Reviews From My Desktop

Budget Chief Questions Toronto Public Library Collections: Are we an international library?

2011-12-05T22:12:00.000-05:00

In Toronto Star and http://libraryworkersunion.blogspot.com/

"The second mention was for something more substantial: councillor Paul Ainslie (Ward 43, Scarborough East) demanded an apology from budget chief Mike Del Grande (Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt) for his remarks in the Star this morning about the Toronto Public Library:
“Should the city library become a Blockbuster?” Del Grande said. “Is that what we should be doing? Is that our core program or is that program creep?”
In calling for a debate on library programming, the budget chair said he questions the library’s decision to stock non-English items.
“Are we an international library? What proportion of our budget should go for non-English movies and books, etc.? The argument would be made this is what makes the city great, but I would dare say our common language is English.”
Del Grande also suggested (in the Toronto Sun) that "every single library" has 100 copies of Pirates of the Caribbean 4. (Based on the TPL's web directory, I assume Del Grande means that the entire library system has 112 copies, almost all of which are currently out on loan.)

On the same shelf:

Blogger Blogs Redirecting To "blogrolling.com"

2011-09-06T16:00:00.002-04:00

Thanks to a blogger help: Blogger Blogs Redirecting To "blogrolling.com"

The Real Blogger Status: Blogger Blogs Redirecting To "blogrolling"

Note: Go to the html code of your widget, in the widget there is a script; delete or hide, the script relating to blog's roll, and the problem is solved.

See for the following code that has blogrolling in your widget's html code:

Why library websites don’t win awards

2011-04-12T15:54:00.000-04:00

NB. Posted with permission from the author: Laura Solomon

On the same shelf:

Copying an Entire Article Without Permission - OK in Some Cases?

2011-03-22T16:09:00.000-04:00

WebProNews, Chris Crum | March 22, 2011
Extract:

Judge Finds Full Article Copy to Be Fair Use

Last month, we asked whether full article-copying could be ruled as fair use. We now know the answer. Yes, it can.

Do you think duplicating an article in its entirety without permission is OK in some cases?...

Righthaven, a company whose business model relies on copyright lawsuits for newspapers, has essentially lost its second fair use case. The first one was over a partial article sampling, but this most recent one involved the copying of a full 33-paragraph article from the the Las Vegas Review Journal (with credit) by the Center for Intercultural Organizing, a ten-person Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit organization set up to preserve immigrant and refugee rights. The case has not been dismissed yet, but he judge presiding over it says he plans to. continue reading

New Hazards For Book Reviewers, by Steve Denning

2011-03-20T10:42:00.000-04:00

From a Book Review to a Criminal Trial in France
By ADAM LIPTAK, The New York Times,
"In a little more than a week, a court in Paris will decide whether a law professor in New York committed criminal libel by publishing a book review."

Steve Denning, RETHINK - Forbes, Feb. 21 2011
EXTRACT:
In a bizarre story in The New York Times...

... Moreoever “France is an odd place to adjudicate a claim concerning a review written in English by a German professor of a book written in English by an author living in Israel. The book was, moreover, published by a Dutch firm. The review was published on a Web site in New York. True, Ms. Calvo-Goller is a French citizen. But still.”

What’s next? Students suing their teachers for poor grades? Commenters in Amazon being sued for their less-than-five-star reviews?
Continue reading

Fee for service or pay as you go to read NYT Newspaper

2011-03-17T21:18:00.000-04:00

--this post will be updated as new reviews / criticism appears on fee-based access

A look at the trends in the market shows many options to charge fee for users. A sample of this in today's news is the following:

N.Y. Times tests website fees on Canadians, CBC News Posted: Mar 17, 2011 6:12 PM ET

New York Times to Put Up Paywall March 28

Game On: New York Times Unveils Digital Subscriptions

Google's Bookstore in the Market, at last

2010-12-12T21:20:00.001-05:00

If you are following Google's word, it was expected in 2009 and then in June 2010. Anyways, now it is up and running.

What's making news then?
Amazon Vs. Google: Who Will Win E-Book War? "Google's (NasdaqGS: GOOG) launch of e-book store has put the search giant in direct competition with market leader Amazon (NasdaqGS: AMZN), unfolding an interesting rivalry in the coming days."

Excellent comparative review is by Doug Thompson: See the 'Missing Features on Google eBooks app' + 'Strengths of Google eBooks over Amazon Kindle' at Doug Thompson's site

What are the impressions of the Librarians? One example is here, and it is by Tom Peters, and his interesting insights are:

First Impressions on Google's New Bookstore:
"Then I let my digits do some walking and did some comparison shopping for a few books on my wish list. Stanislas Dahaene’s 2009 book, Reading in the Brain, sells for $9.99 both in the Google ebookstore and as a Kindle edition. The Kindle edition of No Shelf Required sells for $46.80 (ouch); the Google ebookstore has a list price of $41.60. You Are Not a Gadget is $9.99 for the Kindle edition, but only $9.48 at the Google ebookstore." continue reading Tom Peters' First Impressions on Google's New Bookstore @ ALA TechSource

On the same shelf:

The list of bookstores offering Google ebooks is here

Review of a Website - A good example

2010-09-13T23:37:00.001-04:00

Note: This review is not from my desktop.

This site has been removed: learn.senecac.on.ca/~mehedder/TCS301/Assignment1.html
Extract:
First Impression: I found this webpage to be very bright upon first look. There is some extreme detail, and the picture of the falls is as beautiful as in real life.
Navigation: The webpage was relatively easy to follow. Everything was broken down in categories so it was easy to manoeuvre your way through the site.
Current Information: The website was extremely up to date including upcoming events on dates from February onwards.
Problems Observed: The only problem that I found with this website is that it was completely in English. I know that the majority of people do speak English however, because Canada’s two National languages are French and English I think it should have the option for the site to be displayed in French.
Useful applications for customers: Some useful applications for customers that I noticed were links to tourism information (for where to eat, shop and stay), Transit information, event calendars, and a section called visitor’s favourites.
E-Commerce considerations: There are links on the website so clients can look at and select hotel packages and purchase online, so I would not change anything in this section.
Additional Comments: I was really impressed with the website’s ability to make myself able to find everything that I was looking for.
Improvements: Although the site was very interesting and helpful, it may have been a bit too busy, so I may have taken the clutter down one step by removing a few things from the front page and replacing them with links.
Rating: ***

Job Search Website Article - Excellent Benchmarking

2010-06-10T00:06:00.033-04:00

This StarREVIEWS site measures and ranks each of the following Job Search Web sites:

Monster
CareerBuilder
The Ladders
College Recruiter
SnagAJob
Job Bank USA

Each site is analyzed for its performance based on the following analytics:

Overall Rating
Post Resume
Star Review
Search Resumes Employers
Career Resources
Potential Employers
Network Abilities

On the same shelf:
Just released: Job Search The Canadian Way
Buy our book:
Download Ebook @ $10 CDN
Buy softcover in print @ Createspace.com

The top-secret formula for decoding Toronto Star movie reviews, revealed

2010-06-09T23:30:00.000-04:00

Interesting perspective on reviews:

Toronto Life Magazine by Alan Nance

Quiz: Are You Fluent in Work Lingo?

2010-02-28T16:21:00.000-05:00

This quiz has many frames-of-reference, both for the geeks and the lay, alike. One instance is the word Offline, included in this quiz.
The word, Offline, as the quiz suggests includes four answers:

a. When you’re disconnected from the Internet
b. The project or outcome is important to the function of the business
c. To discuss a topic one-on-one or after a meeting
d. Working from home

While the correct answer is a, one may think out-side-the-box, as well. See the line between offline, online, and near-online, near-offline, etc., here

See on the same shelf:

Track How Effective Your Online Marketing Efforts are Offline

Back to the:
Quiz: Are You Fluent in Work Lingo?
Rachel Zupek, CareerBuilder.com writer

My advice to married women out there: Suck it up

2010-02-13T20:57:00.000-05:00

Leah McLaren, The Globe and Mail, Friday, Feb. 12, 2010
Extract:
"To them, I offer this singular piece of advice: Suck it up. Be glad, if you're married, that you have a husband. Provided he's not a violent, gambling drunkard who just got off with your best friend, I'll bet that he's just fine. In any case, you made your bed, so lie in it. Better yet, roll over and make love to it. You may not think you're in the mood, but, trust me, you'll be happier if you do. ... I have come to these conclusions, among others, after speaking with American writer Lori Gottlieb, the author of Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough

After having a baby on her own with donor sperm in her late 30s, Gottlieb re-entered the dating market in her early 40s only to find that all the good guys had already been snapped up. Her book, which is a meditation on choice, disappointment and the importance of managing your expectations in the modern dating market, also chronicles Gottlieb's profound regret at having been too picky and hypercritical in her single youth. “It seems great to have all these choices,” she told me in a recent phone interview, “but the question is, can you pick wisely?”

Interestingly, Gottlieb points to cultures that favour arranged marriages as a guide on how to pick a mate based on practical criteria that will sustain marriage and children – a proposition she describes as not unlike “running a small, tedious, non-profit business” – rather than the modern notion that marriage should be based on everlasting, bodice-ripping passion.

“People expect their marriage is always going to be this thrilling, exciting thing, but that's not real life. I think that the great benefit of marriage is the safety and commitment and having a teammate and a home, just the love and the warmth. It's not that exciting, but it's what people crave at their deepest level.”

Leave it to a hard-up single mother to appreciate what so many unhappily married women cannot. Gottlieb's point about arranged marriages brought to mind another interesting observation, this one found in Elizabeth Gilbert's new book, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage.

In her follow-up to the mega-bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, divorcee Gilbert is sentenced to marry her exiled Brazilian boyfriend for immigration purposes. As they await their impending nuptials, she contemplates the history and cultural purpose of marriage from a point of view that is diametrically opposed to Gottlieb's – i.e., she doesn't want children and has no interest in tedious non-profit work.
Perhaps the most interesting observation in the book is that, historically speaking, a successful marriage has nothing to do with love. In the course of her research, Gilbert notices that, across cultures and history, the divorce rate spikes as soon as people start choosing their spouses for themselves. “By unnerving definition,” she writes, “anything that the heart has chosen for its own mysterious reason, it can always unchoose.” ... continue reading

Best Book Review: The Eternal Present Tense by Dr. Ziauddin Sardar

2010-01-21T21:27:00.001-05:00

Book Review: The best and the worst at a glance:
The Worst:
I stumbled on a blog that presents awards if you have "The Worst Review Ever." And, today by surfing the Web, read one of the best reviews, by Dr. Ziauddin Sardar. [information courtesy: NewAgeIslam.Com]

To qualify what makes a 'worst review ever,' I have no choice to determine nor options to rate. Read the qualifications: 'BE A WORSTIE!' @ The Worst Review Ever. In addition, there are many blogs / sites that present: Best review EVER or Best * Worst book reviews or here. More on " best book review" is here

The Best:
And, to judge the best, one can look for best practices drawn by experts. A review is best if it has: (a) balanced perspective (visualizes strength, weakness, and commends), (b) presents a glimpse of what the book has as compared to the competitors in the market (with internal citation and external comparison), and (c) the reviewer knows the subject in-and-out (not just a superficial knowledge). All of this and much more is [in The Guardian, dated Saturday 21 June 2008)] Dr. Ziauddin Sardar's review of The Qur'an: A New Translation, by Tarif Khalidi, 'The eternal present tense':

"We look for two things in any new translation of the Qur'an. How close does it get to communicating the meaning of the original, that inimitable oral text, the very sounds of which move men and women to tears and ecstasy? And does it offer something more: a new perspective, perhaps; or an innovative rendering?
Tarif Khalidi, a professor of Islamic studies at the American University of Beirut, scores high on both these criteria. He manages to capture the allusiveness of the text, as well as something of its tone and texture. While being faithful to the original, he succeeds in conveying linguistic shifts, from narrative to mnemonic, sermons to parables. And there is an innovative component: it is the first translation that tries to capture both the rhythms and the structure of the Qur'an.
The best way to demonstrate its newness, and how close it is to the original text, is to compare it with an old translation...

Khalidi wants the reader to enjoy the experience of reading the Qur'an. Of course, he wants to communicate the majesty of its language, the beauty of its style, and the "eternal present tense" of its grammar. But he also wants the reader to appreciate the Qur'an's unique structure, how the language changes with the subject matter, how it swirls around and makes rhythmic connections. He wishes to show how each of the seven tropes of the Qur'an (command, prohibition, glad tidings, warnings, sermons, parables and narratives) registers a change in the style of its language. A lofty ambition, but one he pulls off with some success....
Continue reading The Eternal Present Tense

On the same shelf books by Dr. Ziauddin Sardar:

Amazon.com Widgets

Reading now: Library and Information Science Education in India

2010-01-09T00:33:00.003-05:00

Library and Information Science Education in India, by Krishan Kumar and Jaideep Sharma. New Delhi, Har-Anand Publications Pvt. Ltd. 2009. ISBN: 8124114650; US$ 33.00; 312 p.

“LIS Education is the most crucial input for the development of libraries. … The book has been primarily written to meet the needs of the researchers of Library and Information Science. It will also serve as a basic source for students of LIS for the course of LIS Education both at M. Phil and MLIS levels.” (cover)
Contents: Chapter: I. History; II Organizations and their role; III. Levels of courses; IV. Admission requirements; V. Course content; VI. Course Delivery : teaching methods tools and evaluation; VII. Infrastructure; VIII. Status and accreditation; IX. Distance education; X. Issues, developments trends and suggestions
Professors Krishan Kumar and Jaideep Sharma have done an excellent job of cataloguing the main facets of LIS education in India. The authors have been directly involved in teaching, training and are personally exposed to the tools, techniques, methods and out-come of LIS programs in India. Both have a good grasp of what is imported and what is exported by LIS professionals and have a balanced approach about how much of thinking local and acting global is essential today—especially introduction of the book reflects this perspective of what works abroad and what works in India. For instance, the recent growth of I schools in California and Mysore will interest many LIS educationists to see the synchronization that is taking place (I-School movement, p. 57).

Library and Information Science Education in India is a handy source for researchers, post-graduates, as well as for an advanced study of LIS education in India as it evolves. This book is also useful for those interested in comparative education, comparative and international librarianship as well as historiography of library world. Library historians, in short, will find this book indispensable.

Full review will appear in Library Times International

On the same shelf:

Diversity and Commonality of Information Science Education in a Pluralistic World (SIG ED) by Ingrid Hsieh-Yee, Heting Chu, Joseph Janes, Eileen Abels, William Moen, Samantha Hastings

Stakeholder's Views on Information Education by Rachel Elkington, Cynthia Fugate, Deanna Morrow Hall, Mark Greene

Fifty years of library and information science education in India: Seminar papers: XV IATLIS National Seminar, Department of Studies in Library and Information ... of Mysore, Mysore, 27-29 November 1997

Another graduate school serving the library field is about to lose the “L” name

Libraries in India - National Developmental Perspectives: A saga of Fifty years since independence, by Mohamed Taher. New Delhi , Concept Publishing, 2001.

2009: An endnote with a hope for a new beginning

2009-12-31T20:40:00.007-05:00

The past decade, and especially the year 2009 for many was a transformative period---with new hopes for family, life, social networking, etc..

There were more failures (call it missed opportunities) than successes (or accomplishments) by and large. What we have in hand is, the new decade, as a hope for the better...

For such moments of do-it-yourself strategies, there are many positive notes from a book in hand: Fire Your Shrink! by Michele Weiner-Davis, reading now. For example:

"There is no such thing as failure, only feedback as to how to modify your next step. One of the most important prerequisites to putting the program in this book to work is to adapt a trial-and-error philosophy about change. It is remarkably freeing to realize that there are only two ways you can really screw up. One is by not trying anything new for fear of failure. ... The second way to screw up is to ignore the outcome of something you tried: wasting time convincing yourself and others that it should have worked when it didn't. Remember, the proof is in the pudding. If it works, don't fix it; if not, do something different." (p. 57)

On the same shelf:

What is Your One Main Failure of the Year 2009 - Are You Ready for the Year 2010?

