How To Make a Secret Hollow Book
(via MetaFilter)
One other library/book/publishing anecdote for the day...
I was working on our patron requests this afternoon and someone had requested a book with a French title and which Bowker Global Books in Print showed as being only available in French. But everything else I saw about the book indicated that it was in English even if I couldn't find 100% confirmation.
Finally I said "I know who'll know for sure" and called the publisher in Toronto. I told them I was a librarian in Saskatchewan and what my question was.
There was the briefest of pauses and then "Fucking Bowker! They never get anything right." (Man, sometimes I miss working with publishers. What other world would gain you a response like this over the phone? Hilarious.)
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Tuesday, July 31
How To Make A Secret Hollow Book
by
Jason
on Tue 31 Jul 2007 06:23 PM CST
Sunday, July 29
Yet Five More Ways To Improve Facebook
by
Jason
on Sun 29 Jul 2007 03:26 PM CST
I'm getting lots of hits for my Facebook related writings (especially my recent post on whether Facebook was replacing e-mail) so why not add to the chatter some more?
So, to follow-up on the last two lists like this, here are yet five more ways I'd improve Facebook (post-apps version.) (Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I've added a Facebook category and keyword tag. Isn't that pathetic? Sheesh.) YET FIVE MORE WAYS TO IMPROVE FACEBOOK 1. I'm okay with allowing people to join and not upload a profile photo or sign up under their full name as that helps retain some privacy. But I really think people should be required to at least join a single network to help you find them. Right now, I'll do a search for somebody I know who has a common name like "Brian Smith" but get so many results, there's no way I can find him. If people had to join networks, at least I could try to narrow it by the city he used to live in or the school I know he attended. 2. Tone down the apps. Or at least provide a forum or ranking system of some type where people can come to a decision about the best ones. I think I've mentioned before that I was invited to use at least four different book-related applications within a couple weeks of the launch of Facebook Applications. But a social network application loses a lot of its advantages if your social network is fragmented in the common applications they use. 3. I wrote in one of my earlier lists that Facebook should make better use of their groups feature. Right now, as you as you join more than 5-6, it's hard to track what's happening with all of them. My idea to fix this is to put a tab at the top of the news feeds page that everybody sees when they log in that you can easily click on to see what's happening in your subscribed groups (Oh, and I do know you can go to your groups page to find something similar but I'm looking for greater convenience and accessibility than what they have now.) 4. The messenger application is pretty good as well but could be tweaked to be even better. Grouping messages from the same person, allowing attachments (if they went for a (nearly) unlimited size for this feature, they'd bring the wrath of the movie and music companies but instantly become the focus for online sharing in a way that existing sites like box.net and startups like Pownce are trying to be. Oh, and I've got 6 Pownce invites that I'm willing to give to the first people to e-mail me off-list. If you don't know, Pownce is a new social networking site by the founder of Digg that focuses on sharing information - files, messages, links, and events.) 5. I'd love if there was a way to see a person's complete Facebook history going back to the day they joined (right now, you can see the last month or so of activity via the mini-feed on their profile page.) You know they're keeping this information so why not make it available? My main use would be to see when people joined Facebook but I'm sure there could be other purposes - a timeline of changing profile pictures would be fun to see as would one that shows you a person's status updates over time. Oh, and I thought this image from Mashable was funny and relevant to today's post... (click on the link to Mashable if this is too small to read)  Saturday, July 28
My "Co-op" Is Over (and the 10 Best Things About My New Job)
by
Jason
on Sat 28 Jul 2007 10:53 PM CST
I didn't participate in the co-op program at FIMS for a variety of reasons:
1) I only wanted to be out of the workforce for a year so going straight through doing the "Suicide Five" was pretty much my only option 2) being older and a bit more established, I was able to access a line of credit that could fully cover my expenses for the year and didn't need the cash infusion that is sometimes part of the reason some students do co-ops (although having student loans again after finally paying off my undergrad debts a year or two ago SUCKS!) 3) they had very few (only one when I was there) public library co-op jobs and although you would gain valuable skills from pretty much any co-op, I didn't think it was a worthwhile trade-off to do a co-op not related to my main area of interest, especially since... 