Do you get those faxes that are junk? Do fax spammers waste your paper? This article will give you tips on how to get revenge.
Do you get those faxes that are junk? Do fax spammers waste your paper? This article will give you tips on how to get revenge.
This article in Business Week suggests that email is on its way out and that more collaborative tools like wikis are on their way in. I agree and already see this change taking place in committee work, etc….
One funny line sparks additional questions: “None of this is to imply, however, that e-mail is on its way to floppy disk-dom.” The author obviously views floppy disks as a dinosaur technology. Are you still buying computer disks with floppy drives? Do your patrons still use floppy disks?
Student blogs are a popular way to share stories of young love, to air your side in a feud with a friend, to gossip, and to be silly. Do student blogs sometimes contain information that they should not? Some high school principals think so and have been cracking down on what they deem inappropriate content. Vauhini Vara discusses the issue in a recent article in the WSJ.
Something to think about… if a patron checks out a CD from your library and it has harmful DRM on it, are you liable for any damages that might cause?
The Ann Arbor, Michigan, library system doesn’t seem to think so.
Interesting article for new and seasoned bloggers. A primer on how to start, maintain, and perpetuate a blog.
Whee!
From the article:
Exploit code for a critical flaw in fully patched versions of Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer browser has been released on the Internet, putting millions of Web surfers at risk of computer hijack attacks.
The zero-day exploit, posted by a U.K.-based group called “Computer Terrorism,” could allow a remote hacker to take complete control of a Windows system if the victim simply browses to a malicious Web site.
Yikes! Good thing we’ve got AVG and Deepfreeze.
This is also a good time to remind you all to not open unexpected attachments to your e-mail. Bad things can happen.
Looks like some companies have finally realized the benefit of rural America: it’s cheaper to live there, and the people have familiar accents.
“The company charges $35 to $50 per hour for IT expertise, which may cost around $100 in New York City. While this is no match for outsourcing rates in India, clients benefit from local accents and similar time zones — not to mention the absence of stigma sometimes attached to farming jobs out to foreign countries.”
What does this mean for libraries? It means that (if this idea catches on) a lot of smart people are going to be coming to small towns, and depending on their libraries to provide them with resources they find useful, such as fast internet access (as cable might not be available yet) and up-to-date computer books, whether in print form or through something like an O’Reilly Safari subscription. It’s something to think about.
Sorry for the lack of posting… I’ve been busy on a new and fun project! (I won’t abandon you, I promise)
I’ve been saying for months that I’m going to turn the NEKLS Technology website (http://tech.nekls.org) into a Wiki.
Well blast it all I finally got it started and it’s really looking and working great! The Wiki makes an outstanding platform for knowledge base type applications, and so far I’m really happy with it.
We’re using Mediawiki, by the way. (http://www.mediawiki.org)
Any suggestions?
Hm. Wonder if this could be a solution to backup for our very small library automation systems?
Better than a zip disk…
I received the following cartoon in the email the other day. I’m sure the person who sent it wanted me to laugh about it (which I did) but it brought to mind some very important things about designing libraries to fit the changing nature of technology.
Two things struck me… One, the people are not sitting in chairs at all. Clearly, in this library, the chairs are somewhere else, not accessible to the only thing wireless users are chained to anymore: power. Two, the area around the power is not an organized space. It’s just some pillar in the stacks that happens to have an outlet on it!
This made me think, well hey, maybe we should design libraries to be more usable for our wireless patrons. We’ve given them convenient Internet access, now let’s make it convenient for them to use it. Put comfy chairs and tables near power sources so these wired (wireless!) patrons can “get off the floor,” or at least congregate in a space that is better suited to their wireless endeavours.
I must admit that this is something I’ve neglected to suggest when presenting about wireless access in libraries, and I was struck this morning by the reality that I’ve put in many wireless access points without suggesting to my librarians that they might want to rearrange a bit to make the new service more functional and comfortable for patrons to use.
Any thoughts on this? Any libraries making an effort to organize the space in a “wireless patron friendly” manner?
