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Lolzilla
Yet more in the LOL meme: Lolzilla!
If you haven’t seen the news, KGS had a piece published in Nerve this week. After reading it, then re-reading it, then going back to examine the use of language…well, I’m blown away.
I knew that she was a good writer. I mean, you don’t have to read Free Range Librarian long to know that, not to mention all the other pieces she’s written over the years (and no, that’s not an age joke, kgs). But this one really was different in a substantial way than the things I’ve read from her before.
It was personal. The enormous amount of effort this must have taken…seriously, just read this:
My heart thumps. I slowly accept the gun with my left hand, watching through the corner of my eyes so I know the shopgirl is observing how nicely, how safely, how carefully I handle the pistol, always pointing it down and away. This delicacy, this attention to detail, this awareness that I must Never Point At Anything I Don’t Plan to Shoot: in my shyness, this is the closest I can get to flirting, an activity I should not be engaged in anyway — except that as long as I am in a gun shop, an activity which I know would earn me a severe scolding from my beloved, I might as well be naughty all around.
This is writing that is alive, full of verve and vibrance and it’s in your head and your heart all at once. Whenever someone asks me who my favorite authors are, my stock answer is “anyone who makes me want to write.” And that’s true…all my favorite authors use language that make me think “Goddamnit man, why are you not doing that?” Truly great writing make me want to carve words out of the future, using them as weapons, as blankets, as nourishment.
This essay made me want to write.
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Sony Rolly
In case you didn’t know, Sony is a Japanese company, and Japan is the home of all things cute. Thus, the Sony Rolly.
It will be launching soon in Japan, and yes, it is a dancing MP3 player.
According to a recent press release, it will have 1gig of internal memory, but be able to play tunes via Bluetooth from your cell or laptop as well. And dance, of course. And flap its ears.
I have no idea why I would possible want one, but I do.
Here’s a FAR better video, that really shows it in use.
It looks like quite a little tech marvel: bluetooth music streaming, the video makes it look like it has an accelerometer, and given the Sony.jp page it looks like there is a motion editor for programming movement yourself. Sony has tried and tried to bust into the home robotics market with the Aibo, and they show off Asimo to people all over the world….is Rolly the next step?
And when are they going to release him in the US? Do I have to import one? 🙁
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Haiku for Libraryman
Oh, Libraryman
your humor amuses me
please don’t ever change
Ok, so it’s not the best haiku ever. But I had to find some form of poetry to express my love for Libraryman’s recent short film. Oh, Gorman, how I’ve missed you! And Michael, I so owe you a drink at Internet Librarian for this…
Google has made an interesting move with Book Search…they just added a “My Library” component, which allows you to catalog your home library using Google.
Now, if you do a search in Google Books, one of the options is “Add to My Library”
If you click the link, and are logged into Google, it starts your collection:
The links on the side give an option to Import/Export you library, but the import options is woefully weak…it only allows you to paste in a list of ISBNs. No CSV or Delimited files, no xml, no other formal metadata. Just ISBNs.
Export is possibly even worse. Google My Library exports an XML file with the following structure:
<book>
<id>drYIAAAACAAJ</id>
<url>http://books.google.com/books?id=drYIAAAACAAJ</ur>
<title>Pattern Recognition</title>
<contributor>William Gibson</contributor>
−
<identifier>
<type>ISBN</type>
<value>0425192938</value>
</identifier>
</book>
Google? What’s with the non-existent metadata? I can do better at Amazon, not to mention a real library tool like LibraryThing.
Google My Library also has the ability to display just the cover view of your library, but there doesn’t appear to be any ordering/sorting options…although it will limit a search to just your library, it would still be nice to be able to order. How about some faceted browsing, Google?
This is an interesting product from Google. It is yet another set of information they can use to target advertisements (if they know the contents of your library and 982734987234 other people, they can cross reference that and target ads). But as a product from the consumer’s view, this seems way less useful than LibraryThing, which has given serious thought to what people want to do with their own books, and gives a nearly obsessive number of tools to the user.
On the other hand, this is Google. They are likely to gather a huge number of users from their existing base, even when there may be better tools out there for the given job. Haven’t seen this over at the Thingology blog…Tim, what do you think about this?
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Open Source Library
Many libraries are undergoing a re-evaluation of their technology underpinnings…their ILS, their electronic access mechanisms (OpenURL resolvers, OPAC, Metasearch), and other pieces of the melange we use to get our patrons what they need.
If you were going to attempt to move away from commercial, closed-source products and towards open source solutions for the following, what would you use? What are the areas where you are just not convinced that open source is ready for prime time, and in those cases who do you think is the most progressive choice for an academic library?
- ILS
- OPAC (if separate from ILS)
- OpenURL Resolver
- ERM
- MetaSearch
- Other tools I’ve forgotten… 🙂
I’ve got some feelings about a few of these areas, but in others I’m just not sure. Help me make up my mind what to play with…
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Library Technology Conferences
Updated with correct URL!!! Please take our survey!!!!
You will almost certainly see this call for input on a few blogs this week, as well as listservs and other electronic means of communication in libraryland.
Consider that behind the scenes, some of us are trying desperately to build a different sort of library conference…Better than other conferences. Better…stronger…faster. One that makes cool sound effects when it runs.
To that end, any input you are willing to give will help. Fill out The Survey, and leave feedback here if you wish to give more thorough answers. We will pay attention.
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Oh, the decisions
Oh, the humanity.
So Apple launches a completely new swath of iPods yesterday. I, like most of us, drooled over the iPhone when it was released, but now we have the choice between the iPhone (8GB, $399) or the Touch (16GB, $399). Confounding that choice is the still-mind-boggling 160GB iPod Classic. 160GB.
The Touch is clearly the technological marvel of the group…wifi, safari, touchscreen allows for infinitely variable UI upgrades…but with the classic, for the first time I could actually carry all my music in my pocket. That’s pretty nuts. But the screen on the Touch is really marvelous.
So what say you all? Touch or Classic? At some point my old 40GB 4th gen (over 3 years and still kicking) will give out, and I’ll need a replacement.
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User Interface Expectations
Been thinking a lot about user interfaces lately…what happens when the “language” of your users changes? For example, how many companies have cute phone numbers that spell their name…something like 1-800-GRIFFEY. Before cell phones, dialing this made sense: you pressed each letter in turn: 1-800-475-3339. (warning, number goes nowhere)
Post-SMS, how many teens do you think will see that number and try to dial the number as if they were texting? I’ll admit that when I think about dialing letters, I default to “txt” behavior.
This isn’t an example of the interface changing. It’s the same phone, with the same letters in the same order. But the expectations of that interface have changed.
Where have libraries been guilty of this? We have an interface, and it’s still being used…but the patron expectations have shifted slightly, and we haven’t taken that into account…