Category: technology

  • Nerd videos

    Josh Porter at Bokardo pointed out a great collection of videos released by Peachpit on such fascinating topics as search engine optimization, social networking, and web standards by big names in the field (at least, I assume they’re big names. Being new to all this, I’m not so sure). Interesting stuff, if you’re into that…

  • ASIST08: Evaluating E-Reference: Transforming Digital Reference through Research and Evaluation

    There are a lot of sessions at ASIS&T (and probably most conferences) with fairly impregnable titles. I’ve found myself sitting in sessions which were about something very different than I thought. But this session title is pretty straightforward: It was all about evaluating virtual reference services. Marie Radford (Rutgers University) and Lynn Connaway (OCLC) spoke…

  • ASIST08: My So-Called Life on the Web

    (But first, an aside about conference internet access: It is crappy. And I’m a poor graduate student who can’t afford to spend an obscene amount of money everyday for a decent connection. There is free “access” in some parts of the conference hotel, but it goes in and out like crazy and it’s not available…

  • ASIST08: Day One

    Attending a conference where there are people you know is a million times better than one where you don’t. I’m a shy person (shocker!) so without a liaison or two to introduce me to new people, the sad truth is a probably won’t meet new people. And I will wander around awkward and alone until…

  • Students as Technology Leaders

    Two weekends ago I attended PodCamp Boston 3, with some general sense that I might learn something useful, but an increasing uncertainty about what that might be. The first few sessions I attended had a pretty strong focus on using social media for marketing purposes (blech), increasing your “followers,” and, well, podcasting. Which I don’t…

  • Podcamp Boston

    Is anyone else going to Podcamp Boston this weekend? Billed as “the new media community unConference,” it’s taking place in the Longwood Medical Area this Saturday and Sunday, and we’re going. It should be pretty interesting, although I’m not always so awesome about that networking stuff. I’m shy. Registration closes tomorrow (Wednesday, July 16), so…

  • Everything is Miscellaneous

    I picked up Everything is Miscellaneous to read while on vacation, and was promptly made fun of by my library school colleagues, because, apparently, it’s an assigned text in one of the cataloging classes. Well, I commend the person who’s assigning this book, because it’s really excellent. David Weinberger does a great job talking about…

  • Students Disappoint Me, Yet Again

    Twenty-four students at the University of Central Florida accepted a challenge from one of their teachers to go tech-free for five days. No cell phones, no email, no computers, video games, television, iPods (well, you could use your phone or computer for work or school, but that was it). Only two students made it through…

  • The Digital Divide: Some thoughts on our panel discussion

    Our panel discussion last Monday went well, despite our rather haphazard planning process. Of course, my foray into moderating exposed some of my lack of public speaking abilities: I completely jettisoned the whole introduction I spent the weekend writing in favor of letting the speakers get right to it, and most of the questions we…

  • Small Libraries and the Digital Divide: Jessamyn’s Slides

    The panel yesterday on the Digital Divide went well, though I kind of chickened out and neglected to deliver my carefully crafted introduction. Doh. I’ll have more to say about what was discussed when i have a few minutes (hopefully tonight), but I wanted to be sure to link to Jessamyn’s slides, which are worth…