Author Archives: infophile

These Public #Libraries Are for Snowshoes and Ukuleles | NYT #makerspaces #services #innovation

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Libraries aren’t just for books, or even e-books, anymore. They are for checking out cake pans (North Haven, Conn.), snowshoes (Biddeford, Me.), telescopes and microscopes (Ann Arbor, Mich.), American Girl dolls (Lewiston, Me.), fishing rods (Grand Rapids, Minn.), Frisbees and Wiffle balls (Mesa, Ariz.) and mobile hot spot devices (New York and Chicago). Here in Sacramento, where people can check out sewing machines, ukuleles, GoPro cameras and board games, the new service is called the Library of Things. READ MORE: These Public Libraries Are for Snowshoes and Ukuleles | The New York Times

My Grandfather Built a House of 20,000 #Books From the Ashes of War | The New Republic #collections #libraries #history

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Snip: I  do not think anyone ever counted the number of books in Chimen’s house, although he made partial efforts over the years to catalog his collection, and various book experts, some flown in from New York and others from London, spent weeks studying it after he died. Looking at the shelves, I estimated that there were probably close to 20,000 volumes in the house at the time of Chimen’s death. My father believed it was more like 15,000. Whatever the exact number of books at Hillway, it was staggering. And what made it more staggering was their quality. Chimen did not simply aim for numbers; he collected books and editions that were extraordinarily hard to find and, by extension, were worth their weight in gold. More important, they were the stuff of rebirth, ways to bring vanished pasts to life. READ MORE: My Grandfather Built a House of 20,000 Books From the Ashes of War | The New Republic

#Facebook Partners with #UN to Bring #Internet #Access to #Refugee Camps | CNET @Facebook #UnitedNations #refugees

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Facebook is working with the United Nations to enable refugees from the Syrian civil war to access the Internet so they can more easily communicate while seeking resettlement. In a speech to the UN on Saturday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Internet connections in refugee camps will help refugees get better support from the aid community and maintain links to family and loved ones. Access to the Web is key to increasing quality of life, Zuckerberg added, saying it not only helps people communicate but can also help lift them from poverty. READ MORE: Facebook partners with UN to bring Internet access to refugee camps | CNET

Secret Confessions Being Displayed in Train Station + 9 #Innovative Methods for Modern #Storytelling | Mashable + Storytelling in the #Digital Age | TechCrunch

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British people’s secret confessions are being displayed in a train station | Mashable
The deepest fears and emotional confessions of strangers are being anonymously displayed at a busy train station in the south of England. “The Waiting Wall” allows commuters travelling through Brighton train station to submit anonymous confessions that are then projected onto a large screen for fellow passengers to read. The display is running from September 21 to September 27 as part of Brighton digital festival.

9 Innovative Methods for Modern Storytelling | Mashable
When an author set out to tell a story in years past, he or she typically did so on paper, a typewriter or by typing at a computer.

But today, storytellers find imaginative ways to share their ideas with interactive and visual elements. On modern mediums like Twitter, Vine, YouTube and other mobile applications, storytellers are crafting tales in ways that would have been unfathomable a decade ago. Offline, too, authors have begun rethinking the traditional concept of the book in ways both innovative and unorthodox.

Storytelling In The Digital Media Age | TechCrunch
Recent studies have shown that attention spans for millennials – those who have grown up in a digital world – are 60 percent shorter than previous generations when it comes to media. They’ve essentially emerged from birth staring at smartphones and tablet computers – with endless entertainment options just a screen away. As this attention span continues to shrink, brands must identify new ways to break through the clutter and establish meaningful emotional connections with their audiences.

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The #Internet Is Failing The #Website #Preservation Test | TechCrunch #digital #content

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If the internet is at its core is a system of record, then it is failing to complete that mission. Sometime in 2014, the internet surpassed a billion websites, while it has since fallen back a bit, it’s quite obviously an enormous repository. When websites disappear, all of the content is just gone as though it never existed, and that can have a much bigger impact than you imagine on researchers, scholars or any Joe or Josephine Schmo simply trying to follow a link.

Granted, some decent percentage of those pages probably aren’t worth preserving (and some are simply bad information),  but that really shouldn’t be our call. It should all be automatically archived, a digital Library of Congress to preserve and protect all of the content on the internet.

As my experience shows, you can’t rely on publishers to keep a record. When it no longer serves a website owner’s commercial purposes, the content can disappear forever. The trouble with that approach is it leaves massive holes in the online record.

Cheryl McKinnon, an analyst with Forrester Research, who covers content management, has been following this issue for many years. She says the implications of lost content on the internet could be quite profound. READ MORE: The Internet Is Failing The Website Preservation Test | TechCrunch

#Coding to Be Taught in Australian #Schools From Primary Age | Mashable #kids #education

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Coding has replaced history and geography in Australia’s new digital technologies curriculum which was endorsed by education ministers on Friday. As The Australian reports, it ensures that 21st century computer coding will be taught in primary schools from Year 5, and programming will be taught from Year 7. READ MORE: Coding to be taught in Australian schools from primary age | Mashable

A College Curriculum on Your Bookshelf: 50 #Books for 50 Classes | Flavorwire #education #reading #courses

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It’s officially back-to-school time, and we all know what that means: sitting in class, writing papers, getting sweet knowledge delivery before running off to the latest kegger. But what about a more practical method of study? Yes, in this case I am using the word “practical” to describe reading literature. What follows is a list of college courses (plucked or adapted from the course catalogs of actual institutions of higher learning) and works of literature that you might read to replicate the experience of taking them. READ MORE: A College Curriculum on Your Bookshelf: 50 Books for 50 Classes | Flavorwire

MUST READ: This #Free #Online #Encyclopedia Has Achieved What Wikipedia Can Only Dream Of | Quartz #websites #content #Internet #reference

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Fantastic article relating to authoritative content on the web. Well worth the read start-to-finish.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy may be the most interesting website on the internet. Not because of the content—which includes fascinating entries on everything from ambiguity to zombies—but because of the site itself. Its creators have solved one of the internet’s fundamental problems: How to provide authoritative, rigorously accurate knowledge, at no cost to readers. It’s something the encyclopedia, or SEP, has managed to do for two decades. READ MORE: This free online encyclopedia has achieved what Wikipedia can only dream of | Quartz

This Tool Finds [U.S.] #Colleges with the Highest #Salary for Your Field | LifeHacker #tools #compensation #education #libraryscience 

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Library Science and Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services are fields of study included in this comparison tool. Tool only compares U.S. colleges.  

If you have an idea what you’d like to study, but you’re not sure where to go to school, this scorecard from the U.S. Department of Education can help. A few clicks and you can see average salaries for graduates in your field, and what the graduation rates for your school look like. READ MORE: This Tool Finds Colleges with the Highest Salary for Your Field | LifeHacker

What the hell is ‘Olive Kitteredge’ and why did it win all the Emmys? | Mashable #adaptations #books #awards

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HBO’s miniseries Olive Kitteredge won six Emmys on Sunday night, leaving many confused viewers asking, “What is Olive Kitteredge?” READ: What the hell is ‘Olive Kitteredge’ and why did it win all the Emmys? | Mashable