Philly Teacher: 2009: Reflections on a Transformative Year

New Year Greetings And A Hope For Happiness :: Mel Menzies

Welcome to the out-of-control decade
We have seen the future, and it doesn't belong to you
By Rik Myslewski in San Francisco, The Register: 31st December 2009

The 10 most intriguing people of 2009

Decoding the Decade
Repeat after me: Googlewhack, Bromance, Obamanation
Listen to The Globe's Ian Brown read the words and phrases that became part of our collective consciousness this decade

Amazon's Kindle (genre: e-book reader)

2009-12-23T20:46:00.006-05:00

Amazon.com Widgets

To be able to read you need literacy, information and a medium. Amazon facilitates all of the above. Let's stick to information (message) and medium (electronic book reader), i.e., Amazon's Kindle. The good news is, Kindle, is now available in Canada (it was US exclusive wireless e-book reader). In the following is a quick glance of the product:
Pros:

You don't need a computer or a connecting device - standalone, mobile via 3G wireless

Built-in keyboard -- helps in search, browse, notes, and navigation (back, forward, main home page)

Handy and light weight - just as holding a magazine

Lot of variety - Over 350,000 books plus newspapers, magazines, and blogs

Cons:

Pricey, starting @ $299 (No free Internet + taxes, if you are in Canada, for instance)

Wireless utility not available globally (i.e, outside US & Canada)

You can not add more memory

See also on the same shelf:

E-books take off on Amazon

News flash: the book isn't dead – yet John Barber, Tuesday's Globe and Mail,
Monday, Dec. 28, 2009

Kindle: Amazon's 6" Wireless Reading Device Price: $299.00

Amazon Kindle Wireless Reading Device (U.S. Wireless)

Stephen's Lighthouse: Kindle Comes to Canada

The E-Reader Explosion: A Cheat Sheet | Technologizer

Will tomorrow's libraries become more like museums of today -- A question for the coming decade

The Battle of Building Library's Digital Collection

Kindle guide to the the Internet Archive: More than a million free e-books for K owners to download @ TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Blog Review: My Highly Recommended Money Making Programs

2009-12-22T20:22:00.003-05:00

The best part of the WWW / Internet / E-Commerce / Web Marketing is: (QUICK / EASY / SIMPLE / ONE-CLICK) Money Making Programs. That is the background. Here we are trying to understand one blog: My Highly Recommended Money Making Programs. And, the click forward from another site, brought me to this: Mailboxmoney and then found a link to another site, stating Want a free laptop?
Ans. Yes, why Not. The process, get, set go. I clicked on the site mentioned to get a free laptop: http://www.notebooks4free.com
Reading the terms and conditions (notebooks4free), it sounds all clear, and more importantly, telling me not to cheat, That's Great. I move on to see if this is a really real scam free deal. The simple catch is: I get 18 referrals. Period. Nope, then complex catch is, two stops, as explained:

Do my friends have to refer anyone?

Only if they want their own free gift. To earn your
free gift, your friends do not have to refer anyone.

How do I get a free gift?

Our free gift program does not require you to pay any fees. You are only required to complete one offer from our sponsors, many of which are free...[read again: all items are NOT free]

Googling for this site (notebooks4free), I found the following:

McAfee SiteAdvisor @ User Reviews (12): One said: "hp Hosts has classified this as a phishing site. Keep clear." [HP Host site]

Yahoo! Answers. One said: "The next morning.... I got 20 new spam messages and the spam folder took more than half an hour to load!"

Note: The interesting (complimenting and supplementing the spree) is the: COMMENT POLICY @ My Highly Recommended Money Making Programs:

Comments on this blog are made DOFOLLOW for the Google Spiders.
Comments are moderated.
Spam will not be tolerated.

The design of the blog is cool, user-friendly, not overloaded with un-necessary content.
Bottomline, nothing is free. So have happy holidays, and relax.

See also on the same shelf:

I Want My Free Laptop Dot Com

The Top 10 Internet/Email Scams

A Pathfinder To Detect Spam and Forwarded Email Scams

WORK-AT-HOME JOBS: Internet Fraud or Gold Rush?
Major Internet Fraud Investigation Reveals Shocking Truth you Must Know before Choosing a Work-At-Home Program
"Are Online jobs the next big thing?
The reality is that the hopes and dreams of honest people trying to make a better life for themselves are being preyed upon and shattered, day-in and day-out.
A Shocking 81.4% of work at home sites were found to be Scams"

Tips for Avoiding Job Scams, from the Internet Fraud Watch

Google Adsense Appears Anywhere, Anyhow

2009-12-22T17:57:00.001-05:00

Thinking about competitive intelligence I have a moment's reflection. The question here is: How do businesses deal with competitors, and how they avoid each other? I found a search engine. In this context, isn't it against benchmarks of best practice in business management that Google Adsense should not be seen where Google is invisible. A competitor of Google, a less popular search engine, shows results from all other sources (READ AGAIN: it is minus Google) and has Google ads, the search engine is called Minus Google

And, about this new born minus-google, a news headlines says: Finnish blogger amputates Google from Google: A road map for regulators of the future, By Cade Metz in San Francisco

And, another question is: Why Does Google Allow Ads for AdSense Ready Websites?

Search for something like "work from home", "Internet jobs" or "make money online" on Google and you’ll see a flood of ads promising easy money through the AdSense program.
If you have ever tried AdSense on a site, you probably know how tough it is to make that first dollar but these ads, which are surprisingly served on the Google network itself, make things look so simple. Just order an "AdSense kit" for a few dollars and the money will start rolling in. continue reading: Digital Inspiration.

See also: The Google-Yahoo! agreement and the future of internet advertising hearing before the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Tenth Congress, second session, July 15, 2008.

Any clue, or at least a response to this reflection?

Writers in News: Peter Watts and John Gribbin

2009-12-12T21:22:00.000-05:00

John Gribbin Get a Grip on Physics,

Watts' books include "Starfish," "Maelstrom" and "Behemoth," known as the "Rifters Trilogy."

Reading now: Usage Statistics of E-Serials

2009-11-02T21:58:00.022-05:00

Managing tight budgets, finding right service providers, selecting compatible-and-standardized tools to handle e-serials (data, access, licensing, technical support and usage statistics), motivating staff to adapt to the changing dynamics of e-librarianship, and finally meeting maximum user needs are all the crucial issues of today’s libraries. And for such a scenario here is a book--by David Fowler, presently Head Acquisitions Department, University of Oregon Libraries--as a resource, that helps in moving ahead in some of the significant areas of handling e-serials.

Incidentally, in the context of e-serials, cost (be it as single subscription or consortial bundles), purchasing decisions, library budgets, staff experience and exposure, and most importantly tools (especially,Issues with standardization of usage statistics) are all directly related to available and standardized tools for a ROI both for libraries, and information suppliers (aka information service providers). A few relevant questions, this reviewer can think, that are faced in dealing with e-serials’ usage data include:

a. What type and level of data do libraries want or expect in selecting / de-selecting e-serials (as discussed on p. 261)?

b. Is the supplier collecting legitimate numbers and facts and revealing this as-is to libraries (as discussed on p. 233)?

c. If data indicates a low use of a particular title (as discussed on p. 154, 220), does it mean first that the user is not in-need or otherwise unaware of ways and means to find it, or second, the library lacks a mechanism to create user-friendly gateway (especially the e-resources that may need a different path than what is required for a traditional print), or third there is a communication gap, in other words: lack of semantic synchronization (information seeking behavior matching with information provision)?

d. Is there a relationship between libraries using e-serials (be it on a stand-alone or consortial arrangement) in dealing with—transactions for instance, such as, a) Interlibrary loans, and b) document delivery-- and its impact on collection development / collection management?

e. Advantages and disadvantages of deriving usage statistics from local library management software (as discussed on p. 111), vis-à-vis supplier delivered metrics?

f. Shared-purchase and shared responsibility (as discussed on p. 43) is one size fits-for-all or requires customization by subjects / geography (e.g, Cancer library on p. 183; National Laboratory on p. 151; and Connecticut Academic Libraries, p. 79)? and

g. Electronic Resource Management (ERM) (as discussed on pp. 8, 130, and 252) is one part of the information management solution, but how about integrating a stand-alone resource and looking for an interface with enterprise content management (ECM) system?

While the above hypotheses are a good fit for a new book, and comparative librarianship always looks for such Web analytics, however, Usage Statistics of E-Serials addresses only a few of these concerns, issues and matrixes.

Usage Statistics of E-Serials, lacks a glossary of terms, such as, e-metircs (specifically in relation to web-metrics, librametrics, infometrics, etc.), usage (online, offline, and other modes of distribution permitted / adopted by libraries or end-users), access (in-house, campus wide, remote), tools (local, global, library vendor-supplied, publisher / service-provider supplied), techniques (standard, local), etc.

Further, the book lacks a conclusion. Any reader of a book on statistics is keen on finding an authoritative summary of all that is discussed in the book. For instance, a reader is left with no last word or opinion or ways to know if the editor agrees (fully, partially or not-at-all) with one of the author’s in this collection: ‘Lies, Damn Lies, and Usage Statistics: What's a Librarian to Do?’

Thematically speaking, the utility of the book would have been far more if it was focused on fewer themes or about any specific libraries. In this day of constantly changing dynamics, this book planned in 2004, data collected in 2006 (most cited references are pre-2006), published in 2007, today presents a little dated stories.

Hopefully the editor may consider a (qualitative and quantitative) sequel that is also inclusive of both vertical (within a library system: systematically analyzing budget, user needs, subject specialization, staff—generalists and specialists--storage, retention and deletion) and horizontal (across libraries on the above lines) usage statistics of e-serials .

Nevertheless, I recommend Usage Statistics of E-Serials as a useful resource for serials librarians and those involved in serials management in libraries.

On the same shelf:

Viewing Library Metrics from Different Perspectives: Inputs, Outputs, and Outcomes ~ Robert E. Dugan
E-metrics for Library and Information Professionals: How to Use Data for Managing and Evaluating Electronic Resource Collections ~ Andrew C. White and Eric Djiva Kamal
E-metrics for library and information professionals: How to use data for managing and evaluating electronic resource collections. By Andrew White and Eric ... Acquisitions and Technical Services] ~ N. McDowell

Federated Search - What's in a name?

2009-10-17T18:24:00.001-04:00

Amazon.com Widgets

'Federated search' is also known as, meta-search, cross-search, combined-search, integrated search and aggregated-search. First, it is about simultaneously searching, with one-click, in several electronic sources. Second, it is about getting all the search results displayed in a single browser.

But then, some tend to use the term, Federated search, for searching OPAC / Union Catalogs / serial holdings, see: 360 Search service and R-search; and some extend to searching Websites (not just the surface web, they attempt to reach the deep web), see: here and here -- the latter refers to an example of Dogpile, as an aggregator (see much more on meta-search in relation to Search Engines, yahoo, google, bing, etc.).

On the same shelf:

Federated Search - Reading now

Why user reviews are worthless: Customer Reviews!!!

2009-10-08T23:47:00.006-04:00

PS. This is not a review from my desktop.

By Christopher Null

Why user reviews are worthless - Computers - Yahoo! Canada Tech
Say you are in the market for a new frying pan. How do you go about figuring out which one to buy?
If you're like many shoppers, you probably log on to Amazon.com or another shopping site, poke around to find the size you want and something that's in your price range, but still find yourself faced with a choice of maybe a dozen potential options. How do you pick from that point? If you don't go with the cheapest of the lot, chances are you'll buy one based on which has the best rating as provided by prior purchasers of the item."...

"Bottom line: Merchants may try to temper this stuff, but as a consumer, you need to keep your expectations in check, too.

For more on this topic, I invite you to check out my book on film criticism, which has several pages devoted to grade inflation. I'm happy to report it has a perfect five-star rating on Amazon.com, so you know it's good. continue reading

On the same shelf:

Citation links @ Amazon by Dr. Mohamed Taher

GEOCITIES is Going: How to redirect your website now?

2009-10-06T23:41:00.018-04:00

This post is continuously updated, 8 Nov, 2010.

Nov, 2010: Geocities Lives On as Massive Torrent Download
Not gone!.
My Geocities' site along with others in so many Neighborhoods--found via Archive.org--now at: http://reocities.com/ResearchTriangle/thinktank/8596
Former GeoCities customers:
Sorry, the GeoCities web site you were trying to reach is no longer available.
Although you have signed in to Yahoo!, you can no longer access the GeoCities Control Panel. Please visit one of our other Yahoo! sites or learn more about this change in the help center
28 Oct, 2009 -- site accessible till 6 PM, EST.
R.I.P. GeoCities: A Community is Killed Yahoo Shuts Down Property with 10m Unique Monthly Visitors
By Chris Crum, WebProNews
Yahoo has officially shut down Geocities.The company has said that it did not count the property among its priorities, so it is simply getting rid of it. Yahoo has shut down about 20 services in less than a year.

23 Oct, 2009
Strange, but is it true? what do you think: "I can't read Japanese, but Yahoo! GeoCities Japan doesn't currently mention anything about closure on it's index page." SCONEHENGE

Base on the above news, even today geocities @ Japan says, nothing about closure. It is all about continuity of technical support, not end of support: "October 2009 from October 22 to perform server maintenance every Thursday."

Background news:
Yahoo Quietly Pulls The Plug On Geocities, by Leena Rao on April 23, 2009
News about My New home: Geo sites By Chris Crum - Fri, 10/09/2009.

Now, I have posted the following at BlogCatalog. In case you are not a member of BlogCatalog, please post your comments here.

GeoCities is closing on October 26, 2009. Thanks to Timethief, we have the background of GeoCities' announcement to CLOSE and what else is already done.

If we do our own back-up and post our content on any other websites, the content will be with us, touch wood, forever. Otherwise, our Geocities' content will be lost in the deep web.

I have done some research (see the links below), and tried my best to get back to the surface web--I just did my 2 cent, and not sure of the results. Hence, please try and let's share our results, of what works, and what does not work.

Here are a few links I found:

How to redirect a web page, the smart way: www.stevenhargrove.com/redirect-web-pages

Geocities closing 301 redirect to maintain search ranking: forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1419350"

Using the Link Rel Canonical Tag: www.devshed.com/c/a/PHP/Using-the-Link-Rel-Canonical-Tag/

Learn about the Canonical Link Element in 5 minutes: www.mattcutts.com/blog/canonical-link-tag/

On the same shelf:
- GeoCities - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- GeoCities Closing

Google Alerts' mybookface! And, the true colors of Internet Explorer and Firefox Web Browsers in dealing with Web forgery

2009-09-15T12:07:00.028-04:00

Google Alerts

to me : http://mediahyderabad.blogspot.com/

Deccan Chronicle ( ) Mediahyderabad in Online now Times, Indian following sells Jaundice Feb has Kerala a http://mediahyderabad.blogspot.com. Click Deccan - DECCAN In local ! ...

Clicked @ Deccan Chronicle ( ) and Firefox Web Browser shows ALERT, 'Reported Web Forgery':

Typed the actual website address, http://mybookface.net (@ Deccan Chronicle ( )) and Firefox Browser, still shows a WARNING:

Clicke and typed the actual website address, http://mybookface.net: in IE; and saw ' NO WARNING', 'NO ALERT' and 'NO FORGERY':

The bottomline:
1. Google Alert is mechanically generated, right. It may bring you spam messages / irrelevant site links, too. Possible. Period.
2. IE / Firefox Web browsers have different reception for the above scenario, as seen above.
3. While the website is using a similar url (probably to get Facebook-like traffic), it didn't harm the computer--then, is this type of site, that uses a popular and confusing-like url, is not tested by the robots @ Windows Live's IE and Mozilla's Firefox. The end-result: wasting the time, resources and patience of end-users!

Note: The term 'Web forgery,' is dealt as follows:

Firefox Phishing and Malware Protection

PUNCH LINE:

"Security researchers Emil Ljungdahl and Lars-Olof Moilanen demonstrated that, in cases where the entire contents of a page are enclosed in a

with absolute positioning, a web forgery warning dialog won't be displayed unless the user switches tabs away-from then back-to the forgery page." Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory.

Partitions (Tr. of 'Kitne Pakistan') by Kamleshwar Prasad Saxena

2009-08-04T23:04:00.012-04:00

PS. This is not a review from my desktop.

This book is translated by Ameena Kazi Ansari as 'Partitions'

"Kamleshwar’s Kitne Pakistan enjoys cult status as a novel that dared to ask crucial questions about the making and writing of history.

