So, Time Magazine writes a lengthy article on blogging, entitled Meet Joe Blog, which is nice, because people like my parents will read it and stop asking “what did you say?” when I tell them I’m blogging about something. They talk about all sorts of blogs, and good ones too, like BookSlut & Fark & The Memory Hole. So, yes, that’s all well and good. But nowhere, not in one place, anywhere in this 4-page article, do they mention aggregation, feeds, or RSS. Which is too bad, because it’s a good article, other than that glaring omission. Shame on the author for not including that useful tidbit of information, for all those readers thinking “Well, gee, that’s a lot of websites to go looking at every day…”
The Seattle Science Fiction Museum’s website is up and running. I think that their Exhibits pages are going to have to tide me over until I can make it up there in person. They even have a calendar on the site, not only of what’s happening at the museum itself, but a one-stop shop for SciFi convention information by region or state. Sweeeeet! Anyone have any consulting for a tech librarian to do up in Seattle? Please, pretty please?
So, this Gerry guy from Iowa State University has this nice page of libraries that are using RSS for various things–Annoncements, News, New Books, etc. Some of the categories are still unpopulated (Administration, Collection Development), but Gerry is looking for additions to his list. I just e-mailed him with our Library Blog’s RSS feed, and I’ll bet he’s getting inundated with submissions. But submit anyway–this could be a good resource through which to get ideas for how to use RSS in the library, both with the public & with staff.
The Potrait Illustration Maker lets you pick the right hair, eyes, nose, face shape, even wrinkles, and you’ve got yourself in anime. I even get to be holding my kitty!
Thanks to Lady Crumpet for the link.
Introducing InstaBook. Turn a digital file (e-mail, CD, floppy) into a bound paperback book. You even get a customized cover & you can (if you want) register the book with an ISBN. This takes on-demand publishing to a whole new level. Anyone know of one in the Bay Area?
Thanks to Scott Bauer from Redwood City Public Library for pointing this one out to me.
Jessa Crispin’s got a new look at BookSlut. Very clean, crisp design. The muted pinks are very, well, sexy.
FaganFinder recently introducted a Quotations & Proverbs Search. It searches 50+ quotation databases in one shot (yay meta-searching!) one at a time, in a slow radio button by radio button selection. Still, this will definitely come in handy at the reference desk. But, can someone please create a quote meta-search engine? I’ll owe you a beer if you do…okay, two beers.
Thanks to Gary Price @ Resource Shelf for pointing out this new feature.
Read a page a day of DaVinci’s notebooks. It’s only the text (no pretty pictures, which disappointed me), but if you’d like to be able to say someday (say in 4 years) that you’ve actually read the notebooks (so as to impress literati at cocktail parties), you can. Get 1 page each day via RSS.
You can also look at random pages. From page 1,194: “Reprove your friend in secret and praise him openly.” Yep. That’s a good idea.
I know I’m late on the uptake for this one, but the Colorado State Library has created the Colorado Filtering Clearinghouse. It’s full of resources about filtering Internet content and is specifically directed at libraries. There are some side by side comparisons of different filters, links to other studies, and reasons “to filter, or not to filter.” While it’s not the prettiest site in the world, it does contain some really useful information for those stuck in a filtering quandry.
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