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Sunday, May 05, 2002 |
"Family Business magazine's Spring 2002 issues lists the 100 oldest family owned businesses (outside of the U.S.A.) The oldest? Kongo Gumi, a Japanese construction company, started in 578, now in its 40th generation. A vineyard in France is #3, Château de Goulaine Vineyard, founded in 1000. Companies in the U.S. are listed separately, but the oldest Mexican and Canadian family owned companies are Jose Cuervo, tequila-makers, founded in 1758 (#73), and Molson's, which has been making beer in Canada since 1786 (#89).
Also: The same issue lists America’s [U.S.'s] Oldest Family Businesses; the oldest is a Massachusetts cymbal-making company founded in 1623." [h20boro lib blog]
11:57:35 PM Permanent link here
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"This is something I would love to see. A small town newspaper builds a site with Radio. It provides Radio to all of the community leaders in town, such as the local fire department, the police, the schools, the community organizations, the local sports teams, the zoning board, etc. All told it provides 50 licenses, templates, and a location to post ($2k). It then links to these organizations via its home site and aggregates RSS style news. It accepts more community weblogs from others that buy the software on their own and begin to publish (my town's girls soccer team has a Radio weblog, through no work done by me)." [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
John then goes on to extrapolate this scenario a bit further. I've been toying around with trying to do this for the newly-incorporated village in which I live. My plans aren't as grandiose as John's, but the $5,000 seems doable to me.
The problem is that no one here has $5,000, especially the Library, which is the most likely candidate to start such a community network. And that $5,000 could easily double by the time you take into account hosting (or server installation), training, site design, documentation, and marketing. Unfortunately, no one has that kind of time right now, least of all a volunteer like me.
In addition, the major component that is missing from this scenario is subject access. Yes, current information is great and would be easy to find in this setup, but invariably you have to start categorizing all of these groups and link them and their information together via subject access and cross-references. No easy task, says I.
So while this may work in a larger town with more resources at its disposal, I don't think I'll be able to jumpstart something like this locally. At least, not yet, even though we sorely need it.
11:44:19 PM Permanent link here
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"willybur writes 'The Electronic Frontier Foundation just released a report (pdf) today detailing the last three years under the DMCA. It describes how the DMCA has been used to unfairly attempt to prosecute all of the various parties over the years, and gives yet another argument of why the DMCA needs to be struck down. It's worth a read.' Slashdot has covered most of the incidents listed, but this is nice summary to hand someone who hasn't been following these issues." [Slashdot]
Ditto, and it will make a good pointer for my presentations. If you need proof positive that this law could be twisted and used against libraries, here it is.
11:23:39 PM Permanent link here
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"But not for long. The Internet of the future is already here, albeit not yet available through your home PC, and many of the most breathtaking advancements in the Internet are taking place in the Chicago area....
The on-ramps into these systems are closed to the average user. Unless you're doing molecular research, mapping the stars or similar high-tech research, you can't tap into Internet2. Local researchers that use Internet2 include those at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where the school's virtual reality environments--dubbed CAVEs--allow researchers to stroll through ancient cities or design a new car, then walk around it to check out the design from different angles.
If the present Internet is a four-lane highway, Internet2 and other networks in development have 10,000-plus lanes, said Thomas DeFanti, director of the software technology research center at UIC.
'The question is, can you meet the needs of everyone forever?'' asked DeFanti, who along with fellow professor Daniel Sandin has developed UIC's two CAVEs. Efforts are under way to make that happen, by expanding access and what's possible online." [Chicago Sun-Times]
There's also a sidebar titled "Here's What's Coming Down the E-road." Here's an excerpt:
"The Internet of tomorrow? Ho-hum. Not that the things going on there won't be exciting from a 2002 perspective. It's just that the 'wow' will become so commonplace, we'll hardly notice it.
'I think that in 20 years you will no more find people talking about the Internet than you find people talking about electrical power or public water today,' said Wayne Rush, senior contributing editor of InfoWorld magazine. 'You won't think about that any more than you think about the electricity that causes your stereo to work today.' "
I agree with this completely. However, I was then dumbstruck to read the following:
"In the future all books could be e-books: Simply download the text and pay the fee--or not. Might libraries 'lend' books over the Internet?"