With India’s partition in 1947 as its reference point, the novel presents a limitless canvas against which the most extraordinary trial in the history of mankind runs its course. Present in a court that transcends space and time are Mughal Emperors Babar and Aurangzeb, Spanish adventurer Hernando Cortez, Lord Mountbatten, Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein. Along with political leaders, religious zealots and scheming gods of mythology, they stand accused of creating countless fractured nations, leaving a never-ending trail of hatred and distrust..."
continue reading the book description

Extract from another article by Asghar Ali Engineer: "My friend and noted Hindi writer Kamleshwar wrote an excellent novel Kitne Pakistan (How Many Pakistan?) and in that novel he counts Maulana Shibli No’mani as one of narrow minded Muslim. I told Kamleshwar he has done great injustice to Shibli. He was highly critical of Muslim League and its politics and great supporter of Indian national Congress and nationalist. Kamleshwar told me he will make the necessary change in the English version of the Novel which was being published by Penguin. However, soon after that he died and I do not know whether he could get time to make that correction." continue reading, Shibli Nomani and national politics

See also reviews by

Blog Reviews - Success With Languages

2009-03-02T17:01:00.030-05:00

About the Site:
Success With Languages is an educational site. The subject of the site is about the childhood experiences with language, thought and society (some may call this Socio/Psycho-linguistics, some others prefer to name it as: Comparative Linguistics).

"This blog aims to help language learners in any level the owner of the weblog is a trilingual parent who has lived and worked with more than 4 languages for more than 40 years. She shares her journey from the eyes of the child and how using simple childhood methods, to live with languages."

How much is the traffic, one word: terrific:

APPEARANCE (layout, colour, positioning and style)
Overall Appearance = 9
Layout = 9
Color Scheme/Theme = 9.5
Headings/Font = 8
Ease Of Navigation = 8
Loading Time = 9

CONTENT (text and images and context)
Quality = 9
Quantity = 10
Spelling/Grammar = 9
Content Interest = 8.5
Theme Continuity = 9
Use Of Pictures/Video = 8.5

MISCELLANEOUS
Reader Interaction = 9.5
Incentive To Return = 8.5
Active Links = 9.5
Accessibility = 9
TOTAL = 143/160
[e-metrics / benchmarks courtesy: jennij]

Recommendation:

Technical: Generate a site map (they say it is good for search engine optimisation), or a detailed menu or cloud to visualize what is all hidden in layers and pages.

In short, the site is focused, updates quite often, encourages readers to be loyal and return for another glance / round trip. The site needs some cleanup to be able to navigate freely.

The content is well written, with no communication errors, whatsoever. The posts have a catchy heading. The design may need some alteration in order to display a distinction between: a) internal and external links, and b) commercial ads from professional content--some say ads are OK so long as they are not a barrier to your site's goal (see the other side). Overall the site is simply impressive and reveals the authors passion to be the best in this field!

On the same shelf:

Blog Reviews - Willowby Woods

2009-01-27T12:08:00.001-05:00

Blog Title: Willowby Woods a witch’s forest of piffle, poetry and painting
Blog URL: http://www.willowbywoods.com/
Former Blog URL: http://witchwoman.wordpress.com/
Blogger: Crystal Raven
Blog's Date of migration: August 12, 2008
Blogger's Profile: http://willowbywoods.com/about-2
"This site is about my daily life as a witch, mother, wife, poet and artist. I will also touch upon minimalism, home organization and time management. "
Subject Profile: Development and Growth Art
Tags:Book of Shadows Hedge Witch Series Piffle Poems Theory Tidbits
Tag Cloud @ Blogcatalog:

book of shadows
bs
children
family
hedge
witch series
life
personal development
piffle
sabbat
Spirituality
the artist's way
the hedge witch series
tidbits
winter solstice
witchiness

Strength: Good design. Netmechanic analysis gives five star to each: a) Link Check and b) HTML Check & Repair. Overall technically (above, right side) there are no major issues, going by this automated roundup.
The tags or Categories are well organized and user-friendly. More subject-wise tags tell you what the blog is all about: Tags: poetry Mental Illness witchcraft pagan fine art persona;

Layout is cool and the content is well spread in first and second columns (and a third column hangs).
Navigation is easy and presents no problem

Weakness: No major weaknesses to report. Minor issues include: a) the third column can be used to add content--instead of leaving it blank; and b) there is no direct link to archives (The heading: Dusty old Tomes, leads you to comment section, not to the old posts).

What do others say about this blog [This blog is currently rated a 5.00 out of a possible 5 based on 4 comments. ]:

Mylissa: I really like your blog. Very interesting!
rani: Wonderful blog, from which we can all learn a lot. Thanks.
Cassandra: great personal and insightful blog. she is true to herself and i love that!
Ruben Ricart: Great Blog! I have the same theme for one of my blogs.
The Review Guy- Clear, crisp, simple, smooth. All words I would use to describe your blog layout. I love simplicity.
Blog Review DailyNot only is the author a witch, she is also a pretty good poet… Witch Woman is a blog that is interesting and scary at the same time…
KatYou have an amazing way of putting the facts down, without sugar coating them and making them touch the hearts of the reader.
MelindaI love your site! I find your writing so inviting–and I love the way you explain your beliefs in such a matter - of - fact way that is easy to understand. I love your blog–and think you are a great addition to the blogging world.

Recommendation: Good job. The content is focused. The design is cool, the site is not overloaded. This site is of interest to all those who wish to look at life with an alternative perspective. The author synchronizes mental illness, creativity and practical approaches that work and work well.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

On the same shelf of Spirituality on the Web, see more in my book:

Here is a sample from inside the Book: Cyber Worship in Multifaith Perspectives--full of resources that will facilitate building bridges in a Multifaith society.

Blog Reviews - this time this space

2009-01-18T00:06:00.003-05:00

Blog Title: This time this space: Personal development, growth & relationships
Blog URL: http://thistimethisspace.com/
Blogger: timethief
Blog's Date of birth: April 23rd, 2007
Blogger's Profile: http://thistimethisspace.com/about/
Blog profile: http://thistimethisspace.com/about/
Subject Profile: thistimethisspace personal development, growth & relationships blog contains information and techniques I use for transforming and improving my life.
Tags:
Aromatherapy Beauty Tips Blogging Children Climate Change Conscious Living Cooking Creative Visualization Depression Dreaming Essential Oils Featured Articles Fibromyalgia Goal Setting Health Humor Imagery Inspiration Internet Relationships love massage Meditation Personal Development Personality Poetry and Quotes Politics Psychology Rants and Opinions Recipes Relationships Relaxation Techniques Self Help Sensuality Sexuality Sleep Social networking Spirituality Time Management Uncategorized Vegetarian Diet and Recipes Wisdom womens issues wordpress.com wordpress.org Yoga

Tag Cloud @ Blogcatalog:

blogging
children
communication
conscious living
election 08
featured articles
health
Imagery
internet relationships
personal development
Psychology
relationships
self help
sexuality
Spirituality

Blog Posts Frequency: January 2009 (3)December 2008 (8)November 2008 (10)October 2008 (9)September 2008 (6)August 2008 (6)

Strength: The title truly reflects the author's idea of being in-time and this is reflected in the four themes: Health, Personal Development, Relationships, and Sexuality);
The taglines are detailed and are rightly called categories (most bloggers forget that they are classfying the information into some categories, and not just simply tagging--incidentally, tagging is the fashion of the day);
Layout is cool and the content is well spread in two columns;
About Me page tells you about the blog, and about the author;
Sidebar is decently organized with mouse-over feature; and the themes (mentioned above) are well explained.
navigation is easy and presents no problem

Weakness: There is no major issue. However, one minor technical issue bothers. The non-techy audience fails to read the full article (in each post). They don't see the idea that if they click on the title of a post, they can read the full article. Using ... (three dots) without any indication of continuity may be avoided or be replaced with a better substitute.

First post: This time ~ This space
Bottomline of the First Post: "Until we recognize that the crisis in the way we humans govern ourselves is due to viewing ourselves as being separate and apart from the environment that sustains all, no real changes will be made."
What do others say about this blog:

darkspark: inspired writing. a happy mix of topics that readers will always find some value from.
Stephen Wilson: What a great blog. Very peaceful, yet very open. I think it's what most people set out to do, but few realize.
G.Sannino: I really am blown away at how well you write. I enjoyed reading your affirmation page. Sometimes we forget to do a lot of those things. The design the layout is very professional. Thanks for putting it out there.
Kanishk Patel: Hey that is one gr8 blog and great collection of postall the post looks to be from heart
techno: ...after reading this article u touch my heart. u r very soft but ur approaching style may be can't understand.... ok keep going. thnx... touch ur deep earn.
Robert E. Lee: Your personal blog is wonderful. I spent more time there, than I have ever spent on a blog before. Very well researched and written. Your words draw people in and you can't stop reading.
Scott Rose: TimeThief and her work are an asset not only to the community at Blog Catalog, but to the blogging community at large
Alex Great: Good stuff time, I was browsing around your blog and wanted to write a comment but kept reading and reading. I like the way your blog is cross linked too.
Sheila: When entering onto this site, I feel warmth, invited, not overwhelmed. This site gives me motivation, my own personal growth from reading information on this site.
Many many many more fans @ BlogCatalog

Recommendation: Very useful information for all those who are interested in personality development and related themes. Prompts further study and research with its excellent documentation (each posts provides with reports, case studies, etc.)

See also some related titles @ Amazon:

Selling Your Book to Libraries -- Self-published or Privately Printed Books

2009-01-17T00:32:00.000-05:00

Note: Its a open market and company's who promote self-publishing must be evaluated. The Idiot's guide gives you know how, the job is yours. Test the market, compare the competitors and do as-you-like-it. Read the bottom line, from the last link posted below.

"I'll make a guess that your dream is to see your book on the New York Times Bestseller list. To walk by a Borders or Barnes and Noble and know your book is stocked on the shelves. Those are great dreams and it is important to have a big vision for your book sales. But there is one market that you should not overlook - the public and school library market. Libraries have large budgets and some regional systems have buyers that purchase on behalf of 20 or more locations. " continue reading

On the same shelf:

The real secret to a successful blog/book/business
Book Publisher Experiments
The book that never grew up
BEWARE: Self-Publishing Scams ~~ Five Things to Watch Out for when Choosing a Self-publishing Company

Better by Design ~~ Reading now

2009-01-10T12:07:00.002-05:00

Better by Design states: "Libraries are faced with rapidly shifting populations of users with differing needs, who require a range of fresh communications links that are transforming our concept of the library space. This book takes as its starting point the fact that few architects know about libraries, and fewer librarians know about architectural planning and design."

I recommend this book to all those who are interested in making the library useful and usable. We need more books that teach you best practices to be applied in any type of library in today's converging atmosphere.

How would you rate this situation that lets web visitors decide layoff

2008-12-21T23:50:00.010-05:00

PS. As an independent market researcher and not paid by any to do so, I would highly appreciate your opinion on this technique:

In news today:
Ad agency lets web visitors decide layoff
Dec 21, 2008 04:30 AM

Susan Pigg LIVING REPORTER @ The Toronto Star
"A Brussels advertising agency has come up with a novel, new-age solution to the economic downturn – a social layoff site of sorts where you can help decide, with a click, which of its eight employees should be laid off come January.
"Take your courage in one hand and your mouse in the other," says the ironically named company, So Nice, which has created a website that's the online equivalent of The Apprentice – minus the limo rides and the rich rewards." continue reading

See also what comments are @ The Toronto Star +++ Snopes.com

NB. Thanks to BPWebNews for the polldady's lead

A Universal / Global Search Engine Remains an Elusive Target

2008-11-26T09:37:00.046-05:00

Terminology, with a uniform and consistent meaning of any word, where is it???? 'Universal search' for instance, as a key word means different to different people, so also for the geeks. Ideally speaking, universal / global search, refers to searching deep, searching far, and searching wide--i.e., searching all databases, all formats, and all possible corners. A single company that declares has an audacious plan to organize everything we know is, Google. How complex and how difficult, semantically, it is to organize everything we know, is now a common sense--ORGANIZE in order to identify, store, retrieve, administer, and facilitate the use of local, remote, and networked databases.

Mighty Google (the world's most popular Internet search engine) does not display a uniform, consistent and systematic approach (in all domains that it owns). See an example of search results (number of search results look alike, but see the preferences for text, videos, Sponsored Links / ads, etc.) in google.co. in / google.ca / google.co.uk / google.com--additionally, each site has much more (to add whatever you like): Images Maps News Shopping Gmail more ▼. [Note: To avoid any error in search results, the above sample does not use the alternate button: pages from the ...]

And, this pattern is precisely revealed by Randall Stross, in Planet Google:

"Not only did Google fail to give consistent attention to products after they had been released, it also neglected work on bringing its disparate collections of new types of information--such as books, scholarly journals, maps, videos--together so that a single search could rummage through all of its new information silos, in addition to its database of Web pages.
Users could, of course, go to the various Google sites and do separate searches, but the sites had been developed separately, in haste, before Google could figure out how to make all of them accessible in a single search..."
"Between 2001 and 2006, several Google engineers briefly took on universal search as a project. But they lost interest before making progress." (p. 182). "In May 2007, Google was ready to announce a limited version of Universal Search.
The search results that users now saw were changed only subtly--only a few non-Web items were added to the first page of search results...." (p. 183).

Some other quotes on Universal / Global approaches:

"Universal Search is still one of those buzz words that keeps coming up within the world of search. By now, many of you probably know that Universal Search refers to search results that blend videos, images, news, local listings and more. Each of the major search engines are taking a stab at their own interpretation of Universal Search. From an online marketing perspective, Universal Search presents many new opportunities to explore and learn what works best in each platform for a site..." continue reading: Ask universal search • Google universal search • MSN universal search • universal search • Yahoo universal search

"Just so I'm clear, I don't care if Google automatically skews the results on google.co.uk even if I do NOT change to see "pages from the UK."
I'm in the UK. I know most people will automatically be redirected to co.uk, and many won't change to .com. I also know many will benefit from having the results be skewed, since they won't do it themselves.
But if I tune into Google.com, that's where I find it strange to have the skewing happen anyway. As far as I'm concerned, Google.com is the international channel that many people all tune into from various locations. Having it broadcast different results is inconsistent, I feel. But that's my take, of course" @ What Do You Hate About Google? - Search Engine Watch Forums

Blog Reviews - NEW YORK PARALEGAL BLOG

2008-11-16T16:29:00.038-05:00

Blog Title: NEW YORK PARALEGAL BLOG
Blog URL: http://www.newyorkparalegalblog.com/
Blogger: Joel Irving
Blog's Date of birth: April 25, 2008

Blogger's Profile: New York Paralegal

Blog profile: Legal news and views from a NY Paralegal.

Subject Profile: Law & Legal News & Media

Tags: law legal news criminal law paralegal civil law new york paralegal

Tag Cloud @ Blogcatalog:

000
charges
department
for
in
justice
new
new
york
new
york paralegal blog
of
paralegal
pay
the
to
york

Blog Posts Frequency: November (20); October (32); September (39); August (41); July (32); June (59); May (21); April (9).

Strength: Excellent in content, analytic, focused and compassionate.

Weekness: There is none as a major issue. However, Labels, as a feature are unweildy (none has time and patience to scroll the full length of the list of all the labels). Need a smaller widget that shows prominent ones, ONLY.

First post: Advertise With New York Paralegal Blog

Bottomline of the First Post: None (to quote)

What do others say about this blog: No comments, as yet from the audience to say what they like or not. There are however, discussions about posts, and that is a positive sign of loyal audience.

Recommendation: Very useful information for all those who are interested in legal guides, judicial reports, case studies, etc.

See also Amazon's related titles:

eMetrics or Web-Metrics or Webometrics - A new book for Library & Information Professionals

2008-10-15T00:09:00.014-04:00

Web-metrics or Web analytics as a term is yet to get a standard and acceptable name (aka. Webometrics, Webmetrics, emetrics, etc.). Interentingly, Library of Congress prefers for a book on e-metrics a subject heading, such as: Web usage mining.

The other subject headings for a book on e-metrics are:

I am reading, now, E-metrics for Library and Information Professionals: How to Use Data for Managing and Evaluating Electronic Resource Collections ~ Andrew C. White

My 2 cents: This is an excellent book, easy to read, thematically organized, and focused exclusively on developing metrics for library's electronic resources. Those who were used to user-studies, traditional library use-studies, library performance measurements, and quantitative methods, so on and so forth will find in this book great help to move forward (and thereby get to know some newer ways of looking at numbers and use behavior of the digital citizens). Highly recommend to any librarian / techie / information professional and interested in virtual library collections, Web Analytics, library management, etc.

On the same shelf: Cyber Worship in Multifaith Perspectives

see here: Cyber Worship: Website Evaluation - Questionnaire and Survey Results 314-324.

