Jason Griffey is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at NISO, where he works to identify new areas of the information ecosystem where standards expertise is useful and needed. Prior to joining NISO in 2019, Jason ran his own technology consulting company for libraries, has been both an Affiliate at metaLAB and a Fellow and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and was an academic librarian in roles ranging from reference and instruction to Head of IT at the University of TN at Chattanooga.
Jason has written extensively on technology and libraries, including multiple books and a series of full-periodical issues on technology topics, most recently AI & Machine Learning in Libraries and Library Spaces and Smart Buildings: Technology, Metrics, and Iterative Design from 2018. His newest book, co-authored with Jeffery Pomerantz, will be published by MIT Press in 2024.
He has spoken internationally on topics such as artificial intelligence & machine learning, the future of technology and libraries, decentralization and the Blockchain, privacy, copyright, and intellectual property. A full list of his publications and presentations can be found on his CV.
He is one of eight winners of the Knight Foundation News Challenge for Libraries for the Measure the Future project (http://measurethefuture.net), an open hardware project designed to provide actionable use metrics for library spaces. He is also the creator and director of The LibraryBox Project (http://librarybox.us), an open source portable digital file distribution system.
Jason can be stalked obsessively online, and spends his free time with his daughter Eliza, reading, obsessing over gadgets, and preparing for the inevitable zombie uprising.
Evidently the scammers are even more desperate than I previously thought. Discovered via a post over of MeFi, the whole idea for the wi-fi spray was stolen whole-cloth from a joke site designed by someone else. Check it out:
The seller essentially stole the content of a joke site that I created (and posted on 13 November, 2002). He’s auctioning this fake product.
Ibib gets some good press for their bittorrents…and gets slashdotted in the process!
And ebay is the place to shill to them. Most amusing auction I’ve seen in some time:
Wi-Fi Speed Spray DramaticalIy Increase Data Throughput
This revolutionary product enhances the transfer of computer data through the air. You’ll be amazed!
Do you live in a polluted environment such as Los Angeles? If so, you’ve probably experienced the heartbreak of data transfer slow-down. WiFi Speed Sprayâ„¢ can overcome the effects of pollution, increase fidelity, and provide you with the fastest wireless data transfer possible. Compatible with ALL 802.XXx standards!
It’s a scientific fact. Radio waves become sluggish under a variety of common environmental conditions. Besides air pollution, radio waves slow down in noisy environments, at night, and in “high emission” areas such as computer rooms, offices that use fluorescent lighting, and even in the kitchen (those pesky microwave ovens are to blame!).
BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Where’s the Mythbusters when you need them?
As Betsy knows, I’m not a grammar nerd. I don’t pay enough attention to my grammar…so why is it that improperly used quotation marks drive me up the freakin’ wall? Quotation marks and apostrophes drive me nuts, especially on signs. So now that I have a camera phone, I’ll occasionally snap one of these and share it with the world. Here’s the first, taken in a random small town in Tennessee at a gas station.
I’m not sure if the floor is not really wet, or if it’s not really a floor, or both.
As of a few days ago, I took down our Gallery, and am in the process of adding all our photos to Flickr. It’s gonna be slow going (I’ve used 18% of my upload for the month, and I’m probably at 5% of our total photos) but Flickr really is an amazing product.
In any case…if anyone wants to play with our photos, they’ll be at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/griffey/
and via tags/sets/etc we’ll be adding some value to them. Here’s an idea for Flickr, though: it would be amazing to be able to download/burn a CD of the interface/slideshow/photo sets and such for permanent archival.
Pallbearer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A pallbearer is a person who helps carry the casket of a deceased person from a religious service or viewing to their final resting place, or to and from the hearse which does so.
A pall is the heavy cloth that is draped over a coffin; by metonymy the term pallbearer is used to signify someone who bears the coffin which the pall covers.
Some traditions distinguish between these two roles, with pallbearer being an honorary position, while casketbearers do the actual heavy lifting and carrying.
Pallbearers were usually associated in an intimate manner (such as brother, uncle, father, or husband – pallbearers are not always male, but male pallbearers are the most common) with the deceased before their death, though this is not always the case.
On Friday, I served as a pallbearer for Anna Beatrice Pitman, the wife of Chester Pitman.
She was the mother of Kimmy Pitman, Brenda Mink, Beverly Sandlin, and Dottie Whitaker; the grandmother of Betsy Sandlin, Troy Sandlin Jr., Kimberly Canada, Judy Mink, Kenny Whitaker, and Adam, Alex, and Nicholas Hawk. She had seven great-grandchildren at the time of her death.
Her death was a shock, and the aftermath will be felt for some time.
…to hate him more.
Gah!
From sfgate.com:
President Bush said Monday he believes schools should discuss “intelligent design” alongside evolution when teaching students about the creation of life.
During a round-table interview with reporters from five Texas newspapers, Bush declined to go into detail on his personal views of the origin of life. But he said students should learn about both theories, Knight Ridder Newspapers reported.
“I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought,” Bush said. “You’re asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes.”
Grrrr….this is one of my “irrational hatred” issues. There is a difference between “different schools of thought” and “useless unscientific pap.” Can’t wait to see what Dawkins says about this.
Just as a tide of ignorance swells up and threatens to engulf the world, out of the ashes of the Great Library of Alexandria arises a hero, an educated fellow with fists of steel and a mind as sharp as a tack: public librarian Rex Libris. Follow the story of Rex, the tough-as-nails Head Librarian at Middleton Public Library, and his unending struggle against the forces of darkness. Wearing his distinctive, super-thick bottle glasses and armed with an arsenal of powerful weapons, he strikes fear into recalcitrant borrowers, and can take on virtually any foe — from loitering zombies to alien warlords who refuse to pay their late fees. Even the occasional infestation of rogue, public domain literary characters are dispatched with aplomb.
Everyone must check out the preview, as well as buy copies for everyone they know. I can’t wait to see how this goes…now if only there were somewhere within 50 miles I could buy it. This could well be the coolest comic book in the history of the world. 🙂
I hesitate to use the word “porn” in a blog post, cause that guarantees I’ll be getting bizarre google referrals forever, but in this case, it’s warranted.
Here’s the situation…we’ve got 4 publically available computers in the reference area (we’ve got more computers than that, but the rest require a login/pwd combo from a student/faculty/staff member of the university). Of course, we’re having a bit of porn problem, which one would expect on public use PCs. The library is located in a semi-urban area, within walking distance of all of downtown Chattanooga, and as such as become a haven for members of our homeless population. This in and of itself isn’t a big deal…a number of the homeless are actually using our library for needed purposes (finding TN laws relating to Social Security for example). But some are coming into the library, parking on the 4 public computers for 8-10 hours a day, and surfing for porn.
Again, this is nothing new…any urban library has been dealing with these things for years. Unfortunately, it appears that we’ve never really had an effective policy that was uniformly enforced, and as such have had difficulty dealing with the issue.
And the issue really comes down to patron vs patron problems. The homeless are our patrons. But we’ve gotten more complaints about this issue than any other having to do with the library.
How do we balance the rights of one group of patrons to access material that another group finds offensive? This can be expanded to other issues…there was a court case regarding a patron at a library in Hawaii that involved him surfing to a gay travel site…no nudity, no porn…just a gay travel site that had two guys in swimming trunks on the front page. Another patron complained, and I can SO see that happening here. The slope is very slippery.
So what say you, Interweb? Any thoughts on appropriate controls/policies? What about patron vs patron rights? This is especially hard, since there’s a distinct disconnect between my personal feelings and what I might suggest to the library.
We bought a house!
Ok, well…we’re buying a house. Under contract, closing Aug 31! We can’t wait…the house is nearly exactly what we were looking for: great floorplan, wonderful kitchen, just nearly perfect. We’re both just excited about having our own place again, especially when it’s so nice.
So: everyone’s invited over…we’ll make up the extra bedroom. Just give us some warning. 🙂