Monthly Archives: June 2013

New DRM Will Change the Words in Your E-Book | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

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The next e-book you buy might not exactly match the printed version. And those changes are there to make sure you’re not a pirate.

German researchers have created a new DRM feature that changes the text and punctuation of an e-book ever so slightly. Called SiDiM, which Google translates to “secure documents by individual marking,” the changes are unique to each e-book sold. These alterations serve as a digital watermark that can be used to track books that have had any other DRM layers stripped out of them before being shared online. The researchers are hoping the new DRM feature will curb digital piracy by simply making consumers paranoid that they’ll be caught if they share an e-book illicitly.

via New DRM Will Change the Words in Your E-Book | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

It will be interesting to see if those publishers who have recently moved to open access on ebooks reverse their stance due to this new technology. I’m sure libraries will be having many discussions about the implications of this new technology on ebook lending and relationships with publishers.

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Digital Rights Management (DRM) & Libraries | American Library Association 

Introducing the Mozilla Science Lab | The Mozilla Blog

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We’re excited to announce the launch of the Mozilla Science Lab, a new initiative that will help researchers around the world use the open web to shape science’s future.

Scientists created the web — but the open web still hasn’t transformed scientific practice to the same extent we’ve seen in other areas like media, education and business. For all of the incredible discoveries of the last century, science is still largely rooted in the “analog” age. Credit systems in science are still largely based around “papers,” for example, and as a result researchers are often discouraged from sharing, learning, reusing, and adopting the type of open and collaborative learning that the web makes possible.

The Science Lab will foster dialog between the open web community and researchers to tackle this challenge. Together they’ll share ideas, tools, and best practices for using next-generation web solutions to solve real problems in science, and explore ways to make research more agile and collaborative.

via Introducing the Mozilla Science Lab | The Mozilla Blog

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UPDATED: Summer 2013 Reading Lists

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That time of year where we look forward to lazy summer days, if we are fortunate enough to have vacation time, and where all sorts of summer reading lists are suggested by bloggers, publishers and media organizations. So here’s a list of 2013 summer reading lists. Also check out booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and ChaptersIndigo for their summer reading portals. What books will you be inspired to read this summer?

Johan Krouthén: Three reading women in a summer landscape. Wikimedia Commons

General Fiction/Poetry/Non-Fiction

Young Adult/Children’s

Science Fiction/Fantasy

Mystery/Thriller, Action/Adventure

Romance

Also See

Four Ways to Figure Out What You Really Want to Do with Your Life | LifeHacker

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We’ve all hit that point where we can’t figure out exactly what we really want to do with our lives. It can come when you’re 18 or when you’re 50, and it’s always a difficult process to work through. It’s not hopeless, though! Here are a few ways to help you figure it out.

via Four Ways to Figure Out What You Really Want to Do with Your Life  | LifeHacker

The article suggests to:

  • Think About Where You’ll Be in Five Years
  • Write Your Personal Manifesto
  • Volunteer or Shadow Someone in a Job You’re Interested In
  • Dig Into Those Side Projects

10 top typography resources | Typography | Creative Bloq

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10 top typography resources | Typography | Creative Bloq

10 top typography resources | Typography | Creative Bloq

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Inside the Printing Studio Where Obsolete Tech Will Never Die | Gizmodo

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Before computers became the sole progenitors of almost all our visual artifacts, printing was a labor-intensive task that involved applying incredible pressure to inked blocks using machines weighing thousands of pounds. At the Common Press, in the basement of the University of Pennsylvania’s Fine Arts Building, artists are still using this outdated technology—right down to ink from the same company Ben Franklin used.

via Inside the Printing Studio Where Obsolete Tech Will Never Die | Gizmodo

You can appreciate how far we have come by reviewing the past. Its great the printing press art form is being preserved and still in use today. Along with presses, typefaces are a hobby of many, including Pope Francis I, and there are often announcements of the creation of new fonts such as in the very unique case of the DNA font by Harvard scientists.

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How Not To Be A Dick To A Librarian | xoJane

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Librarians aren’t usually in the habit of name calling (unless you catch us before we’ve had our coffee or when the catalog is down), so it’s with a bit of trepidation that I’m writing this. But then I thought, what the hey–even librarians should be able to take a moment and vent our frustrations!

We’ve become pretty comfortable getting up on our soapboxes to protest in the face of budget cuts and layoffs, but sometimes it’s hard to actually express some annoyance about common viewpoints towards libraries. After all, we truly are here to help people. It’s our passion. Nobody chooses to become a librarian for the money (because there’s never very much of that to go around). We choose this profession not just because it’s our calling but because we believe in the power of access to information to transform people’s lives.

Yet too often, no matter how many times we may repeat that mantra to ourselves, it seems that the same tired misinformation is what gets regurgitated in the media and even occasionally by our friends and families: Libraries are outdated. Nobody reads books anymore. You can find anything you need to know online. As any librarian will tell you, we’ve heard it all before… 

See the full article at How Not To Be A Dick To A Librarian | xoJane.

Make Instant Calculations and Conversions in Your Browser’s Search Bar | LifeHacker

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Perform these calculations and conversions right in your browser’s search field—without ever having to hit enter for the results.

The secret sauce is Google’s predictive search technology, which suggests search results as you type. You’ll need to have Google as your main search engine and its suggestions enabled in your browser of choice (whether that’s Chrome, Firefox, IE, or Safari).

via Make Instant Calculations and Conversions in Your Browser’s Search Bar  | LifeHacker

 

The Enormous Opportunity In Educating And Empowering Girls | Co.Exist

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Giving young girls an education has such a huge impact in developing countries that you need to see it to believe it. A new film called Girl Rising shows how education affects nine girls from nine countries–with some help from Meryl Streep.

via The Enormous Opportunity In Educating And Empowering Girls | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation.

CNN will be broadcasting Girl Rising June 16 & June 22. Check out the Girl Rising trailer website.

10×10 (Educate Girls: Change the World) is “a global action campaign for educating girls.” There will be a companion curriculum launched on October 11, 2013, The International Day of the Girl. The curriculum will be free of charge and educators can fill out a form to be notified when the curriculum is available.

There is also the 10×10 Book Club with toolkits for book clubs for two specific books so far (they will be adding more), as well as young adult and middle grade toolkits.

Library For All Builds Ebook Platform for Developing World – The Digital Shift

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Library For All has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund an ebook platform that would enable the distribution of ebooks in the developing world. The organization is seeking $100,000 in pledges to roll out a pilot program at the Respire School in Gressier, Haiti this fall.

via Library For All Builds Ebook Platform for Developing World – The Digital Shift.