Five ways that social media can benefit IT – This article focuses on IT as a consumer of social media services, not as a driver in the organization
Considerations for libraries looking at SaaS (Software as a Service).
We’re NASA and we know it. From Wired, “This music video is the reason nerds rule. Forever.”
Also from Wired: Google’s Dremel makes big data look small.
LITA Talks Top Tech Trends (Library & Information Technology Association, a division of ALA) – from the American Library Association 2012 Annual Conference. The Guide on the Side link was particularly interesting for doing library online tutorials.
E-Book User Base Expands to 24.5% of U.S. Adult Population According to New Statistics from Simba (both articles from Library Journal). See related posts for additional discussion on E-books.
Happy Labor Day Weekend!
Quiet returns to libraries– ” … The way librarians, students, and researchers behave undermines what Ms. [Karen] Schneider calls “the stereotype of the shushing librarian and absolute pin-drop silence.” She and other librarians point out that students are often the first to bring up noise problems in the library, to ask for more quiet spaces, and to police those spaces themselves. …”
The Middlebury Community Players is putting on SWINGTIME CANTEEN beginning tonight. I have now seen the show in rehearsal seven times and it’s been an incredible experience. This cast is wonderful and they put their hearts and souls into the music and the USO storyline. I have a favorite song and each night she performs it better and better. (I had goosebumps last night.)
The Players have free tickets for all WWII veterans so if you know someone, please invite them to join you. Maybe they once experienced a real USO production… 70 years ago. Just mention this to the ticket sellers at the Town Hall Theater.
I’m sure you know most of the music and you know at least one person on stage. (Next week let me know what your favorite part was!)
Michele
Thursday-Saturday, July 19-21 at 8 pm; Matinees Saturday & Sunday, July 21 & 22 at 2 pm
It is Friday the 13th, are you prepared for a Zombie attack? (from the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
This week was the 65th anniversary of the report of a UFO crash in Roswell, NM. The Huffington Post reports numerous witnesses and government officials claim the report was true. You decide.
Is the library open? (code here) – via Walking Paper
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.
Matthew Reidsma on Libraries and the myth of mobile phone use
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.)
User experience is not enough – UX designer Whitney Hess. Respect, trust, and support your colleagues or all the super design work is for naught. Adding this to a collection of resources in the LIS Wiki on customer service & feedback (resources are from the all-LIS open meeting/Liaison discussion section last Thursday. Check it out at go/custserv)
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).