include the amazing Peter Pearson who is President of the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library in Minnesota. This organization is unique in that it is both a Friends Group and a Foundation. The organization has assets of approximately 12 million dollars at its disposal. Pearson recently spoke at ALA and will discuss how the economy is or isn’t affecting fundraising and basics to keep in mind for success at fundraising. Kitty Pope, Executive Director of the Alliance Library System, is the second keynote speaker. She will speak on grant writing and how in today’s world, it takes a team to plan and implement successful grant writing and projects. No longer is grant writing done by one person; now successful grant projects require the support of the entire organization and staff on all levels with various expertise to see a successful grant from start to implementation of and reporting on the project.
Other speakers include: Lisa Valdez from San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science; Chuck Thomas, IMLS; Stephanie Gerding and Pam McKellar, authors of the grants for libraries blog; Tari Hughes, Nashville Public Library Foundation; Tom Peters, TAP Information Services; Allison Miller of the Internet Public Library; and a variety of other highly qualified speakers.
For more information on this conference and to register, check out http://www.fundraisingconference.org. The cost of the one day online event is $69.00. For a group, the price is $99.00. If this registration fee is a hardship, please contact Lori Bell at lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com for a discount coupon of $20 off registration price. Library students can attend for free – contact Lori Bell for information.
This workshop is part of a three event series offered by Alliance Library System and LearningTimes. The second online event on Handheld and Mobile Library Services will be a two-day conference offered on February 17 and 18, and the third is a conference on Innovation to be offered on May 12. Keynote speakers for the Handheld event include Joe Murphy, Yale University. Keynote speaker for the Innovation conference is Helene Blowers of Columbus Ohio Metropolitan Library. Discounts are available for attending all three. To attend all three conferences as an individual is $150 and for groups is $199. For more information and to register, please go to http://www.learningtimes.net/fundraisingconference/register/.
Other Program Highlights
Winning Grants for Libraries 101: Discover the confidence and knowledge you need to successfully win library grant funding. Find out where to easily locate grant opportunities, learn a step-by-step method for writing grant proposals, and hear about real library grant success stories. Stephanie Gerding and Pam MacKellar, experienced on both sides of the grant process and authors of books and articles on library grants, will provide practical advice, ideal for librarians who are new to grants.
Strategies to Secure Private Sector Grants: Lisa Valdez will talk about how to develop a grant seeking strategy for your library that includes private sector grants. How can you find private foundations and corporate giving programs that are interested in libraries? How can you identify funders that may be interested in your project? What are the first steps you need to take in approaching a private funder? What makes a grant proposal more compelling to a private funder? How can you tailor each application to target the funder’s specific interests? If you’re intimidated by the grant seeking process or wonder how to get started with private sector grants, this workshop will provide ideas and encouragement.
Individual and Planned Giving Strategies: Chris Watkins will provide a program The program will take a step-by-step approach to building a giving pyramid, starting with your broadest base of support and narrowing to your strongest donors. Strategies for engaging your board, expanding your giving circle, building an annual fund, and cultivating planned gifts will be discussed, with examples of successful practices and suggested additional resources.
Project Management: Alison Miller will share methods and ideas on project management from project start up through project sustainability and evaluation. She will also share information that will help with project success and identify some obstacles and solutions for project fluency.
Fundraising in Libraries a Panel Discussion: Join experts from academic and public libraries across the country for a discussion of issues relating to fundraising for libraries. Panelists will discuss issues libraries face when developing and implementing fundraising campaigns and programs; sustaining library fundraising initiatives; how library fundraising differs from other fundraising; tips for successful programs; library fundraising in difficult economic times, etc.
Current IMLS Grant Opportunities For Libraries: Chuck Thomas will provide an overview of IMLS grant programs and categories of funding for libraries. The presentation will include information on eligibility, the review process, highlights of some recently funded projects, and current trends and areas of emphasis in the competitive discretionary grants programs. Time will be reserved for questions from the audience.
Evaluating Grant-Funded Projects and Writing Final Reports: Tom Peters will discuss strategies, tips, and pitfalls of evaluating grant-funded projects and writing final reports. The strategy for evaluating a grant-funded project should be formulated as soon as possible. Try to determine which data sources, both quantitative and qualitative, will be need to assess the success and impact of the grant-related activities, outputs, and outcomes. Speak with as many members of the project team, the users, and other stakeholders as possible. The final report should focus on the project, its successes and shortcomings. If appropriate, draw conclusions and make recommendations that highlight how the grant-funded project sits within the broader environment of associated problems and opportunities.
More programs and speakers coming! Watch the program website at
http://www.fundraisingconference.org for program information as it develops.
This appears to be a seminar that's timely. It provides you with the opportunity to take positive action to deal with some of the issues of our times. I am proud that my employer is helping out by sponsoring.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:39 PM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2009
Making Innovation Organic
The Harvard Business Publishing website has a good article by Scott Anthony that seems timely:
After Lehman: How Innovation Thrives In a Crisis
He makes the pont that innovation can't be scheduled and that making innovation priorities during your budget cycle is innsufficient. He notes that "constraints are innovation enablers."
Anthony discusses organic innovation and what is required to embed this in your organization.
"This kind of competency comes from treating innovation like a discipline with six, interlocking components;
1.An innovation strategy that details targets, tactics, and required resources
2.An innovation process that iteratively spots and shapes new growth businesses
3.Structures that support the nurturing of innovative ideas, providing a "safe place" for innovation
4.Supporting processes that helps ensure that companies don't succumb to the "sucking sound" of the core
5.A common language that helps build corporate alignment
6.Metrics that help senior leaders appropriately track their innovation efforts"
Timely thoughts. With all of the big changes that libraries are handling, we can't stop experimenting now.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)
How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet
A classic:
How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet by Douglas Adams
This piece first appeared in the News Review section of The Sunday Times on August 29th 1999.
"Because the Internet is so new we still don’t really understand what it is. We mistake it for a type of publishing or broadcasting, because that’s what we’re used to. So people complain that there’s a lot of rubbish online, or that it’s dominated by Americans, or that you can’t necessarily trust what you read on the web. Imagine trying to apply any of those criticisms to what you hear on the telephone. Of course you can’t ‘trust’ what people tell you on the web anymore than you can ‘trust’ what people tell you on megaphones, postcards or in restaurants. Working out the social politics of who you can trust and why is, quite literally, what a very large part of our brain has evolved to do. For some batty reason we turn off this natural scepticism when we see things in any medium which require a lot of work or resources to work in, or in which we can’t easily answer back – like newspapers, television or granite. Hence ‘carved in stone.’ What should concern us is not that we can’t take what we read on the internet on trust – of course you can’t, it’s just people talking – but that we ever got into the dangerous habit of believing what we read in the newspapers or saw on the TV – a mistake that no one who has met an actual journalist would ever make. One of the most important things you learn from the internet is that there is no ‘them’ out there. It’s just an awful lot of ‘us’."
Read the full piece here. Amazing that it was wirtten ten years ago!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:53 AM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2009
Choices and Flexibility
I liked this graphic. I always like Venn diagrams but that goes without saying for a librarian!
It comes from Gizmodo.
SirsiDynix tries to support quite a few platforms and each has their strengths. Other companies try to limit the options to just one or two. It's makes for a interesting discussion especially since the support for one platform over another can reach a religious fervour.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:20 AM | Comments (0)
The Seven Habits of Highly Deflective Colleagues
OK, this little nugget from Academe Online made me LOL. Read it.
The Seven Habits of Highly Deflective Colleagues
Do you have a colleague who can be classed as collega deflectivus? Or, heaven forfend, are you one yourself?
By Michelle Maher and Katherine Chaddock
Have you ever used any of these techniques? Be honest.
It's good to see them laid out so clearly. I think some organizations develop a culture of deflection. Obviously sometimes this is just good process. Other times it just impedes positive change and energy.
