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MaisonBisson

a bunch of stuff I would have emailed you about

The code4lib Journal(s) I Should’ve Kept

<a href="http://www.code4lib.org/2006/">code4lib</a> was less than a month ago, but already I've forgotten some details. That's why I'm glad to have notes from Ed Summers (<a href="http://www.inkdroid.org/journal/2006/02/16/code4lib-day-1/">day one</a>, <a href="http://www.inkdroid.org/journal/2006/02/20/code4lib-days-2-3/">two, and three</a>), <a href="http://librarycog.uwindsor.ca:8087/artblog/librarycog/1140232323">Art Rhyno</a>, <a href="http://outgoing.typepad.com/outgoing/2006/02/code4lib_the_co.html">Tom Hickey</a>, <a href="http://www.librarywebchic.net/wordpress/2006/02/">Karen Coombs</a>, and <a href="http://blog.ryaneby.com/archives/post-code4lib-and-oregon-trip/">Ryan Eby</a>. » about 100 words

Our Connected Students

Just when you thought I was done talking about how the internet really does touch everything, Lichen posts some details from the most recent University of New Hampshire Res Life student survey and it gets me going again. In order, the top three activities are:

  • socializing (15.8 hours/week)
     
  • studying, excluding in-class time (12.5 hours/week)
     
  • instant messaging, (9.3 hours/week)

Lichen also points out that IM activity was reported separately from “personal internet use,” which got an additional 8.4 hours/week.

The survey doesn’t appear to be online, so I can’t tell how many other computer-related activities are reported or how activities like “studying” may (or may not) also include computer use.

This Is What Social Software Can Do

The <a href="http://blog.flickr.com/flickrblog/2006/03/this_is_what_fl.html" title="FlickrBlog">FlickrBlog</a> reports this message from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/yeimaya/">Gale</a>: <blockquote>People have been submitting good humpback whale fluke shots to a group called <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/humpbackflukes">Humpback whale flukes</a>. I volunteer at <a href="http://www.coa.edu/alliedwhale">Allied Whale</a> which holds the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalog and I was able to make a very exciting match with one of the whales that was posted on the group by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/25212853@N00/88329014/in/pool-humpbackflukes/">GeorgeK</a>. George saw this whale in Newfoundland in the summer of 2005. It <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/25212853@N00/88329014/#comment72057594077150312">matched with</a> HWC#2943 in the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catolog ..... this whale was seen only once before in March 1984!!! on Silver Bank (the breeding grounds North of the Dominican Republic). This is what flickr has the power to do.</blockquote> » about 300 words

Willie Mae Rock Camp For Girls

The Willie Mae Rock Camp For Girls: just another example of why New York is cooler than New Hampshire. Photo by Rocco Kasby, performance by the Pink Slips. Yet again, a tip of the hat to Ryan Eby for the pointer. Willie Mae Rock Camp For Girls , Rock Camp, Rock Camp For Girls, Willie […] » about 100 words

bsuite Feature: User Contributed Tags

Ross Singer gets the prize for submitting the first reader contributed tag, the latest feature in bsuite.

There are arguments about whether user-contributed tags are useful or even valid, or whether they should be stored in my site or aggregated at places like del.ici.ous. But who’s to worry about such questions? Who’s to worry when you can put together the work already done to support author’s tags with WordPress’s pretty good comment system and get user contributed tag support with just a few extra lines of code? Who’s to worry when we can try it and see what comes of it?

It’s all managed using the same tools we use to approve, moderate, and edit comments, which also means the spam filtering that works for comments works for contributed tags too. And because bsuite is already part of WPopac, that means it gains the new tagging features too (well, it will soon).

User Experience Map

I was this close to posting soldierant‘s Gobbledy Gook map, but, well… I guess I wanted to make a point with his user experience map, done in collaboration with the smart folks at Experience Dynamics. Take a careful look at the role of your competitors and a user’s expectations and goals. Yeah, we’ve all got […] » about 100 words

Zorb: Another Reason New Zealanders Are Cooler Than You

Who of us didn’t want to try it when we saw Jackie Chan bounce down a mountainside in one in Operation Condor (well, who of us who saw Operation Condor didn’t want to try it)? But until Cool Hunter gave me a pointer, I had no idea what the these strange inflatable balls (yeah, go […] » about 500 words

Nuns Vs. Librarians In Spelling Bee

From Yahoo! News and Ryan Eby, there’s a funny spelling bee planned in Erlanger Kentucky: ERLANGER, Ky. – After a five-year hiatus, the Sisters of St. Walburg Monastery in Villa Hills are ready to show whether they are superior spellers. The sisters were champions of the annual Corporate Spelling Bee for Literacy in northern Kentucky […] » about 300 words