Txtng: The Gr8 Db8

2008-09-17T00:02:00.005-04:00

Today's find, is a book that is saying 'text messaging demystified.' Read the following and you will get a glimpse of this message: The Myths of Texting Posted by Kent Anderson

"Text messages continue to impress and confound (a recent use for announcing a vice-presidential pick is a good example). Today, texting has evolved (thank to Twitter and others) into networked microblogging.
A new book by David Crystal entitled “txtng: the gr8 db8” brings data and a healthy dose of reality to the subject.
For instance, I was surprised to learn that in 2006 text services generated $70 billion in revenues, 3 times the total box office for all Hollywood studios that year." continue reading

Blog Reviews - Security for idiots and other people that care

2008-09-13T16:28:00.055-04:00

Blog Title: Security for idiots and other people that care
URL: http://securityforidiots.blogspot.com/
Blogger: David Tamayo
Blog's Date of birth: April 3, 2008.
Blogger's Profile: "Intense in a caring nurturing kind of way. I would gladly give my life to defend those that I love. I will teach those that I do not know how to defend themselves, but to learn from each other, I will come to know you. Once I know you, you will become someone that I love."
Blog profile: "The goal is to develop a community of like minded people that believe if they strive to be the best that they can possibly be they will be better able to serve and protect the ones that they love. True security comes through the peace of mind of knowing that your life is totally under your control. Let's grow together during this journey and realize what true power over our lives really means."
Subject Profile: Personal Development Development and Growth
Tags: love Security self defense power peace of mind intent
Tag Cloud
caregiver
decisions
eddie
boy
ellen
degeneres
Help
hope
inspiration
intent
olympic
games
positivism
prayers
senate
president
stress
thank
you
wealth
Blog Posts Frequency (2008 sample): August (1); July (1); June (5); May (5); April (7)
Strength: Caregiving and lifegiving. Looks good with visuals, and banners.
Weekness: I agree with one reviewer, about the word idiot in the title. Addressing someone as Idiot, I would say, idiot may sound as unintentional mockery of a human being.
First post: Why discuss this?
Bottomline of the First Post: "First off, I do not want anyone to think that I will only be talking about security in the missionary sense. Really how one lives one's life will reveal the total sense of how secure one's life can be. Don't get me wrong, gadgets gizmos and techniques will definitely be covered. Please feel free to ask questions, give feedback, or just critique."

What do others say about this blog:
"Security for idiots and other people that care" is a very interesting blog. One can spend hours reading blog spots, concerning some quite delicate themes, without getting bored. All the articles provide a considerable amount of information, yet there is always the author's opinion that can be felt.
Very useful articles, unbalanced advices and encouraging words, great blog! There is only one thing I don’t like (it’s just a matter of personal taste) the word idiot from the blog title, but that is just my opinion. Your blog is really great - your honesty and sweet soul come out in your passionate writing... it really is compelling to read your thoughts on various topics...
Recommendation: We need many more compassionate and spirited bloggers, and David's Blog can be rated as doing its best to meet its goal. I read his review of a movie on Caregiver, and was highly impressed by his writing style, and in one word he is: communicative.* Any expatriate will enjoy reading this analysis of the movie.
*Would you leave your family to take a job in another country? / Caregiver Photo video part 2a / Caregiver Photo video part 2b :

Blog Reviews - Me, a writer of movie scripts

2008-09-06T15:43:00.004-04:00

Blog Title: Me, a writer of movie scripts
Date of birth: June 9, 2008.
Blogger Profile: Désirée: Writer of movie scripts.
Subject Profile: Writing Cinema.
Blog Posts Frequency (2008 sample): August (20); July (11); June (12)
Strength: Creative writing, Educating, Scripting.
Weekness: None.
First post: So, I have become a blogger
Bottomline of the First Post: So why become a blogger? I want to "meet" others, share the love of writing, share ideas, get feedback.

Topics / Themes:

Blake Snyder (1)

Blake Snyder Beat Sheet (5)

Characters (9)

Contrasts (2)

Current project (10)

Early writing (6)

Examples (2)

Exercise (4)

Final Draft (2)

Goals (3)

Language (2)

Linda Seger (4)

Mix (1)

Reflections on events and news (3)

Reviews (4)

Set-up (1)

Stories from life (5)

Writing action (1)

Writing dialog (2)

Writing process (14)

What do others say about this blog:

I like the thoughts on everyday events from this specific script view point.

If you have ever wondered what goes on in the mind of a writer, this is a blog that you must visit--time and time again!!! much more

Recommendation: If you are interested in movies and about movie scripts, dnor's blog will be in your most frequented blog-roll.

Researchers offer new way to avoid bogus websites

2008-09-03T09:07:00.000-04:00

By Jordan Robertson, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Intercepting Internet traffic, and spying on the communication between two computers, is a gold mine for hackers. Now Carnegie Mellon University researchers hope software they've built will make it harder for criminals to hit that jackpot.

The software, a free download for use with latest version of the Firefox Web browser, creates an additional way for people to verify whether the site they're trying to visit is authentic. continue reading @ USATODAY.com

Blogosphere: Information professionals guiding you to the best bits of the blogosphere

2008-08-26T11:24:00.003-04:00

Amazon.com Widgets

[Note: This is not a review / interview from my desktop]
"Much relieved Fulham FC fan James Lappin tracks the inspiration for his blogging career back to reading a Korean poem while waiting for a haircut in a barber's shop in Surrey"
Q: What do you do?
A: I am a 39-year-old records management consultant and trainer,working for TFPL in London.
Q: Where is your blog?
A: I am one of the contributors to the TFPL blog, at http://tfpl.typepad.com
continue reading the interview

Federated Search - Reading now

2008-08-17T20:09:00.005-04:00

Amazon.com Widgets

The term federated search is also known as, meta-search, cross-search, combined-search, and aggregated-search. First, it is about simultaneously searching, with one-click, in several electronic sources. Second, it is about getting all the search results displayed in a single browser. And the book I am reading is Federated Search by Christopher N. Cox

I recommend the book for a basic understanding on the emerging theme of federated search strategies, especially about American academic libraries’ experiences in this sphere.

OCLC Top 1000: 2005 Complete list

2008-08-07T23:20:00.002-04:00

"This list, updated for 2005, contains the "Top 1000" titles owned by OCLC member libraries—the intellectual works that have been judged to be worth owning by the "purchase vote" oflibraries." Complete list

Amazon.com Widgets

Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy

2008-07-04T16:01:00.010-04:00

This is not a review, it is just an aggregation of some content.

Amazon.com Widgets

Dante.Inferno.Canto I:

Info courtesy: Dante Explorer:

Dante Explorer is a journey through the afterlife of Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise with the poet Dante in his work, The Divine Comedy.
Why would I want to read Dante today? Here are 10 reasons to read Dante

New to Dante? A Beginners guide to Dante

Ready to start the journey? Begin the Journey - Inferno

Dante Explorer is updated regularly, please check back often at the: Dante Explorer Blog for the most current post, or subscribe to the RSS feed at the top of the page.

Cyber Worship Resource of the Week is Ten Commandments for Web Pages

2008-06-15T13:12:00.008-04:00

Here is a sample from inside the Book: Cyber Worship in Multifaith Perspectives--full of resources, and KM accessories, that will facilitate building bridges in a Multifaith society. Table of Contents / Reviews

Chapter 4. 'Navigating the Deep Sacred Space via Experiences of the Wise': Resource of the Week is Ten Commandments for Web Pages, by Bill Fergerson (see much more on pages 131-132).

Order the book with Publisher:

My book Talk
More in this Weekly series @ Multifaith Information Gateway

See also on the same shelf:
The Ten Web Commandments
by Philipp Lenssen

Blog Reviews - Managing Personal Finance

2008-06-07T17:49:00.048-04:00

I tend to find that, by serendipity of course, some blogs are typically more in depth and engaging. However, some others simply link to other sites. Among the former is the following blog:

Blog Title: Managing Personal Finance
Date of birth: Sept 11, 2007.
Blogger Profile: Devray, a consultant in Personal Banking. Contact
Subject Profile: Finance, Personal.
Blog Posts Frequency (2008 sample): April (1), March (3), Feb (2), Jan (2)
Strength: Motivational, educating.
Weekness: None.
First post: Do we manage our personal finance in a right way?

Summary / objective stated in the first post: "Managing Personal Finance" provides you with well researched facts. Each post exposes personal interaction with financial experts and industry professionals. Starting with banking, credit cards, economy, home, insurance, investment, marketing etc. you get in-depth information about a wide variety of subjects. Be it fighting bank with banks or tips to survive an economic storm, planning your child's future or an investment plan for the middle class or even tips to corporate success, all are there for you to gain from.

Also, you will find Devray's involvement with compassion in the world of financial care, and hence the existence of Internet's first get-out-of-debt community. This site offers debt care's 101; includes interesting tid bits, such as, Shocking facts that debt consolidation and debt settlement companies do not tell you; Know how to solve debt problems; etc.

Topics / Themes:

Most Popular Posts (by comments received):

Recommendation: If you want to read and reflect on your financial assets, this one blog will have you hooked up and give you the required peace of mind!

A related resource, just-in-time:

Being Muslim (Groundwork Guide Series)

2008-04-28T11:02:00.019-04:00

This book is not an idiot or a dummy series. It is, hence, different altogether in content, context, and communication that helps understand the people, minds, concepts, and percepts. Being Muslim, in short, is interesting, thought provoking and educating. See a few extracts, reviews, etc.:

Quotes I like from this book:
>> "He who wrongs a Jew or a Christian will have me as his accuser on the Day of Judgment." Prophet Muhammad, -- a.k.a., Hadith (page 27)
>> "Donot consider me better than Moses" Prophet Muhammad, -- a.k.a., Hadith (p. 34)
>> "I am closest of all people to Jesus, son of Mary." Prophet Muhammad, -- a.k.a., Hadith (p. 34)
>> "Extremists are also being reminded that the wrath of God constitutes a minuscule part of the Qur'an" (author, p. 147)
>> "Nowadays, jihad is often used without any religious connotation, more or less equivalent to the English word, cusade -- a crusade against drugs..." (Rudolph Peters, p. 127)
>> "The most used word in the Qu'ran, after Allah, is ilm (knowledge)" (author, p. 147).
>> "Not all the Saudi restrictions are Islamic. The taboo against women drivers, for example, is not haram (forbidden), but it is not permitted, in deference to tradition." (author, p. 99).

From the Publisher:
Since 9/11, the world has been confronted with the most volatile facets of Islam with little explanation of how or why these controversial elements developed. Written by one of North America's most honored journalists, Being Muslim presents an up-front and clear explanation of this complex and emotion-laden subject.

From School Library Journal:
The author's tone is conversational and engaging, and frequent breaks in the text make this small book very readable.—Sondra VanderPloeg, Tracy Memorial Library, New London, NH Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Without preaching or political jargon and drawing on his travels and interviews in Muslim countries, he shows that the extremists are being challenged by a new generation of Muslims, and welcomes the current internal reformation.

By Deva Kautilya "Too Many Books Too Little Time!" (Cleveland, OH)
I heard the interview of the author on NPR while driving to the airport from a client site! I could not wait to get this book from the library.

By Naazish YarKhan
A must read.

By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) -
If it's an easy overview of key issues, topics and social and political concerns you need to serve as an introduction to Muslim concerns, you can't go wrong with BEING MUSLIM, based on travels in Muslim lands and interviews with experts there and in the West.

When success breeds failure

2008-03-16T11:31:00.010-04:00

PS. This is not a review from my desktop.

The Self-Destructive Habits of Good ...
Popular business literature is full of stories of great companies and their invincibility. But with corporate lifecycles coming down at an alarming pace, that doesn’t seem true anymore....

Well known academic Jagdish Sheth is closely watching a clutch of hugely successful companies like Google and Cisco. He is convinced that on their way to success, they have unintentionally acquired certain bad habits which might lead to their downfall. Says Sheth, “With success, Google will become arrogant and complacent. Google is today’s avatar of Microsoft, which is yesterday’s avatar of IBM.” Sheth is convinced that Infosys is treading the same path. And Cisco? “Cisco is succeeding so very well right now that it is underestimating Chinese competition from Huawei,” he says. ...

Jagdish 'Jag' Sheth is the Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing at Emory University's Goizueta School of Business. An acclaimed expert in Marketing, Sheth is the author and co-author of books like The Rule of Three and Tectonic Shift.

Information and Emotion

2008-03-01T17:51:00.000-05:00

This is not a review, probably a reflection of my previous blog post: Toxicity in the library workplace - a survey

Extract from a book review by Hamid R. Jamali @ Webology

Overall, the studies presented in the book cover several affective and emotional aspects of information behaviour of different groups of people in different contexts. While the first three chapters of the book provide helpful theoretical information about research on emotional aspects of information behaviour, the other chapters present a vareity of research questions as well as methodologies that can be applied to investigate them. Therefore the book can be a source of inspiration for those graduate students and researchers interested in this area of human information behaviour. The book is a valuable addition to the ASIST Monograph Series and a second enlightening book coming out of the SIG USE research community after the Theories of Information Behavior. The publication of this book can be a turning point for establishing a research community and literature related to the affective and emotional aspects of human information behaviour.

Book Publisher Experiments

2008-02-28T18:52:00.000-05:00

Publishers warm up to 'Net, sell chapters, give away books Nate Anderson, Arstechnica (Feb 11)

Two book publishers will be making more 'print' available online: Random House will sell selected chunks, and HarperCollins will make some titles free to read.

continue reading info posted by Gwen @ Internet News

I predict that this wiki will be none to sticky

2008-02-21T17:16:00.005-05:00

NB. This is not from my desktop.

Posted by David E. Williams of the Health business blog

Reed Elsevier and other big scientific and medical publishers have had a hard time adjusting to the electronic age. Their expensive journals are taking a drubbing from open source alternatives like Public Library of Science (PLoS) –co-founded by my junior high school lab partner, Mike Eisen. And despite the fact that the Health Business Blog itself is delivered to Elsevier clients thanks to an agreement between Elsevier subsidiary LexisNexis and Newstex, Elsevier is still in rather deep trouble.
Unfortunately for them, their latest innovation WiserWiki, isn’t going to bail them out. From Information World Review: continue reading

Info courtesy: Informaticopia

Why Google only tells you what you already know by Farhad Manjoo

2008-02-16T01:09:00.001-05:00

From the Inside Flap: "In True Enough, Manjoo presents findings from psychology, sociology, political science, and economics to show how new technologies are prompting the cultural ascendancy of belief over fact."

* John Wiley; Due: March 14, 2008; ISBN-13: 9780470050101; 256pp.

Table of Contents:

Chapter One: "Reality" Is Splitting.
Chapter Two: The New Tribalism: Swift Boats And The Power Of Choosing.
Chapter Three: Trusting Your Senses: Selective Perception and 9/11.
Chapter Four: Questionable Expertise: The Stolen Election And The Men Who Push It.
Chapter Five: The Twilight of Objectivity, or What's the Matter with Lou Dobbs?
Chapter Six: "Truthiness" Everywhere.
Epilogue: Living In a World without Trust.

An extract from Farhad Manjoo's Blog @ Salon.com:
"True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society" is a book near and dear to my heart. That's because, wouldn't you know, it's my book! I wrote it, and will be discussing it here a bit in advance of its publication in March.

The book examines a question that's long captivated me, a child of the Internet: Is digital technology advancing truth in the world, or is it distorting it?

By truth, I mean what we call sets of observable, objective, empirical "facts." You might argue -- and many do -- that wide access to information has the capacity to create a more knowledgeable, more tolerant, more rational society. [source: Tech News Review]

NB. I am waiting for the book release. An,d this is nothing to do with a similar blog: http://theytellusnothing.blogspot.com

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

2008-02-03T11:47:00.000-05:00

When a book gets really popular, like The Time Traveler’s Wife, then I’m sure I don’t want to read it. When I finally got over myself and read it, it was terrific. This is just probably my need to be special, or something. Thus spake: Ted!

See also: Same shelf and aisle, The Sheila Variations: Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?
Strangely enough, I cringed from reading Harry Potter.

Efficiency analysis of brokers in the electronic marketplace

2008-01-24T17:56:00.000-05:00

NB. Web analytics, Web metrics, and e-metrics are expanding their scope everyday. Here is a focus on measuring the performance of vendors (aka brokers, distributors, etc.), beneficial for information professionals, esp. in Third World.

