This...is hilarious. I've been listening to some podcasts of presentations from the recent Special Libraries Association conference in Denver. I have a peculiar obsession with all things Digital Rights Management and also a peculiar interest in public service announcements. Lucky for me, Ed Keating, Software & Information Industry Association, brought this little gem to light in the Facets of Digital Rights Management session.
From 1992: Don't Copy That Floppy!
Also on the subject of copyright, (as an extension of DRM issues), Ed mentioned this very interesting copyright lawsuit being brought by some high-school students against a company that provides their school with anti-plagiarism services. This service, Turnitin, runs papers through a large database of student papers and journal articles to check for plagiarism. This means that student papers are being collected and archived on a large scale in databases without permission and for the company's profit. These clever students officially registered their papers with the copyright office (although, copyright registeration is no longer a requirement for protection so this is sort of unnecessary) and are now suing Turnitin thousands of dollars for violating their copyrights.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
When you need a discussion board in a pinch....
Well, work on the fake storytelling website for my media class continues....and as I went back over my assignment objectives last night I realized that I had proposed to add a discussion board of some sort! Egads!
Luckily some trusty technophiles have developed free services JUST for this sort of last minute need...the shoutbox (aka chatterbox)! Ok, I admit, a shoutbox is not quite a discussion board where messages are kept in a hierarchy and replies are posted within that structure. Instead it is more like a simple open space to chat where users can post little messages and thoughts in a more linear fashion. OK, it's instant messaging.
Anyway, sifting through various shoutbox offerings on the web I settled with Shoutmix, a clever free service that allows you to add a little message box right into your website or blog.
The set up walks you through a few designs, lets you change the language and colors, and generates the html or, if y'like, flash code, that you cut and paste right into your website. The creator then has an account on the shoutmix site which allows them to moderate (ie, delete messages where necessary and set access). It also allows you to set how long messages are kept (such as, the most recent 10 and the others will be deleted).
What I love about this tool in terms of a library site is that:
Luckily some trusty technophiles have developed free services JUST for this sort of last minute need...the shoutbox (aka chatterbox)! Ok, I admit, a shoutbox is not quite a discussion board where messages are kept in a hierarchy and replies are posted within that structure. Instead it is more like a simple open space to chat where users can post little messages and thoughts in a more linear fashion. OK, it's instant messaging.
Anyway, sifting through various shoutbox offerings on the web I settled with Shoutmix, a clever free service that allows you to add a little message box right into your website or blog.
The set up walks you through a few designs, lets you change the language and colors, and generates the html or, if y'like, flash code, that you cut and paste right into your website. The creator then has an account on the shoutmix site which allows them to moderate (ie, delete messages where necessary and set access). It also allows you to set how long messages are kept (such as, the most recent 10 and the others will be deleted).
What I love about this tool in terms of a library site is that:
- It can be set to not collect nor store email addresses, IP addresses, or any other identifying information. As protectors of privacy this is extremely important.
- It's also extremely easy for users, they just type in a name (or alias...) enter a message and click 'talk now'! There are no downloads and, unless you require a login and password, no one has to sign up for anything.
- There are no pop up ads or other advertisements.
- The free version comes with a profanity filter just in case and a spam blocker. And if you're truly concerned, the premium version offers more robust features such as the ability to make it a members only message board, etc.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Ning-a-ling
Ok, so perhaps it's blaspheming but I just can't get into the MySpace thing. AHHHH. I know, how can the technolywood librarian say this?! Such social networking is the cornerstone of what we nuevo technolibrarians are doing here! To which I say I am FOR social networking but I am still sort of skeeved by MySpace. Maybe I just hang with a rough crowd online I'm not sure. But my point is, for those who are ALSO a tad skeeved by MySpace there is another way! It's the ning way!
I started to discuss ning in my last post but got a little side-tracked by the uber-exciting walkie-talkie widget. Ning is a lovely peaceful little place on the web where you can create a social network all your own. Libraries have discovered this one and for good reason. When you create a ning you are creating a place where patrons can gather, create their own personal pages, post their own pictures and videos, create their own groups and start discussions all safely and happily under the Public Library banner you've created.
However, I'm seeing a trend here and that is an invite only craze, wherein these library sites are requiring potential users to request an invitation in order to become a member of their network...I suppose this serves to keep the riff-raff out, who, I can only imagine, must be trolling the internet in droves making trouble for library websites. But I say share and share alike when it comes to creative discourse in the library world! Especially since the creator has the ability to monitor posts and delete those that do not follow the rules of decency. While I understand the fear that the intrusion of skeeve can instill, I always like to err on the side of openness over exclusiveness.
So, for an example of how a ning can work, I'll point you to the one in which I am a newly minted member, Library 2.0. I signed up, uploaded my picture, and became a member of this network with my own little page to modify as I like. I can choose a theme and add blog posts and invite other friends to view what I've got going on. What I REALLY love is that when I comment while on other pages in the network or in discussion forums, my comments are sorted nicely back on my personal page along with any replies so that I can keep up with my online communications. Techcrunch has a nice review of the service here with lots of nice screenshots.