4) you had to move yet again for the vast majority of the co-ops which, especially with having my spouse there and having already done a cross-Canada move, was an extra complication and expense we didn't need. So, anyhow, since today marks the four-month anniversary of my time in my first real librarian job, I thought I'd jot a few thoughts about my first four months (ie. the typical length of a co-op position) and a special list of the best things about the job (so far.) My First Librarian Job vs. Co-op - I probably talked (too much) about my previous work experience when I was at FIMS but I honestly think it did help me quite a bit in getting up to speed at this position, perhaps compared to say, a brand new MLIS grad who was 10 years younger than me and might not have any relevant experience doing things like working with boards, running programs or doing building inspections. - at the same time, if I'm honest with myself, I probably overestimated how much help my previous work experience would give me as a librarian (or at least in this position.) Some things are very similar to my old job - instead of working with ~50 publisher members, I'm working with ~50 branches. I run programs. I help develop policy. I've been involved in some hiring decisions. But some things are completely different - the level of responsibility I've been given, the size of the organization (10x the budget of the literary non-profits I worked for and 10x the number of employees.) The structure and operation of an organization this size compared to how a much smaller organization operates. - although the skills gained on co-op definitely give you a leg-up when you're looking for work after convocating, I suspect a lot of positions end up (re)training you after you're hired so you learn your new organization's policies, procedures, culture, etc. For instance, I was fortunate enough to get nearly a month of training with the employee I was replacing. Regina Public Library gives a month of training as well I believe and as I said, I suspect most institutions will have a training/orientation program of some type. Okay, that's a few thoughts trying to define my first four months on the job as a co-op term (whether that's a fair analogy or not.) Now, here's a list of some of the best things about my job so far. (The list of things I don't like will have to wait until my contract's over!  )These are in no particular order (even though I have numbered them just because I love lists so damn much!) and (if anybody from work is reading this) there are probably more than 10 - these are just the first ones that occurred to me. Also, I'm trying to only pick good things specifically about my job, not the side benefits like living in a smaller city (five minute drive to work, twenty-minute walk), being able to live with Shea's parents with our new baby (their first grand-baby) during the week being close enough to Regina that we're able to come back to our own house every weekend. Being the same distance from my parents as we would've been if we stayed in Regina (just had a great visit to the family cottage at Katepwa Lake last night as a matter of fact.) 1. Great co-workers I've been getting to know the other people who staff Southeast Regional's headquarters and they seem like a great group. (My boss told me the other day that studies have shown that the number one reason people stay in a workplace is their co-workers - not money, not job satisfaction, not the challenges they're given. I never knew that but now that he says it, it makes sense.) Plus, counting me and a staff member who was coming in on a temp basis when I started, there are not one, not two, not three but four people out of a staff of around a dozen who have young children under five years old plus another who's expecting later this year - perhaps the first time in my life where so many co-workers are at a similar place in their lives to me. 2. Special Project I'm not going to talk too much about it here yet but I've been given a special project to work on that is about as perfect of a fit for my interests and aptitudes as I could ask for. Seriously, I couldn't write a better fit myself. 3. Range of Library Learning Pick a library skill and I'm going to get exposure to it - acquisitions and weeding, management and HR issues, policy development, youth and other programming, outreach, cataloguing questions. Someone told me that working one year in a rural library system is the equivalent of working two years in a city system because you are exposed to so much more in terms of skills and experiences. Not sure if that's true or not but I like to believe it! 4. Range of Other Learning Lots of things that you don't think of as direct library-related skills will also be a part of my experience. Everything from working in an unionized environment to building codes and inspections to politics and advocacy. 5. Acquisitions I mentioned this above (and have written about it before on this blog) but want to focus on it a bit more as this is an area of librarianship I am particularly interested in. Before I went to FIMS, I had a working librarian tell me that "you have to be working for 10 years before you'll get an acquisitions job" yet here I am, just four months in to my first job and already making decisions about which books to purchase for children, young adults, adult non-fiction, adult fiction and certain books that should be held by all 48 branches across our system. Those choices are made via my responsibility for all the patron requests that come in but otherwise, the acquisitions role is split among the staff members. I am responsible for ordering Adult and Juvenile non-fiction books for our system as well which is one of my main areas of interest - perfect! 