Personally I don't like eBooks. I find them difficult to read either on a computer screen or on a PDA type of thing. It must be the format, it makes my eyes tired. So I'm an old fashioned paper book person.
Having said that I can see a time when eBooks will be the predominate format. Just think of all the trees that will be saved for one thing.
The industry just needs to shake down to a few different types of readers. Even amazon.com has just brought in its very own eBook called Kindle. Also the entire copyright situation needs to be worked on as well.
A couple of months ago Neil Gaiman put one of his novels up on his publishers website as a free download. He was verbally attacked from some quarters of the industry for making it a free download but there was a spike in the sales of the paper version of the book at the same time.
A lot of the spots on the World eBook Fair site were pretty bland: UN publications, US Treasury, Census Bureau... But there were also a couple of gems.
My favourite was the Children's eBook Collection with scanned reproductions of "the most popular children's books of all times". There were some old classics there like 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' and 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' plus Beatrix Potter and Lewis Carroll. Which surprises me because they would still be in copyright.
Oh well.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Second Life
I think that this is one of those things that I will really need to experience to understand properly.
Some of concepts of why Second Life is better than a webpage escape me. I had a look at the site San Francisco museum, the Exploratorium, and they had a demonstration of what a meteor impact on the surface of Mars would look like. Why is having this in Second Life better than having it on the museum's website? It's all there on the website anyway.
From the learning point of view I can see how this would make correspondence course and external learning better. Being able to get together with other students virtually would be a big asset. There's nothing better than being able to share and group-think a problem.
Some of concepts of why Second Life is better than a webpage escape me. I had a look at the site San Francisco museum, the Exploratorium, and they had a demonstration of what a meteor impact on the surface of Mars would look like. Why is having this in Second Life better than having it on the museum's website? It's all there on the website anyway.
From the learning point of view I can see how this would make correspondence course and external learning better. Being able to get together with other students virtually would be a big asset. There's nothing better than being able to share and group-think a problem.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
YouTube
I like YouTube.
Its just nice to troll your way around the site looking to see what's there. A lot of times you come up with just fluff but every now and then there's a gem to be found.
Like podcasts libraries could use YouTube to post holiday activites, talks and lectures, as well as promotional features. Why go to all the bother of paying someone to create an ad for libraries and then buying ad space on television when someone with a digital video camera can probably make something short and snappy and put it up on YouTube.
One of my favourites is with David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Combining characters from The Catherine Tate Show and Doctor Who. I've embedded the clip at the bottom of the page.
Its just nice to troll your way around the site looking to see what's there. A lot of times you come up with just fluff but every now and then there's a gem to be found.
Like podcasts libraries could use YouTube to post holiday activites, talks and lectures, as well as promotional features. Why go to all the bother of paying someone to create an ad for libraries and then buying ad space on television when someone with a digital video camera can probably make something short and snappy and put it up on YouTube.
One of my favourites is with David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Combining characters from The Catherine Tate Show and Doctor Who. I've embedded the clip at the bottom of the page.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Podcasts
I had some trouble with this one. The only podcast site I could get into was Podcastally, the other two just would not connect. Then I found searching the site to be difficult, they really need to work on the search engine. Once I did eventually find something to listen to it then took about 5 minutes for it to download.
But other than that I like the idea. Although we need to be careful with the dependability of some podcasters - especially when it comes to politics and the like. Although listening to a debate between two opposing sides of politics would be OK, but listening to just American Republicans would be just plain silly.
As I write this I'm listening to a guy reviewing the novel 'Dune' by Frank Herbert. I think that as a library it would be great to have the public putting up podcast reviews, also recording public speakers that we have in the library as well.
But other than that I like the idea. Although we need to be careful with the dependability of some podcasters - especially when it comes to politics and the like. Although listening to a debate between two opposing sides of politics would be OK, but listening to just American Republicans would be just plain silly.
As I write this I'm listening to a guy reviewing the novel 'Dune' by Frank Herbert. I think that as a library it would be great to have the public putting up podcast reviews, also recording public speakers that we have in the library as well.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Rollyo
A very handy little thing. A bit like Abebooks.com where one search covers many second-hand book sellers.
I set up one that covers some of my regular sites where I buy books and DVDs.
I suppose my only grumble (and its a minor one) would be that it does limit the amount of sites you search and thus one might miss a previously unknown result that falls outside of the parameters that have been created in Rollyo. Although a reliance on Google probably has the same effect.
The actual Rollyo site itself probably needs some more work. I found it difficult to figure out what I was doing and had several false starts before I found my feet.
I set up one that covers some of my regular sites where I buy books and DVDs.
I suppose my only grumble (and its a minor one) would be that it does limit the amount of sites you search and thus one might miss a previously unknown result that falls outside of the parameters that have been created in Rollyo. Although a reliance on Google probably has the same effect.
The actual Rollyo site itself probably needs some more work. I found it difficult to figure out what I was doing and had several false starts before I found my feet.
Wikis
I'm a big fan of Wikipedia and use it all the time.
Within reason though.
The perceived unreliability of wikis is slowly being eroded away now that Wikipedia is using citations. Posting at the start of an article that if needs citations and may need cleaning up informs the user that the information may need checking.
I believe that it is a case of how much trust we put in the source. For many years World Book encyclopedia never made mention in the entry for Hiroshima that an atomic bomb had been dropped. Do we put our absolute faith that every entry in Britannica is correct and non-biased?
As long as you go into wikis with the understanding that you may need to do further research I see absolutely no reason not to use them.
The example I give people is this: you wouldn't use Wikipedia to discover the reasons behind the Iraq War, but it's great if you want to know all the different types of kryptonite.
Within reason though.
The perceived unreliability of wikis is slowly being eroded away now that Wikipedia is using citations. Posting at the start of an article that if needs citations and may need cleaning up informs the user that the information may need checking.
I believe that it is a case of how much trust we put in the source. For many years World Book encyclopedia never made mention in the entry for Hiroshima that an atomic bomb had been dropped. Do we put our absolute faith that every entry in Britannica is correct and non-biased?
As long as you go into wikis with the understanding that you may need to do further research I see absolutely no reason not to use them.
The example I give people is this: you wouldn't use Wikipedia to discover the reasons behind the Iraq War, but it's great if you want to know all the different types of kryptonite.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Library 2.0
It certainly sounds good.
But it seems to me that librarians and libraries aren't quite sure what to do with the technology yet. Some people are saying "Yes! Lets use it now!", while others are saying "But what exactly are we going to use if for?".
I can see the reason for hesitating when it comes to tagging. As I mentioned last episode I'm not fond of the great unwashed doing their own tagging of books. But as long as it is done in conjunction with standardised subject headings it could be worthwhile. Although I still get some bizarre results with the State Library's new tagging on TALIS Plus.
The advantage of other Web 2.0 tech is more obvious. MySpace and FaceBook pages for libraries, post videos on YouTube of activities and talks, using RSS feeds to keep the punters informed - it's all good stuff.
But it seems to me that librarians and libraries aren't quite sure what to do with the technology yet. Some people are saying "Yes! Lets use it now!", while others are saying "But what exactly are we going to use if for?".
I can see the reason for hesitating when it comes to tagging. As I mentioned last episode I'm not fond of the great unwashed doing their own tagging of books. But as long as it is done in conjunction with standardised subject headings it could be worthwhile. Although I still get some bizarre results with the State Library's new tagging on TALIS Plus.
The advantage of other Web 2.0 tech is more obvious. MySpace and FaceBook pages for libraries, post videos on YouTube of activities and talks, using RSS feeds to keep the punters informed - it's all good stuff.
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