I’ve never been fortunate enough to hear Jessamyn West speak and based on Jenica’s notes from last week, I’m really missing out. Some of my favorite bits The digital divide is real, and our system for technology education scales very badly. There are economies of scale in most library work – processing 30 books does not take 30 times as long as processing one book – but teaching 30 people about the internet and computers takes 30 times longer than teaching one person. Libraries have become the social safety net for many Americans to learn what the tech-savvy think of as remedial technology skills, but the project doesn’t scale. “We are living in a future that they are not that interested in.” “Librarianship both is and is not sexy. Exploit that. Go be secretly awesome. Then tell someone.” These are some really good things to think about, but we’re supposed to do more than just think – “Go be secretly awesome. Then tell someone.” Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Share on FriendFeed Buzz it up Share on netvibes share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Buzz it up Subscribe to the comments on this post Print for later
Technology
What programming should a library science student learn?
I recieved this email from one of the students in the Collection Development class I taught at Mizzou and thought in addition to giving my answer I’d open it up for the hive mind. I had read somewhere, it might have been on your blog in fact, that it might be a good idea for library school graduates to learn some web design languages. I am thinking of picking up in my spare time (whats left of it) some web design language and I’m not sure what would be appropriate in the library setting. Which brings me to my question. Do you have any suggestions as to what technical languages or proficiencies would be good to pick up? I have thought about HTML, ColdFusion, ASP, and JSP, but beyond knowing a little bit of HTML/XML I am unsure what would be most useful. What do you think? What would you like to see on someones application if you were hiring? What advice can you give Chris? Some other blogs that have addressed this Why every Library Science student should learn programming Technology education and the “real world” Core skills: Curiosity technology advisory Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Share on FriendFeed
New Life for Your Old Phone
I know several people, myself included, who are patiently (or not so patiently in my case) awaiting the arrival of the Palm Pre. But what do you do with your old cell phone when you acquire a new one? I have some suggestions If you’re looking to make some money try Gazelle, Greenphone or Envirofone for those in the UK. If you’d like to donate your phone: Hope Phones – donate your phone to a medical clinic in a developing country (found on Beth’s Blog) Cell Phones for soldiers – help the troops call home Recycle for Breast Cancer National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Phones for Life – donated to senior citizens so they can call 911 in case of an accident or emergency Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Share on FriendFeed Buzz it up Share on netvibes share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Buzz it up Subscribe to the comments on this post Print for later Tell a friend
It’s Teen Tech Week!
March 2nd – 8th is Teen Tech Week. YASLA has some great activity suggestions plus this hand out for the teens. Have you done or know how to do everything on this list? 25 Things you can do for Teen Tech Week 1. Download an eBook or audiobook onto your mp3 player. 2. Visit your local library’s webpage. 3. Blog about a library book or program. 4. Try out a book focused site like LibraryThing or GoodReads. 5. Create a soundtrack for your favorite book. 6. Ask your librarian to recommend a non-fiction book on an area of technology that interests you. 7. Add something to an article on Wikipedia. 8. Set up a podcast for a group or club you belong to. 9. Many young adult authors welcome email from their readers, and some even have their own MySpace profiles. Why not send them a message in honor of Teen Tech Week? 10. Check out some video games, DVDs or music CDs from your library. 11. Create an avatar on Yahoo! Avatars. 12. Start a Teen Tech Club at your school or public library. 13. Read and contribute to a blog about technology. 14. Practice your HTML skills on
Reading
My 71 hours as a Palm Pre owner
I had my Pre for less than 3 whole days so this is hardly a comprehensive review but rather a report of my experience since so many people asked me about why I returned it. I’ve been awaiting for the Pre for a long time. My contract with Sprint expired in January and I’d started shopping around, wanting a little more from a smartphone than I was getting from my Centro. I’d pretty much decided to switch to an iPhone when the Pre was announced. I waited not so patiently for it to come out. Well Saturday was the Day! I headed to the Sprint store and got there around 8:50, by 9:40 everything was complete other than loading my contacts and some basic instructions on how to use it. But we ran into a glitch, they couldn’t get my contacts to load. Now the employees were wonderful and it was not fault of theirs, but I didn’t actually leave the store until 12:30. I headed home and plugged in my Pre to fully charge the battery and download the latest version of the software. Once I started using it noticed right away that my signal at home was weak.
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