6. No Weekends or Evenings Not completely true as I do have the occasional weekend or evening work to complete. But for the most part, my job is Monday to Friday which I think is fairly rare, especially for an entry-level librarian position (although technically, I think my position is one step higher than entry-level due to the higher level of responsibilities in managing so many branches. Imagine being a librarian in a city with 48 branches - except every branch has its own library board and its own local issues - oh, and every branch is anywhere from five minutes to two and half hours from where your office is - and you're getting an idea of what I've gotten myself into!  )7. Geography Tied to the last point about distances, being part of a regional library system means that I will be spending a lot of time on the road visiting branches for various reasons. This is good for a few reasons - it gives me personal contact with our branch librarians, gives me a familiarity with towns in my home region that I may have only passed through or briefly visited in the past as well as a chance to visit many towns that I have a longer history with - my hometown and those near it, Shea's hometown and those near it, other towns where either of us have or had relatives. 8. Our Photocopier This seems like a silly one but apparently the region bought a new printer not long before I started and it is one of the most kick-ass things I have ever seen. Full colour copies. Automated booklets. Ability to e-mail any documents you photocopy/scan and most amazingly, it practically fixes itself if a page jams! I haven't found the button yet for "shoot lasers" but I'm sure it's on there somewhere.  9. It's A Public Library System Another thing I said all through FIMS is that I wanted to work in a public library system and this is where I find myself in my first job. I did loosen up a bit as the year went on and am more interested in trying other areas of librarianship than I used to be. But for now, this is a perfect fit. Another advantage although it doesn't seem like one is that I chose to take a position that's an 18-month contract rather than another offer that was a full-time permanent. At least part of my decision here was that I'd seen or heard of too many people who get into a full-time permanent position and never leave as they gain security, pension benefits, seniority or whatever. This position gives me a natural "out" after a year and a half and although I'm already a bit nervous about finding a job at that time, I'm also very excited that I have that opportunity. 10. No overdue fines. I am a complete idiot for being there three weeks (let alone having grown up with this library system) before I realised that Southeast Regional has had a long-standing policy of not charging overdue fees at all. (We still charge for damaged and lost books of course.) But still, yay, us! Bonus: 11. My Boss My boss is the second longest serving regional library director in the province and there's been a turnover of 5 directors in the last 5 years I think so that says something. He's got 30 years of experience in libraries and 15+ in public libraries so he has a wealth of experience that he's more than willing to share. (I made the mistake (?) of saying I wanted to be a director someday in our interview and he took that comment to heart - and has shared a massive amount of information with me about all aspects of running a library that he might not have otherwise hit a new hire with.) I also have a suspicion that he is partly doing it to scare me off being a director but I haven't confirmed that!  I'm not sure if he reads this blog - he knows about it but told me he doesn't once when it came up. But he also made a comment the other day about something I'm pretty sure I've never mentioned to him in our many conversations but which I have talked about a few times on this blog. So who knows? Anyhow, those are just a few of the many great things about my job. There are things I don't like of course (me being me, how could that not be the case?) but I think you find that in any workplace. Overall, I'm pretty happy with where I am and once again, can't believe my fortune in how things seemed to have worked out for the best for me. Friday, July 27
Friday Fun Link - 10 Reasons Librarians Should Use Ask.com Instead of Google (July 27, 2007)
by
Jason
on Fri 27 Jul 2007 12:42 PM CST
(Also I’m in a bit of a pinch for time this week as I’m heading to a lake soon and will be Wednesday, July 25
Reference Question o' the Day
by
Jason
on Wed 25 Jul 2007 10:23 PM CST
Can anybody with better Google-fu than I find a web page/study/chart listing internet usage by profession/occupation? I've just done some quick searching with Google but haven't turned up anything.
This isn't for anything particular - just out of interest - but I'd be especially happy if "librarian" was included on any list you find as I'm developing an otherwise unfounded theory that librarians are one the highest users of the Net of any profession outside of perhaps "computer scientist" and "computer programmer".  Tuesday, July 24
How To Suck The Air From Your Lungs, Saskatchewan Style
by
Jason
on Tue 24 Jul 2007 07:05 PM CST
I did a post like this during the coldest part of the winter so I'll do another one during the hottest day (so far) of the summer...