Now the real challenge is to know how to tell the differentce
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:49 AM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2009
Blogging in the Public Sector
For your reading pleasure:
Social Web: Full Text Report: The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0Author: David C. Wyld, Associate Professor, Southeastern Louisiana University
From the Summary:
"Dr. Wyld examines the phenomenon of blogging in the context of the larger revolutionary forces at play in the development of the second-generation Internet, where interactivity among users is key. This is also referred to as “Web 2.0.” Wyld observes that blogging is growing as a tool for promoting not only online engagement of citizens and public servants, but also offline engagement. He describes blogging activities by members of Congress, governors, city mayors, and police and fire departments in which they engage directly with the public. He also describes how blogging is used within agencies to improve internal communications and speed the flow of information.
Based on the experiences of the blogoneers, Wyld develops a set of lessons learned and a checklist of best practices for public managers interested in following in their footsteps. He also examines the broader social phenomenon of online social networks and how they affect not only government but also corporate interactions with citizens and customers."
Access the Full Text Report (99 pages; PDF)
Stephen
(Thanks Gary)
Posted by stephen at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)
Know When to Use Alkaline Versus Rechargeable Batteries
I have enough devices that use batteries - rechargeable or not - that I could sink a ship. I worry about the environmental impact but it can also cost a fortune.
Anyway I found these Lifehacker posts usfeul for making choces of when to use rechargeable and when to use alkaline. It also explains the differences between all the types of batteries.
Know When to Use Alkaline Versus Rechargeable Batteries
And battery technology is getting more advanced all the time.
And always dispose of your batteries in a responsible way. I know some libraries are collection depots which works well in battery intensive environments like colleges.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)
Future of Academic Libraries
Carl Grant has a nice review of a new article about the future of academic libraries.
"The “New Review of Academic Librarianship” has just published (and it’s available for free download for a limited time period) a really excellent article entitled Academic Digital Libraries of the Future: An Environment Scan." [16 page PDF]
Both the article and Carl's comments are worth the read.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:04 AM | Comments (0)
eBook Universe
Cool Graphic!
This really shows the complexity of managing eBooks in the current framework.
And it doesn't even consider on demand publishing options such as the Espresso EBP machine . . .
Update: Some folks haven't seen the EBP so here's alink to the video:
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:00 AM | Comments (1)
ACRL issues RFP for value of academic libraries research
I've advocated for this in the past since academic and college libraries have less value research than most other types of librarianship. I was pleased and excited to see this announcement and hope that by posting it here more folks submit proposals.
ACRL issues RFP for value of academic libraries research
"CHICAGO – The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) is seeking proposals from experienced researchers for the development and delivery of a comprehensive review of the quantitative and qualitative literature, methodologies and best practices currently in place for demonstrating the value of academic libraries. The request for proposals is available on the ACRL Web site at http://www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/ACRL_RFP_Value.pdf. Responses are due by 4:30 p.m. CST on Nov. 2, 2009.
The current economic climate and the increased emphasis on assessment and outcomes have forced academic departments’ higher education administrators to make tough decisions regarding the funding of programs and units at their institutions. The relevance of libraries is under question. Now, more than ever, there is a need for libraries to demonstrate their value in clear, measurable ways to leaders in higher education, information technology, funding agencies and campus decision makers in order to secure adequate funding for their operations.
The primary objective of the comprehensive review is to provide ACRL leaders with a clearer understanding of what research already exists and where gaps occur in research about the performance of academic libraries. Additionally, this review will provide ACRL members with tools and strategies to demonstrate the value of academic libraries to their institutional leadership.
Direct questions to Mary Ellen K. Davis, ACRL executive director, at mdavis@ala.org or (312) 280-3248, or to Kara Malenfant, ACRL scholarly communications/government relations specialist, at kmalenfant@ala.org or (312) 280-2510."
Kudos to ACRL.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:49 AM | Comments (0)
Read the Internet
I got a kick out of this one:
How long would it take to read the Internet if you printed it?
"Answer: 57,000 years if you read it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
But if you just read it for 10 mins at bedtime, it would take 8,219,088"
It's a good thing that cataloguers don't read everything they catalog. So maybe it would take less time to catalog the web. (insert sardonic tone here). I once heard an estimate that if every librarian alive today catalogued the web pages that are available today (we'll just close the updating cycles), for 24 hours a day, then it would only take something over 10,000 years to catalogue the internet like libraries do search and find.
Whew.
More fun stuff about printing the Internet here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:50 AM | Comments (1)
September 22, 2009
Will people pay for "news"?
Most of the studies done in North America have not been published on the issue of what or if people would pay for news. Here's yesterday's interesting Guardian UK story of the results of the PaidContentUK survey:
Only 5% of web users would pay for online news, reports survey
The story is full of charts and demographics and is very interesting.
Of course ths is good news for libraries since we're free. Or is it good news?
Hmmm.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:18 PM | Comments (1)
When will the FailWhale die?
Gary at ResourceShelf makes some good points today. Why does Twitter need a FailWhale? I recall when AOL was going through its growth issues and would be 'down' often. You don't see that too often anymore. Facebook passed 300 milllion users and isn't 'down' for plumbing changes too often. I do hope that these tools that are becoming such an important part of our lives and culture can keep up with expectations and grow along with the demand.
For example, Gary points to the afct that there are "ow more than 65 million people now actively using Facebook on their mobile devices — a significant increase from 20 million just eight months ago."
It seems time to focus on scalability, big time.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
Using Twitter in Libraries
Just a quick self-explanatory link to the Mobile Libraries post:
100 Ways to Use Twitter In Your Library
Good job!
Cool.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2009
Libraries and Socialism
As long as you're not irony or sarcasm challenged, you may enjoy this column from the San Francisco Chronicle:
The menace of the public option
M.C. Blakeman
Saturday, September 19, 2009
"Of all the current assaults on our noble republic, perhaps none is more dangerous than the public option - specifically, the public library option.
For far too long, this menace has undermined the very foundations of our economy. While companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble struggle valiantly each day to sell books, these communistic cabals known as libraries undercut the hard work of good corporate citizens by letting people read their books for free."
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:53 AM | Comments (1)
TPL and Change
Nice big article in the weekend Toronto Star about libraries quoting my friends.
A tale of two countries' libraries
"In recession-wracked U.S. cities they are being targeted for closure. Not so here"
Selected quotes:
"Librarians are good at being innovative and economical," says Shelagh Paterson (executive director of OLA). "We're a very collaborative profession globally, so before we all go down the garden path wasting public money on the latest electronic device, a few places go out in front and try it, then report back to the rest. It works."
The "completely unmediated Internet," says U of T's Wendy Newman, who authored a report earlier this year on the future of Ontario libraries for the Ministry of Culture. That's where increasingly tech-savvy librarians are earning their stripes as navigators and content assessors. "They and library websites can point people to authoritative, credible sites," says Newman.
So yes, there will always be books, clothbound, with paper pages, lined up reassuringly in alphabetical order on shelves. "They're the perfect format," says Jane Pyper [City Librarian]. "They won't ever go away." They'll simply be joined by more eReaders – Sony eBooks are already in the Toronto system – as the device continues to improve in resolution. "The container isn't as important as the ideas it contains," says Pyper,
And that's the facts. Library Journal has reported that TPL buys a bunch of formats. For example Toronto Public Library tells us it's purchased 989 copies of Dan Brown’s new novel The Lost Symbol in multiple formats:
● 800 copies of the print version, or which 114 are non-reservable Best Bets
● 76 copies of the audiobook
● 83 copies of large print
● 15 copies of the eBook
● 15 copies of the eAudiobook
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:36 AM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2009
McKinsey and 2.0
Here's more stuff from the McKinsey study on web 2.0 in business:
Try plotting your libraries on the chart.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)
19 Free Web Services That Keep Saving You Money
Check out this article on CIO.com for some places to try different 2.0 concepts for free:
19 Free Web Services That Keep Saving You Money
Free long distance
No fee faxes
Videoconference for free
Conference calls for free
Use a No-Cost Directory-Assistance Service
Turn Scanned Docs Into Text, at No Cost
Free Services for Taking Notes
Grabbing E-Books
Download free MP3s
Automatically Transcribe Voice Notes for Free
Read Free E-Classics
Beat the Text-Messaging Swindle
Store Large Files Online for Free
Maybe you'll discover something useful to you.