Scott Smith’s Imperfect Ten

The nice folks at Coudal Partners are hosting Scott Smith’s Imperfect Ten, “wherein one man breaks all ten commandments before breakfast.” It’s Friday (March 10th, even), go watch. 10, adultery, cheat, coudal, covet, film, honor, idolatry, imperfect ten, lie, murder, sabbath, scott smith, sex, short film, steal, ten commandments, video, worship » about 100 words

All About OpenSearch and Autodiscovery from Davey P

I’ve been meaning to point out (and steal from) Dave Pattern’s post on tipping off IE7 (and other browsers soon too, hopefully) to available OpenSearch targets for some time now. I haven’t had time to do the stealing, so I’ll have to settle for pointing it out while it’s still news.

What’s the trick? As Dave explains, you put a link in the <head> section of your pages like this:

<link rel=“search”<br />      type=“application/opensearchdescription+xml”<br />      title=“WPopac Demo”<br />      href=“http://www.plymouth.edu/library/opac/opensearch.xml” />

When IE7 finds that, it’ll offer you a chance to add the new search target. The screenshots at Dave’s site show the whole thing.

Visual Complexity

I found the above image of a yFiles-generated site map at visualcomplexity.com. We’ve seen a lot of internet diagrams, including this one from 1977, but what about mapping food? Or disaster situations? Or air routes? It’s like data porn, and there’s more in the visualcomplexity gallery. » about 100 words

The Ignorant Perfection of Ordinary People

Bob Garlitz, who’s trying to decide between blogging at Typepad and Blogspot, wrote to offer a somewhat older phrase for the success of social software as described in The Wisdom of Crowds and in the definition of collabulary: “the ignorant perfection of ordinary people.”

Bob is at a loss to identify the source (and it pre-dates the book of the same title by a long shot), but maybe this crowd will know?

MIT Origami Competition

Ryan Eby and MAKE magazine alerted me to MIT’s student origami exhibit, in which Jason Ku’s ringwraith won the Best Original Model prize, and Brian Chan’s beaver — the MIT mascot — got special attention from the MIT News Office. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, beaver, competition, mit, nazgul, origami, paper, ringwraith » about 100 words

Collabulary

I found this a few days ago and realized that it embodied the difference between how I understand tag folksonomies and how others (with whom I’ve argued) may see them. That is, I see the role of the social group — the wisdom of the crowd — as essential to the success of our folksonomic […] » about 300 words

Casey Bisson

Talking ‘Bout Library 2.0

Users want a rich pool from which to search, simplicity, and satisfaction. One does not have to take a 50-minute instruction session to order from Amazon. Why should libraries continue to be so difficult for our users to master?

— from page 8 of the The University of California Libraries Bibliographic Services Task Force Final Report. I find a new gem every time I look at it.

MacBook Pro Reviewed

Jacqui Cheng likes her new MacBook Pro and loves the performance, but gives the MagSafe power adapter mixed reviews. Why? She says it disconnects when it shouldn’t, and seems to stay connected when it should disconnect. Well, I think I still want one. Apple, Jacqui Cheng, laptop, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Pro reviewed, portable, PowerBook, […] » about 100 words

Troy Bennett at “Ben Show”

Ben Apfelbaum died before having the chance to see it all come together, but his quirky idea seems to be a hit. Here’s how Jerry Cullum described it for the Atlanta Journal Constitution: “The Ben Show” was the brainchild of beloved Spruill Gallery director Ben Apfelbaum, who asked one day, “What’s in a name?” and […] » about 200 words

PodBop Rocks Your Calendar

Ryan Eby pointed out PodBop, a site that podcasts sample tracks from bands coming to your area (or any other area you select), and we both wished we’d thought of it ourselves. There’s nothing coming to Warren (of course). But they’ve got coverage for Denver, where I’ll be in May, so it immediately found a […] » about 300 words

Oddest Title of the Year Winner …And Also Rans

The Bookseller magazine Friday announced the winner of the 28th annual Diagram Prize for Oddest Title. Bookseller deputy editor Joel Rickett appeared on Weekend Edition Saturday with the news, saying, as he did in a Telegraph story on the matter: “It has been a pretty good year for strange titles.” The winner is People Who […] » about 300 words

Rock Paper Scissors

Posted on the wall in Tom’s Peacock Bar in Corvallis was a mystery: a notice of a rock paper scissors tournament. A visit to the USA Rock Paper Scissors League‘s website proved more confusing. Take the first news release as an example: Rocky Balboa is stepping back into the ring for his final comeback, as […] » about 400 words