We set a record today in Weyburn - I just did this screen cap below now but the highest point reached today was 42 degrees. (Does anywhere else in Canada experience 80 degree swings in temperature during the course of a typical year?) For the third day in a row, there was also a blackout lasting at least half an hour (yesterday was a similar length and Sunday was two full hours.) Who knows what tomorrow may bring - brimstone? Volcanoes? Melting pavement? Melting Jason? Probably all of the above. Interesting trivia o' the day: Yellow Grass, which is just west of Weyburn, shares the record with Midale, half an hour east of Weyburn, for hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada: 46 degrees. (Not sure if they were set on the same day and if so, how come Weyburn which is between them only sets a record today of 42 degrees?)  (Edit: thought I'd add the "winter" graphic listed in the first line of this post to make the comparison easier. Oops, -27 that day but felt like -41. I guess technically that's not an 80 point swing. I lied.)  Monday, July 23
Around the Horn: Highlights From Other Blogs I Read
by
Jason
on Mon 23 Jul 2007 07:06 PM CST
 Similar to my FFL last week, Michelle L. links to another article slamming the impact of the Potter books. If you're going to buy her book, don't buy it for half price at a supermarket. As an example of a world gone mad, you couldn't do much better than this: a writer whose sales have actually fulfilled a publisher's wildest dreams is indirectly responsible for large-scale misery among independent bookstores. This is not JK Rowling's fault. It's a consequence of the deregulation of the book market. John M. has a very thought-provoking post on what we want to do before we run out of oil? Three choices come to mind … 1. A great pleasure ride. We can eat and drink and drive like no one has ever done before. I think one could consider it a sin if we had the opportunity for so much pleasure, and didn’t take advantage of it. Oil promises that. 2. Invent new energy sources. Could the old energy source of oil help us to invent new energy sources that would not have otherwise been possible? 3. Find a new planet with more oil. Use our current oil supply to resource a fantastic project: the locating of another planet with untapped oil, and the construction of a space ship to get there and transport the oil here, or live there. (Of course if there is oil there, then there must have been life there, or maybe still is. Would we have to buy the oil? Okay, my real opinion is getting a little more than obvious.) Quinn D. links to a TechCrunch story about Facebook's first major acquisition - Parakey - which is a "web operating system". Another pretty strong indication that Facebook wants to take on the Microsofts and Googles of the world - not be acquired by them.There's lots of other blogs I follow but those are some recent posts that stood out for me. Sunday, July 22
Why Daddy Shouldn't Buy Baby Clothes
by
Jason
on Sun 22 Jul 2007 08:00 PM CST
I feel obligated to note that none of the kids in these photos are Pace...unfortunately.
Why Daddy Shouldn’t Buy Baby Clothes 
"The Mysterious Science of Bestselling Books"
by
Jason
on Sun 22 Jul 2007 05:20 PM CST
Received this link from Chris G. with a request for any thoughts I might have on what makes a bestselling book. Coincidentally, this weekend I also happened to read a column by Stephen King in an issue of Entertainment Weekly exploring the same issue.
And it also makes a nice follow-up to my last FFL on the Harry Potter release, especially in relation to the stat from the article I linked to that 70% of fiction book sales were accounted for by just five authors. (I mean, I knew it was bad but I didn't realise it was that bad!) Who are the magic five by the way? The article doesn't say but I'd guess King, Steele, Grisham, Clancy and uhm, Rowling? Wikipedia disagrees but is looking at all-time and all-world while I think the article is referring to modern American bestsellers. Then there's that whole crew of authors who seem to pump out new books on a monthly basis - Barbara Taylor Bradford, Sue Grafton, Mary Higgins Clark, etc. that might not make up the top five but are probably a hefty chunk of the other 30%. Anyhow, here are some random thoughts on what makes a bestselling book: - the article from Chris has it right. No publisher knows what makes a bestseller, just as no movie studio can guarantee a blockbuster and no record company can guarantee a #1 album. There are things each can do to increase their chances of hitting the goal (engaging covers and media buzz for books, star actors and lots of explosions for movies, placement on hit TV shows and high-profile producers for records) but the pop culture landscape is littered with failed attempts, even using these techniques. - a Canadian