Efficiency analysis of brokers in the electronic marketplace

Virgílio A.F. Almeida¹²^a, Wagner Meira Jr.³^*^,a, Victor F. Ribeiro^b, Nivio Ziviani⁴^a^,b

^aDepartment of Computer Science, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
^bMiner Technology Group, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

Abstract:

In this paper we analyze the behavior of e-commerce users based on actual logs from two large non-English e-brokers. We start by presenting a quantitative study of the behavior of e-brokers and discuss the influence of regional and cultural issues on them. We then discuss a model that quantifies the efficiency of the results provided by brokers in the electronic marketplace. This model is a function of factors such as server response time and regional factors. Our findings clearly indicate that e-commerce is strongly tied to local language, national customs and regulations, currency conversion and logistics, and Internet infrastructure. We found that the behavior of customers of online bookstores is strongly affected by brand and regional factors. Music CD shoppers show a different behavior that might stem from the fact that music is universal and not so language dependent.

Occupational Licensing Does More Harm Than Good

2008-01-18T17:45:00.000-05:00

License, certification, accredition, etc., etc.: Yes.
Job quality / Performance measure: Not sure... Here is a book and a comment:

"It is well known that doctors, dentists, and lawyers must be licensed to practice their professions. But what about occupational therapists, manicurists and barbers? How about fortune tellers, massage therapists, shampoo assistants, librarians, beekeepers, electrologists and movie projector operators? These are just a sampling of the hundreds of occupations that require a license in at least some states or counties.
In a new book, "Licensing Occupations: Ensuring Quality or Restricting Competition?" (Upjohn Institute, 2006), Morris M. Kleiner, an economist at the University of Minnesota, questions whether occupational licensing has gone too far. He provides much evidence that the balance of occupational licensing has shifted away from protecting consumers and toward limiting the supply of workers in various professions. A result is that services provided by licensed workers are more expensive than necessary and that quality is not noticeably affected." ... continue reading

See also:

ALAN B. KREUGER. "Economic Scene; Do You Need a License to Earn a Living? You Might Be Surprised at the Answer." The New York Times (Thurs., March 2, 2006): C3.

REFERENCE ON THE NET or Net as a Reference Tool

2008-01-06T18:06:00.000-05:00

NB. Is the following REFERENCE ON THE NET or Net as a Reference Tool. I would prefer the second title. Reference sources are now scattered both in the library and On the Net--And, librarians have been one of the first to use both the worlds.
Here is what I found and is interesting to show how much libraries (whether search in the library or via virtual Web) depend on the Net. This appeared in The Disseminator is an electronic newsletter published by the Nova Scotia Provincial Library V.9, N.11, November 2002*
Here are some more reference questions referred to the Provincial Library by the Regional Public Libraries. They were answered using resources found on the Internet.

Q. Would like plans for building a wooden clock and wooden mechanisms.

A. At the Canadian Home Workshop Magazine Article Index search page at http://www.canadianhomeworkshop.com/articles.html enter clock as a keyword. This locates quite a few clock woodworking projects with the month, year and page where they appeared in Canadian Home Workshop magazine. You can also search the project plans from Woodworker's Journal and Today's Woodworker Magazine at http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/wwjstore2/webpage3.cfm?DID=1. Again enter clock in the search box and this finds 46 plans which you can browse through. Another useful site is Woodworker's Website Association PlanSearch at http://www.woodworking2.org/PlanSearch/search.htm. Enter clock in the keyword search to locate 18 plans. Some are free including Wooden Clock 1 and Wooden Clock 2 on Brian Law�s Woodenclocks site http://www.woodenclocks.co.uk/. These have plans for wooden mechanisms.

Q. Would like names and addresses of Canadian companies which distribute or manufacture therapeutic magnetic products.

A. Here are three databases which are useful for answering this question:
At the Canadian Company Capabilities database at http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_coinf/ccc/engdoc/homepage.html use the search words magnetic therapy to locate companies.

At the Canadian Exporters Catalogue search page at
http://www.worldexport.com/search/default.asp?Param=English select Safety, Medical and Health-Care Products in the Section field and in the Key Word field enter magnetic.
At the Canadian Trade-marks Database search page at http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/cgi-bin/sc_consu/trade-marks/search_e.pl enter the phrase magnetic therapy and select the Wares and Services (11) field to search in.

***The Disseminator is an electronic newsletter published by the Nova Scotia Provincial Library, which has temporarily ceased publication with the Winter 06/Spring 07 issue.

THE GILLER: Which book is likely to win the Giller?

2007-11-05T10:50:00.000-05:00

Nov 05, 2007 04:30 AM Vit Wagner Publishing Reporter, Toronto Star
Winning a Scotiabank Giller Prize or a Governor General's Award is guaranteed to boost the sales of any author, with relatively unsung writers having the most to gain.
That's good news for whoever wins this year's Giller, being handed out tomorrow night in Toronto at a gala televised live on Bravo!
Last year's winning book, Vincent Lam's Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, experienced a 464 per cent sales increase in the first week after the win, while Peter Behrens' The Law of Dreams received a 360 per cent boost in the first week after its GG win for English-language fiction last fall. continue reading
The jury named the finalists. They are:

Elizabeth Hay for her novel Late Nights on Air, McClelland & Stewart

Michael Ondaatje for his novel Divisadero, McClelland & Stewart

Daniel Poliquin for his novel A Secret Between Us, trans. Donald Winkler, Douglas & McIntyre

M.G. Vassanji for his novel The Assassin’s Song, Doubleday Canada

Alissa York for her novel Effigy, Random House Canada

Library Anecdotes Revisited: Free For All

2007-10-26T23:40:00.000-04:00

Library historians, social scientists and library fundraisers will find this book interesting and a readable tell tale--about what makes the present day's public library from inside and how it looks from outside. I feel this is an excellent addition of existing works that support qualitative studies in libraries and librarianship in the USA.

Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library
by Don Borchert

Book Description
In Free for All, Borchert offers readers a ringside seat for the unlikely spectacle of mayhem and absurdity that is business as usual at the public library. You’ll see cops bust drug dealers who’ve set up shop in the men’s restroom, witness a burka-wearing employee suffer a curse-ridden nervous breakdown, and meet a lonely, neglected kid who grew up in the library and still sends postcards to his surrogate parents—the librarians. In fact, from the first page of this comic debut to the last, you’ll learn everything about the world of the modern-day library that you never expected.

Library Confidential@ Annoyed Librarian comments:
A forthcoming book should give the ALA and library schools a great marketing opportunity. Have you heard of Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks and Gangstas in the Public Library, by Don Borchert? According to the cover, it "puts the shh! in shocking." I read a review here, and boy does it sound exciting. (Note: the review is of Library Confidential, but the American edition seems to be entitled Free for All.) This is going to be such a great marketing opportunity, because after reading this everyone will want to work in a public library. We're always hearing about how librarians provide information and videos and stuff for people and how noble they all are, but we don't usually hear about things like this: continue reading
See also:
[PUBLIB] library anecdotes (fwd)
[PUBLIB] Troubled librarians (fwd)
Library Anecdotes, facetiae, satire, etc -- a nice directory to sites that celebrate some of the more amusing aspects of our profession. It's also a guide to many of the librarian-produced weblogs and zines.
Case Studies from India: Evidence-based Librarianship
Same shelf and aisle @ Library of Congress Catalog Library users--California--Anecdotes. and Public libraries--California--Anecdotes.

From those who stumbled upon

2007-10-25T17:38:00.000-04:00

PS. This review of StumbleUpon is not mine and this stumbling has nothing to do with a Mughal king who stumbled in his royal library at Delhi--In the words of the British orientalist Stanley Lane-Poole, "Humayun stumbled out of life as he had stumbled through it."

"I must say I was disappointed to find out that Ebay had recently bought Stumble, though. It seems that all the sites I most love are being snapped up by these huge corporations. One cannot blame the site developers, really, after all there is serious money to be made, and yet, my idealistic self would love to see these types of sites unfettered by corporate for-profit ties. But I guess that, across the board, things will be moving more in that for-profit direction rather than less… take a look, in fact, at my next post to see another chilling move in that direction." Read the full article @ Bookishdesi's blog

Putting Librarian Expertise to Work:
"StumbleUpon is a browser add-on for finding and sharing great websites. Unlike directories or search engines, StumbleUpon uses member ratings to form collective human opinions on website quality." [via MetaFilter]
This is somewhat similar to the tool I want for librarian pagerank. Instead of "good" or "bad," a site would be "authentic" or "trustworthy."

See also:
Good Gear Guide - StumbleUpon - Reviews - Software - Utilities - Desktop Search

Google it
Thanks to Dr. Smith for sharing his knowledge of how he stumbled...
Come see why The Wall Street Journal says:
"Next time you want to wander the Web, forget about Googling it. Stumble it."
– Chief
drsmith@dr-smith.com

About Link Evaluator at OCLC's Openly Informatics

2007-10-14T12:58:00.000-04:00

Info courtesy: Stephen Francoeur @ Digital Reference, Firefox extensions I can't live without

Link Evaluator [OCLC - Openly Informatics]

Creating a Website that Works

2007-10-11T03:22:00.000-04:00

PS. I have seen a lot of stuff on how to start and how to do defense driving. The following article is, nevertheless, one of the best and most precise.

Five Easy Steps to Starting Your Web Page
From Jennifer Kyrnin,
Your Guide to Web Design / HTML.
Ideas for Content On Your Site
If you are just starting out on the HTML trail, there are several steps you can take to create your first Web page. Keep in mind that this is not a tutorial, but it will help you get started with your Web page.
Discover the theme or content of your site.
Determine what type of tools you will use to create your pages.
Learn HTML or your editing software
Find a place to put your page.
Let people know about your site.... click here, for the highly illustrated article

NB. If the above this sounds too much, go fly and sign up for a blog with blogger or wordpress and you will find much of this is easy to learn as you get set go.

see also:

Top 25 Nursing Blogs (By the Numbers) - Webmetrics revisited

2007-10-08T18:12:00.000-04:00

PS. Web metrics (or Web analytics) applied to blogosphere is attracting the interest of many quantitative and qualitative visualizers. Here is one such by Rod @ Informaticopia:

"The Nursing Online Education Database has recently published their collection of the Top 25 Nursing Blogs

I think the piece highlights some difficult methodological challenges in assessing the "reach" of various web 2.0 technologies.

In ranking the top nurse blogs, their goal was to show — using objective data from reliable third-parties — which blogs are the most popular, according to visitor traffic and site backlinks. To this end, we used data for these four metrics to calculate the rankings: ... continue reading

You can't beat free advertising! - Media Convergence’s

2007-10-06T15:39:00.000-04:00

This is not a review, rather an example that helps you consider how to reach out and outreach, as well suggests the positive advantage of the push and pull medium-- a reflection on Dr. Ranganathan's Five laws, esp. books are for use.

"We received a multiple book order from a library today.
After replying to the librarian I checked our website to see if I could tell how she found us. What I learned was that our company and our two new local history titles were mentioned, along with a link, in the Kentucky Literary Newsletter which has over 1,700 online subscribers..." continue reading Bill Guffey @ Biblio-Technician

What book would you most want your kids to read?

2007-10-01T03:00:00.000-04:00

PS. This is not my comment. Thanks to Prof. Norma Bruce Faculty Emeritus, Ohio State University Libraries, for her creative visualizations.

Here's a really odd response, showing great narrowness of mind and ignorance of what's on the shelves of bookstores and libraries, from an Ohio State University Professor of English, Kathy Fagan:
"I would be glad for my kids to read anything. Except maybe books by Anne Coulter." onCampus, Sept. 20, 2007, p. 16
See? Didn't I tell you about banned books starting in the selection process? I wonder what sort of grades she gives to conservatives. A sample of her poetry
Labels: children, Ohio State University, Poetry, reading

36 Blog Rules to Keep You in Business

2007-09-18T19:14:00.000-04:00

If ou are a corporate blogger or interested in what works in blogsphere, you have Nancy Flynn's excellent book that tells you have far, how much and how deep should you go, and more so what are the boundaries that you should be aware. [Info courtesy: Microsoft Momentum, June 2007: 7]

BLOG RULES: A Business Guide to Managing Policy, Public Relations, and Legal Issues by Nancy Flynn (AMACOM Books, 2006)
Here are some rules to keep you and your business in business and out of court.
Blog Rule #1: The blog is an electronic communications powerhouse.
Blog Rule #2: Business blogs are not necessary or appropriate for every organization.
Blog Rule #3: Savvy business owners and executives must learn how to strategically and successfully manage the blogosphere today.
Blog Rule #4: It’s the casual, conversational, anything-goes nature of the blog that makes it both so appealing to blog writers and readers.
Blog Rule #5: An organization without an external blog program may risk losing position, market share, reputation, and sales to tech-savvy competitors.
Blog Rule #6: The strategic management of blogs or any other electronic business communications tool begins with the establishment of written rules and policies governing usage and content.
Blog Rule #7: A business blog opens the organization up to potential disasters.
Blog Rule #8: Management, technology, and the legal system have not yet caught up with the potential benefits and risks of business blogging.
Blog Rule #9: Strategic blog management begins with the establishment of a clear objective.
Blog Rule #10: Don’t allow IT (or legal, records management, or human resources) to dictate your business blog program.
Blog Rule #11: Require employees to sign a confidentiality agreement to protect trade secrets and confidential data belonging to the organization, employees, customers, business partners, and other third parties.
Blog Rule #12: Use discipline to maximize employee compliance with blog rules, policies, and procedures. continue reading Blog Rule # 13 - 36

From The Critics
Business Times (New Haven, CT):
Blog Rules is the one guide readers need to help ensure that their organizations are helped and not hindered by this revolutionary tool.
Niche Magazine:
Since the rules about business relationships and blogs can be hazy, Nancy Flynn has written an essential guide..
Library Journal:
Flynn's book... is more strictly for CEOs fearful of blogging. [continue reading these critical notes at bn.com]

Table of Contents (sample, see full list at bn.com)
Ch. 1 Why blog rules? 3
Ch. 2 Blogs pose unprecedented risks to business 13
Ch. 3 Start with a clear objective : why blog? 20
Ch. 4 Proceed with caution : self-assessment for would-be business bloggers 26
Ch. 5 Treat blog posts as business records 39

GANGA: A Journey Down the Ganges River

2007-09-02T10:33:00.000-04:00

Om Jaya Ganga Mata: Theme music

PS. This review is not mine.
Jai Ganga Maatey, by Sardar Khushwant Singh
The Ganga is 1,516 miles long from its source at Gangotri to the Bay of Bengal. Many of the world�s rivers are much larger and broader, e.g. the Nile, Amazon, Yangtze and Mississippi are more than twice as long. Many are much larger than the Ganga as well and have steamers plying on them. A few are historic, e.g. the Indus from which India derives its name.

All are loved by people who live along their banks. To the English their biggest river is Father Thames. The Mississippi was immortalised by Paul Robeson singing Ole Man River. But no river in the world has commanded so much worship as the Ganga. She comes from the Milky way through the tresses of Lord Shiva down to the earth. Most Indians revere her as their mother. Even a Muslim like the poet Mohammed Iqbal referred it as the base of Aryan settlement in India:

Ai aab-e-rood-e-Ganga
Voh din hai yaad tujh ko
Utra teyrey kinarey ttha kaarwaan hamaara

(O ye limpid waters of the Ganga
Remember you the day
When our caravan reached your banks
And settled down to stay.)

Even a non-believer like me used to make it a point to go to Hardwar once a year to watch the aarti at sunset at Har-ki-Pauri and join the throng in shouting "Jai Ganga Maatey � Victory to thee Mother Ganga."

There is no logic behind worshiping the Ganga, nor any basis for believing that its waters have healing properties.

Nevertheless, from times immemorial our rulers, including Muslims, get their drinking water from Hardwar.

The same water channelised in canals or taps is not sacred; only that brought from Rishikesh in Hardwar passes the test of sanctity.

It is from that that Kanwarias in their thousands fill their water pots and trudge to distant towns and villages to sell it. People anxious to go to heaven come to die or at least be cremated by the Ganga�s banks. Around Varanasi there is a taxi and rikshaw service to bring corpses from adjacent towns and villages to the Ganga: it is known as the Swarg Mail. Though we worship the Ganga, we rob it by diverting its waters into canals, block its flow by erecting dams, and foul its stream by human excreta and factory effluents. At places you can�t bear the stench it emits. We are that kind of people.

You can read all about it in Ganga by Julvana Grandall Hollick (Random House). He is columnist and TV film producer. He & his wife did the entire length of the river Alpha to Omega. It makes delightfully informative reading. Source: Deccan Chronicle

About the book / author:
Combining travelogue, science, and history, Ganga is a fascinating portrait of a river and a culture. It will show you India as you have never imagined it.