Caveat emptor.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:00 AM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2009
Battery Draining Browsers
Ever wonder if there are differences in the power draw on your laptop battery just from your choice of browser?
Well there is!
Extend Your Battery Life with the Right Browser [Battery]
Also check out:
Laptops: 15 ways to increase your battery life
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:09 AM | Comments (1)
September 16, 2009
Google Failures
eWeek has an article entitled “Enterprise Applications: 10 Google Services That Failed and Why”. My friend Steve calls it "a vicarious thrill".
Here's the ten:
1. Google Lively
2. Google Video
3. Google Notebook
4. Google Code Mashup Editor
5. Google Radio
6. Google Print
7. Google Catalogs
8. Dodgeball.com
9. Google Share
10. Searchmash
Just goes to show that it's not always a slam dunk.
Enjoy.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 6:34 PM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2009
The Lost Symbol
OK, here's our latest test book.
Interesting.
This looks like a good book to promote public libraries.
I'd love to see someone do a GPS or geocaching game in their library symbol. I wonder what the mysterious symbol for libraries would be . . . ? You could even partner with other historic sites around town.
Hmmmm. (finger to forehead)
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:18 PM | Comments (1)
Libraries and Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg just announced that Facebok passed 300 million users and that they are now cash flow positive (i.e. profitable) ahead of schedule.
What's the library angle?
Well there are a few things to ask ourselves here....
Do you solicit new cardholders through Facebook?
Is your OPAC easily accessible through Facebook?
Can I ask reference questions through Facebook?
Can I connect to you and your webpage presence through Facebook?
Do you have a fan page where potential and current users can
Are you fundraising through Facebook?
Are you collaborating and communicating with your friends?
A recent discussion thread on Web4Lib offered a whole bunch of ideas and examples.
If you're not where your users are, where exactly are you?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:05 PM | Comments (0)
Harvard B School Research on Twitter
The Top 3 Things People Do On Social Networks
According to research by Harvard Business School's Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, people spend 70% of their time on social networks looking at profiles and photos.
Understanding Users of Social Networks
HBS - Working Knowledge: A first look at faculty research
The Truth About How People Use Twitter
"- Women account for 55% of all accounts (in contrast to other social networks, which are male-dominated)
- Tweets from men are more widely read.
- Men and women tweet at about the same rate, which is to say hardly at all.
- Just 10% of users account for 90% of all tweets
- 75% of users hardly ever tweet at all.
- The median number of tweets is one (1)"
And my daughter (21) followed me today on Twitter. Years ago she was my second friend on Facebook and my first on MySpace. We've both abandoned MySpace. She's my only relative on FB compared to nearly all of my neices and nephews on FB.
So, I know those under 25's aren't the big Twitter users but that might be changing.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:34 AM | Comments (1)
2009 Web Trends = The Top 5
This is a good series of the major trends that are moving faster than the rest...
ReadWriteWeb's Top 5 Web Trends of 2009:
4.Mobile Web & Augmented Reality
Great posts!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:24 AM | Comments (0)
What is Cataloging?
Quite a few folks might find this slide show useful:
With the recent debate about the problems in Google Book Search and the poor optimization of the OCLC WorldCat records in that product, it's good to remind outselves what catalogers do.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:12 AM | Comments (0)
September 14, 2009
Did You Know 4.0
I love the Did You Know series of videos. This is a new one not done by the original team but updated a but and some great production values.
It's worth the 4.75 minutes.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)
The Top Ten Things Library Administrators Should Know About Technology
Roy Tennant has posted a good top 10 list:
The Top Ten Things Library Administrators Should Know About Technology
1. Technology isn't as hard as you think it is.
2. Technology gets easier all the time.
3. Technology gets cheaper all the time.
4. Maximize the effectiveness of your most costly technology investment -- your people.
5. Iterate, don't perfect.
6. Be prepared to fail.
7. Be prepared to succeed.
8. Never underestimate the power of a prototype.
9. A major part of good technology implementation is good project management.
10. The single biggest threat to any technology project is political in nature.
Read the whole post for more.
I
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:51 PM | Comments (0)
September 13, 2009
Information Workers and this 2.0 Stuff
Lone Wolf points to this interesting "excerpt on us “information workers” from Forrester Research titled A Day in the Life of an Information Worker."
"Did you know that:
•Gen X (not Gen Y) is the most likely to use Web 2.0 technology to get their job done?
•Smartphones are available to only 11% of US information workers?
•Email is still the only application used on an hourly basis by most iWorkers?
•One in four information workers spend 4 or more hours a week looking for information?
•37% of information workers meet with customers or partners at least monthly?"
Interesting. Then again, Gen Y are mostly still in educational settings with one of the highest Higher Ed participation rates ever. More to come ...
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:48 PM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2009
Information Outlook Column - Setpember 2009
Here's my Information Outlook for the Sept. 2009 Issue
The New Librarian
Download file
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 6:47 PM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2009
Some Friday Fun
This little graphic caused me pause and giggle:
Internet Distractions, In Order of Importance
Does it look like your daily life?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 6:43 AM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2009
Thinking Ahead Conference
Here's my keynote from last night's Thinking Ahead Conference in Salt Lake City.
Web 3.0 and Libraries: What is at the Heart of Libraries?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:32 PM | Comments (1)
Flipping for your Flip
Lots of libraries have gotten into their FLIP video cameras.
Jill Bateman has a list of tips for getting the most out of the Flip camera.
Check out the whole post here.
1. Keep the camera as steady as humanly possible.
2. No zooming.
3. Keep the rule of thirds rule
4. Video (television) is a close up medium.
5. f you do zoom in or out while you’re recording (please don’t, but if you must) do it excruciatingly slowly.
6. Get lots of different shots when you’re interviewing someone
7. Don’t shoot a subject in front of a window.
8. Control the sound in the room whenever possible.
9. Gets lots of shots of people doing things.
10. Hand the camera to a video editor.
Thanks Chad.
I am still trying to get the hang of mine. I think these tips will help. I have a daughter and godson who are trained video editors. Maybe I'll have a chance to produce something better than stupid librarian tricks.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:27 AM | Comments (0)
Comparing Consumer Search Options
I was particularly interested in ths posting that shows that there may be regional or country differences in the search performance of Bing and Google.
Bing Serves Up Most Successful Canadian Searches
"Last month, Hitwise shared data showing the paltry number of Canadian searches deemed successful. Far too many Canadians have to refine searches in order to find what they're looking for. After receiving many requests to break down the data by search engine, Hitwise has revealed that Bing serves up the highest percentage of successful searches in Canada.Still, most searchers are hanging out on Google."
But it's still early days yet.
As librarians we might desire to try a few searches and read a few articles to have an informed opinion on the differences between the big three (soon to be big two), Google, Bing and Yahoo! Otherwise we're no better than some teenage brand devotees who wear the brand name jeans just because everyone else at school does!
Here are some links to start you off:
Microsoft's Bing Vs Google: Head To Head Search Results
Search Google and Bing at the same time
Bing vs. Google vs. Yahoo: Feature Smackdown
Search Smackdown: Bing Vs. Google
3 Tools to Compare Google and Bing Search Results
Bing vs. Google, side by side comparison
Compare Bing's search results with Google's using Bing vs. Google
Bing vs. Google: Comparing Them Side-by-side
List of Bing,Google & Yahoo Comparison tools
I still think that the future is bifurcated. Consumer search will stay in these ad driven engines and be manipulated by search engine optimizers and advertisers. Important searches will increasingly move into a small group of researchers, hobbyists and academics who value selection, vertical databases and search results that are more than a list - visually enhanced, tuned, faceted search results and word cloud style suggestions for a start. Searches that are informed by searcher sensitive taxonomies and ontologies (like MeSH, etc.) will start to be baked into the vertical search space.
That's just the future. For now, we must understand the strengths and weaknesses of consumer search in order to promote better search for targeted markets where the searcher might be saving a life instead of choosing a restaurant or checking up on Paris Hilton (the person or the hotel).
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:37 AM | Comments (0)
The Cost of Free
I've heard, too many times, that everyone should just go on the advertising based model. This is usually espoused by someone who has never sold an ad in their life.