bestseller is commonly accepted to be 5000 copies (I think this applies for both fiction and non-fiction) but up until the last couple years, there is no standard way to measure sales like SoundScan for records. That's when the publishing and bookselling industry in Canada came together to support an initiative called BookNet which track book sales. It was just gearing up for launch in 2005 right before I went to library school and the service now appears to be active and working, even providing the Globe & Mail and Quill & Quire with their bestseller lists. (Former co-worker Jill, you out there? Anything else to add?) - still with "bestseller" lists...I think the fine print for those who don't yet use BookNet data, such as the one in MacLean's even say "compiled by..." which basically means that the reporter has a few bookstores across Canada that provide estimates of their bestselling titles to him and he uses a bit of a math, a dash of intuition and probably a pinch of bias to prepare this impressionistic list. - On a more literal level, what makes an individual book a bestseller? Again, no idea. It really is a swirl of all kinds of things - a great cover, a great "hook", media buzz, word-of-mouth (especially in the age of the Internet with recommendation services such as Amazon and LibraryThing among others.) Sometimes authors just hit the timing right with a particular topic or issue they're covering. So anyhow, I don't think there's any answers there but that's some random thoughts as I said. If you're really interested in the topic, you should note that the 2007 CLA conference in Vancouver is on the topic of "Libraries and Publishing 3.0 - Connecting Authors to Readers in the Digital Age". This gets right to the core of what libraries do so if you have any interest in the topic at all, I'd invite you to consider coming out to the left coast for the conference next spring! Saturday, July 21
Popular Book Spoiled
by
Jason
on Sat 21 Jul 2007 12:36 AM CST
I just came across this image of one of the world's most popular (and longest) books where the main character's fate is being hotly debated today. Does he die? Or does he live? Don't say I didn't warn you!
Friday, July 20
Reconstruction Site - The Weakerthans
by
Jason
on Fri 20 Jul 2007 09:13 PM CST
This song's been going through my head a lot since Pace was born: And I'm broke, like a bad joke Somebody's uncle told at a wedding reception in 1972 Where a little boy under a table with cake in his hair Stared at the grown-up feet as they danced and swayed And his father laughed and talked on the long ride home And his mother laughed and talked on the long ride home And he thought about how everyone dies someday And when tomorrow gets here, where will yesterday be And fell asleep in his brand new winter coat
Friday Fun Link - Harry Potter and the Death of Reading (July 20, 2007)
by
Jason
on Fri 20 Jul 2007 08:58 PM CST
“In 1994, over 70 percent of total fiction sales were accounted for by a mere five authors.” Just in time for the biggest book release in the history of the universe, a contrarian view from the Washington Post. It’s out tonight at midnight but rumours of leaks have been happening for the past few days. Harry Potter’s publisher has been going after any web site that even links to a site that distributes files purporting to be the leaked work. They’ve even been going after sites that link to sites that are distributing the leaked work if you can believe it! Wednesday, July 18
My Birthday By The Numbers
by
Jason
on Wed 18 Jul 2007 08:07 PM CST
34 - age I turned today
25 - age someone recently told me I was really at 4 - Number of gifts Pace got from Shea today 2 - Number of gifts I got from Shea today 2 - Number of times Pace almost peed on me 1 - Number of times Pace peed in his own eye 7 - Number of people who partook in my birthday cake at work for our "birthday cake social club" 8 - Number of pieces I cut the cake into because seven would require an engineering degree 27 - Number of "birthday wish" wall posts I got on Facebook 1 - Number of wall posts I did for other Facebook friends who were born on July 18 6 - Number of people in on a conference call at noon with me 1 - Number of times I've been marked as "absent" in an earlier conference call I did attend after not saying very much for the hour 9 - Number of hours I would've gotten if I'd slept right through from the time I went to bed until the time my alarm was set for 7 - Number of times I was awakened in the night by Pace crying or squeaking or murmuring while eating or otherwise making noises. 2 - Number of diapers I changed during those nine hours Tuesday, July 17
Photo Update
by
Jason
on Tue 17 Jul 2007 09:18 PM CST
I have absolutely nothing to say right now so instead, will point you to Flickr where Shea has uploaded a few more photos of the Pace-man.