Julian Crandall Hollick is an award-winning producer and writer of radio documentaries. His programs have aired on NPR, the BBC, and CBC in Canada, and his writing has appeared in publications including Smithsonian and The New Republic. Hollick was described by Peter Jennings as “the person who taught me about Islam,” and by countless Indians as “the man who knows more about India than we Indians” (Radio Midday, Mumbai). Island Press"

Energy-saving Google black screen version - Blackle

2007-09-01T00:45:00.000-04:00

Due to a demand from energy conscious users, Google have created a new black screen version of their site called Blackle on www.blackle.com. If everybody used it instead of the white version, it is estimated that 750 mega watts/hour per year would be saved.

See also:
Blackle.com: Energy Saving Screen.....Bahhhhhhhhh!!!!
In the spirit of this, CableOrganizer has taken to some additional testing methodologies with regard to the internet. Some of these have some very real world ecological implications. On this occassion, we've taken to getting to the real story behind Blackle.com.

Microsoft surface,Flickr and Blackle

How to tell what I am, or What to Write Using a Life Story Template

2007-08-24T11:21:00.000-04:00

Wonder if there is a topic more significant, compelling, or familiar to us than our own life stories as we have lived? Believe it or not, I picked up Victoria Ryce's By me, About me, in a store, and felt that this is a perfect subject that would inspire us to spell many tiny little moments that we have lived.

Moreover, this book with its templates* to write every little bit, helps ANYONE desirous of doing all-of-the-above. It also helps those who are interested in any of the following areas, such as, developing writing skills, dig the creative insights, externalize the moments to show and tell what you are, in fact. Call it autobiography or showing your true colors, to say: I am real and experienced, as well."

In short, here is an opportunity. Answer what YOU want to answer using this book's templates. There are 140+ questions at your fingertips.

*The book is full of templates or blank pages for you to fill, each page offers a question (aka clue to whatever details you could possibly add), such as:

My name, or names, and how I came to be called that (in the chapter: Childhood and family adventures)
The best boss I ever had and the worst one (in the chapter: Life as an adult)
The role spirituality has played in my life (in the chapter: Views of the world)
The saddest day in my life (in the chapter: The inner self)...

About the author: Victoria Ryce is a caregiver based in Picton, ON. She is also the author of Marketwise

. And the book By me, About me is published by Raincoast Books--Raincoast Books is the Canadian publisher of the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling.

Everwood Television Show

2007-08-20T07:38:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the TV.com Blog for Everwood

From Booklist
Epstein, author of Crafty Screenwriting (2002), draws on his experiences writing for the television shows Naked Josh and Charlie Jade to create an essential guide for those hoping to break into television writing. Epstein starts with the big picture by examining what great television series have in common: a hook that draws viewers in, compelling characters the audience cares about, and stories that unfold naturally on the small screen and make people want to return to the world of the show every week. From there he gets into the specifics of how to write a good script. Here he tells writers to create a beat sheet--something similar to an outline--of their episode before sitting down to write the script. After offering insightful writing hints and tips on how to write comedy, Epstein walks writers through finding jobs writing for television--and how to get along with everyone from story editors to show runners once one does. Enlightening and straightforward, this is a must for anyone who wants to write for television. Kristine Huntley

Table of contents
Part One: THINKING INSIDE THE BOX
I : The Hidden Structure of a TV Series 3
What Makes Great TV? 4
A Hook 8
An "4Attractive Fantasy" 11
Characters We Never Get Tired Of 14
A Place Where Stories Walk in the Door 28
Episodic vs. Serial Stories 33
Demographics and Networks 36
The Show Bible 38
2 ° Great Episode Ideas 41
The Springboard 42
What Makes a Great Springboard? 46
How to Come Up with Great Springboards 51
What Makes a Bad Story idea 56
Mixing and Matching 62
Themed Shows 63
Continue Table of contents

Amazing Pace: Turbo-Charged Business Development

2007-08-18T19:19:00.000-04:00

NB. The following is not about a book with a similar title, Amazing pace : the story of Olympic champion Michael Phelps from Sydney to Athens to Beijing, by Paul McMullen.

Here we are sailing in a different pace and in a different style, called busienss development. Amazing Pace: Turbo-Charged Business Development
Dr. Earl R. Smith II, ISBN: 1424186277, 183 pages.

Following is a description of the book:
I’ve never met a CEO who was really happy with the way business development was working. They all end up saying the same thing. “Traditional solutions fail to produce expected results while regularly generating unexpected costs. There needs to be a better way.”

Amazing Pace shows you how to turbo-charge business development. Over decades of experience as a CEO, board member and senior advisor, I have developed a unique approach to turbo-charging business development. It involves: 1) a board of advisors, which is populated by very senior people who are dedicated to driving the top line; 2) a different approach to resourcing and organizing a company’s senior management team; and 3) an approach that focuses on building revenue in large chunks.

This book will show you how it’s done. It will also help you avoid the pitfalls and leverage the strengths of your company. Read on—this really works!

Table of Contents
Introduction
The Conundrum that is Business Development
Chapter 1: Five Reasons Why Business Development Is So Difficult To Get Right
Chapter 2: Seven Reasons Why Advisory Boards Don’t Produce
Chapter 3: Battle at the Cottage Gate
Chapter 4: Dysfunctional Advisory Boards – A Family of Problems
Chapter 5: Advisory Boards as Business Development Engines – The Beginnings
Advisory Boards
Chapter 1: Turbocharged Business Development
Chapter 2: Benefits and Costs
Chapter 3: John’s Questions – Round Two
Chapter 4: Change Management
Planning for Two Journeys
Chapter 1: Change Management
Chapter 2: Board Design and Population
A Working Board
Chapter 1: The First Board Meeting
Chapter 2: Conflict, Renegotiation and Removal
Chapter 3: First Blood
On Leadership
Chapter 1: Leadership That Empowers – The Fire of the Mind
Chapter 2: Leadership that Limits - The ‘Completeness Doctrine’
Chapter 3: A Balanced Senior Management Team
Managing Mt. Rushmore
Retrospective
Chapter 1: Anniversary
Chapter 2: Assessing the Impact
Final Thoughts
Contact Information

Like this book? Send an Electronic Postcard Now!

Shelf Location:
Business > Industry
Economics > Business and Industry
Finance > Business and Industry
Business > Management

Best Practices in Book Marketing

2007-08-17T08:08:00.000-04:00

Interesting insight and Web sight of authors to promote books:

Wiki Demystified - Plus Google and Minus Google, and No Google

2007-08-16T15:58:00.000-04:00

Two stories motivated this post:

Search Google without wikipedia - a Firefox search plugin

Recently there has been quite a stir within the SEO community with people seeing a huge dominance of wikipedia in the Google search results (Graywolf has been one of the more vocal critics recently with a whole load of posts - although he’s been writing about it for some time).

But don’t just take Greywolf’s word for it - there’s plenty of articles about this, most notably recently the google cache wrote about how 96.6% of wikipedia articles rank in the top 10 of google.

It has been noticed outside the world of SEO as well - PR Blogger has just written an analysis of Fortune 100 companies’ wikipedia pages.

Yahoo gets upper hand over Google
"Larry Freed, president of Foresee Results which did the survey for the university, pointed out that users don't see anything different in Google's portal from what they saw three years ago. But Yahoo has refurbished its portal and gained in points." More on this Yahoo! Overtakes Google in Latest American Customer Satisfaction Index survey

My 2 cents:
The above search result, limiting search, is and was a common practice already and offered by Google. What's new that adds with a plugin? I don't know.

FYI. Search Google with a minus sign (or go to advance search feature and select: without the words), and see the results for: medicine -wiki, -wikipediahere and here for medicine here (without any search restrictions)

Wikipedia edits

There was significant interest in our piece yesterday on the online tool that shows the identity of organisations where employees have changed Wikipedia pages.

The focus of the story was changes the CIA had made to pages, but other organisations - including The Vatican, the US Democratic Party and US company Diebold - didn’t escape our attention.

New tool exposes self-edits in Wikipedia

A new tool can help trace anonymous Wikipedia edits -- and improve the reliability of the online encyclopedia.

DUSSELDORF, GERMANY (08/16/2007) - A word of caution about editing entries "anonymously" in Wikipedia: a tool has been developed that can show who made the changes.

Organizational Anonymous Editing of the Wikipedia for Public Relations Benefits

My 2 cents:
Does identifying the organization or collective group of people editing it (more so do that without expertise), doesn't increase or decrease the value of tool. And comparing this Wiki, with Enclyclopedia Britannica has already been dealt in the media: Wikipedia study 'fatally flawed'

How To Find Sites Faster Online Without Using Google by Rohit Bhargava

See also my previous posts:

Top 7 Alternatives to Wikipedia

'Wiki' Wins Place in Oxford English Dictionary

Wikipedia and Academia Hit News Headlines Again

Is this yet another Wiki in Library and Information Science

Researchers Turn Web Blather to Books

Labels: Dictionary, Reference, Reviewing, Web Analytics, Wiki

Editorial: Ten Years of Reviewing the Web, 1997–2007

2007-08-02T15:19:00.000-04:00

PS. This is not a review from me.

Source:
CHOICE August 2007
IF IT’S AUGUST, THIS MUST BE THE WEB ISSUE
Web X

Nine years ago this month, Choice published its first issue devoted to the Web. That August 1997 special issue, Web I, was a milestone in many ways. It contained Choice’s first Web reviews, some 190 of them. It was, so far as we can tell, Choice’s first August issue. And to our subscribers, who received twelve instead of eleven issues (July-August is combined), it was an example of a lagniappe, that delightful New Orleans practice of rewarding one’s customers by giving them a little something extra.

That little something extra has evolved over the years into something a bit larger. Today’s Web issue is hard to distinguish from a regular installment of the magazine. In fact, with 756 reviews and an expanded set of editorial features that includes Choice’s first ever Outstanding Academic Web Site list (page 68)—not to mention Laura Cohen’s bibliographic essay “Blogs in Academia: A Resource Guide”(page 7), the 2006 edition of Susanne Bjorner’s “Buying Guide: Online Resources for Academic Libraries,” and “Recent & Forthcoming Internet Publications, 2006-2007” (page 17)—Web X is actually one of this year’s largest issues.

But perhaps the most interesting aspect of Web X is that it exists at all. That wasn’t something those of us who were present at the creation of Web I ever anticipated. Web I, we thought, was a one-time special production whose primary purpose was to announce that Choice was now reviewing the Web. continue reading

How Doctors Think by Jerome E. Groopman

2007-07-25T09:57:00.000-04:00

Info courtesy: Ricklibrarian and a suggestion: "Groopman's book is already very popular. Every library should have it."

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. SignatureReviewed by Perri Klass:
Every reflective doctor will learn from this book—and every prospective patient will find thoughtful advice for communicating successfully in the medical setting and getting better care.Many of the physicians Dr. Groopman writes about are visionaries and heroes; their diagnostic and therapeutic triumphs are astounding. And these are the doctors who are, like the author, willing to anatomize their own serious errors.

Information Seeking Behavior - Quote of the day

Words of Wisdom from Technology Guru Bill Thompson

Harry Potter book pages found online

2007-07-21T13:05:00.000-04:00

Kevin Griffin, CanWest News Service
Published: Monday, July 16, 2007
A 33-year-old Vancouverite has downloaded what appears to be about 60 per cent of the seventh and final Harry Potter book — even though the children’s novel isn’t supposed to be officially released until midnight Saturday. continue reading

See also:

Read the review of the new "Potter" movie

Much more @ Google's

Interfaith Minister's Manual

2007-07-14T03:53:00.000-04:00

About the bookThis book is a labor of love. When I was ordained as an interfaith minister, I looked for a minister's manual which would have ceremonies and prayers appropriate for people who had been raised with a particular religious background but who now did not want to be affiliated with any religious organization. Initially the only purpose for doing this was for my own ministry but there is an obvious need for a single manual in which the major religions (Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Yogi, and Native Medicine people) are represented. This book is my effort and has been very well received. It is now in its fourth edition [source: Yahoo! shopping see also: Angela Plum's home page]
What do others say:

Other Christian traditions are ignored. The complete lack of anything from the Anglican/Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, for example, seems a glaring omission.

Non-Christian traditions comprise perhaps 10-15% of the book. There are brief descriptions of some Jewish, Buddhist, and Islamic holy days, two paragraphs from an Aztec baptism, the traditional Jewish prayers for the dead, a description of Kwanzaa, and two Native American prayers. That's about it, except for some very brief references in the definitions section.

If you're looking for a fusion of New Age and Catholic Christianity, this might be the book for you. Otherwise, look elsewhere. I was truly disappointed that this book did not live up to its "Interfaith" title or the positive reviews given by others. source: Andrew Shults (Chicago, IL USA)

Much more on Interfaith Dialog

A section of my book for an article on interfaith dialogue:
So much of visual literary genre, so little time to categorize it

Great minds like a think: “Hey, vertical and horizontal! You ‘da mensch!”

2007-07-11T12:17:00.000-04:00

Googling for vertical and horizontal worship (religious / spiritual practices) I came across the following comment by a Rabbi and in a broader discussion on if “Abraham” and “Brahman” might be etymologically related:

"... the first five commandments have to do with man’s relationship to God, while the second five govern man’s relationship to man. quoted and posted by SC&A @ Sigmund, Carl and Alfred

Vertical and tacit: Multifaith and Knowledge Management in Perspective

Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means

Basic duties of the Muslim… by Muzzamil Siddiqi [with reference to relationship with God and and people-to-people]

Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means

2007-07-07T07:07:00.000-04:00

by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, the nation's foremost expert in the new science of networks,

Linked: Networks from Biology to the World Wide Web
Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, professor, physics, Notre Dame @ WGBH Forum Network

Best comment @ Amazon:
Cotton Candy--Lots of Air, Some Sugar, No Bibliography, June 3, 2002
By Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States)
"I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it is coherent, thoughtful, and tells a story about the emerging science of networks that anyone, who can read, can understand. This is a non-trivial accomplishment, so 4 stars.
However, the book is also--being brilliantly designed to be understood by the lowest common denominator, an undergraduate--somewhat shallow and empty.... especially when compared with Stephen Wolfram's "A New Kind of Science", 1197 pages not counting the index, which is at the other extreme.
Although there are good notes, there is no bibliography, and the author fails to use network methodology to illustrate and document the emerging literature on networks--called citation analysis, this would have been a superb appendix to the book that would have taken it up a notch in utility."

From Publishers Weekly
"Information, disease, knowledge and just about everything else is disseminated through a complex series of networks made up of interconnected hubs, argues University of Notre Dame physics professor Barabasi. These networks are replicated in every facet of human life: "There is a path between any two neurons in our brain, between any two companies in the world, between any two chemicals in our body. Nothing is excluded from this highly interconnected web of life." In accessible prose, Barabasi guides readers through the mathematical foundation of these networks. He shows how they operate on the Power Law, the notion that "a few large events carry most of the action." The Web, for example, is "dominated by a few very highly connected nodes, or hubs... such as Yahoo! or Amazon.com." Barabasi notes that "the fittest node will inevitably grow to become the biggest hub."

see also:

Business : Your Network - What type is it?
by Ellis Pratt (Technical Authors) on 16-Jul-05 10:39pm

If You Build It . . .Ontario's Electronic Toll Highway

2007-07-02T14:40:00.000-04:00

[PS. This review is not from my desktop]
"If you build It . . ." charts the history of Ontario’s Highway 407, the world’s most technologically advanced toll highway, from its development as a toll road in the early 1990s, through construction and operation by a crown corporation, to its subsequent privatization in 1999 by means of a 99-year lease and its performance thereafter..." continue reading

See also:

A review at InterGovWorld Blogs

HARD LESSONS ON SELLING A PUBLIC HIGHWAY @ The Social Edge
About the Authors: Chandran Mylvaganam & Sandford Borins
To contact the authors: Chandran Mylvaganam: chandran@chartermi.net & Sandford Borins: borins@utsc.utoronto.ca.

CRITIQUE MY BLOG!

2007-06-23T12:22:00.000-04:00

NB. Beware: This is a zone you must enter ONLY if you want a critiq / deconstruction of your mindmap as a citizen of the blogosphere.