However, we do note that many of our most valued 'free' stuff has ads as part or all of its business model. It's not immune to the business cycle though to - check out this graphic:
I look forward to the day libraries embrace ads everywhere (yes, that's tongue in cheek in case you haven't noticed) so that they can be truly Googlefied..
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:37 AM | Comments (0)
September 9, 2009
Protecting Children, or not.
Many libraries have installed filters - sometimes by legal fiat and sometimes as required by their board policies. Some libraries find themselves put in the position of recommending or researching questions about filtering and child safety software for parents when asked. Apart from my own personal opinion, I think it's important that we all know the information below:
From Gizmodo:
Child-Safety Software Secretly Records Kids' IM Conversations, Sells Them to Marketers
From Boing Boing:
"Software sold under the Sentry and FamilySafe brands can read private chats conducted through Yahoo, MSN, AOL and other services, and send back data on what kids are saying about such things as movies, music or video games. The information is then offered to businesses seeking ways to tailor their marketing messages to kids.
"This scares me more than anything I have seen using monitoring technology," said Parry Aftab, a child-safety advocate. "You don't put children's personal information at risk..."
EchoMetrix, formerly known as SearchHelp, said companies that have tested the chat data using Pulse include News Corp.'s Fox Broadcasting and Dreamworks SKG Inc. Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures recently signed on."
From the AP:
Web-monitoring software gathers data on kid chats
I guess we shouldn't be surprised that children's behaviors are being tracked and used by some marketers but I hope none of you find yourself in the position of having your library's privacy policy conflict with your library's choice of filtering provider. Either way, if you find yourself in the position of answering research questions about filtering and child safety software choices, this is important information to know. There are companies that won't do this and companies that will sell children's internet experiences.
As for my personal opinion, I am amazed that this is a legal business strategy for some.
Here's another position for ALA and a number of its units to take a stance on.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:53 PM | Comments (1)
Understanding the Cloud
Capgemini has a good summary on Cloud issues and justifications:
Top Industry Vendors give their views on Clouds
Googledraft White Paper on Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is a huge trend and one that is transformational. It promises to be a proprietary and open hybrid and will affect all sectors of economy.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:55 AM | Comments (0)
September 8, 2009
13 Fantastic and Fun Image Generators
Looking for ways to liven up your library signs and materials this autumn? Check out:"
13 Fantastic and Fun Image Generators
1. Warning labels and signs
2. De-motivational posters
3. Street signs
4. LOL Cats
5. Magazine covers
6. Tombstones
7. XBox 360 achievements
8. Movie posters
9. Garbage pail kids
10. Presidential seal
11. Add photo effects
12. Skitch
13. Comic life
Check out the examples and use your imagine. Run wild.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 6:09 PM | Comments (0)
First week of school
OK, it's the first week of school in many places and ResourceShelf has a timely post:
"The U.S. Census is out with their “Back to School 2009-2010″ Fact Sheet.
It’s loaded down with interesting statistics (with links to original sources) that might be of interest. Here’s a few stats to serve as examples:
+ $7.6 billion
The amount of money spent at family clothing stores in August 2008. Only in December were sales significantly higher. Similarly, sales at bookstores in August 2008 totaled $2.4 billion, an amount approached in 2008 only by sales in January.
+ 55%
Percentage of 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in school in October 2007.
+ 56 million
The projected number of students to be enrolled in the nation’s elementary through high schools (grades K-12) this fall.
+ 19 million
The projected number of students enrolled in the nation’s colleges and universities this fall. This is up from 13.5 million 20 years ago.
+ 98,793
Number of public schools in 2006-07. In 2007-08, there were 28,218 private schools.
Again, much much more on the actual fact sheet. It’s accessible here.
Source: U.S. Census"
14.2 million
Number of computers available for classroom use in the nation’s schools as of the 2005-2006 school year. That works out to one computer for every four students.
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009, Table 252 <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:54 PM | Comments (0)
Your Persona
MIT has a new tool on their site that lets you have your web image scraped and organized into a visual persona.
Here's mine:
To get yours and read more go here.
Personas: How does the Internet see you?
"Enter your name, and Personas scours the web for information and attempts to characterize the person - to fit them to a predetermined set of categories that an algorithmic process created from a massive corpus of data. The computational process is visualized with each stage of the analysis, finally resulting in the presentation of a seemingly authoritative personal profile."
It's much more interestng to watch it being created than the end result. Watch your own being created. Watch mine if you like. Pick a friend.
Compare and contrast your internet persona to your own self image.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:49 PM | Comments (1)
The Google Books Metadata Debate
Now this is an interesting debate that will go on a while.
Here's some links to get you started:
Google Books Metadata Includes Millions of Errors by Thomas Claburn
Google Books and Lousy Indexing (Steve Arnold and Beyond Search)
Google Books As "Train Wreck" For Scholars
Google's Book Search: A Disaster for Scholars (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Finding and Fixing Errors in Google's Book Catalog
Google Books: A Metadata Train Wreck
Google Books: The Metadata Mess
Google Book Settlement Conference (29 page PDF)
UC Berkeley, August 28, 2009
Geoff Nunberg, School of Information
Now I thought that OCLC had a relationship with WorldCat and Google. I wonder why there are these metadata issues when there is a decent crowdsourced database like WorldCat available.
This reminds me of one of my favourite daily blogs:
Typo of the day for librarians
Nobody's perfect.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:04 AM | Comments (1)
Video - I Need My Teachers to Learn
I liked this video posted on Dangerously Irrelevant:
Video - I Need My Teachers to Learn
It's just over three minutes.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:01 AM | Comments (0)
September 7, 2009
How many search result pages are too many?
"Less than 1% of Google searches proceed beyond the first page.
Source: The Dumbest Generation by Mark Bauerlein"
Hmmm. Is this a good or a bad thing? Debate . . .
Would we be upset in olden times if the first catalogue card had the right source, right away? Not likely, we'd celebrate.
If the algorithm is working well, why should we have to go to many pages?
If it's a who, what, where, when question, one of a factual nature, then a decent result should be on the first page too.
I'd be more interested to know how many people go deeper on the how and why questions of life. The ones libraries are set up to support - learning and research.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:28 PM | Comments (1)
Whither RSS
OK, what is it?
RSS Is Dead, So Is The RSS Fund
"Three months ago, Steve Gillmor wrote that “it’s time to get completely off RSS and switch to Twitter.” Sam Diaz piled on last week, calling RSS a Web 1.0 application whose time has passed. And things got even worse today, when news leaked that former Feedburner chief Dick Costello has agreed to join Twitter as chief operating officer."
RSS isn't Dead (Just Ask Executives)
"It's become fashionable among a certain set to declare that RSS is no longer the foremost pipeline for news and information on the Web. . . . RSS racked up quite a bit of support from the executives, coming in third after blogs and video sharing sites. While Steve Gillmor and others may have kicked RSS to the curb in favor of Twitter and other tools, people outside the sphere of early adopters are getting a lot of rewards from RSS still."
As an RSS addict I hope I don't have to go into detox any time soon. From a library perspective I find RSS much simpler to adopt and manage than Twitter style.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:17 AM | Comments (1)
September 5, 2009
Are Questions and Searches Predictable?
"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future."
Niels Bohr
The Noisy Channel has an interesting post that made me think. Read the whole thing here.
"Google in particular has been researching the predictability of search trends (just to be fair and balanced, so have Bing and Yahoo). Yossi Matias, Niv Efron, and Yair Shimshoni at Google Labs Israel have made some fascinating observations based on Google Trends, including the following:
■Over half of the most popular Google search queries are predictable in a 12 month ahead forecast, with a mean absolute prediction error of about 12%.
■Nearly half of the most popular queries are not predictable (with respect to the model we have used).
■Some categories have particularly high fraction of predictable queries; for instance, Health (74%), Food & Drink (67%) and Travel (65%).
■Some categories have particularly low fraction of predictable queries; for instance, Entertainment (35%) and Social Networks & Online Communities (27%).
■The trends of aggregated queries per categories are much more predictable: 88% of the aggregated category search trends of over 600 categories in Insights for Search are predictable, with a mean absolute prediction error of of less than 6%.