I expect to see many more libraries using this service in the future but I hope to see them a little more opened up...
I started to discuss ning in my last post but got a little side-tracked by the uber-exciting walkie-talkie widget. Ning is a lovely peaceful little place on the web where you can create a social network all your own. Libraries have discovered this one and for good reason. When you create a ning you are creating a place where patrons can gather, create their own personal pages, post their own pictures and videos, create their own groups and start discussions all safely and happily under the Public Library banner you've created.
However, I'm seeing a trend here and that is an invite only craze, wherein these library sites are requiring potential users to request an invitation in order to become a member of their network...I suppose this serves to keep the riff-raff out, who, I can only imagine, must be trolling the internet in droves making trouble for library websites. But I say share and share alike when it comes to creative discourse in the library world! Especially since the creator has the ability to monitor posts and delete those that do not follow the rules of decency. While I understand the fear that the intrusion of skeeve can instill, I always like to err on the side of openness over exclusiveness.
So, for an example of how a ning can work, I'll point you to the one in which I am a newly minted member, Library 2.0. I signed up, uploaded my picture, and became a member of this network with my own little page to modify as I like. I can choose a theme and add blog posts and invite other friends to view what I've got going on. What I REALLY love is that when I comment while on other pages in the network or in discussion forums, my comments are sorted nicely back on my personal page along with any replies so that I can keep up with my online communications. Techcrunch has a nice review of the service here with lots of nice screenshots.
I expect to see many more libraries using this service in the future but I hope to see them a little more opened up...
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Walkie Talkie over the Internet w/YackPack Widget!
Today's post was going to be all about these fun things called ning's...
["Ning is the only online service where you can create, customize, and share your own Social Network for free in seconds."]
....but, like a little baby distracted by shiny things, I got SO excited about this new widget that I encountered while perusing library ning's that ning's will just have to wait!......
YackPack is a new widget that allows you to walkie talkie over the internet! I discovered it when I stumbled upon Library 2.0's ning. There is no software required, no installation of anything, no registration. All a person has to do is click on the button and depending on how it's set up you can either record and send a message OR talk live with the LiveVoice feature.
This is a nice little video that'll tell you ALL about it. Love it.
["Ning is the only online service where you can create, customize, and share your own Social Network for free in seconds."]
....but, like a little baby distracted by shiny things, I got SO excited about this new widget that I encountered while perusing library ning's that ning's will just have to wait!......
YackPack is a new widget that allows you to walkie talkie over the internet! I discovered it when I stumbled upon Library 2.0's ning. There is no software required, no installation of anything, no registration. All a person has to do is click on the button and depending on how it's set up you can either record and send a message OR talk live with the LiveVoice feature.
This is a nice little video that'll tell you ALL about it. Love it.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
The DVD Conundrum
Cuya-HOGA! Not a new cartoon cheer, a library! The Cuyahoga County Public Library continues to amaze me with their thoughtful and well developed library both online and off. I could go on for pages, I mean, they partner with local area businesses and organizations, like the Cleveland Browns, and occasionally offer online contests for free tickets to events, how great is that?! Just take a gander and you'll see what I mean. You'll have a crush too.
But what I really wanted to highlight is their new trial service My Library DV . How to supply the masses with access to a wider selection of DVD's while limiting damage and replacement costs has been on the agenda since libraries acquired these shiny little discs. The service allows Windows users to download videos right to their computer, up to 10 depending on hard drive size, and they can keep them for 7 days. This may be the answer but we'll have to wait and see, as most libraries are in a 6-month trial period with this.
The issue of course is how many folks out there are comfortably watching dvd's on their computer. I personally am, but I'm already cut out of the service because I have a MAC. That's why I still have my trusty Netflix subscription.
Which brings me to those hip librarians at the Brooklyn Public Library who, as reported by the New York Post back in March, are in negotiations with Netflix to create a platform for their users to access Netflix's gigantic collection for free.
I don't think I really need to go into how cool that would be.
But a few libraries are already doing it without formally setting up an agreement with Netflix. Ah, I love a subversive library! The wee Exeter Library in Rhode Island** and the equally wee Vernon Free Library in Vermont have subscriptions to Netflix so, if a patron wants a video not available in their collection, the library will order it on their behalf. The small size of these communities allows this to work. Chalk one up for rural libraries!
**At the time of this posting that link had gone dead. Perhaps Netflix is on to them :-)
But what I really wanted to highlight is their new trial service My Library DV . How to supply the masses with access to a wider selection of DVD's while limiting damage and replacement costs has been on the agenda since libraries acquired these shiny little discs. The service allows Windows users to download videos right to their computer, up to 10 depending on hard drive size, and they can keep them for 7 days. This may be the answer but we'll have to wait and see, as most libraries are in a 6-month trial period with this.
The issue of course is how many folks out there are comfortably watching dvd's on their computer. I personally am, but I'm already cut out of the service because I have a MAC. That's why I still have my trusty Netflix subscription.
Which brings me to those hip librarians at the Brooklyn Public Library who, as reported by the New York Post back in March, are in negotiations with Netflix to create a platform for their users to access Netflix's gigantic collection for free.