The realisation has hit that the sole purpose of having a child is to dress them up in embarrassing outfits or photograph them in embarrassing situations. Here's one where he looks just plain cute...  Monday, July 16
The Open Library: Wikipedia meets Amazon?
by
Jason
on Mon 16 Jul 2007 07:56 PM CST
"Imagine a library that collected all the world’s information about all
the world’s books and made it available for everyone to view and
update. We’re building that library."
(via MetaFilter) Jessamyn West blogged about the site on Librarian.net and suggests checking the "About the Librarianship" page which says: "For the first time, we'll have an open, public, curated, universal catalog of all books. But this also presents an enormous challenge: we need to develop a schema for all that book information. Like the MARC format, we'll want our schema to contain all the important bibliographic information that librarians want to collect about books. But we'll also want to take advantage of all the things we've learned since MARC." Sunday, July 15
From Stacks To Snacks and Books to Beers - A Friday Gathering
by
Jason
on Sun 15 Jul 2007 09:04 PM CST
You are invited to A Post-Work Gathering For Regina and Area Librarians
Canadian Nurses Can See "SiCKO" for free this week
by
Jason
on Sun 15 Jul 2007 02:03 PM CST
MICHAEL MOORE OFFERS TO REIMBURSE THE UNITED NURSES OF ALBERTA FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF HIS HIGHLY ACCLAIMED FILM SiCKO Saturday, July 14
When Did Facebook Replace E-mail?
by
Jason
on Sat 14 Jul 2007 11:52 PM CST
Okay, we're not quite there yet (or you aren't if you're my age - I suspect 18-24 year olds are) but it feels like we're heading in that direction.
E-mail was the original "killer app" of the Internet. It was the one service that everybody online had since you got issued an e-mail address as soon as you signed up with an ISP or registered at a college. If you were looking for a bit more permanence, you got a Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail or Gmail account. Even though these services are web-based, they were really about e-mail, not web. And not only did everybody have e-mail but it was the one thing online, possibly challenged only by Google, that everybody used as well. (In fact, the only sites rated higher than Google on Alexa today are MSN and Yahoo - mainly on the strength of the traffic their e-mail systems bring in.) E-mail was (and is) effective because it provided a great mixture of flexibility, speed and access. You could send files with nearly any kind of attachment, your message would (usually) arrive in near instantaneous fashion no matter where the sender and receiver were in the world and, although there was never a successful e-mail directory like there are for phone numbers, you could usually hunt down e-mail addresses of the people you wanted to reach fairly easily. There were (and are) problems with e-mail. Have you tried sending a message with a large attachment lately? How many spams do you get every day? Ever send a message to the wrong person in your address book accidentally? But even with those problems, e-mail was the ultimate connector in a way that no single web site - not Wikipedia, not YouTube, not Ebay - could be. Now, that seems to be changing. Facebook continues to grow exponentially and its messaging features are a big part of the reason. Ironically, you need an e-mail address to sign up for a Facebook account and then, the default is that you get e-mail notification whenever anything happens related to your profile - a new wall post, a new private message, a new comment on a photo you've uploaded. But Facebook has proven so "sticky" with the majority of people using it (ie. users log in regularly - often multiple times per day) that you're bound to see these items anyhow even if you never look at your e-mail in-box first. So we're heading to a point where Facebook could possibly be seen web site that finally shifts the e-mail vs. world wide web divide. Why is this? Advantages of Facebook Over E-Mail 1. Permanence The problem with that ISP or college generated account is that it changes when you moved cities or graduated. Hotmail and Yahoo! were free and traveled with you but (used to have) severe restrictions on how much space you had and often suffered security errors or data losses. Facebook provides a new type of permanence in what (so far) appears to be a very stable platform. 