You can read their full 32-page paper here."
What it made me think about was to question what percentage of library questions - online or in person - are predictable. Of course, we know the seasonal questions and those related to curriculum needs etc. How much better could we provide service if we were able to predict and prepare for a significant percentage of queries?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:53 PM | Comments (0)
Government 2.0
Over at TechCrunch there an important editorial posting by guest blogger Tim O'Reilly. As the coiner of the term Web 2.0 (love him or hate him) he's now talking that it is time for Government 2.0. With the Obama administration's loosening up of the rules around 2.0 and government and military websites, we're probably going to see a new era in government(s) on the web. What does Government 2.0 mean?
Gov 2.0: It’s All About The Platform
Editor’s note: The following guest post is by Tim O’Reilly, the founder and CEO of computer book publisher O’Reilly Media and a conference organizer. O’Reilly coined the term Web 2.0 five years ago. Now he is arguing it is time for Gov 2.0, and has helped organize a summit next week to talk about what that might mean.
Today, many people equate Web 2.0 with social media; three or four years ago, they equated it with AJAX applications and APIs. Many are now starting to think it’s all about cloud computing. In fact, it’s all of these and more. The way I have always defined Web 2.0, it’s been about what it means for the internet, rather than the personal computer, to be the dominant computing platform. What are the rules of business and competitive advantage when the network is the platform?
So too with Government 2.0. A lot of people equate the term with government use of social media, either to solicit public participation or to get out its message in new ways. Some people think it means making government more transparent. Some people think it means adding AJAX to government websites, or replacing those websites with government APIs, or building new cloud platforms for shared government services. And yes, it means all those things.
But as with Web 2.0, the real secret of success in Government 2.0 is thinking about government as a platform."
If you're in government or funded by government or deal with government, you'd be well advised to read and discuss the concepts here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)
Web 2.0 in the Corporate World
Some new research data from McKinsey on the benefits of web 2.0 to corporations.
How companies are benefiting from Web 2.0: McKinsey Global Survey Results
"The heaviest users of Web 2.0 applications are also enjoying benefits such as increased knowledge sharing and more effective marketing. These benefits often have a measurable effect on the business." (September 2009 McKiney Quarterly)
Steve Arnold makes his commentary here:
"McKinsey’s team of thought leaders has taken the bold step of quantifying the benefits of Web 2.0. You can read the six segments of the article by navigating to the McKinsey Quarterly Web site and registering. The spine of the article is a survey of 1700 executives. The data have been crunched and the principal findings summarized."
Interesting stuff for those in special libraries or partnering with big biz.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)
Researcher Privacy
Many research librarians are confronted with the need to do research for others that is confidential or where the client cannot be identified. This often means that they use their own name and e-mail address to acquire e-documents or access to websites. This can lead to years worth of follow up marketing calls and spam that are a pointless waste of time for the caller and the librarian. Yeechhh.
Here's a link to a list of 10 temporary or disposable e-mail services that might prove useful to you:
How Do You Keep Your Email Address Private?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:06 AM | Comments (0)
September 4, 2009
Social Media Revolution
This is a great little YouTube video with a ton of little factoids (citations for all the data is also provided).
<strong>Social Media Revolution
It's just over 4 minutes long and you can watch it without the sound on if needed.
It attempts to answer the question: Is social media a fad, or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:03 PM | Comments (0)
CNN on Libraries
CNN comes down on the side of modern libraries. Some great libraries highlighted here.
The future of libraries, with or without books
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)
Top Trends
Reblogging some nice lists from "What's Next: Top Trends"
"Some Media Statistics…September 4th, 2009
Around 80% of all news available on the Internet originates in newspapers.
Ref: New York Review of Books (US).
Of the 120,000 blogs created daily, 50% are about the same subject - the writer.
Ref: Esquire (US).
All South Korean police stations now have cyber crime units to deal with online violence and bullying.
Ref: BBC (UK).
Five of the top ten best-selling novels sold in Japan during 2007 started life as cell-phone stories (i.e. digital downloads to mobile phones).
Ref: South China Morning Post (China).
The use of libraries has doubled in the US over the past decade.
Ref: NPR.org (US).
The Web uses 5% of global electricity.
Ref: Kevin Kelly.
In a recent US study, only 3 out of 220 students were able to turn off their cell phones for 72 hours.
Ref: Fox News (US).
52% of Korean infants aged 3-5 regularly use the Internet, spending on average 4 hours every week online.
Ref: Korean Herald (Korea).
Two decades ago there were 225 TV programmes in the UK that were watched by more than 15m people. 2 years ago there were only 10.
Ref: Prospect (UK).
Almost 80% of 16-18 year olds in the US cannot name the 4 largest TV networks in the US (NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox).
Ref: CNN (US).
67% of people aged 16-25 claim that they would be ‘lost’ without a computer versus 46% that would be ‘lost’ without a television.
Ref: Red Herring (US).
In 2002 the average American spent more on lottery tickets than books.
Ref: Iconoculture (US).
36% of US high-school students believe that the US government should approve news stories prior to publication or broadcast.
Ref: Harpers (US)."
Some Science & Technology stats…
90% of all scientists and engineers with PhDs will live in Asia by 2010.
Ref: Purdue University (US).
In 2008 an average PC was 32,000 times more powerful and 12 times less expensive than an average PC in 1981.
Ref: A Brief History of the Future by Jacques Attali
Australia generates 2% of global Intellectual Property. In 10 years times this is expected to be 1%.
Ref: CSIRO (Aus).
There was a 400% rise in Chinese patent applications between 1995 and 2005.
Ref: World Intellectual Property Organization.
By the end of 2008, there were 1 billion PCs in use around the world. By 2013 this number is predicted to hit 2 billion.
Ref: New Scientist (UK).
10% of people in the US say that they would be happy to have an internet access device planted directly inside their brain.
Ref: Harper’s (US).
In 2005 Britain graduated 24,000 engineers. In China the figure was
300,000 while in India the number was 450,000.
Ref: Business Week (US).
There are currently 1.5 billion devices (approximately) connected to the Internet.
By 2012 there are expected to be 14 billion.
Ref: Forrester Research (US).
50% of products returned by customers are in full working order. It’s just that customers can’t figure out how to use them because they’re too complicated.
Ref: New Scientist (UK).
There were 77 serious accidents involving humans and robots in the UK in 2005.
Ref: New Scientist (UK).
Some Environment Statistics…September 5th, 2009
Polluted water kills 22,000 people every day.
Ref: A Brief History of the Future by Jacques Attali.
It’s estimated that in the US 16 million barrels of oil are used every year to produce bottled water containers.
Ref: Harper’s (US).
Oil majors control less than 10 percent of world resources of gas and oil, against 70 percent in the 1970s.
Ref: AFP.
China has 21% of the world’s population but only 1.8% of the world’s oil supply.
Ref: Eurasia Group (US).
At current rates of over-fishing and pollution there will be no fish left to eat in our oceans by the year 2056.
Ref: Time (US).
A typical avatar in Second Life consumes the same amount of electricity each year as an average Brazilian in real life.
Ref: Rough Type (US).
90% of people living in California now live in an area where air pollution exceeds the legal state limit.
Ref: Harper’s (US).
The percentage of the earth’s surface affected by drought has more than doubled over the last thirty years.
Ref: Time (US).
630 million people live within 10km (6 miles) of the sea worldwide.
Ref: Economist (UK).
China consumes 40% of the world’s steel production, 30% of the world’s coal and 25% of the world’s aluminum and copper. The country also accounts for 40% of the increase in demand for oil since 2001.
Ref: The Guardian (UK).
In China there are fifty new chemical plants currently under construction. In the US there is one.
Ref: Businessweek (US).
5% of waste generated worldwide is electrical goods.
Ref: Sunday Times (UK).
China uses 55% of the world’s cement.
Ref: Williams Inference (US).
1 in every 3,400 people in the US is an Elvis impersonator.
Ref: Prospect (UK).
1 in every 32 people in America is in prison.
Ref: Daily Times (Pakistan).
