Wolfram Alpha hype

This should be live by the time you are reading this, I think.

http://www.wolframalpha.com

If it does what it says it is going to do, things will change.

If you're reading this before the launch have a look at the screecast: http://www.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html

New-fangled technology? Forget blogs, apparently poetry is the way to get connected!

Blogs just aren't the way!
It's Poetry that's here to stay
So let's get rhyming!
(I need to work on my timing...)

Ironically, according to the following blog, we should be dispensing with blogs and connecting with each other via poetry.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/article.html?id=236776

Acknowledgement to Felix who pointed me in the direction of this website.

JISC Report on web 2.0 and Higher education

A new report from JISC in the UK on 'higher education in a web 2.0 world' was released yesterday. A must read for anyone interested in technology and education (us!). From the conclusion:

Web 2.0, the Social Web, has had a profound effect on behaviours, particularly those of young people whose medium and metier it is. They inhabit it with ease and it has led them to a strong sense of communities of interest linked in their own web spaces, and to a disposition to share and participate. It has also led them to impatience – a preference for quick answers – and to a casual approach to evaluating information and attributing it and also to copyright and legal constraints.

The world they encounter in higher education has been constructed on a wholly different set of norms. Characterised broadly, it is hierarchical, substantially introvert, guarded, careful, precise and measured. The two worlds are currently co-existing, with present-day students effectively occupying a position on the cusp of change. They aren’t demanding different approaches; rather they are making such adaptations as are necessary for the time it takes to gain their qualifications. Effectively, they are managing a disjuncture, and the situation is feeding the natural inertia of any established system. It is, however, unlikely to be sustainable in the long term. The next generation is unlikely to be so accommodating and some rapprochement will be necessary if higher education is to continue to provide a learning experience that is recognised as stimulating, challenging and relevant.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/heweb2.aspx

Library raves - are you ready?

An article in the American Library Association's e-newsletter piqued my interest for obvious reasons...'Academic Libraries become all the rave"

Apparently students in several US universities have used social networking technologies to organise impromptu gatherings (i.e. dance parties) and the library has been the venue of choice. Some of the quotes in this article are hilarious. I especially like the revolutionary zeal of a mass of students shouting 'take the library!'. Such passion.

It's interesting that the library was chosen over other locations on campus. I wonder if it was because for students 'the library' speaks of all things establishment and so holding a rave there is fun because it is a rebellious and empowering act in a 'stuffy' location? Or because the library really is the heart and soul of the institution?

There's a humourous little news story on the ABC website about an Irish uni student who posted a fake quote to Wikipedia, attributed to a French composer. This quote was picked up by a multitude of newspapers, websites and blogs etc. There are comments about the incident and, more interestingly, the reliability of Wikipedia on the ABC blog.

Article on ABC Online by former UTAS librarian

Those of us who have been here for a long time may remember Paul Koerbin working with us as a liaison librarian. He's now the National Library's web archiving manager, and has an article on ABC Online today

Hit save before dot-com becomes dot-gone

"If we don't take steps to resource and support the methodical preservation of our public web culture we stand to lose huge slabs of it into the void of time...

Lazy? Want to keep up with professional literature?

Well, I just discovered the journal of Academic Librarianship has a guide to the professional literature in each issue. Snippet sized abstracts and reviews, handy.

Link to the catalogue entry for the journal

You can set up RSS feeds for the table of contents too.

Share the blog....

Do you subscribe to a great blog? Share it with your peers by replying to this post with the URL or emailing to srobson4@gmail.com and I can add it to our My Blog List of illustrious blogs

YouTube EDU

I was flicking through recent editions of TIME Magazine this morning, and found a couple of interesting articles on YouTube EDU (something I had not heard of before now), and how American university academics are using it to publish their lectures online. I thought it was an interesting exploration of information-sharing and information accessibility.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1891740,00.html

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1890337,00.html

Library-wear

A frivolous post from me...

As part of the FOLIOz marketing course I am currently undertaking, we have been asked to look at different examples if marketing material for libraries.

I thought this one was an interesting one...

http://shop.cafepress.com/librarian