America’s Brainiest Cities – In a knowledge economy, we are often told the smartest cities and nations do the best. But economists typically measure smart cities by education level, calculating the cities or metros with the largest percentage of college grads or the largest shares of adults with advanced degrees. Others (like me) do it by charting the kinds of work people do and the occupations they hold, differentiating between knowledge or creative workers and others who do more routine manufacturing and service jobs.

Why “Brain Gyms” May Be The Next Big Business – Back in 2007, Lumosity was a scrappy startup scrounging for seed money. Today, the San Francisco-based company that creates games to make your brain work better is announcing it’s landed over $32 million in new funding.

The LIS Recognition & Recreation Crew is pleased to announce the recipients of the Employees and Crew of the Month for May 2012:

William Guida – LIS Student Employee of the Month
Carol Peddie – LIS Employee of the Month
Education & Training Team (Pij Slater, Kim Ehritt, Brenda Ellis, Mack Roark, and Andy Wentink) – LIS Crew of the Month

The comments submitted by nominators in support of these awards were read aloud at the LIS Staff meeting on May 16th. Congratulations to all!

Journal revamped : ” … the members of the new editorial group … say their task is to produce copy that demonstrates that academics can do more than indulge in prolix, self-indulgent, and jargon-ridden prose that does little for readers’ edification, let alone pleasure.” (The journal referred to: Public culture.)

Is Siri Smarter than Google?  – We are now on the brink of having access to a powerful new tool that will do much of the search and sorting work for us; with far more intelligence and personalization that we have had in the past. Very soon you will find yourself using, on a daily basis, an emerging new technology called an ultra-intelligent electronic agent (UIEA).

Jack Maher – LIS Student Employee of the Month
Bryan Carson – LIS Employee of the Month
Digital Media Tutors (Ewen Bazirake, Maria Lloyd, James Maru, Cire Sarr, Christian Woolson) – LIS Crew of the Month
The comments submitted by nominators in support of these awards were read aloud at the LIS Staff meeting on April 18th. Congratulations to all!

Nominate students, staff, & crews at go/nominate! Please be sure to explain why the nominee deserves recognition. Include details about the work that was accomplished and the way in which it was accomplished.

Andrew Podrygula – LIS Student Employee of the Month
Charlie Conway – LIS Employee of the Month
Information Literacy Assessment Group: Brenda Ellis, Jess Isler, Adela Langrock (Psychology / Planning & Assessment) – LIS Crew of the Month
The comments submitted by nominators in support of these awards were read aloud at the LIS Staff in-service day on March 30th. Congratulations to all!

Nominate students, staff, & crews at go/nominate! Please be sure to explain why the nominee deserves recognition. Include details about the work that was accomplished and the way in which it was accomplished.

• Cynthia Wang – LIS Student Employee of the Month
• Ian McBride – LIS Employee of the Month
• DVD transfer project (Kellam Ayres, Steve Bertolino, Maura Clancy, Ginny Faust, Kim Gurney, Janine McDonald, Todd Sturtevant, Michael Warner, and Joseph Watson) – LIS Crew of the Month

The comments submitted by nominators in support of these awards were read aloud at the February all-LIS staff meeting (re-scheduled for March 2). Congratulations to all!

Nominate students, staff, & crews at go/nominate! Please be sure to explain why the nominee deserves recognition. Include details about the work that was accomplished and the way in which it was accomplished.

If you agree to help, we’ll observe and record you performing some tasks on the website.

Sessions will be scheduled from Monday, February 27 through Thursday, March 8 in the Davis Family Library. If you’re interested, please sign up by Thursday February 23rd (sign-ups are now closed), and we’ll respond with a confirmation. Details are below.

The session will take no longer than 45 minutes (15 minutes for explanation and summary, and 30 minutes for testing activities). We’ll ask you to perform specific tasks and we’ll use your responses in our work to improve the site. Your participation will be strictly used within LIS staff and not shared with any outside organization.

Thank you for taking this opportunity to help LIS improve its web presence!

For January 2012:

• Emma Williams – LIS Student Employee of the Month
• David Ludwig – LIS Employee of the Month
• Central Systems and Network Services (Dave Guertin, Rick James, Jeff Lahaie, Mike Lynch, Howie McCausland, Mark Pyfrom, and Jim Stuart) – LIS Crew of the Month

The comments submitted by nominators in support of these awards were read aloud at the January all-LIS staff meeting. Congratulations to all!

Nominate students, staff, & crews! Please be sure to explain why the nominee deserves recognition. Include details about the work that was accomplished and the way in which it was accomplished.