According to the General Social Survey (US) there has been a 300% increase in the number of Americans that have absolutely nobody to talk to about their problems.
Ref: American Sociological Review (US).
The number of prisoners in the UK has increased by 38% since 1997.
Ref: The Guardian (UK).
By the year 2025 people aged over 60 will outnumber those aged under 25 in the UK.
Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK).
Between 2001 and 2005, China accounted for 50% of all global economic growth.
Ref: The Sunday Times (UK).
5% of Californians are currently searching for a meaningless physical relationship.
Ref: Forbes (US).
90% of men that have walked on the moon were once Boy Scouts.
Ref: Prospect (UK).
10% of young people in the UK do not think that their lives are worth living.
Ref: The Prince’s Trust (UK).
85% of primary school teachers in the UK are female and 39% of boys aged 8-11 have no male teachers whatsoever.
Ref: Sunday Telegraph (UK).
Sharks kill around 10 people each year. Failing coconuts kill roughly 150.
Ref: George Burgess, University of Florida (US).
According to an Australian survey, 63% of people feel that they are overloaded with information and 40% have difficulty remembering more than 3 phone numbers.
Ref: Daily Telegraph (Aus).
There are 500,000 semi-automatic machine guns in private hands in Switzerland.
Ref: Prospect (UK).
In the US, 11.9% of black men aged 25-29 are in prison versus 3.9% of Hispanics and 1.7% of white males in the same age group.
Ref: AP.
There is expected to be a 36% increase in the number of people aged 75+ in Japan between 2005 and 2015. During the same period the number of people aged under 5 years-of-age is predicted to decline by 13%.
Ref: McKinsey Quarterly (US).
The increase in the world’s population between now and 2050 will be roughly the same as the entire world population in 1950.
Ref: Guardian (UK).
There was a 25% increase in the number of teachers buying liability insurance in the US between 2000 and 2005.
Ref: Atlantic Monthly (US).
There will be a 33% increase in the number of Germans aged 75+ between 2005 and 2015.
Ref: McKinsey Quarterly (US).
Over a quarter of English adults bought at least one English flag in June of 2005.
Ref: The Guardian (UK).
70% of American students claim that religion is either “somewhat important” or “very important in their lives.”
Ref: San Jose Mercury News (US).
31% of teenagers in America think they’ll be famous some day.
Ref: Psychology Today (US).
By 2050 there will be more Egyptians alive than Russians.
Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK).
A survey in the UK says that 63% of girls aged 15-19 think that being a glamour model is the ideal profession.
Ref: Sydney Morning Herald (Aus).
92% of the land in the UK is still classified as countryside.
Ref: The Spectator (UK).
The number of US university students learning a foreign language has fallen from 16% to 8.5% over the past thirty years.
Ref: International Herald Tribune (US).
In the mid 1950s 9% of adults were single in the US. The figure is now 44%
Ref: Innovation Watch (US).
In 1998 there were roughly 12 pro-terrorism websites worldwide. Last year there were roughly 4,700.
Ref: Harpers (US).
In 1992, 31% of people living in the UK described themselves as English. By 2000 the percentage had increased to 41%.
Ref: British Social Attitudes Survey (UK).
89% of people in the UK now live in towns or cities.
Ref: New Statesman (UK).
Australians spend more than 3 hours every day watching television but only 12 minutes talking to their partner.
Ref: Sydney Morning Herald (AUS).
There are almost as many Chinese learning English in China as there are people who can speak English living in the US, UK and Canada combined.
Ref: Financial Times (UK).
92% of teenage girls in the UK are unhappy with their bodies and teenagers living in urban areas are the least happy according to a study by University College London. In London only 6% of teenage girls are happy with their body compared with 14% in Yorkshire.
Ref: Bliss (UK).
In China there are more households that own a DVD player than have running hot water.
Ref: The Guardian (UK).
To make a cotton T-Shirt requires 27,000 litres of water.
Ref: The Guardian (UK).
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)
September 3, 2009
Is Social Networking Changing Childhood?
From Common Sense Media:
National Poll Reveals a Disconnect Between Parents and Teens on the Role That Social Networking Plays in Their Lives
"SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Common Sense Media today released the results of a national poll of teens and parents on social networking behaviors. The poll, conducted by The Benenson Strategy Group, illustrated that kids increasingly connect with friends, classmates, and people with similar interests through social networks – and that parents are out of the loop.
According to the poll’s key findings, teens admit to many behaviors while using social networks:
- 22% of teens check social networking sites more than 10 times a day, while only 4% of parents believe kids are checking that much
- 51% of teens check social networking sites more than once a day, while only 23% of parents say their kids check more than once a day
- 28% have shared personal information that they normally wouldn't have shared in public
- 25% have shared a profile with a false identity
- 39% have posted something they regretted
- 26% have pretended to be someone else online
- 54% have joined an online community or Facebook/MySpace group in support of a cause
- 34% have volunteered for a campaign, nonprofit, or charity
“In today’s digital environment, parents have less time to supervise their kids’ behavior,” said James Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media. “Communication and socialization in our kids’ world is increasingly moving from face-to-face to face-to-cyberspace, and parents vastly underestimate the amount of time that kids spend on their networks. That makes it more challenging for parents to actually parent in the crucial areas of social interaction and development, and, in a digital world, parents need to play a more important role than ever in ensuring that our kids get the best of these technologies and are using them safely.”
Social networks and mobile communication connect kids to their friends 24/7. For the most part, conversations that start in the classroom hallway more or less continue in digital space. Teens are using social networks to share information, make connections, and develop their identities in new, exciting ways. But when teens communicate either anonymously or through a disguised identity, the doors are left wide open for them to not be held accountable. That kind of communication also leads to a disconnect between actions and their consequences, which is how irresponsible behaviors like cyberbullying become a reality.
Parents are the first line of defense when it comes to helping kids use the same senses of responsibility and self-respect in their online worlds as they do offline. Common Sense Media urges families to keep up regular conversations about life in a digital world and what it means to be safe, smart digital citizens.
To find out more about what teens are doing on social networks, as well as get full poll results, parent tips, and more, visit www.commonsensemedia.org/teen-social-media."
I've written a number of articles on the need to teach social literacies today and this press release highlights some of the reasons why.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:26 PM | Comments (1)
The 9 Kinds of Intelligence
I've always subsribed to Bloom's Taxonomy of thinking styles and the work of Gardner and I quote them a lot.
This link goes to Gardner's 9 kinds of intelligence and is a pretty good summary explanation of the types:
These are Gardner’s nine types of intelligence, as described in A Better Brain at Any Age (Conari, 2009) by Sondra Kornblatt.: (Full descriptions after the link)
1. Linguistic intelligence
2. Logical-mathematical intelligence
3. Musical intelligence
4. Spatial intelligence
5. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
6. Interpersonal intelligence
7. Intrapersonal intelligence .
8. Naturalistic intelligence.
9. Spiritual or existential intelligence
Where does your library focus its efforts?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:21 PM | Comments (1)
The State of News
Newsosaur is reporting this:
Newspaper ads tracking to $10B sales drop
"In round numbers, total newspaper advertising sales are likely to drop by $10 billion in 2009, which would put them roughly one-third lower than they were in the prior disastrous year.
Based on the 29.0% skid in advertising sales in the second quarter of this year that was reported on Friday, consolidated print and online ad sales likely will be no better than $27 billion this year. They could even be worse, depending on the state of the economy.
The projected performance compares to total ad revenues of $37.8 billion in 2008, when sales plunged by 16.6%, which until now had been the worst decline on record."
Read the entire post here.
I have fond memories in the early 80's when online pricing was being disputed by librarians. I attended several public forums where librarians publicly demanded that the only price should be 25 cents (the same as for the print paper - ah those were the days - and they didn't want to see any ads! I hope and pray that our understanding of business models has improved . . .? ). The fulltext newspapers online defended their pricing but still basically only captured the top research libraries. Then along came the web and newspaper websites. And the attendant ads but they were "free" so it was 'acceptable'. Unfortunately most of the ad and other revenue wasn't going to the newspapers but to the search engines (like big G) or new services like Monster, Craigslist and eBay. That's not good and doesn't replace revenue streams.
