Jack Valenti passes away.......will DMC Act to?

Jack Valenti, techdirts favourite innovator has passed away. The man who brought us the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and in 1982 the statement that 'VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.' Ummmm, sounds bright?

My first review in revish

I just added my first review to revish, as I really like what Dan Champion is doing to the site (and it was better than doing more facet analysis essay to be honest).
Also, Library Too give's it a brief mention on his site to.

Social networks and playground politics.......

As I've often mentioned here, i'm a fan of social networks, but sometimes its a real playground (and mainly a boys one at that). At first I was really a fan of Digg, but lately when I've dugg things for people, some people 'bury' it and stop it going anywhere. Well, yup thats fine, but Digg won't tell the person or people why it was buried (even though the burier has to say so). So, if someone doesn't like your profile they can bury it. So digg, tell us why some stories are buried, as if its been copied, done before we know why. But don't let some people bury it without any reason to show why they did that. Rant ends.

ZX Spectrum is 25 years old today

Totally un-library related. But anyhow, for those old enough the ZX Spectrum was 25 today. I started wit a ZX81 (its precursor and cheaper), but the Spectrum in Britain really created a boom in computers during the early 1980's, and gaming. Anyhow, a toast to the spectrum.

Revish review on zdnet

Having discussed Revish before, it was good to see it had a fuller review on on zdnet. Nice to see it getting this kind of coverage.

The book i'm reading.........

I'm presently reading What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry by John Markoff. Its nothing to do with libraries either and I can't put it down. It discusses the impact of some of the luminaries of the computer age in the 50's and 60's and how California also affected them. I was previously a historian in my undergrad days, so some of this stuff is amazing, as it touches to area's I enjoy (computers and history). Reading about Doug Engelbart's* presentation in 1968 and the way it impacted just underlines that Xerox Parc and intel didn't invent the personal computer in a vacuum.
Also, as I was fortunate enough to work on the documentary 'in search of the valley' it made me notice how fortunate I was to meet some of these guys and how california has made the personal computer so ubiquitous. Well, this is beginning to sounds like some gushing love letter from a pre-pubescent rock fan to there band. But get this book. It really does give a great story and history lesson.

*Engelbart btw invented the mouse along with many other things.

Walt Crawford book reviewed (but not by me)

Just seen that Walf Crawford's book (Balanced Libraries)has been reviewed over on library too. Its a good review and I'll have to get round to reading it, as I always find Walt Crawfords blog a good read and who is not always a fan of technology for technologies sake.

What libraries are about........

With all the closures and hand wringing of libraries in both the UK and USA its nice to have an article looking at libraries having a positive effect on society in the UK. This come's via the telegraph, and the article is called 'turning the page', and looks at a library in Edinburgh in which both the users (young one's especially) and the staff have been invigorated by a positive manager who has brought in a sysdtem of inclusion to both in an impoverished area.

The week that was.........

Another week and another 3 I missed to blog more fully about. Actually, I have a term paper, lets leave it at 1.
1. John Buckman has added some new features to Bookmooch, such as a wiki. Shame you can't tag on it though.

Academic library 2.0 article

Over on academic library 2.0, she has an article entitled Social Scholarship on the Rise. In it she talks emerging parameters of social scholarship. She talks about sharing our information, allowing other to share and participate in a creation of a document. She also discusses how we should make it available to. All I agree with, and when my dissertation is done on 'blogging and libraries' I will release it both on a website and put it on citeulike. If anyone wishes to add anything about this subject please contact me.

My 200th entry and a myspace for books

Yup, after nearly a year its my 200th entry which is good. So first off, thanks for reading this. Secondly, over on zdnet, there's news that Bloomsbury publishing are releasing a myspace for books. Sounds interesting.

The week that was.........

Another week and another three blogs to add.

1. Wired interviewed to Helene Blowers and Michael Stephens. Good to see them getting the attention they deserve.
2. Walking Paper pointed me in the direction of an Economist article Not bound by anything dealing with the digitising of books and there impact. Ok, Kevin Kelly perhaps discussed it last year in the new york times, but as ever walking paper has an interesting spin on the story.
3. Pete over on Library too has a piece on why we qualify as librarians. I totally agree when he says:-
I also studied for a Masters in Information and Library Management. My goal- a professional post. One with some strategic responsibility, some chance to develop collections.
And here I am doing those things, working alongside library assistants. I hope I don’t come across as arrogant or elitist. I never had that feeling about the librarians I worked with when I was a library assistant. I just recognised that there were different tasks to be done, by different people, working to different expectations. As I still do.

Libraries as homeless shelters in the USA

Over on alternet, they've an interesting blog called America Gone Wrong: A Slashed Safety Net Turns Libraries into Homeless Shelters, dealing with US libraries and librarians dealing with the homeless in there libraries. Give's a harrowing view that the lunatics have taken over the dewey system.