Considering how many libraries are already circulating ebooks from Audible, netLibrary, and Gemstar/Rocketbook, perhaps we could get some press about how libraries are already living in the future.
11:15:09 PM Permanent link here
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"Weeks before their birth, the Tetrick quadruplets already had their very own, professionally designed logo. And Web site. And advertising agency.
Before tiny Peyton, Parker, Camden and Christian--a rare two sets of identical twins--entered the world, their parents were part of an unusual public relations blitz that portrays the joy of a suddenly large family and the distress of the financial burden that comes, in part, from a father's military activation.
Christina and Patrick Tetrick hired Lottridge Advertising of Wichita to solicit donations from local and national corporations, and arrange media interviews.
Their goal is simple: Use the rarity of having two sets of identical twins, the more general oddity of having quadruplets and the father's plight as promotional tools to lure advertisers and help the family stay afloat....
His agency is trying to get as much media exposure as possible for the quadruplets, but the parents ultimately will decide what they will or won't do." [Chicago Sun-Times]
I don't want to get in the middle of this whole professional journalism versus amateur bloggers debate because as with almost everything, I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle. But here's the thing. This is an interesting article by the Sun-Times (with interesting implications for the future), but nowhere on the entire page do they provide the actual URL for the Tetricks' web site. I, however, feel obliged to, so I'll save you the time and tell you it's at http://www.born4theusa.com/.
10:47:39 PM Permanent link here
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Yet another reason to love your library. The May issue of Online includes an article titled "Commercial Database Rankings Versus Web Rankings: How They Match Up" by Helen Clegg. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? But it's not available online. However, we can all request a copy via our local libraries.
You're welcome.
10:22:20 PM Permanent link here
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" 'Sharon Hogan was a pivotal figure in the rebirth of the modern library in the digital age,' said the university chancellor, Sylvia Manning.
In legislative hearings and other forums she championed copyright, free speech and privacy rights. She testified before Congress on technology and access issues....
'Libraries,' she said when she received her Intellectual Freedom Award, 'play a very important role in safeguarding every citizen's right to read or hear diverse viewpoints and to make up his or her own mind about issues.' " [NY Times: Obituaries]
8:34:12 PM Permanent link here
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"When Ozzy is conscious, the quirky, fried patriarch tends to mumble between expletives in a way that only his family, and possibly chemically altered viewers, can understand.
Enter the Media Access Group (MAG). A division of Boston PBS station WGBH-TV, it's one of the country's largest providers of closed-captioning for the hearing-impaired.
'Many among MAG's 150-person staff caught "Obsournes' ' March 5 debut, but few could decipher what the heavy-mental, er, -metal star was saying, says Mary Watkins, outreach director of the 30-year-old organization.
'We love the show, but we had trouble understanding Ozzy's mumbles between bleeps. So we beat down MTV's door until they decided to choose us.' " [AZ Central, via Daypop Top 40]
Yegads - why didn't I think of this before now! One cool thing that I just discovered about Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) is that they record the closed-caption feed, too, so when I watch the final episode of this season's Osbournes, I'll be able to read what Ozzy is saying!
8:25:26 PM Permanent link here
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"Embedded into your cellular phone or your PDA, the Mobile Companion is the ultimate personal appliance whether you shop over the Web, make a payment at the convenience store, order a burger at the drive-in, or need help from a local server.
To initiate a payment, simply move your phone into close proximity of a pad sitting on the counter.
This pad is actually a radio transceiver that reads from a transponder affixed to the back of your phone the information necessary to establish and secure a wireless connection to your phone.
Within a split of a second, your phone is connected locally to the cash register and a prompt invites you to confirm the amount to be paid.
Upon confirmation, which consists principaly of keying your PIN, the phone computes a payment verification code that is returned along with other account information to the cash register." [via The Bluetooth Weblog]
Someday patrons will be able to pay their library fines this way.