So what are we going to see next? Rumours abound that most newspaper websites are going to become walled gardens and fee based. We'll see. Can everyone be a WSJ?
This shift is very important for libraries who need the news.
Does your library or research interests of your organization depend on news?
If choice and voice decline, what are your strategies for getting the complete picture?
On another note, and in the tag marked
Newspapers Fire Young People Most
"Common sense would suggest that during this whole "death of print" era, newspapers would desperately cling to their young, idealistic and Internet-savvy employees who are willing to work for low entry-level wages.
But no."
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:05 AM | Comments (2)
Frameworks for Online Learnng
The Framework for Taking School Online
This chart is fron the recent SRI funded "by the US Department of Education (PDF) found that on the whole, online learning environments actually led to higher tested performance than face-to-face learning environments. “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction,” concluded the report’s authors in their key findings."
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:33 AM | Comments (0)
What are the top news sites now?
There are a few things that make a website or portal sticky and help drive traffic to yur site. This includes weather, news, and gossip. What does your library use to make your site sticky?
What are the top news sites now?
Top 30 News Sites – Traffic and Trends
This is a list of the top news sites in June 2009 , according to Nielsen Online, and via Editor and Publisher -
1. Yahoo! News – 45.638 million uniques. Traffic rose 30% from May.
2. CNN Digital Network – 38,792 million uniques. Traffic rose 14%.
3. MSNBC Digital Network – 36.262 million uniques. Traffic fell 4%.
4. AOL News – 24.716 million uniques. Traffic rose 12%.
5. NYTimes.com – 17.423 million uniques. Down 1%.
6. Tribune Newspapers – 17.044 million. Rose 13%.
7. Fox News Digital Network – 16.808 million. Increased 61%.
8. ABC News Digital Network – 13.408 million. Increased 16%.
9. Google News – 12.831 million. Increased 22%.
10. McClatchy Newspaper Network – 12.681 million. Increased 29%.
11. Gannett Newspapers and Newspaper Division – 12.261 million. Fell 1%.
12. USAToday.com – 9.597 million. Unchanged.
13. WashingtonPost.com – 9.584 million. Up 6%.
14. NBC Local Media – 9.542 million.
15. CBS News Digital Network – 9.306 million. Rose 9%.
16. Advance Internet — 9.270 million. Rose 30%.
17. TheHuffingtonPost.com – 7.461 million. Rose 85%.
18. Hearst Newspapers Digital – 7.404 million. Unchanged.
19. WorldNow – 7.164 million. Fell 10%.
20. BBC – 7.163 million. Rose 21%.
21. Daily News Online Edition – 6.994 million. Rose 84%.
22. MediaNews Group Newspapers – 6.943 million. Fell 7%.
23. Topix – 5.873 million. Fell 1%.
24. The Slate Group Websites – 5.457 million. Fell 19%.
25. MailOnline – 5.261 million. Rose 43%.
26. Examiner.com – 4.771 million. Rose 97%.
27. Cox Newspapers – 4.603 million. Fell 10%.
28. Telegraph – 4.347 million. Rose 18%.
29. Gannett Broadcasting – 4.149 million. Fell 14%.
30. Associated Press – 4.063 million. Rose 15%.
I was interested to note how much things had changed since I was involoved in beta testing the first online newspaper in libray school. That's a big change in 30 years.
Top 30 Newspaper Sites – Traffic and Trends.
This is a list for July, hence some differences from the above list. The top 30 newspapers sites (again courtesy Editor and Publisher, and Nielsen Net Ratings) -
1. NYTimes.com – 14.277 million uniques. Drop in traffic of 27% from June.
2. WashingtonPost.com – 11.565 million. Rise of 29%.
3. USAToday.com – 9.761 million. Fall of 6%.
4. Daily News Online Edition – 9.131 million. Rise in traffic of 112%.
5. LA Times – 8.938 million. Rise of 2%.
6. Wall Street Journal Online – 8.341 million. Fall of 4%.
7. New York Post - 6.535 million. Rise of 32%.
8. Boston.com – 5.274 million. Rise of 8%.
9. SFGate.com/San Francisco Chronicle – 5.092 million. Rise of 13%.
10. Chicago Tribune – 4.442 million. Rise of 14%.
11. Politico – 3.401 million. Increase of 47%.
12. NJ.com – 2.926 million. Increase of 41%.
13. Atlanta Journal-Constitution – 2.747 million. Fall of 31%.
14. The Houston Chronicle – 2.569 million. Fall of 3%.
15. Philly.com – 2.5 million uniques. Rise of 47%.
16. Chicago Sun-Times – 2.48 million. Fall of 6%.
17. Newsday – 2.428 million. Fall of 28%.
18. The Sacramento Bee – 2.426 million. Rise of 84%.
19. Orlando Sentinel – 2.089 million. Increase of 49%.
20. The Seattle Times – 2.04 million. Increase of 55%.
21. Azcentral.com – 1.999 million. Increase of 41%.
22. MercuryNews.com – 1.871 million. Increase of 16%.
23. DallasNews.com - 1.832 million. Fall of 12%.
24. MiamiHerald.com – 1.829 million. Increase of 36%.
25. The Washington Times – 1.803 million. Increase of 56%.
26. tampabay.com – 1.758 million. Increase of 24%.
27. KansasCity.com – 1.708 million. Rise of 59%.
28. Baltimore Sun – 1.697 million. Rise of 7%.
29. Star Tribune – 1,662 million. Rise of 8%.
30. Detroit Free Press – 1.648 million. Rise of 9%.
More analysis of news sites here.
If all the newspaper sites restricted more of their content, how would that affect libraries?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:17 AM | Comments (0)
September 2, 2009
Human Centered Design
The Human Centered Design (HCD) Toolkit is now available in its second edition.
A free innovation guide for NGOs and Social Enterprises
"For years, organizations have used Human-Centered Design (HCD) to arrive at innovative business solutions. In collaboration with the Gates Foundation and non-profit groups IDE, ICRW, and Heifer International, IDEO has specially adapted this process for NGOs and social enterprises that work with impoverished communities around the world. The resulting HCD Toolkit helps organizations understand people’s needs in new ways, find innovative solutions to meet these needs, and deliver solutions with financial sustainability in mind."
You can find out more about it on IDEO’s website (and download it for free) here and, if you don’t want to go through the hassle of printing it, order hard copies from Blurb here.
It's a useful little guide.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:27 AM | Comments (0)
Trust and Libraries
I recall reading number of reports that show that libraries are among the most trusted institutions in society. You can imagine the ones that are not, trusted I mean.
I was interested in this editorial prediction:
The coming trust crisis in the social media expert space
This seems an argument for libraries doing great (and trustworthy) things with social media.
I know a number of libraries will friend any library cardholder but not others. Is this a way to maintain trust through identity management?
Trust is becoming a big issue in the news lately. For example, the latest news from Wikipedia is on this vein too:
Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text
"Starting this fall, you’ll have a new reason to trust the information you find on Wikipedia: An optional feature called “WikiTrust” will color code every word of the encyclopedia based on the reliability of its author and the length of time it has persisted on the page."
Do you think colour-coding text will make an online source as trustworthy as libraries?
Are we promoting and exploiting the position of libraries as neutral, non-partisan and trustworthy sources?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:19 AM | Comments (0)
Happy Birthday Internet
Some people (like CNN) are saying that today is the 40th birthday of the Internet. That may or my not be true depending on how you measure its beginning.
However, the Internet is probably entering middle age and perhaps web 2.0 is the equivalent of a hot red sports car.
Nah.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 6:44 AM | Comments (1)
September 1, 2009
APIs and Libraries
I've been keeping a small list of links for library APIs those little bits of code that let you do so much to customize your libraries web and OPAC experiences.
SirsiDynix trains for API use in all of our ILS's and many of our clients take advantage of the openness of our ILS to add and enhance the user experience.
Here's a list of useful links:
Using Google APIs
http://code.google.com/
Using Google Book Search APIs
http://code.google.com/apis/books/
Recently OCLC announced upgrades to their API's here and here.