2. Spam Blocking Facebook acts like e-mail but isn't so spam messages can't get through to your account in the same way they can with a standard e-mail address. In fact, by being a closed system, so far, nobody seems to have found a way to send messages to your profile without your explicit permission at all. 3. Space Savings As with Gmail, Facebook appears to have unlimited space provided for storing not only your messages but also your photos and blog posts (called "notes" in Facebook lingo.) A major failing if Facebook is trying to replace e-mail is that it doesn't allow direct attachments and instead requires you to link to a file hosted elsewhere. But if this option were included, e-mail's demise might be assured. 4. It's E-mail (plus) As noted above, Facebook provides a number of activities beyond what standard e-mail allows - everything from meaningless "pokes" to sharing blog-like posts, photos and more. The recent addition of Facebook applications extends this capability infinitely and makes Facebook something even bigger - more akin to a web-based Windows than a web-based e-mail system. 5. It's Also The Phone Book Facebook provides what the massive range of e-mail providers never could - a single spot where millions of people are able to find each other and be found. I've written how this still isn't perfect - people sign up using false names or initials, women can't provide their maiden name, people aren't required to join networks which would make it easier to find the John or Jane Smith you sent to high school with. But if you're on Facebook, chances are pretty good that you've had better success tracking down long lost friends than via anything online allowed previously. Those are just a few thoughts off the top of my head. Here are a couple articles I found that touch on the same topic: "Is Facebook Replacing E-mail?" This article adds a couple reasons to my list above about why Facebook is replacing e-mail - namely that it's Mobile features are like having a free e-mail delivery service and also that the in-box layout is more intuitive than traditional e-mail. "Facebook is stickier than email" "How is Facebook stickier than email? Facebook is email, plus more (a lot more). You use Facebook to send friends messages. Facebook Inbox will become your spam-free email – only Facebook can do it because all your friends are on it...That's why 50%+ users return daily. Facebook's network effects make it impossible to duplicate their network. Facebook is the phone number you will never change. Facebook is built to last more than anyone. Now, which do you think is stickier?" The Proprietarisation of Email A negative take on the idea of Facebook (or any other closed system) replacing standards-based e-mail: "It would be terrible if email were to descend into something like the multiple incompatible domains that afflict instant messaging - the heroic efforts of gateway providers and multi-protocol clients notwithstanding. Will we one day need accounts on every social website in order to stay in touch? Will someone need to write a Facebook/MySpace mail gateway?" Friday, July 13
Friday Fun Link - If Public Libraries Didn't Exist, Could You Start One Today? (July 13, 2007)
by
Jason
on Fri 13 Jul 2007 09:32 AM CST
The author of the popular Freakonomics book looks at the question, “If public libraries didn’t exist, could you start one today?” “But here’s the point I’m (finally) getting to: if there was no such thing today as the public library and someone like Bill Gates proposed to establish them in cities and towns across the U.S. (much like Andrew Carnegie once did), what would happen? I am guessing there would be a huge pushback from book publishers. Given the current state of debate about intellectual property, can you imagine modern publishers being willing to sell one copy of a book and then have the owner let an unlimited number of strangers borrow it? I don’t think so.” He doesn’t bring it up but I wonder if an analogy could be made to bit torrent sites today? One person buys a legitimate copy and then others are able to obtain a free copy? The only difference is that instead of dozens of uses as for popular library items, bit torrent allows thousands of copies to be downloaded. The other big difference is that bit torrent tends to focus on movies, music and TV shows that don’t have the history of “free” borrowing like books in a library do. And of course, you don’t have to “return” a digital copy. It’s not a perfect analogy but the similarities are there. (via Reddit)Oh, and in a semi-related story, a PhD candidate in economics contends that the optimal length of copyright in today’s digital age is…fourteen years. (via Boing Boing) Thursday, July 12
Why I Owe Pace $100
by
Jason
on Thu 12 Jul 2007 11:35 PM CST
I've had four speeding tickets in my life...