STOP HERE! SEND ME THE LINK TO YOUR BLOG VIA THE "SUBMIT YOUR BLOG" BUTTON ON THE SIDEBAR AND I WILL PERSONALLY READ AND REVIEW YOUR BLOG WITH YOUR LINK BEING PASTED ON THE FRONT PAGE! GREAT WAY TO INCREASE TRAFFIC AND EXPOSURE TO YOUR BLOG. ALL I ASK IS THAT YOU PLACE MY BLOG LINK IN YOUR SIDEBAR.

Better: Comments
Up to date: Regularly
Bad: Post dated: Posted by blogger at 6/30/2007 [although the calendar shows it is posted around 20th June]
Competitive intelligence: folows good practice [I give a three star to this Blog] -- see other critiq blogs:

Zaib Kaleem's Blog Review Series

XOM Website Reviews

Between Friends....

The Blogger Review

A Blog for Bloggers - Blog Directories Reviews

SOB HALL OF FAME

Bestest Blog of All-Time

Famous Blogs - Blog Of The Day Awards - Top Blog Awards - 2007 Weblog Awards

Share The Love Blog Awards

Seventh Annual Weblog Awards

See also my previous blog posts:

Reviewing a blog - benchmarks?

Visualizing Comments on Blogs

Visualizing Traffic At My Blog Via Mapping The Pathways

Blog As A Teaching Tool

A Visible Pathfinder for Increasing Blog Traffic in 2007

Blog: Vanity Presses or Archives of Human Thought

An Army of Davids - It is All About Blogs and Infostructure

Top 7 Alternatives to Wikipedia

2007-06-08T11:12:00.000-04:00

[NB. This is not a review or view from my Desktop. This is courtesy: Jimmy Atkinson]

Published on Thursday 7th of June, 2007

Touting itself as "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit", it's no wonder that Wikipedia has garnered so much bad press lately. After all, it is hard to imagine that millions of anonymous users could accurately maintain a factual and unbiased living encyclopedia. Wikipedia is a non-profit site that is policed by hundreds of volunteers, yet very few of these volunteers have the experience and knowledge of a professional writer/editor. A cultural bias has seemed to have washed over many entries on the site, as general consensus replaces cold, hard facts. There is also a matter of vandalism, which the site is susceptible to. These problems, coupled with the almost obsessive behavior of many of the volunteers (try placing an external link on the site without having it removed), have led people to other sources for information. If you are looking for a different kind of online encyclopedia, try the seven alternatives to Wikipedia listed below. Read the full article
1. Scholarpedia
2. Citizendium
3. Encyclopedia Britannica Online
4. MSN Encarta
5. Infoplease
6. Conservapedia
7. Uncyclopedia

Bottomline:
What do others say about an alternative to Wiki
Then the question remains:

Can we compare oranges and apples?

Can we compare a fee-based product (safe and authoritative) with a freebie (free, almost close to being unauthoritative)

Is there an equation in an (open source) document with what comes in a edited and propreitary protected information service?

See also related posts from my Blog:

Wikipedia and Academia Hit News Headlines Again

Is this yet another Wiki in Library and Information Science

Researchers Turn Web Blather to Books

Can Internet run your life? Re-Mind

2007-05-26T17:52:00.000-04:00

"Don’t take it personally, Mark Lawson says, "A speech by the chief executive of Google raised the possibility that websites will soon know enough about users to suggest which job to apply for or where to go the following day...

"But (this is) based on the assumption that the user would take the advice. How many of us refuse on principle to buy any book recommended by an online retail site…?" continue reading

See related posts from my blogs:

Disconnects Between Library Culture and Millennial Generation Values

Google to Digitize 8,00,000 Books at Mysore University

Add Sense to your AdSense: Visualizing the Return on Investment?

Wheels for Google, Google on Wheels

Google Trend - Another Way to Visualize the Blogosphere

So much of visual literary genre, so little time to categorize it

2007-05-05T20:07:00.000-04:00

Religion and Film Intro

Religion in film

Other than traditionally known genre (prose, poetry, fiction, etc.), literature continuously evolves in different dimensions, and hence pop up new genre. Visual literary genre, as some have called it, is yet to become fashionable in the literary circles. Until then, whatever appears in the following themes will wait for an umbrella term:

Religion and Film with special contributions from scholars such as, Anton Karl Kozlovic

Esotericism in popular culture

Religion and infotainment in South Indian literature with special contributions of U.R. Ananthamurthy

Qawwali (mystical songs) in popular culture, with a new interface given by Isaac Sequeira in his book: Popular Culture: East and West, etc.

Yahoo untangles licensing web for lyrics service Antony Bruno, Sat May 5, 2007, DENVER (Reuters/Billboard)

What's in a name, anyways. I find the work of Anton Karl Kozlovic so much in the field of visual literary genre. For a list of his recent publications click here.

A word about categories and classification of this genre. Library of Congress uses categories (aka subject heading), such as, Religion and literature, Motion pictures Religious aspects, Religion in motion pictures, Religious films, etc.. Moreover, to catalog and categorize a religious publication about online media (such Cyber worship, guide to religions online), Library of Congress has a single subject representation, and that is, Religions--Computer network resources. The organization of this knowledge is, evidently, long overdue and probably there is no time for this activity. Alternative descriptions for the field of religion-and-film (aka sacred cinema) are spiritual cinema, holy film, cinematic theology, cinematheology, theo-film, celluloid religion, film-and-faith, film-faith dialogue) [descriptions courtesy: Anton Kozlovic].

Back to Anton Kozlovic's work, I find his visualizations are embedded with analysis, as well as, synthesis. Precisely, what appealed me was his scholarly essay oriented towards building an understanding of diversity and accommodation in today's multicultural and multifaith societies:

Consequence #1 - Nothing Happened: Real or Imagined?

Consequence #2 - Understanding the Other and the Dialogic Process

Consequence #3 - Insightfulness into One’s Own Faith and Sharing it with Coreligionists

Consequence #4 - Tolerance and an Increase in the Public Good

Consequence #5 - Conversion: How to Ameliorate the Fear?

Consequence #6 - Frustration: Suppressed Desire?

Consequence #7 - Defection and Beyond: Confirmation of the Worst?

These seven serve also as taxonomy of the interfaith dialog. And for this analytical article, "Seven logical consequences of interreligious dialoguing" see my book: Mohamed Taher Cyber worship in multifaith perspectives (pp. 188-204). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. [see also this book discussed in the media]

I asked him to say five things that people don't know about him. The following is what he has to say:

1. My mother was an Australian country girl (Murray Bridge, South Australia) who left home for the big city (Adelaide) to work as a shop assistant when her Norwegian father and Australian mother died during her teens. My father was an unskilled European migrant (Koper, Slovenia, Yugoslavia) who left home for a better life overseas when his father took him to a cross road and told him to pick a direction, escape and get a life. Given the choice of migrating to Argentina or Australia he asked which was the furtherest away from the war and he ended up in Oz, the land down under, whereupon he was immediately captured by love and got married. Both my parents never completed their basic schooling and saw little value in academic education. My mother wanted grand children (and knitted little booties which she left strategically lying around the house to remind me) whilst my father wanted me to get a trade and a government job as soon as possible, and so he kicked me out of 4th year high school (called Leaving) to start an apprenticeship as an electrician. I wanted to stay in school longer and go to university but my boiler attendant-cum-drain layer father stopped me by saying: “University is for smart people, so why do you want to go there?”

2. Emotionally crushed, I subsequently won an apprenticeship with the Electricity Trust of South Australia (ETSA), one of 28 out of 1,400 applicants, which made my parents very proud, with my mother counting the board money before I even got my first pay packet! I dutifully did it for 4 years, graduated and worked as an A-class tradesman for 1 year whilst also attending night school to study radio servicing, motor mechanics, supervision, personnel management and public administration before deciding that I really was a nerd and wanted to die a university educated man. At work one dreary day, and at a time when talking about religion and politics was forbidden, I was mentally bored whilst reconditioning fuses and had an imaginary conversation with my future son. Yes, I did say I was bored! During that mental conversation, I was arguing why he should go to university and offered up all my best arguments when this “son” suddenly said: “If it’s so bloody good dad, why didn’t you go to university yourself!” I was gob-smacked and decided then and there to practise what I peached. (Whether this “son” was God, an angel, a guardian spirit, part of a Jungian archetype or my Freudian subconscious, I leave it up to you to decide). So, I left my secure government job, to the dismay of both parents, went back to high school and did my 5th year (called Matriculation) as a mature age student. Amazingly, I passed and was accepted into The University of Adelaide to do a BA studying psychology, anthropology and politics (religion studies was forbidden by university statue and it required me to study at another tertiary institution, which I did). All of this success was accompanied by the further dismay of my parents, who hoped I’d work it out my system, become “normal” again and would return to my electrician job. No such luck for them. During my university years as the black sheep of the family (“He wants to study instead of going to discos, how sick is he?”), I worked intermittently as a drain layer’s assistant digging trenches for my father to pay my board and keep the snide remarks of relatives at bay (e.g., “What’s wrong with you son?, Why doesn’t he want to work?”).

3. Many years, trials and tribulations later, with bulging biceps and ten degrees, my PhD on the biblical cinema of Cecil B. DeMille was submitted, whilst simultaneously establishing myself as an international scholar of academic articles (approx. 80 publications in 50 different journals in over 10 different countries—see below). I specialised in the areas of Religion-and-Film, Cecil B. DeMille Studies, Interreligious Dialogue, Computer Films, Popular Culture, Philosophy and the New Age. I plan to publish many more articles and a succession of books in these areas before old age claims me and my mind. In short, I had pursued my father’s dream (i.e., a tradesman with a government job) and then I pursued my own dream (i.e., academic success), interrupted by a two year stint as a 24/7 carer for my dying father and blind, invalid mother. Regrettably, both parents died before seeing my full accomplishments but at least I got my wish and can now die happily myself, preferably sometime way off into the future.

4. I love popular films more than opera/theatre/dance, philosophical debate more than sport, small dogs more than the race track, the gym more than smoking, spring water more than booze and will probably die because some beer swilling hoon hits me with his car as he speeds to his next foot match whilst I’m walking my dog to the local shop to get some spring water and a DVD.

5. I’m a big science fiction fan and love all the classic movies (e.g., The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, The Incredible shrinking Man) and TV series (e.g., Star Trek, Dr. Who, Stargate). In the future, I plan to publish more articles and books in this area, most probably highlighting the innumerable religious subtexts hidden within these ostensibly secular films, whilst simultaneously hoping that my many relatives will have finally forgot that I used to be a tradesman and stop asking me to dig trenches or fix their lights and power outlets for free (i.e., love-jobs; because “you love me”)!

--- End of the Five things ---
See also:

RELIGION & CONTEMPORARY FILM - Course Outline @ American Academy of Religion

Certificate Course in Cultural Analysis The course is of interest to students of Literature, History, Sociology, Journalism and Communicative English (with a focus on Christian perspectives)

Seamless Structured Semantic Web -Will Tags, Clouds, Ontologies, Taxonomies, and Facet Analysis help?

The Souls of Superheroes - Faithwise Review of the Week

Google Books: Whats Not to Like?

2007-05-04T00:44:00.000-04:00

AHA Blog
April 30, 2007
Google Books: Whats Not to Like?
By Robert Townsend
"The Google Books project promises to open up a vast amount of older literature, but a closer look at the material on the site raises real worries about how well it can fulfill that promise and what its real objectives might be.... "

contents include:

Poor Scan Quality ...
Faulty Metadata ...
Truncated Public Domain ...

+ comments by academics, bloggers, historians, etc.
continue reading

PS. This is not from my desktop. Courtesy: Middle East Librarians Assn List: melanet-l@cornell.edu

'Wiki' Wins Place in Oxford English Dictionary

2007-04-08T11:09:00.000-04:00

INTERNATIONAAL NIEUWS
'Wiki' finally legit, says OED
Gregg Keizer, InfoWorld
Six years after Wikipedia.org debuted, editors at the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) have finally deigned to add the word "wiki" to the OED's online version.
The term joined a handful of other technology-related entries added to the online OED as part of the dictionary's quarterly update. Also added: "Infobahn," "malware," "undelete" and "virtualize." Continue reading
See also:

'Wiki' is Now an English Word, Techtree News Staff

Previous posts from my Blog:

Wikipedia and Academia Hit News Headlines Again

Is this yet another Wiki in Library and Information Science

NB. This is not a review from my desktop.

Unputdownable

2007-03-28T00:58:00.000-04:00

P.S This is not a review from my desktop. This review is courtesy: Filipina Librarian in the Land Down Under. As far as I see, this is about a new book and how a librarian is reading between the shelf.

Out Front with Stephen Abram: A Guide for Information Leaders, by Judith A. Siess and Jonathan Lorig, ALA Editions.

"This is what I can say of Stephen Abram's book Out Front with Stephen Abram: A Guide for Information Leaders (Chicago : ALA, 2007). I have just finished cataloging the book and intended to read it later but when I started reading the first article I just couldn't stop. (Frankly, for the first time I actually hoped I would miss my train on my way home home so I can read more but I arrived a couple of minutes early at the train station. However, I made use of the train ride and was able to finish the book in time for me to get off the train.)" continue reading the comments

Previous posts from my blog:

Leadership Basics for Librarians and Information Professionals

SLA Leadership Summit 2007

Blooker prize honours best blogs

2007-03-13T22:44:00.000-04:00

PS. This is not from my desktop [Info Courtesy: Thadakamalla Sujatha Rao @ Auckland City Libraries]

BBC News, 13 March 2007, 15:06 GMT
The short-list for a literary prize aimed at honouring the best books based on blogs has been announced.
Among the 15 short-listed "blooks" is one which claims to have invented a new genre of fiction.
Last year's winning blook - Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously - has now sold over 100,000 copies and is being made into a film.
The prize aims to encourage cutting-edge literature, more of which is beginning life in the blogosphere.
"Blooks are the latest landmark in the history of books," said Bob Young of Lulu, the self-publishing website which sponsors the prize.

...
Well-known blogs that have become books include The Devil Wears Prada and Belle de Jour: The Intimate Adventures of a London Call-Girl.

Continue reading

Health Information and Libraries Journal 24:1 (March 2007)

2007-03-07T10:47:00.000-05:00

P.S. This is not a review, and not from my desk.

The latest edition of the Health Information and Libraries Journal 24:1 (March 2007) is now available. It has some interesting papers including:

The emerging Web2.0 social software: an enabling suite of sociable technologies in health and health care education
Maged N. Kamel Boulos, Steve Wheeler
Effectiveness of information skills training and mediated searching: qualitative results from the EMPIRIC project
Alison Brettle, Claire Hulme, Paula Ormandy

continue reading @ Informaticopia

Reviewing a blog - benchmarks?

2007-03-02T06:33:00.000-05:00

What is important in a blog's review?
Is it layout, design, format, context, content, or what else?

A techie would say, a blog is nothing but a Website. So, the review of a blog, is just like reviewing a website.
But then the techie may have a second thought, and might say 'wait a minute.' A Website most of the time constitutes distinct components, such as, (a) Web pages, (b) client based or server based content, and c) most important it is a showcase for a business. Whereas, a blog is, by and large, is not a site to host, store, and be-all or end-all in Web architecture. Some may be specific purpose blogs, but general use of the term blog is more with an immediate goal (see e.g., How To Build A Blog Empire).
Aha, then a blog is in this sense a window, and the Website is most of the time the main door, if not the main house for a business.
So, what makes a review of a blog different. Let's leave this for another post.
Here, let us look at how bloggers review a blog. For instance, @ Blog About Your Blog, the description of a blog includes: Layout, Content, Suggestions. A quick glance at these details gives a better picture:

Layout
Great header at the top, as the tagline says “the perfect blend of good and evil”. The template is a darker theme, but it works. Simple but decent. No ad placement or huge banners to take away from the content. You do see a somewhat large picture of the author, I might make it a tad smaller.

Content
What I like everytime I visit this blog is the number of comments, it’s ridiculous. 39 on some, 42 on another, heres 53! It’s obviously a personal blog so there should be a few more comments than other blogs, but that’s still really good. She must have a nice broad readership. It gives the blog other story to read basically. First the article, then the comments.

