Author: griffey

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.

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Digital Culture

Still travelling

This week has been a complete blur. From my trip to Chicago, I was home for one day, and then me and the rest of the UTC reference crew headed off to Memphis to the Tennessee Library Association/Southeast Library Association joint conference. Thus far the conference has been less than useful…I’ll ruminate over the difficulties of legendarily introverted librarians giving presentations at some other time. For now, let me just say that the sessions have been not particularly informative.

Our presentation is tomorrow, and tonight there is a reception at the Memphis Rock and Soul museum. But first, there will be ribs!

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Digital Culture

Going away

For the next several days, I will be off to Chicago, to enjoy the company of friends, judge the Raw Deal World Championship, and watch grown men roll around half naked.

I’m going to see Wrestlemania while in Chi-town.

I understand that most people think this is silly. Let’s just say that I enjoy the deconstruction of storytelling, while maintaining the tropes present in classical narrative forms. It’s self-referential, and wonderfully postmodern in its technique. Plus, HHH is so going to pwn Cena it’s not even funny.

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Digital Culture

Eating words….

Just when you thought you’d seen everything, the Interweb brings you another stunning example of the odd.

This gentleman is determined to eat the entire works of Neil Gaiman. I do mean eat. Yes, the literal books.

There truly are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of….

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Digital Culture

Justin is famous!

Not only has everyone’s favorite Watt been featured on his local TV affiliate, but he’s right now on the front page of BoingBoing AND he’s in the most recent USA Today. There’s still time to get more parodies out there, if anyone is interested.

Un-freakin-believable, and a huge story for free speech, copyright issues, and blogging. Way to go, Justin! I can say that I knew you when… 🙂

UPDATE: And, evidently, in the New York freakin’ Times. Very nice.
Justin in the NYT

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Digital Culture

Back…

…from a whirlwind birthday weekend (thanks for all those who sent their well wishes!). Spent some time in Nashville (Thanks, MeFi!), and picked up a couple of used books, as well as a few interesting kitchen gadgets. After that, a fun time watching some march madness with Betsy’s family, and then back home with nieces in tow for the week.

Busy week ahead, as I have to finish up my HigherEd BlogCon presentation (anyone have Captivate tips that they want to throw my way?). Hopefully some time for blogging…I feel like I’ve been absent for a long while.

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Digital Culture

A return to patronage

After reading the recent Wired report on The Pirate Bay, I had a thought: will, after everything shakes out legally, the copyright battles lead us back to a form of patronage?

Imagine a world where individuals pay artists directly, without the corporate middle man eating the artists profits. If I like a song, I can send the artist a micropayment via my computer or cellphone saying “thanks”. Music could be shared, and musicians could be rewarded by increased attendance at their live performances, sales of other merch, and the goodwill of the fans. I know that I for one would be FAR more likely to paypal $20 a couple of times a year directly to Ryan Adams or Counting Crows than I would to buy their CDs. The CD feels dirty by the time it hits shelves, and the reality is that the artists see very little of the actual cash made by their work.

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Digital Culture

Xbox Media Center rocks my face off

So I spent nearly all of today working with my old, non-360 Xbox trying to make it a useful part of our entertainment system. I am A friend is now the successful owner of a system running Xbox Media Center, and connected to my home network.

I already have an Airport connecting our music to our surround sound system, and we use iTunes to stream all over the house. But I’ve got a decent amount of video/photos that I’d love to be able to access on the TV, and now, I my friend can.

Overall, I my friend followed this walkthrough, although because of the DMCA and other laws, they can’t actually link to the software necessary (which means, of course, that finding it is difficult, but not impossible). Part of the software completely eluded me my friend (the bootloader that actually makes linux a possibility on the xbox). However, there was another version, not mentioned in the walkthrough, that allowed me to bootstrap myself into XBMC, and streaming happiness. I My friend has no idea how it manages it, down deep, but it’s played every single video type I’ve thrown at it, perfectly. No stutter, no issues…just played them. I’m incredibly impressed.

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Digital Culture

Come on, Ryan….

Well, the copyright/RIAA police have another law to throw at fans: two fans of one of my very favorite artist, Ryan Adams, are currently being prosecuted for leaking a few of the songs off of his album Jacksonville City Lights. This is the first prosecution from the new law that makes it a seperate, distinct crime to leak copyrighted material before the copyright holder does.

So here it is…my plea to Ryan: This is insanity. I can’t imagine that you, the actual author of these works, want these fans to go to jail for potentially 11 years for sharing your music. Pressure your label to drop the suit, apologize for the inconvenience, and let these guys off the hook.

via boingboing

EDIT: Wired also has a followup, with some links to fan site discussions.

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Digital Culture

Web 2.0 opportunity

Here’s another Web 2.0 opportunity for someone out there: We’ve got an online word processor (several, actually), like Writely, and a ton of other online productivity software.

Well, I want an online spreadsheet. Betsy and I are trying to do a budget for some things we’re interested in doing this spring, and having one online would be SO much easier. We could both update, etc.

Anyone know of the sort of thing I’m looking for?

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Digital Culture

Philly Zombie Crawl

In honor of the most famous zombie story ever, some guys in Philadelphia are organizing an Easter Zombie Pub Crawl.

Amazing! If anyone in the area is going, I’d love to see pics.