6 Things On A Stick

The notion of using specialized graphics via random image generators for logos or projects is a good one. However, one point that was touched on briefly in the prompt was the notion of copyright infringement. It is one thing for a private citizen to bend a few rules under fair use for their own and their friend's enjoyment as long as no money changes hands.

But it is another matter entirely for a not-for-profit governmental institution funded by taxes like a public library to get involved willy nilly. There is no easy answer for the copyright lisencing aspect of this because it is so fruitless to police this sort of thing effectively. Wouldn't it just be so much easier to hire a part timer with a background in graphic design and save yourself that legal headache?

Of course it's fun to make goofy online lisence plates. But caveat emptor nonetheless, people.

5 Things On A Stick

The mashup phenomon is IMOPO a short-lived web 2.0 fad at best. The hidden flaw of these apps is that they rely on a secondary party to help power their content. For example, let's discuss Craiglist using information gleaned from Google Maps for real estate listings. This is a great idea but what if Google doesn't want Craig's List using up their bandwidth? The software developer's response is "Hey! We're giving you free advertising. You should be thanking us, not yanking us off!" But 9 times out of 10, it's a little tiny start-up (i.e. not Craiglist per se) going up against a 800 lb. behemoth. I'm betting on Goliath at this point.

That said, Yahoo! is off to a great start because they are copying the Face Book playbook: allow third parties to look at your code via open source and then let them do all the work for you ala crowdsourcing. The amateurs get recognition for their work, your content is enhanced and some companies turn these competitions into a farm team for searching out new talent. This is actually a time honored tradition within the tech world: a substantial percentage of computer security analysts today are former hackers with past felony convictions resulting from attacks on their current employers.

The majority of Flickr mashups that Web Monkey recommended are, like most of the Internet in general, mindless time wasters that have no real use for serious librarians. I chose not to add a mashup to this blog not because I didn't know how but because I didn't see the point. Not to be rude about this prompt, but how does me being able to sort random photos by color help patrons?!?

The only real benefit I can see with these mashup's is from a graphic design standpoint: making the library look cooler. The posters we post for upcoming events, librarian trading cards, etc. But in terms of priorities, I'm putting this one at the bottom of the list. Sorry for being such a Debbie Downer today. :(

4 Things On A Stick

As an amateur shutterbug, I have been a member of Flickr for some time now.

The photos of the Eugene, OR library are gorgeous - me so jealous, me envy you long time! It was also very heartening to see libraries embracing change rather than begrudingly accepting reality. I already touched on the Library of Congress project in a previous post. The "add a note" tagging idea by St John's is an excellent idea. (I'm curious about stats as to how many patrons actually used this feature.)

The photo I uploaded from fototakerspain perfectly illustrates my point about the potential downside of online photo sharing. The photographer posted a 2 tone Photoshopped shot of an attractive female minor who happened to be at the Eugene, OR public library. It was added randomly to a collection of library photos for seemingly no reason whatsoever except for, I assume, that's she's easy on the eyes. That's all well and fine. But consider the cautionary tale of a co-worker of mine at the coffee shop I work at. She posted photo and video online of her getting her hair cut because she had not done this in quite some time. Within 72 hours, multiple creepy fetish websites tailoring to the desires of men who want to watch young girls get their hair cut had linked to her photo and video feeds. Common Craft didn't mention this sort of thing in their handy dandy little video. So maybe "antique" albums and frames aren't so old-fashioned after all.

That said, Flickr is by far my favorite photo sharing web site on the Interweb these days. I used to use PhotoBucket years ago but Flickr has amazingly only improved after being bought out by Yahoo! Yahoo remains the McDonald's of the online world, but that's why Bill Gates wants it after all.

Finally, I would like to add that the difficulty of successfully uploading a photo from Flickr begs another discussion in of itself about copyright and the new Creative Commons "copyleft" movement. I understand the artist's need to not get ripped off, but we need to balance this with the ability to comment on other people's work on our own terms.

3 Things On A Stick

As others have noted before me, the Common Craft video @ Blip TV doesn't work. And I would like to second the emotion about what a lousy job Blogger has done "improving" it's product. Now even running spell check or adding a picture requires the patience of a saint and a Masters in Engineering. Viva Lj! Death to Blogspot!

I like the aesthetics of Google Reader so I went with that one for now. I've had little experience with RSS feeds up until now and I still have mixed feelings on their overall practicality. If the websites you visit are mostly explainable in the headlines or first paragraph, this makes you a much more efficient surfer. But if you are obsessive in your thirst for knowledge like myself, it just becomes yet another giant time suck. Now, instead of just haphazardly visiting a few websites you now know to the second when somebody you like has something new. It reminds me of that scene in "The Man Who Fell To Earth" when a miserable alien played by David Bowie is sitting on a chair slowly rocking back and forth behind a wall of TV's, chanting "Too much information! Too much information!"

Google's Blog Search is helpful but I was unable to add any RSS feeds from LibDex's list as a majority of the links appear to be dead. Not cool. However, just based on the titles alone, librarians still love nerdy puns and lame in-jokes.

Of all the library blogs I read today, Unshelved is by far my favorite. Funny and informative, overall lovely.

As far as how libraries can use this technology, that's an excellent question that I don't have a clue how to answer. (I went to a state school, buddy!) Seriously, the issue with so much of Library 2.0 is how much access we're going to give the general public in this endeavor. At the library I work at here in Rochester, we have several computers for catalog searches on both floors but no internet access. The internet access ones are confined to part of one floor, and limit your time to one hour a day. This is common for libraries of course but is seen as archaic by some members of the public. One solution larger metropolitan libraries have is more internet computers, but less time is allowed per station. The whole concept of libraries is sharing and fairness, so just filling the library with computers isn't the answer either. Even if you put RSS feeds as say a ticker on the intranet-only stations would be cruel as patrons can't click on the links, assuming that's even feasible.

In conclusion, the only application I can think of here at work is for colleagues using RSS to more efficiently cruise library message boards that are invaluable to us doing our job in many respects. The communities on LJ and others of that ilk serve a unique set of purposes for our community: a support group for unruly patrons, updates on new changes in the field, a sounding board with frank and impolite language we're not allowed to use at city council member meetings, job postings, a convenient vehicle to ferret out secret prejudices nestled away in our midst, etc.

It would appear almost everything now is available as a RSS feed but we have yet to concretely harness it's awesome potential, IMOPO.