Menu

Subscribe
     

MaisonBisson

a bunch of stuff I would have emailed you about

Google Geo News

This post started with Ryan sending me this link demonstrating a KML overlay of county borders of his bifurcated state in Google Maps.

Then I found this Roundup of Google’s Geo Developer Day (btw, I so wanted to be at Where 2.0) with tales of the new geocoding feature of the Google Maps API, more details about KML-in-Google-Maps, geotagging in Picasa, and the new Google Earth 4.0 beta.

And somewhere along the line, I ran across a link to SketchUp, Google’s 3-D modeler that seems built especially to put dimensional structures in Google Earth.

Donald Norman — Everyday Things

I was especially young and impressionable when I discovered Don Norman‘s The Design of Everyday Things, but I still claim it’s required reading for anybody who’s read more than one post here at MaisonBisson. That’s self selection at work, but let me put it this way: unless you’re the only consumer of the things you create, then you need to read this. Now.

I feel foolish to have only recently discovered Norman’s website and essays. It’s there that I found he’s giving the commencement address today at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering Professional Masters Programs. He summarizes his prepared statement thusly:

If you work very hard, perhaps you too can get a silly hat like this (wearing my silly racoon-tail hat from the University of Padua). What is the moral? Take your work seriously, so someone might award you the hat (and the honorary degree that goes with it). But, as the hat illustrates, never take yourself seriously: strive to do things that matter, that make a difference, but have fun while doing so.

It’s cutesie, but I kinda like the message, and not just because today is also my birthday and I’m especially susceptible to schmaltz. Eh…

The ALA/NO Events I’d Like To See

I’m not going to ALA/NO so I’m hoping those who are will blog it. Two events I’m especially interested in: On Sunday, June 25: Catalog Transformed: From Traditional to Emerging Models of Use This program, co-sponsored by the MARS User Access to Services Committee and RUSA’s Reference Services Section (RSS, formerly MOUSS), deals with changes […] » about 400 words

Squashing Criticism vs. Improving Products

I wrote yesterday of Nicole Engard’s comment that the ILS was about as open and flexible as a brick wall. Today I learned that the vendor of that ILS had tried to squash her public criticism.

Not cool.

It’s pure speculation on my part, but what comes next? Surely no vendor would send Vinny over to bust an uppity biblioblogger’s knee-caps, but might they offer a customer a better deal if they could just help quiet down a critic within the customer’s organization?

Not speculation: how do we feel about vendors that will spend lavish sums of money to court potential customers, but do little to improve the product and regularly refuse suggestions that they open a round-table with technology leaders among their existing client-base?

John Blyberg‘s ILS Customer Bill-of-Rights is especially relevant here, but also, let’s think about our side of the relationship.

update: I keep forgetting to link to this public example of how bad our OPACs/ILSs are. Thanks go to David Walker for making me ROTFL.

The ILS Brick Wall

Nicole Engard last month posted about The State of our ILS, describing the systems as: I’d say it’s a like the crazy cousin you have to deal with because he’s family! It doesn’t fit, we are a very open IT environment, we have applications all over that need to talk to each other nicely and […] » about 300 words

Darn DNS

So, you should expect problems when you move your server to a new IP and don’t bother to update the InterNIC registration for your nameservers. It’s an area where I don’t have much experience, so I had to go looking for the solution.

Paul Woutrs gave some tips to get started in his short document on the subject. But the real lesson there was that I had to go back to the registrar where I’d originally registered the nameserver objects to change the registration. In Paul’s case that meant going back to Verisign, and in my case it meant Dotster. Fortunately I still have an account there, and Paul’s tips gave me the language I needed to navigate Dotster’s FAQs.

It was in thos FAQs that I found a link to the Verisign Whois Search, which has a little-used option to look up nameserver info. For some reason, that was more successful than my attempts at the command line with whois 'host ns1.maisonbisson.com'.

Also of note is the previously mentioned, and free, DNS Report service.