Suggestions
With a blog as big as this one, she should make it easier to find certain posts or topics. Categories or a search bar would definitely help that. Read the complete review

Another sample Blog Review: by Zaib Kaleem

This time around my review is for NotSoBoringLife.com. First comment..great domain name…I’m surprised it wasn’t taken already. As always, I navigated to the “About Me” page first to learn more about Nathan Metzger. Right off the bat, Nathan has me interested in learning more about how to lead “a not-so-boring life”. Like him, I’m married with two kids and sometimes things get a little less than exciting. I’m always looking to shake things up…..”shark wrestling” sounds a little extreme for my angling skills but I’m definitely overdue for a game of paintball. Read the complete review

My own two cents in reviewing a blog (and my own blog, with malice towards none):

Details of my blog: Multifaith Information Gateway
Content: general coverage of faithwise information. Meant to promote religious tolerance in a multicultural and multifaith society.
Strength is in its unique contribution: This blog founded the first ever Multifaith Hall of Fame This Hall has received 14 comments from visitors.
Weakness: The blog on the whole is too general. Hence, lacks focus and depth.
User comments (general): very few.
http://multifaith.blogspot.com/2006/06/multifaith-hall-of-fame-of-21st.html: May 2006; total visitors todate, Bravenet counter is 3729.
Indexed (cited) in:
Faithcommons.org
FoundationforPluralism.com
Spirit And Sky Definitive Spiritual Directory
Successful Blog: SOB A-Z Directory
All Things Spiritual Directory
LS Blogs Directory
Technorati
Del.ici.ous

P.S. The question then remains, what makes a blog, and what are the components that are a) essential and b) that are recommended?

NB. This question is not so simple, or simply about description of what are the itmes in a blog that are usable / useful (see such a catalog) or list of contents that make a blog. Furthermore, neither this is a question about functionality of a blog; nor about diffrent types of blogs; see similar views; and much more; and also CRITIQUE MY BLOG!

Any comments?

The real secret to a successful blog/book/business...

2007-02-22T22:56:00.000-05:00

PS. This is not from my desktop

"For the last three years, Bert and I have tried to explain the "secret" to the success of the Head First books. We've tried to explain the "secret" to how a little non-news, non-scandal blog could land in the Technorati Top 100. We've tried to explain the "secret" to why Javaranch is one of the largest, most active, and well-loved developer communities on the internet. One big clue: we're not that talented. There is a secret, yet, but it's mostly a if-WE-can-do-it-ANYONE-can-do-it thing."

Success no longer has to be a meritocracy (or advertocracy), today it's just as much a loveocracy. Full article

Cybersins and Digital Good Deeds

2007-02-15T00:10:00.000-05:00

Yet another book, probably fitting in the field of Cyber Worship, Cyber Religion, online religion, religion online, and Digital religion. It is, nevertheless, about ethics, morals, fraud, social networking, technology, so on and so forth.
PS. This review is not from my desktop.

Cybersins and Digital Good Deeds: A Book About Technology and Ethics,
by Mary Ann Bell, EdD, MLS, BA, Bobby Ezell, MEd, EdD, and James L. Van Roekel, MLS, MA (Haworth Press, 2007) Contents, About the book.

Review:
“EXPLAINS IN LAYMAN'S TERMS THE FAMILIAR AND UNFAMILIAR LANGUAGE OF TECHNOLOGY USE, AND OFFERS INSIGHT INTO THE POSITIVE AND/OR NEGATIVE IMPACT OF THAT USE. Technology opens up such a vast global arena for communication, entertainment, shopping, learning, the same activities we have always done, but with the potential to impact so many more people than ever before. Cybersins and Digital Good Deeds ALERTS READERS TO THE VALUE OR THREAT OF TECHNOLOGY USE AND MISUSE THAT CAN AFFECT US ALL.”
-- Jan Robin, MEd, BS, Instructional Technology Specialist, Conroe Independent School District more reviews

'We brown people are a threat'

2007-01-12T11:44:00.000-05:00

NB. This comment, about a book by a South Indian.

Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor by Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh
Review
Publishers Weekly : In this revealing study of a Southside Chicago neighborhood, sociologist Venkatesh opens a window on how the poor live. see more reviews @ Amazon And see Table of Contents @ Barnesandnoble.com
See cataloging information at Library of Congress and World Catalog of libraries

Following comments, and image: Courtesy Rediff.com India Limited. January 11, 2007
There are areas in Chicago like Marquis Park, a black neighbourhood, which some people say are not safe to walk into even on a bright summer's day.
But Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh, who has spent many days this past decade in several desperately poor and dangerous black neighbourhoods in Chicago, would not stay away even at night.

Over six years ago, Venkatesh who grew up in the affluent Orange County area in California, put together his understanding of an endangered community in a book, American Project: The Rise and Fall of Modern Ghetto.

The 40-year-old professor of sociology and African-American studies at Columbia University, New York, has now published another book, Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor.

In his first book, Venkatesh, who earned his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1997 and went on to do another degree at Harvard, revealed a long-drawn struggle in a Chicago ghetto to overcome crime, drug abuse, rape and adultery.

In the new book, he writes about the role of the underground economy in an American neighborhood. While he provides detailed stories about the dynamics of the alternative economy, he also ruminates about the long-term harm such an institution does to the community.

The author and sociologist spoke recently to Rediff India Abroad Managing Editor (Features) Arthur J Pais.
Photograph: Paresh Gandhi

My 2 cents:
This book both by its content and context is a good lead as an eye opener. It is, in shot, visualizing--a system of living off the books that is daily life in the ghetto--and that which was, hitherto, invisible to most of the insiders.

Technorati Tags: Sudhir Alladi

Online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet

2007-01-08T08:30:00.000-05:00

Journal of Religions on the Internet is a electronic (or e-journal) specializing in religion found on cyberspace.

Editor:
Gregor Ahn (Heidelberg)
Editorial Board:
Christopher Helland (Halifax, Kanada)
Oliver Krüger (Heidelberg/Princeton)
Göran Larsson (Göteborg, Sweden)
Gernot Meier (Heidelberg, Germany)

Volume 01.1 Special Issue on Theory and Methodology, ed. by Oliver Krüger

Volume 02.1 Special Issue on Rituals on the Internet, ed. by Kerstin Radde-Antweiler

What others say:"This journal began through the impetus of the second international conference on religion and the internet called: Online-Religions and Rituals-Online, held in Germany in 2004." When Religion Meets New Media

See in the same section and aisle:

Internet Journal of Religion - multiple journal site, includes links to Diskus, Science of Religion, Marburg Journal of Religion, Journal of Southern Religion, Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Journal for Global Buddhism, eSPIRITA [ source: RELIGIOUS STUDIES WEB GUIDE ]

see also: Electronic Journals (Academic / Peer-reviewed) @ Wabash Center

More Advent Although these are secular, Leslie Har... 5 Dec 2005 by Linda Jones

Studying Religion on the Internet

A Visible Pathfinder for Increasing Blog Traffic in 2007

2006-12-26T10:37:00.000-05:00

The wise learn from their own experiences but the truly intelligent will learn from someone else's!" - Benjamin Franklin.

My 2007 resolution for return-on-investments in blogging is to have a two-way traffic. The prescription is, please:
1. post a comment--aka, visual signature--in this blog on whatever subject (spam and phishing EXEMPTED)
2. turn on your blog comments' button; I will reciprocate not once, but every post that you create in 2007. This is my own idea of live and let live. I do reciprocate; my 2006 ledger shows Bloggers, such as, Sukhdev Singh, K. G. Schneider, Nancy White, Nirmala Palaniappan, David Tebbutt, Peachy Limpin, Thomas Brevik, Steven Edward Streight, Neil Patel, Diane Levin, and more.

PUNCHLINE: Increasing Blog traffic is a major concern, even for many Gurus [e.g., Adrian W Kingsley-Hughes' Three simple actions that doubled my website traffic in 30 days]
Previous post:

Visualizing Comments on Blogs

Visualizing Traffic At My Blog Via Mapping The Pathways

Blog As A Teaching Tool

Idea courtesy: Bloggers Compose Their Yearly Ledgers, By Jeralyn; and How to Pay for Blog Comments, @ usability blog of John S. Rhodes; So what'd you get? by Ryan Block

Technorati Tags: blog comments 2007 blog blog traffic 2007 resolution 2007 blogging popular bloggers popular comments top bloggers Reward-program return-on-investments

What is Christian Fiction?

2006-12-25T10:06:00.000-05:00

"Christian fiction for our purposes is defined as works reflecting biblically (Old and New Testament) based attitudes, philosophies, and actions in their storylines through whatever fictional genre, whether fantasy, mystery, realistic fiction, picture books, board books, and so on."(p. 7) in Librarian's Guide to Developing Christian Fiction collections for Children, by Barbara J. Walker (2005)
Neal-Schuman Publishers
Bibliographic record @ Library of Congress catalog.
About the book:
compiles a core list of recommended books, literary series, DVDs and videos with annotations and reviews, and delivers lists of reward winning titles, author biographies, and Christian fiction publishers.

What others say:
"This is a reasonably thorough resource for librarians-Christian or not-who may find themselves in need of a Christian fiction collection." -Jodi Kearns, University of Akron, OH bn.com

See also: Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

Christian Librarianship

2006-12-09T11:07:00.000-05:00

Librarianship for the faithful, revisited.

Christian Librarianship: Essays on the Integration of Faith and Profession. Gregory A. Smith (edited by), Donald G. Davis (Foreword by). ISBN: 0786413298, ISBN-13: 9780786413294 ,Paperback, 239pp, McFarland & Company.

Some interesting quotes:
"Thus Christian librarianship worthy of the name is less a matter of managing things and less a matter of managing things and more a matter of interacting with people." (p. 73)
"Christians have been villians and heroes as preservers of culture. Part of the destruction of the great library at Alexandria has been laid to the charge of Christians. On the other hand, the Renaissance was able to build on the storehouses of culture preserved by Christian institutions." (p. 88)

My 2 cents:
Of the 16 essays, I see some insights meant for the global audience in the essay by John Allen Delivuk, "Multiculturalism and Libraries: A Biblical Perspective," an extract is as follows:

Implications for Christian librarians
First, we reject the view that moral standards create a cultural group.
{Second ...}
Third, Christian librarians need to influence the selection of America's cultural canon.
Fourth, Christians must reject the view that race, ethnic background, or sexual orientation is more important in job selection than one's accomplishments.
{Fifth, ...}
Sixth, Christians should also remember their multicultural religious heritage.
Finally, Christians should beware of the power struggle philosophy of some multiculturalists, and beware of abusing the political and media power we are increasingly gaining.

Synopsis:
"The text's intended aims are to help Christians in the library profession integrate their faith into their work, to provide a foundation for further dialogue of library issues from a Christian perspective, and provide students and scholars of library science with an understanding of Christian librarians and their unique concerns."

What others say:
VOYA - Sherrie Williams
This professional resource offers direction to Christian librarians in all types of library settings on integrating their beliefs into the workplace... The strong evangelical Christian flavor of this book might limit its audience. It could be valuable in the education of librarians for Christian institutions, but it lacks wide professional appeal. [source: bn.com] See also Table of Contents at bn.com

As a reader of this book, and a professional librarian, I wish the book had answers to my questions:
a) where on the earth are such librarians trained and who certifies them?
b) With technical education and information sharing skills (neutral as they are for every perspective), how do librarians perform as evangelists or ministers
c) While there is some literature on faith-based librarianship, this book makes no mention whatsoever (not even in its bibliography), for a general librarian, about Jewish, Islamic and other genres of librarianship.

The librarian’s career guidebook

2006-12-01T05:16:00.000-05:00

PS. This review is not from desk!

The Librarian’s Career Guidebook, by: Priscilla K. Shontz (Editor) Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2004. 592 pp. $43.00. ISBN: # 0-8108-5034-6.

From the Publisher
Sixty-four information professionals from diverse positions, workplaces, and locations offer practical advice on a wide variety of career issues. The advice is aimed at librarians in various stages of a career prospective librarians, M.L.S. students, and entry-level librarians, as well as experienced information professionals.

See also Table of Contents @ BarnesandNoble.com; Library of Congress Catalog Record

Reviewed by:
Deborah Hicks, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada:
"The Librarian’s Career Guidebook offers practical strategies and ideas to potential, new, and even established librarians to help them design a career in librarianship."

Above info Courtesy of Drew's message @ College Libraries Section, COLLIB-L@ala.org:

I am forwarding and posting this message because it deserves the widest dissemination. This is a great opportunity for LIS students and LIS faculty as well as the rest of us to publish in an Open-Access peer reviewed publication.

The November Issue of Library Student Journal is now available at http://www.librarystudentjournal.com

Previous posts:

Job Pathfinder - Join the race

Top Ten Ways to Find a Law Library Job

Promoting your grads: what all library schools should be doing

Reviews From My Desktop

Budget Chief Questions Toronto Public Library Collections: Are we an international library?

Blogger Blogs Redirecting To "blogrolling.com"

The Real Blogger Status: Blogger Blogs Redirecting To "blogrolling"

Why library websites don’t win awards

Copying an Entire Article Without Permission - OK in Some Cases?

New Hazards For Book Reviewers, by Steve Denning

Fee for service or pay as you go to read NYT Newspaper

Google's Bookstore in the Market, at last

Review of a Website - A good example

Job Search Website Article - Excellent Benchmarking

The top-secret formula for decoding Toronto Star movie reviews, revealed

Quiz: Are You Fluent in Work Lingo?

My advice to married women out there: Suck it up

Leah McLaren, The Globe and Mail, Friday, Feb. 12, 2010

Best Book Review: The Eternal Present Tense by Dr. Ziauddin Sardar

Reading now: Library and Information Science Education in India

2009: An endnote with a hope for a new beginning

Amazon's Kindle (genre: e-book reader)

Blog Review: My Highly Recommended Money Making Programs

Google Adsense Appears Anywhere, Anyhow

Writers in News: Peter Watts and John Gribbin

Reading now: Usage Statistics of E-Serials

Federated Search - What's in a name?

Why user reviews are worthless: Customer Reviews!!!

GEOCITIES is Going: How to redirect your website now?

Google Alerts' mybookface! And, the true colors of Internet Explorer and Firefox Web Browsers in dealing with Web forgery

Google Alerts

Partitions (Tr. of 'Kitne Pakistan') by Kamleshwar Prasad Saxena

Blog Reviews - Success With Languages

Blog Reviews - Willowby Woods

Blog Reviews - this time this space

Selling Your Book to Libraries -- Self-published or Privately Printed Books

Better by Design ~~ Reading now

How would you rate this situation that lets web visitors decide layoff

A Universal / Global Search Engine Remains an Elusive Target

Blog Reviews - NEW YORK PARALEGAL BLOG

eMetrics or Web-Metrics or Webometrics - A new book for Library & Information Professionals

Txtng: The Gr8 Db8

Blog Reviews - Security for idiots and other people that care

Blog Reviews - Me, a writer of movie scripts

Topics / Themes:

Researchers offer new way to avoid bogus websites

Blogosphere: Information professionals guiding you to the best bits of the blogosphere

Federated Search - Reading now

OCLC Top 1000: 2005 Complete list

Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy

Cyber Worship Resource of the Week is Ten Commandments for Web Pages

Blog Reviews - Managing Personal Finance

Topics / Themes:

Being Muslim (Groundwork Guide Series)

When success breeds failure

Information and Emotion

Book Publisher Experiments

I predict that this wiki will be none to sticky

Why Google only tells you what you already know by Farhad Manjoo

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

Efficiency analysis of brokers in the electronic marketplace

Virgílio A.F. Almeida12a, Wagner Meira Jr.3*,a, Victor F. Ribeirob, Nivio Ziviani4a,b

aDepartment of Computer Science, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, BrazilbMiner Technology Group, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

Abstract:

Occupational Licensing Does More Harm Than Good

REFERENCE ON THE NET or Net as a Reference Tool

THE GILLER: Which book is likely to win the Giller?

Library Anecdotes Revisited: Free For All

From those who stumbled upon

About Link Evaluator at OCLC's Openly Informatics

Review: Web Link Validator, @ webreference.com By Lee Underwood

Creating a Website that Works

Ideas for Content On Your Site

Top 25 Nursing Blogs (By the Numbers) - Webmetrics revisited

You can't beat free advertising! - Media Convergence’s

What book would you most want your kids to read?

36 Blog Rules to Keep You in Business

GANGA: A Journey Down the Ganges River

Energy-saving Google black screen version - Blackle

How to tell what I am, or What to Write Using a Life Story Template

Everwood Television Show

Amazing Pace: Turbo-Charged Business Development

Best Practices in Book Marketing

Virgílio A.F. Almeida¹²^a, Wagner Meira Jr.³^*^,a, Victor F. Ribeiro^b, Nivio Ziviani⁴^a^,b

^aDepartment of Computer Science, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
^bMiner Technology Group, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil