There aren’t likely to be many posts here at Pattern Recognition for the next little bit, as Betsy is laboring even as I type to give birth to our first child.
Follow along over at Brand New World, or the live stream at Twitter.
We’ve been in the hospital just about 10 hours now, and Betsy is working hard. Epidural is in, so the pain is less, but the work is still hard.
My mom and sister just came in, so there’s a bit more company. Still feels like lonely business.
Betsy is doing well. Called my mom to tell her that B’s water broke, and she said that she was on her way as soon as the cornbread came out of the oven. My mom cooks when she’s nervous.
Besides being way too long since my last post (it is getting busy around here, and Eliza hasn’t even shown up), it’s about time for an update on the Library Building Project.
If you take a look at the wiki, we’ve basically filled it with information about all our existing square footage, projected square footage, and basic collection decisions. At the last building committee meeting, we received the go ahead from the committee to look at compact shelving for our entire collection. This was a huge concern, we weren’t sure that everyone would see the benefits…the numbers are there in the wiki, but it saves us nearly 20,000 sq ft that could be used for patron-centered services.
I’m particularly happy with the feedback form. People are starting to use it to tell us what they want out of the new space, and we’re marching ever toward a shiny new patron centered library.
So in the last week or so, we’ve more or less finished Eliza’s room. The way I see it, if we’re to the point of hanging pictures on walls, the important stuff is all done. 🙂
There will be pictures later, I’m sure, but the room is really great. I’ve heard that one of the problems with parenting is that you give your children not what they want, but what you wanted…and I’m absolutely certain that’s the case with her room. It’s great, but I’m hoping that at age 4 she doesn’t throw a fit wanted it to be purple with pink glitter, cause that’s not what she’s got now.
At this point, we’re just waiting for her to make an appearance. 2 weeks ’til due date, so could be any time now.
I can’t believe that it’s already December.
That is all.
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Now playing: The Ramones – Chinese Rock
So yeah, that little ticker on the right says less than 20 days to go. YIKES!
Had third and final baby shower today, got lots of great stuff off our registries and other wonderful goodies. Lots of books, which was fantastic. She hasn’t even been born and already she has a good library. Makes sense, given her who her parents are!
We’re pretty much “ready” for the big day: bags packed and in the car at all times, car seat in (although I need to have it checked this week), diapers, wipes, bottles, crib with a sheet and mattress pad on it, her laundry washed. Jason has put her swing together. Now we just need to put batteries in everything (like the monitors). And of course, it would be nice if I could get my exams and papers graded before she decides to arrive!
Ok, so we’ve all seen the press, read the Newsweek story, and if you’re reading this you probably read my take on the Amazon Kindle. Here’s a new feature that wasn’t heavily marketed for the Kindle, that has a direct impact on library efforts…and the surprising thing is, it has nothing to do with reading a book.
I’m talking about Amazon NowNow.
It’s an “experimental” feature on the Kindle, but NowNow is a human-powered answer engine that uses the Amazon Mechanical Turk group to search and answer questions for users. The service is in beta, and has been for a year or so (Jessamyn blogged about NowNow back in January).
So what’s the big deal? Well, the Kindle is an always-on internet appliance…anywhere you can get a cell signal, you can be online with the thing. Which means that you can ask a question and get an answer, from nearly anywhere, from a human, emailed directly to the device you used to ask the question in the first place. And this is built into the device…yes, Amazon might decide to charge for this, but right now they aren’t.
Is this Reference 2.0? Imagine being asked a research question by a patron, finding the perfect article for them, and being able to send that article to the device they are going to use to read it. Yes, I realize that laptops sort of fill this goal already, but the Kindle is certainly a more user-centered way of getting at this process. The patron doesn’t have to find a way to ask us questions…the device they are using is a direct line to us. It might not be that distinct from a webpage with a meebo widget…but I think it is qualitatively different somehow.
How?
Discuss.
Got a beta invite to Hulu.com today, the new video sharing site backed by the actual media conglomerates…NBC, FOX, ABC. More thorough review as I play with it.
Surprisingly, there’s an embed function. This post is just to test it, see how long it lasts, and if eventually they time-phase these out.
Wow!
The Kindle is for sale at Amazon right now, and the details of the device are intriguing. More highlights:
And, my favorites:
Here’s the bad:
Ah, and here’s where eBooks and physical books diverge, and is the source of 99% of my frustration with the format (also from the License Agreement):
Use of Digital Content. Upon your payment of the applicable fees set by Amazon, Amazon grants you the non-exclusive right to keep a permanent copy of the applicable Digital Content and to view, use, and display such Digital Content an unlimited number of times, solely on the Device or as authorized by Amazon as part of the Service and solely for your personal, non-commercial use. Digital Content will be deemed licensed to you by Amazon under this Agreement unless otherwise expressly provided by Amazon.
Restrictions. You may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content. In addition, you may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to, bypass, modify, defeat or circumvent security features that protect the Digital Content.
That book you bought? Not yours. Can’t sell it. Can’t even give it away.
Oh, and for those librarians who still hold tight to the privacy bandwagon:
Information Received. The Device Software will provide Amazon with data about your Device and its interaction with the Service (such as available memory, up-time, log files and signal strength) and information related to the content on your Device and your use of it (such as automatic bookmarking of the last page read and content deletions from the Device). Annotations, bookmarks, notes, highlights, or similar markings you make in your Device are backed up through the Service. Information we receive is subject to the Amazon.com Privacy Notice.
They know when you are reading. They know what you are reading, and that you bookmarked the sex scenes. Oh yes, they know.
So, exciting new product? Yep. Amazon, like Apple before them, has realized the power of a closed market segment, where they control the distribution and the consumption of media. The real test will be whether this survives the 2-3 year adoption cycle and moves into the magic price point range ($100-150).