Ugh. “Save NPR and PBS (again)”

My dad just forwarded the following message to me: Hi, Everyone expected House Republicans to give up efforts to kill NPR and PBS after a massive public outcry stopped them last year. But they’ve just voted to eliminate funding for NPR and PBS—unbelievably, starting with programs like “Sesame Street.” Public broadcasting would lose nearly a […] » about 400 words

T2000 Unboxed And Online

My Sun T2000 is here, and with Cliff‘s help it’s now patched, configured, and online. (Aside: what’s a Sun Happy Meal?) I’ll second Jon‘s assessment that Sun really should put some reasonable cable adapters in the box, as the the bundle of adapters necessary to make a null modem connection to the box is ridiculously […] » about 200 words

Nina Katchadourian’s Sorted Books

It seems common among contemporary artists that a web search might turn up a few pictures of their works, but not much about them or their works. In this case it’s Nina Katchadourian and the work I’m interested in is her Sorted Books Project. A video interview from the University of Colorado and ResearchChannel.org does […] » about 200 words

I Want URL Addressable Spreadsheet Cells (and cell-ranges)

When I heard news that Google was to release a spreadsheet companion to their freshly bought Writely web-based word processing app, I got excited about all the things they could do to make it more than just a copy of Numsum. Let’s face it, Google’s the Gorilla in the room here and they’re gonna squash […] » about 300 words

The URLs From My Portland Talk

Following Edward Tufte’s advice, I’ve been wanting to offer a presentation without slides for a long time now; I finally got my chance in Portland. The downside is that now I don’t have anything to offer as a takeaway memory aid for my talk. My speaking notes are too abstract to offer for public consumption, […] » about 800 words

Asian Scooter Gangs

The members of this Taiwanese scooter gang might really be cooler than me. Well, they would be cooler if the scooter gangs weren’t also known to be violent: A scooter gang viciously attacked and injured 12 teenagers — three critically — while on a violent joyride in Taipei County’s Tucheng City… The gang of more […] » about 200 words

Will Google Eat Itself?

Once upon a time Microsoft was the gorilla to beat. Once upon a time we thought Google could do it.

Perhaps not any more. Amazon has dropped Google’s search results from their A9 search aggregator in favor of Microsoft’s Live search, and while Yahoo!’s on again, off again partnership talks with Microsoft appear dead after Y!’s announcement Thursday of a partnership with eBay, Microsoft still hasn’t given up on the notion.

The Yahoo! news may dull my argument, but look how quickly the board changed, how easily these companies switched allegiances or considered partnering with Microsoft, a company known for swallowing its partners.

Google may or may not truly depend on the goodwill of its customers, but the moment its image turns from all-knowing and happy to big and evil could rearrange the chess board.

Sweet Portland

| I have to thank <a href="http://stealthislibrary.com/">Caleb</a> and <a href="http://www.carolinecummins.com/">Caroline</a> for showing around town, and offer my apologies to <a href="http://quiddle.blogspot.com/">Heidi</a> and Alice, who had offered me tips and suggestions that I (again) didn't have time to follow up on. Someday I'll enjoy a <a href="http://local.yahoo.com/details?id=21958955">Stanich burger</a>; someday I'll find <a href="http://www.43places.com/places/view/310884">Rimsky-Korsakoffee</a>; heck, someday I'll even get to <a href="http://www.powells.com/">Powells</a>. » about 200 words

Denver Sights

There's plenty of public art in Denver, including a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/153444184/">blue bear</a> and this <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/153444003/">horse in a red chair</a> (<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Denver,+CO&om=1&ll=39.743082,-104.994879&spn=0.004562,0.014623">here</a> and <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Denver,+CO&om=1&ll=39.73781,-104.988291&spn=0.004562,0.014623">here</a>, respectively). Tourists can also <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/153443732/" title="Molly Brown's house on Flickr - Photo Sharing!">sneak a peak</a> inside <a href="http://mollybrown.org/" title="The Molly Brown House Museum">the Unsinkable Molly Brown's house</a> on <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Denver,+CO&om=1&ll=39.737472,-104.980824&spn=0.004562,0.014623">Pennsylvania St</a>. » about 100 words