Category Archives: Technology

Your Database Is Probably Terrible | TechCrunch

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Your Database Is Probably Terrible | TechCrunch.

Quoteable: “So the database(s) you’re using at your workplace? They’re probably not the best available; in fact, they’re probably pretty bad, relatively speaking; and that’s probably not going to change anytime soon. It’s food for thought the next time you expect some new technology to thoroughly revolutionize the world just because it’s better than all its competition. Most of the world doesn’t want to be revolutionized. Most of the world likes its databases just fine. You can’t convince them to change; you have to drive them to it.”

You may also like: 
Best Databases 2012 – Library Journal 

Software That Can Piece Together Lost Languages | Co.Design: business + innovation + design

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Another example of how big data is being leveraged in research and education.

Software That Can Piece Together Lost Languages | FastCompany Co.Design: business + innovation + design.

You may also like:
Big Data: A Rose by Any Other Name? – Information Space
ENCODE: Big Data, the Human Genome, and Non-Profit Global Enterprise – Information Space

Collection of Links: Tools for Librarians | iLibrarian, Information Space

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Analytics
4 Analytics Tools Librarians Should Know About

Applications
7 Free Technologies Your Library Should be Using

Programming/Web Design
The Librarian’s Arsenal: Git & GitHub
What is Responsive Web Design and Why Librarians Need to Know About it

Online Privacy
10 Online Privacy Tips for Librarians

Conference Presentations
10 Tips for Conference Presentations That Rock
A Library Conference Survival Guide: 20 Tips

Huffington Post | Da Vinci Notebook: British Library Publishes Full Collection And More Arts News

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Another amazing digital library…

Da Vinci Notebook: British Library Publishes Full Collection And More Arts News via Huffington Post.

You may also like:

Einstein Archives Online

World Digital Library

Artsy

Used Ebooks, the Ridiculous Idea that Could Also Destroy the Publishing Industry | Motherboard

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Great opinion article. Calling Amazon’s used ebook patent filing for what it is…another manoeuvre in the goal to make the traditional publishing industry obsolete.

Used Ebooks, the Ridiculous Idea that Could Also Destroy the Publishing Industry | Motherboard.

Mashable | Free Database of the Entire Web May Spawn the Next Google

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Common Crawl, and subsequent spin off projects, is an organization I believe librarians should be following closely. It would be great for library and information service professionals to be involved with some of these projects. I could also see the government and educational institutions providing funding for research proposals analyzing some of the data.

“A nonprofit called Common Crawl is now using its own web crawler and making a giant copy of the web that it makes accessible to anyone. The organization offers up more than 5 billion web pages, available for free so that researchers and entrepreneurs can try things otherwise possible only for those with access to resources on the scale of Google’s.”

via Mashable | Free Database of the Entire Web May Spawn the Next Google.

UPDATED: Mali rebels fleeing Timbuktu burn library full of ancient manuscripts | World news | guardian.co.uk

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UPDATED: See this story by Alex Crawford with Sky News for more details and video.

“Islamist insurgents retreating from the ancient Saharan city of Timbuktu have set fire to a library containing thousands of priceless ancient manuscripts, some dating back to the 13th century, in what the town’s mayor described as a “devastating blow” to world heritage.”

via Mali rebels fleeing Timbuktu burn library full of ancient manuscripts | World news | guardian.co.uk.

Major Ed-Tech Trends for 2013 – Online Colleges [Infographic]

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via Major Ed-Tech Trends for 2013 – Online Colleges

TechCrunch | White House Announces National Day Of Civic Hacking, Asks Americans To Solve Problems With Govt Data From NASA And More

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The Canadian Government needs to pilot a program like this! Unfortunately, I can’t imagine this happening with a Harper government. We need to advocate for more open data and a transparent government, especially with government budgets and programs funded by taxpayer wallets.

White House Announces National Day Of Civic Hacking, Asks Americans To Solve Problems With Govt Data From NASA And More | TechCrunch.

N.B. At the bottom of the article is a map of America…all the cities that have signed up are quite similar to the distribution of Democratic states.  Also can’t see a Republican government launching a program like this. Obama rocks.

NYTimes.com – A Casualty on the Battlefield of Amazon’s Partisan Book Reviews

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The following editorial is a great case study of trolls (a fan base in this instance) using the Amazon reviewing system to suppress the popularity of a publication, when in the past the problem has been over inflated reviews. No longer is it only governments and other political groups trying to suppress intellectual freedom.

A Casualty on the Battlefield of Amazon’s Partisan Book Reviews – NYTimes.com

Quotable: “In the biggest, most overt and most successful of these campaigns, a group of Michael Jackson fans used Facebook and Twitter to solicit negative reviews of a new biography of the singer. They bombarded Amazon with dozens of one-star takedowns, succeeded in getting several favorable notices erased and even took credit for Amazon’s briefly removing the book from sale.”