Technology

8 Top Alternative Search Engines

Blake — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:09:18 -0500

Web Worker Daily Points out 8 Search Engines you might not use. One neat thing they point to is altsearchengines.com. If you want to experiment with a whole slew of alternative search engines, try Altsearchengines.com. If you click on the “Verticals” tab there, you’ll find a huge collection of search engines focused on specific industries.

Libraries: Eliminate DRM!

Blake — Wed, 14 May 2008 07:16:27 -0500

Hey Hey Ho Ho This DRM Has Got To Go! DefectiveByDesign asks you to send a message to all libraries that they too should respect their patrons' freedom, and urges you to sign their open letter. To take action against your local library, they urge you to customize a letter from the template.

LISWire - The Librarian's News Wire

Blake — Tue, 13 May 2008 08:31:59 -0500

Robin K. Blum (aka Birdie) and I started a new site a few week ago, LISWire - The Librarian's News Wire (http://liswire.com), and I'm doing my best to spread the word (again, you may have already seen this). I'll keep this as short as possible, since you can probably guess what the site is all about from the name.

We also have 2 mailing lists, and a bunch of RSS feeds.

We are looking for press releases and other news items of interest to librarians to get things going. You can sign up for an account and submit things you'd like to announce to the library world.

It's just out of beta, so there might still be some bugs floating around. Let me know if you spot something that needs fixing! I'd love any and all feedback you can provide.

You Can’t Be Anonymous Online If You…

Blake — Tue, 13 May 2008 07:06:22 -0500

You Can’t Be Anonymous Online If You…
1. Join virtually any social network
2. Post a photo of yourself anywhere online
3. Share key identifying information about yourself
4. Use the same pseudonym or email address as your identity on multiple communities
5. Sign a guestbook or add a Facebook application to your profile.

Once shunned by academics, Wikipedia now a teaching tool

Blake — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:43:05 -0500

Wikipedia, the upstart Internet encyclopedia that most universities forbid students to use, has suddenly become a teaching tool for professors. Recently, university teachers have swapped student term papers for assignments to write entries for the free online encyclopedia. "Sometimes it's a disaster," said Beasley-Murray. "But in some ways it's good news ... this was a great learning experience for students."

A Neat Email Tool

anderskb — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:34:49 -0500

I recently discovered Xobni ("inbox" backwards), a tool that seems like it might have a particular appeal for librarians. Xobni is a sidebar that works with Outlook and offers analytics, searching, email organization, a social networking method of organization and more.

Teaching English Through Video Games

Great Western Dragon — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:40:13 -0500

Libraries across the country are seeking alternatives to Rosetta Stone after they pulled out of the library market. This attests to the commitment in public libraries to help people learn foreign languages, especially if the foreign language happens to be English.

As new options become available, and as libraries explore the idea of adding video games to their collection, a publisher for the wildly successful Nintendo DS hand held video game system is already publishing games to teach English to Japanese students.

Games have long been used as a teaching tool. Why should it be any different in the digital age?

Twittering From Lock Down

Great Western Dragon — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:19:31 -0500

One of a modern parent's nightmares is finding out there's a gunman on campus at their children's school. It's hard to get information in and out of that situation and it's incredibly nerve wracking.

So what if a student knows how to Twitter?

In a recent incident at the University of Richmond, a report of an armed man on campus brought a lockdown. Students were able to get information in and out and comfort each other using Twitter.

Mourning Morgan Sparks

Great Western Dragon — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:33:59 -0500

It's perhaps fitting that he was named Sparks.

Not too many people will know the name. It's not as famous as Edison or Watt. But everyone knows what he invented because his invention is everywhere these days.

Morgan Sparks invented the transistor.

Now the science community mourns his passing at the age of 91. His invention paved the way for the modern world and had profound effects on computing and information science.

RFID Testbed Can Read Hundreds of Tags Simultaneously

Great Western Dragon — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:44:22 -0500

As many libraries make the transition to RFID tags, the implications of processing high volumes of materials become larger. The greatest thing about RFID tags is that, with proper technology, you can read multiple tags at the same time. Barcodes still require a one at a time read.

Now a new technology allows not only the simultaneous reading of hundreds of RFID tags, but also the simultaneous reading of different types of RFID antennae with the ability to assess and acquire information on new tags previously unknown to the reader.

Hundreds of items at a time? Sign this circ jerk up!