7:54:17 PM Permanent link here
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"The product, being introduced at the supermarket industry's annual convention in Chicago starting this weekend, will be a bit of an upper-crust loaf. Sara Lee is selling it for about 75 cents more than crusted bread -- or $2.59 to $3.39 for a 16-ounce loaf, depending on the market.
In an era when convenience tops U.S. shopping lists, Sara Lee figures enough consumers will turn over the extra dough. It's spending nearly $10 million to roll it out, making it the bakery group's biggest product launch yet....
Crustless Bread is made at its bakery in Paris, Texas, where crusts are removed by an automated slicer. Baking pans are larger and cooling time is twice as long as normal in the "decrusting room." The rejected crusts are used for croutons, bread crumbs and other products.
The product is now available in the South, Midwest and Arizona and will be stocked by July throughout Sara Lee's fresh-bread system, which covers all U.S. regions but the Northeast and Florida." [via Daypop Top 40]
I wonder if we'll break down and buy this. The harried parent in me says yes, although the common sense bean counter in me says no.
6:56:27 PM Permanent link here
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"Educating consumers on the benefits of electronic books, the Open eBook Forum has announced the launch of its worldwide public awareness campaign, 'Open an eBook...Discover New Worlds of Reading.' The eBook industry trade and standards association, the non-profit Open eBook Forum has designed the campaign to highlight how eBook technologies and products promote literacy, provide access to books for those with reading disabilities, and have enhanced educational opportunities. The campaign launched on May 2, with extensive promotions from Open eBook Forum members, such as Microsoft, Adobe, Random House, and McGraw-Hill; free book downloads from the top publishers available at openanebook.org; and a major media outreach. " [InfoSync]
There are some interesting titles available at the Open an eBook campaign site, although I don't see anything that's going to pull in mainstream readers. In fact, the children's books look the most interesting to me. I keep my Clie's cradle at work, so I can't test this right now, but I'm concerned that you might not be able to read these titles on a PDA. If that's true, this will seriously damage a new user's first impression of ebooks.
If the ebook industry was smart, they would work with libraries by giving us discounts and PR material. We have direct contact with readers, and our studies indicate that patrons who check out ebook devices from us truly enjoy the experience. If publishers and manufacturers made it as easy as possible and affordable for libraries to circulate ebooks, more everyday readers would use them and see the benefits of them, thereby creating a market of potential buyers.
However, I don't know of any libraries that have been included in the "Open an eBook" campaign (I hadn't even heard about it until today!), and I certainly don't see any listed on the site. What a shame.
12:15:57 PM Permanent link here
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"Will there come a day when you walk into any place of business and you look for the 'Wi-Fi Ready' logo just like you see the 'Visa/Mastercard accepted here' logo today? For all I know that is the case out west already, but not here in the midwest. I look forward to that day." [Soapbox (April 30)]
I'm posting Michael Woodruff's comment about an article titled Cell phones, PDAs catch Wi-Fi fever - Tech News - CNET.com, rather than the article itself, because I like the idea of a "Wi-Fi Ready" logo. As I've noted in the past, public libraries are not ready to display that logo. We should be moving towards this goal, but we're not. Why? Resources: time, money, staff, techies, and knowledge.
Eric Snowdeal and I have been meaning to jumpstart that debate again, so maybe this is a good time to do it. How do we get public libraries to recognize the benefits of public access Wi-Fi and then help them achieve it? Personally, I think the first step is an education campaign. The overwhelming majority of library administrations don't have the slightest clue what Wi-Fi is and why they might want it.
The Wireless Librarian is a great place to start, but I think even TWL is a bit daunting for a public library administrator. We need a one-page who, what, where, when, how, and why for dummies. Does one already exist or should we create one? If we educate, and in the process note community enthusiasm and desire for Wi-Fi first-hand to the directors, then maybe the Minneapolis Public Library would at least call Dave back.
I know Eric has some concerns about systematic deployment, consistency, and framework, so maybe we can build these things in from the beginning. Let's not talk about the integration or security issues yet, because we know they can be overcome. I'm open to other ideas about how to get started, but this seems like a good one to me.
10:18:14 AM Permanent link here
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© Copyright 2004 Jenny Levine.
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