OCLC APIs
http://www.worldcat.org/devnet/blog/services/worldcat_api/
Amazon APIs
http://aws.amazon.com/
Roy Tennant's classic list of Library Application Program Interfaces (APIs)
http://techessence.info/apis/
Useful Web APIs For Library Services
Web APIs For Library Services: A UKOLN Briefing Document
About This Document
This briefing document provides an introduction to Web APIs which can be used for accessing library services.
Useful Web APIs For Library Services
Roy Tenant has collected a list of useful APIs for library services on his TechEssense.info blog [1]
· Amazon: <http://solutions.amazonwebservices.com/connect/index.jspa>
· Book Cover Images, LibraryThing, <http://www.librarything.com/blog/2008/08/
million-free-covers-from-librarything.php>
· COPAC Search, <http://copac.ac.uk/interfaces/srw/>
· DBpedia, Structured information from Wikipedia, <http://wiki.dbpedia.org/OnlineAccess#h28-10>
· DOI Resolution, <http://www.crossref.org/03libraries/25query_spec.html>
· Google Book Search API, <http://code.google.com/apis/books/>
· Guess OPAC System, <http://xisbn.worldcat.org/liblook2/guess.htm>
· Institution Registry, OCLC, <http://worldcat.org/devnet/index.php/Services>
· Library of Congress Subject Headings, <http://lcsh.info/>
· JSON Books API, LibraryThing, <http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/LibraryThing_JSON_Books_API>
· Web Services API, LibraryThing, <http://www.librarything.com/services/webservices.php>
· Metadata Crosswalk Service, OCLC, <http://www.oclc.org/research/researchworks/xwalk/>
· OpenCalais, <http://www.opencalais.com/>
· Open Library, <http://openlibrary.org/dev/docs/api>
· OpenURL Gateway, OCLC, <http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/servlet/
org.oclc.lac.affiliate.GetSearchBox?atype=openurlgateway>
· pewbot, <http://www.daveyp.com/blog/index.php/archives/69/>
· Scopus, <http://www.scopus.com/scsearchapi/>
· Talis Platform, <http://n2.talis.com/wiki/Main_Page>
· Terminology services, OCLC, <http://tspilot.oclc.org/resources/>
· ThingISBN, LibraryThing, <http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2006/06/introducing-thingisbn_14.php>
· ThingLang, LibraryThing, <http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2006/08/thinglang.php>
· ThingTitle, LibraryThing, <http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2006/08/introducing-thingtitle-api.php>
· Virtual International Authority File, <http://orlabs.oclc.org/viaf/>
· Worldcat Identities, OCLC, <http://outgoing.typepad.com/outgoing/2008/06/linking-to-worl.html>
· WorldCat Search Service, OCLC,
· xISBN, OCLC, <http://xisbn.worldcat.org/xisbnadmin/doc/api.htm>
· xISSN, OCLC, <http://xissn.worldcat.org/xissnadmin/>
· xOCLCNUM, OCLC, <http://xisbn.worldcat.org/xisbnadmin/xoclcnum/api.htm>
Note that this list is derived from a list originally produced by Owen Stephens [2].
References
[1] Library Application Program Interfaces (APIs), TechEssense.info, Roy Tenant, 17 July 2008, <http://techessence.info/apis/>
[2] Services/APIs/Systems/Technology/Data that we could use, Mashed Library, Nong.com, http://mashedlibrary.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=2186716%3ATopic%3A9
Hope this helps out a few folks. If you don't have the time or skills to write the API's you need, SirsiDynix clients can try addressing those needs through the community forums or by contracting a SirsiDynix consultant to write an API for you.
There's little to stop you from adding the content and features you want customized to your environment.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:45 PM | Comments (3)
12 Words You Can Never Say in the Office
CIO.com has ths timely article to help us update our language.
12 Words You Can Never Say in the Office
Apparently these words are out of style, outdated or obsolete so be warned.
1. Intranet
2. Extranet
3. Web surfing
4. Push Technology
5. Application Service Provider (ASP)
6. Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)
7. Internet Telephony
8. Weblog
9. Thin client
10. RBOC
11. Long Distance Call
12. World Wide Web
Now we wouldn't want to look like Noobs eh.
Follow the link for the explanation.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:05 PM | Comments (1)
Most Pirated eBooks
GalleyCat notes that "Yesterday the file sharing news site FreakBits posted a list of "The 10 Most Pirated eBooks of 2009," one of the first glimpses into the surreal, evolving world of e-book piracy."
So I ask my library land friends:
How many of these books are on your shelves?
If you do have it, has it been stolen?
Does the hard copy circulate well?
Do you have the eBook to borrow?
Hmmm, would this make a good Library Card Month display?
1. Kamasutra
2. Adobe Photoshop Secrets
3. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amazing Sex
4. The Lost Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci
5. Solar House – A Guide for the Solar Designer
6. Before Pornography – Erotic Writing In Early Modern England
7. Twilight – Complete Series
8. How To Get Anyone To Say YES – The Science Of Influence
9. Nude Photography – The Art And The Craft
10. Fix It – How To Do All Those Little Repair Jobs Around The Home
Apparently all the titles on the list were downloaded between 100,000 and 250,000 times. These are numbers large enough to worry publishers but note that the titles are usal not somthing yu see on the front of the store displays and ends of aisles.
The article notes: "The list shows us that illicit book downloads are not yet threatening the best selling authors you'll find in the New York Times list. In fact, most books that are downloaded on BitTorrent fall into the nerdy niche, are porn related--or both."
Thanks to GalleyCat for pointng to this one.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:13 PM | Comments (1)
New Pew Report on Civic Engagement
The Pew has released a new report/survey about the internet and civic engagement today. It's quite interesting and shows a few generational changes but not much difference in the profile of the civically engaged offline an online.
The Internet and Civic Engagement
The full report is here.
"Three prominent political scientists who have devoted their lives to studying civic engagement worked with us on this: Kay Schlozman of Boston College, Sidney Verba of Harvard, and Henry Brady of Berkeley.
You’ll see that the report covers four core findings:
First, those engaged with civic life online are very similar to those who participate offline from a socio-economic perspective. It turns out that overall the internet is not dramatically diversifying the class of folks who are civically engaged. The well-to-do and well-educated still predominate online, despite some of the early hope and predictions of activists.
Second, generational change in civic engagement is taking place online. Young adults, traditionally a politically inactive group, show less of a deficit in online than in offline political participation.
Third, new kinds of civic engagement are being created in the social mediasphere – on blogs, social network sites, Twitter and the like. Young internet users dominate their elders in those areas and there is tantalizing evidence that socio-economic stratification is not as pronounced among the social media participants who are civically engaged.
Fourth, we find that online tools like email, websites, and instant messaging are now embedded in civic activity as groups of all kinds use them to further civic and political goals."
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:06 PM | Comments (0)
Killing IE6 Helps Fight World Hunger (Really!)
For the month of September, those of you who use MSIE might want to consider this news I found on Mashable:
Killing IE6 Helps Fight World Hunger (Really!)
Can’t convince your library to upgrade from IE6? Tell them it’s to fight world hunger.
Microsoft has vowed to continue support of MSIE6 until the end of its life cycle, around 2012. Still, that doesn’t mean they don’t want to get IE6 users to upgrade.
Their latest (and newly extended) promotion involves donating 16 meals for every user who upgrades from IE6 to IE8 during Hunger Action Month, which starts Sept. 1st:
Like Mashable, I'm a fan of any campaign that both fights hunger and helps destroy IE6. If fighting world hunger isn’t a good enough reason to abandon an outdated browser that does nothing for your library's image, perhaps nothing is. And while you're at it, offer the Firefox option as well on your public access PC's. I don't know if they're feeding the hungry...anyone?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)
Inspiration
""Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good. That honour, courage and virtue mean everything ; that power and money ... money and power mean nothing. That good always triumphs over evil. And I want you to remember this.... that love....true love never dies ! Remember that boy ... remember that. Doesn't matter if it is true or not, a man should believe in those things , because those are the things worth believing in...... got that ? ""
From the film Second Hand Lions
Source: Cool Cat Teacher Blog
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:40 AM | Comments (0)