I don't think I really need to go into how cool that would be.
But a few libraries are already doing it without formally setting up an agreement with Netflix. Ah, I love a subversive library! The wee Exeter Library in Rhode Island** and the equally wee Vernon Free Library in Vermont have subscriptions to Netflix so, if a patron wants a video not available in their collection, the library will order it on their behalf. The small size of these communities allows this to work. Chalk one up for rural libraries!
**At the time of this posting that link had gone dead. Perhaps Netflix is on to them :-)
Monday, July 16, 2007
Twitter Madness
So the Wall Street Journal had an article in today's paper regarding networks using twitter as a marketing tool for their shows. (I'd link to it but WSJ makes you get a subscription to view articles the morning after and I won't subject you to the rejection.)
If you've perhaps heard of twitter but have no idea what it actually is, watch David Free's short infovideo on the VERY fun BIGWIG SOCIAL SOFTWARE SHOWCASE wiki and he'll show you everything you need to do to get started. He calls it "a microblogging service where you can tell the world what you're doing at 140 characters or less", like this sentence length.
[yes, i spent a good five minutes counting that sentence out to exactly 140 characters...all for you.]
Or, put another way, it's sending a quick instant message out to all your 'friends' en masse. It came out in late 2006 and has been ever so slowly gaining steam in the library world as a way of getting library event announcements out to the 'yoots' and for taking reference questions. And while those are both interesting and nice uses of it as a tool, that's just not fun enough for me and, like the WSJ article discussed, you always run the risk of alienating users when using a social tool as a marketing device.
I think we've gotta be a little more fun & creative with this twitter stuff instead of hiijacking it and making it into just another IM device or another way to get a library rss feed out. The thing that makes it fun in the first place is that its supposed to be a stream of consciousness sort of outlet for the short random thoughts, commentary and experiences had throughout a day. Just look at the way pretty boy John Edwards uses it.....
So how about, at least for the teen demographic who are actually using it at the moment, handing it over to your teenage volunteers and library pages and letting them run wild with it. (I can hear shrieks all around!) Seriously though, a nice experiment might be to get your young page to send a few twitter notices throughout the day about what's going on at the library. Presumably a teen who chooses to work at a library really LIKES the library and presumably that teen would like to make everyone else think it's pretty cool so let them strike up that twitter madness in their own teen language.
The key is to use it as an open dialogue with the public, not just as a blanket news/marketing spam. Instead of just mindlessly and automatically throwing out announcements (which might be just fine eventually for a certain group of users) give the feed a persona and be fun and funny.
Ok fine, so you're afraid to have your teens run wild and you still want to market your goods...consider throwing out little bites from the reference desk like a funny world record that you found in your copy of the guinness book of world records and include a link to that books record in the catalog. Or maybe 'just found out the bible is the most shoplifted book ever! ha!' that sort of thing. The library is a place FULL of weird information that can be discovered. and that's fun.
If you've perhaps heard of twitter but have no idea what it actually is, watch David Free's short infovideo on the VERY fun BIGWIG SOCIAL SOFTWARE SHOWCASE wiki and he'll show you everything you need to do to get started. He calls it "a microblogging service where you can tell the world what you're doing at 140 characters or less", like this sentence length.
[yes, i spent a good five minutes counting that sentence out to exactly 140 characters...all for you.]
Or, put another way, it's sending a quick instant message out to all your 'friends' en masse. It came out in late 2006 and has been ever so slowly gaining steam in the library world as a way of getting library event announcements out to the 'yoots' and for taking reference questions. And while those are both interesting and nice uses of it as a tool, that's just not fun enough for me and, like the WSJ article discussed, you always run the risk of alienating users when using a social tool as a marketing device.
I think we've gotta be a little more fun & creative with this twitter stuff instead of hiijacking it and making it into just another IM device or another way to get a library rss feed out. The thing that makes it fun in the first place is that its supposed to be a stream of consciousness sort of outlet for the short random thoughts, commentary and experiences had throughout a day. Just look at the way pretty boy John Edwards uses it.....
So how about, at least for the teen demographic who are actually using it at the moment, handing it over to your teenage volunteers and library pages and letting them run wild with it. (I can hear shrieks all around!) Seriously though, a nice experiment might be to get your young page to send a few twitter notices throughout the day about what's going on at the library. Presumably a teen who chooses to work at a library really LIKES the library and presumably that teen would like to make everyone else think it's pretty cool so let them strike up that twitter madness in their own teen language.
The key is to use it as an open dialogue with the public, not just as a blanket news/marketing spam. Instead of just mindlessly and automatically throwing out announcements (which might be just fine eventually for a certain group of users) give the feed a persona and be fun and funny.
Ok fine, so you're afraid to have your teens run wild and you still want to market your goods...consider throwing out little bites from the reference desk like a funny world record that you found in your copy of the guinness book of world records and include a link to that books record in the catalog. Or maybe 'just found out the bible is the most shoplifted book ever! ha!' that sort of thing. The library is a place FULL of weird information that can be discovered. and that's fun.
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