#1 - I was driving home late at a night from a summer job during college after a week working in northern Saskatchewan. Anxious to get home, I was going pretty fast when an RCMP officer passed me just outside a town on the other site of the Qu'Appelle Valley. He whipped around, stopped me, then warned me that "speeding is dangerous because of all the deer" as he handed me the ticket (which also ate up the sales bonus I'd just earned that week as an added insult!) #2 - I was going to pick up Shea during a practicum here in Regina when she was a nursing student. I went through a school zone at about 7 clicks over the posted speed limit but in what could only have been an attempt to get more money, the cop wrote up the ticket as if the school zone was in effect already. (It wasn't - the school zone began at 8am and I went by at 7:57am - which is the time he wrote on the ticket. So I protested that ticket on these grounds and the court dismissed it.) #3 - when I was working in Alberta, my boss flew down from Edmonton to Calgary, rented a car and picked me up to go to a meeting in Crows Nest Pass. But we were way behind schedule so she asked me to drive while she worked on some paperwork. She also told me to "fly" and so I did. Along the way, there's a town called Longview which does the most evil trick a town can do - it goes from highway speed to town speed to school zone speed within a very short distance. I was whipping through town, slowed down to town speed but completely missed the school zone sign while talking to my boss about our upcoming meeting. I got stopped, tried an excuse and when the cop said "Well, the children at the school won't care if you're late for a meeting if you hit them." Ouch! So when he went back to his cruiser to run my license, I asked my boss if the organization would pay for the ticket since she'd been the one who told me to drive so fast (and truth be told, was the reason we were late due to a scheduling mistake on her part.) She said it would so I handed over the ticket and we carried on our way. #4 - on a Sunday morning, I was driving through Calgary with Shea's parents on a mad quest to find a Flames jersey since I'd managed to score a single ticket for the first Flames home playoff game in seven years. I didn't get a jersey but I did get a $100 ticket from a photo radar camera a few days later. I protested this one too, mainly because I object to photo radar in general. The reason I used was that the photo didn't clearly identify the driver but since the vehicle was registered to me, I got the ticket. How was I to know that it wasn't my father-in-law driving? They didn't write off the ticket but reduced it by 50%. I never did end up buying a jersey though. So anyhow, I was sure that ticket #5 (and my first in probably three years) was going to come today. I took today and tomorrow off so we were heading out of Weyburn for Regina at noon. I was accelerating up to highway speed on a road leading out of Weyburn but which was still a 70kph zone. So the cop stopped me and I was sure that I was in for a nice big ticket. But he saw Pace in his car seat and after glancing at my license and registration, said "I don't want your son to stay in the hot sun while I'm writing you up so I'm going to let you go." He didn't even write me a warning! So anyhow, Pace, if you're reading this someday, I owe you a hundred bucks (probably more than that actually - I don't even know what speeding tickets are these days.) Wednesday, July 11
Jason As A Simpsons Character
by
Jason
on Wed 11 Jul 2007 10:18 PM CST
As opposed to the last time I did this, this avatar is officially sanctioned. (Oh, and the Simpsons movie better not suck - even though I have an inordinate amount of fear that it will!)
Inspired by Kristina O, Michelle L and various others who changed their Facebook profile photos to 2-D form (which I'm told means "too dorky"), I changed my own profile pic for the first time. Although the Simpsons is a huge corporate entity these days, I still think it would be pretty subversive for everybody to switch from a photo to a Simpsons avatar!  Tuesday, July 10
By Request - My Web Design Evolution and What Every Librarian Should Know
by
Jason
on Tue 10 Jul 2007 09:54 PM CST
I finally managed to catch up on responses to the comments that have come in over the last month (my policy is to try to respond to every comment I get - post a "hey Jay" and see if it's true!  ) There was one a month ago from Taryn that said this:"Hi Jason, I'm a prospective MLIS student who reads your blog occasionally. Could you please do a post on how the technical aspects of Web site creation/blogging have evolved for you? Also, in your opinion, what skills should every librarian have with regard to Web site creation/management? Basically, I'd like to expand upon my basic HTML/Dreamweaver skills, and I don't know where to start! Thanks." Okey-dokey, big responsibility - the first "post by request" as opposed to my usual "post by rambling monologue". Let's break this assignment into two parts. How have the technical aspects of web design evolved for me over time? I am a self-taught web guy who designed my first web page in 1997. In the beginning, I was doing straight hand-coding of HTML, a skill that anybody should be able to pick up fairly quickly and the best place to start (ie. don't just rely on a front-end program like Dreamweaver but learn what's happening behind the scenes.) Eventually I moved to using front-end programs as web design became more complex - Luckman's WebEdit was a shareware program I used for the longest time that was quite useful. I've tried a variety of programs over the years - both freeware and uhm, copywrong-ware. I was usually pretty anal about not using programs that messed up my code very much and tried to avoid things like FrontPage and even Dreamweaver which I found often added crap you didn't want or deleting stuff that you did. Eventually (around 2002?), I began using another Macromedia program called Contribute for the majority of my basic updates. Contribute is a really handy front-end program - it makes web design as easy as using Microsoft Word (although obviously, it isn't as crappy as Word at doing HTML stuff). Around this time, I also began letting most of my contract work go as I realised | |||
