In this issue:
Innovation Tools • June 16, 2009
Try doing one thing at a time. Committing to more than one innovative project at a time saps resources, delays ROI and cannibalizes your innovation strategy. Next time you find yourself juggling, remember the benefits of sequential rollouts.
A short essay with a simple admonition—do one thing at a time. Multiple commitments don't reduce risk they create longer (and less successful) cycles. Be warned. There's a pretty tortured baseball metaphor in the midst of this. (Michalko)
Internet Evolution • June 18, 2009
Copyright copout. Internet activist Cory Doctorow documents the comedy of errors that copyright lawyers and advocates have perpetuated over the last few years, culminating with Google's agreement with the Authors Guild. Looking toward the future, Doctorow notes, "So long as innovation is taking place, piracy is the norm."
I'm not sure I agree but it's to nice hear someone suggest that there's a significant helping of culpability (or at least shortsightedness) at the doorstep of the Authors Guild who Doctorow describes as "an arrogant cabal of D.C. insiders." (Michalko)
O'Reilly Radar June 21, 2009
O'Reilly as Renaissance Man. Okay, this is definitely preaching to the choir, but the Q&A with Tim O'Reilly is a nice reminder of why we—as the curators of "culture"—continue to play a vital role in the preservation of what it means to be human.
I didn't know his degree was in Greek and Latin Classics. (Why should I?) He makes a good case that his admirable pattern identification skills have roots in his liberal arts education. (Michalko)
twelchconsulting.com Blog • June 20, 2009
Don't even try. This is an insightful—and amusing—look at the state of knowledge and our futile attempts to "fix" the unfixable.
You'll enjoy this. "Student learning must belong to the learner, not to the report card or the transcript." Some of the post reminded me of observations made by Diane Rhoten of the Social Science Research Council at the Digital Library Federation Spring 2009 Forum. She talked about "networked learning" where "geographic location, demographic identification, and organizational affiliation are becoming less relevant to the production and consumption of knowledge, leaving the future of learning influenced more by an individual's technological connections, personal motivations, and informal interactions than it ever has been in the past." [Unfortunately her presentation doesn't seem to be available on the DLF site.] (Michalko)
IEEE Spectrum • June 17, 2009
Preservation for the ages? There have been many attempts to come up with an enduring format for archiving data and the Digital Rosetta Stone looks promising, although 1,000-year lifespan is probably over-optimistic.
This is a post from an engineering society so I'm not sure I understood it. I do note that the researcher responsible is based at one of our RLG Partner institutions—Keio University—with a very active and innovative digital library program in addition to being the first Google Book partner in Japan. (Michalko)
VentureBeat • June 20, 2009
Living in the now. These sites are useful for staying up on current events or monitoring a company in real-time. And yes, they do include tweets as part of their search process.
I don't need (or find myself wanting) real-time search very often. As Stephen Wright said, "I saw a bank that said '24 Hour Banking,' but I don't have that much time." But when you do need it you'll be glad to know about these sites. It was interesting to me to see the venture funding that each of them has attracted. It's even more interesting to think about whether their effectiveness is in any way correlated. (Michalko)
SitePoint • April 30, 2009
Something for everyone. This is a handy compilation of free online resources for audio, video and images, from drum loops to poetry and fables. Check it out next time you're putting a presentation together.
Strange to see that many of these sites enumerate their content in the thousands. Doesn't seem like much. Both Google (via its advanced search) and Yahoo! (via a special CC search) let you find a lot. (Michalko)
Duke Today • June 16, 2009
Focus on the small screen. Duke University is pushing the envelope with 32,000 images from 20 collections now accessible via mobile device. In the words of university librarian Deborah Jakubs: "Making these collections available for the iPhone and similar devices is important not only to extend access to Duke's collections, but also as a milestone in the evolution of academic libraries from traditional print repositories to institutions that embrace new technology for sharing their rich resources with broader audiences."
This is nicely done. I installed it on my phone and it worked very nicely. I suspect if I was affiliated with the Duke Community I would have left the app on my phone for the campus news feeds and probably taken advantage of the opportunity to grab new wallpaper. (Michalko)