Middlebury Observatory
Construction workers have been busy this week in the Great Hall, just outside Armstrong Library. Work is not yet completed, but here’s a hint:
Don’t forget your refillable cup!
The faces of libraries change, but we still love them:
From Distant Admirers to Library Lovers–and beyond from Pew Research Internet Project
How MOOC Video Production Affects Student Engagement is a good read for anyone considering the use of video in an instructional context. For a more in depth analysis see Philip Guo’s published paper How Video Production Affects Student Engagement: An Empirical Study of MOOC Videos.
Manuscripts of Lichfield Cathedral – 3D renderings of sixteen pages of the 8th-century St Chad Gospels: https://lichfield.as.uky.edu/models/gallery
3D printing: 10 companies using it in ground-breaking ways – A growing number of innovative companies are experimenting with 3D printers, propelling the technology closer to the mainstream market.
With a tagline like this: “A spectacular historical atlas refashioned for the 21st century” who can resist? Check out the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States presented by the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond to view a digital version of Charles O. Paullin and John K. Wright’s atlas that was originally published in 1932.
Exciting! Students and staff at University College London serendipitously discovered a type 1a supernova in M82 on January 22. Read about it here!
Supernova in M82, before and after, by E. Guido, N. Howes, M. Nicolini, January 2014.
If you are very keen, check out the IAU Transient Object Followup Reports.
Research Desk Poetry (and more at the LIS Facebook page):
Is your refrigerator running? Then it might be spamming people.
Google is pulling the plug on guest blogging for increased ranking.
If you put an email address in a Google Calendar event’s title, that person will get a reminder of the event, even if you don’t share it with them. This is “expected behavior” according to Google.
Elon Musk Unveils His Vision For ‘The Future of Design’ With Hand Manipulated Holographic Technology – Tesla CEO Elon Musk (who we could safely call a futurist at this, can’t we?) has more on his mind that just cars and 4,000 MPH Hyperloop transportation systems. He also tweeted his intention of developing a hand-manipulated hologram design engine and promised to post a video of designing a rocket part with only hand gestures and printing the part in titanium.
Looking for inspiration? Voyager 1, launched in 1977, has crossed the heliopause and is still sending back data: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/voyager20130912.html#.UjNUKH_3Mg8
No more “20% time” at Google – “Google’s “20% time,” which allows employees to take one day a week to work on side projects, effectively no longer exists. That’s according to former Google employees, one who spoke to Quartz on the condition of anonymity and others who have said it publicly.”
Increasing public access to federally funded research – This is not new, but for researchers and data nerds alike it is worth reading again – and following developments! You can find the official memo here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_access_memo_2013.pdf
A tiny book! – from University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections.
Rosen, Rebecca J. “Revealed: A Book the Size of a Ladybug.” The Atlantic. 7 Aug. 2013. Web. 22 Aug. 2013.
The Getty launches Open Content Images: 4,687 images from their collection are now available for free use under their open content license.
WebKit Has Implemented srcset: Right now there’s no good way to switch the image in an HTML <img> tag for a different browser (for example, giving a smaller image to a mobile browser). The srcset attribute solves most of the issues with this. See also: Mat’s talk on the subject.
QR Codes vs. URLs. In related news, Microsoft Tag is shutting down. Did you even know that Microsoft Tag existed?
Armstrong Library has new, comfy chairs and ottomans, just right for curling up with a well thumbed copy of Newton’s Principia, finishing your next assignment with your feet up, or just sitting back and enjoying the view (tweeting optional).
A cozy corner in Armstrong.
Emdbedding Digital Literacies and enabling change – Report form the “Changing the Learning Landscape” London Event
The Internet of Things – The Internet of Things has emerged as one of IT’s hottest trends of 2013. We have a great set of resources to help you figure out how it can help your business.
Why is Science Behind a Paywall? – The evolution of and economics behind the current model of scholarly communications.
What’s new in MOOCs? “Coursera is recasting itself as a platform for credit-bearing courses that would be offered to students enrolled at multiple campuses within a public-university system.”
Staff matters. “Another side-effect of the executive belief that ‘life is elsewhere’ is that staff members aren’t utilized in transformational efforts. In the pigeonholing that can take place between HR and executive leaders, staff can be overlooked.”
