An analogy for undergrads
Here’s a quick analogy for undergrads who want to just use Google for their research papers: “Why eat at McDonalds when you can eat for free at the five star restaurant of your choice?”
Category: Web culture
Siva Vaidhyanathan’s Googlization blog
I am remiss not to have mentioned Siva Vaidhyanathan‘s new blog about Google and the implications of their projects: The Googlization of Everything. It’s really top notch commentary on Google, with further depth, detail and comprehensiveness than is usually found in a blog. Note that Siva says it is a book in progress.
LJP Facebook Page
Library Juice Press now has its own Facebook Page…. Facebook Pages are different from Facebook Groups in that they are profiles that companies, organizations, or other entities set up in their own right. For example, anybody could set up a group for members of the ACLU, but only the ACLU (or a chapter) could set … Read more LJP Facebook Page
A couple of interesting links
I found these on Arts & Letters Daily. A comment about that site after the links. First, an article from the New Yorker by Anthony Grafton: Future Reading: Digitization and Its Discontents. This is a thoughtful meditation on Google’s Library Project and the general effect of digitization on reading, from a well-informed historical perspective. I’m … Read more A couple of interesting links
Socialism and print culture
Here’s an interesting article from the July-August isssue of New Left Review relating the history of socialism to the history of print culture. It suggests, without quite stating it, that the decline of socialism is tied to the decline of print culture, and that by extension the future of socialism will be tied to a … Read more Socialism and print culture
OncologySTAT: end run around objectivity
The Chronicle of Higher Education has a brief news item today about a Reed-Elsevier web portal for oncologists called OncologySTAT, which provides free access to medical research in journals that are otherwise mainly accessed through library subscriptions, and pays for the service by showing ads to users. The kind of ad-based model in use here … Read more OncologySTAT: end run around objectivity
Psst! SRRT Facebook group!
Don’t tell anybody, because it’s so embarrassing, but the ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) now has a Facebook group. Actually, the idea was debated for a day, and finally those opposed were swayed. The idea was originally Erik Estep’s, and he had my support. So join if you’re on Facebook and you want to … Read more Psst! SRRT Facebook group!
Why Web 2.0 is leading back to full cataloging
Just an observation of interest to librarians, about Web 2.0 types of websites. Two examples of rich Web 2.0 sites are Last.fm and LibraryThing. We often think of Web 2.0 sites in terms of the idea of “tagging instead of cataloging.” In fact, rich 2.0 sites, the ones that do a lot of data processing … Read more Why Web 2.0 is leading back to full cataloging
Radical and Progressive Library and Information Site Search
Paul Catherall of Information for Social Change has created a Google-based web search that searches websites from the international library left. Try the Radical and Progressive Library and Information Site Search and leave feedback here if you like.
Frankentoons back online
For several years I hosted Joel Kahn’s “Frankentoons,” a fun fair-use protest site, on Libr.org, and took it down due to a change in my hosting situation. I just received the following from Joel: Yes, the Frankentoon project is back online! http://www.geocities.com/frankentoons Some things should be noted about this current incarnation: I played no part … Read more Frankentoons back online
Yes, you do look like a librarian!
Regarding the Facebook group, No, I don’t look like a librarian!…. Yes, you do look like a librarian! I am not joining the group – because I think really I do not look unlike a librarian, and I think most of the people who joined that group look like the librarians that they are. And … Read more Yes, you do look like a librarian!
Voices calling for an end to the library listserv
I think we will be hearing this idea increasingly over the coming years, that the library listserv should go, and we should switch to web-based forums with RSS-type updates instead. That link is to a thread on the Livejournal community, “Libraries.” Personally, I agree, but I have no problem being patient.
“Bandwagon innovation”
Jim Carroll blogged this on January 4th: Why “Bandwagon Innovation” Doesn’t Work. Carroll states very succinctly what is wrong with bandwagonny innovation ideas (including Web 2.0 ideas as they are commonly approached). He is a futurist whose primary interest is innovation; he is not anti-tech at all. His points about innovation bandwagons have to do … Read more “Bandwagon innovation”
New from LJP: Library Juice Concentrate
Library Juice Concentrate Edited by Rory Litwin Preface by Kathleen de la Peña McCook Price: $25.00 ISBN-10: 0-9778617-3-2 ISBN-13: 978-0-9778617-3-6 6″ by 9″ Published: December 2006 Library Juice Concentrate is a compilation of the best of Library Juice, an e-zine published by Rory Litwin between 1998 and 2005 that dealt with foundational questions of librarianship … Read more New from LJP: Library Juice Concentrate
Craigslist meets the capitalists
The founder of Craigslist went to an internet media conference where most of the discussion was about “monetizing pageviews,” and made people scratch their heads because his super-successful website has never been about making money and he has no plans to move it in that direction. These wall street types had trouble grasping the concept … Read more Craigslist meets the capitalists
LibrariansForFairness a project of PR firm Rothstein and Memsic
This is from LISNews. It turns out that LibrariansForFairness, the ostensible library group that opposed SRRT’s criticism of Israel a few years ago, is actually a project of the PR firm Rothstein and Memsic, which is connected with Standwithus, a pro-Israel lobby group. The rundown is LISNews, though brief, is very interesting and presents the … Read more LibrariansForFairness a project of PR firm Rothstein and Memsic
The Nation on the YouTube/Google deal – leading edge of corporate takeover of the web
Trenchant and insightful article in The Nation by Jeffrey Chester: The Google YouTube Tango. This article focuses on how corporate claims-staking such as Google’s buyout of YouTube and Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of Myspace in 2005 are part of the creation of an overall interactive environment whose main function is marketing (advertising and data collection) for … Read more The Nation on the YouTube/Google deal – leading edge of corporate takeover of the web
New York Review of Books on Google’s book scanning project
The New York Review of Books discusses Google’s massive scanning project and general ascendency in a review essay that touches on five recent books…
Myspace: the business of Spam 2.0
Really interesting reading about myspace at Valleywag: Myspace: The Business of Spam 2.0 (Exhaustive Edition). This article points out a number of things about myspace that I wish I had known about or noticed much earlier. For example, did you know that Tom Anderson (everybody’s friend Tom) didn’t create Myspace, but was hired for PR … Read more Myspace: the business of Spam 2.0
Showtiming our libraries (if:book)
Ben Vershobow in if:book just now posted a brief discussion of the University of California’s just-released contract with Google to digitize its library holdings. The contract reveals that Google has asked for and has apparently gotten certain exclusive rights to the use of the digital copies of UC’s books, à la The Smithsonian’s deal with … Read more Showtiming our libraries (if:book)