Blue beanie day - support web standards!

Our lives as users and coders would be much easier if ALL browsers supported web standards.
Thus, arose the blue beanie day to show support for web standards.
My haiku:
New web journeys wait
of Blue beanies sing; old mud walks
to break internet


You don't even need to own a blue beanie either (tho I have several). You can fake it here.

Ems vs. pts. vs % in web design font

So, some friends & I were having a discussion about ems vs. pts vs. % for web fonts (yeah, we are dorky like that...)

Pts are a print unit of measure. Ems are relative to the parent element and scale which is good for mobile and user experience (e.g., I can scale it how I want). Of course, some times you don't want scaleable, but most of the time you would. I personally like % as it forces a certain amount of consistency of display (it is based upon 12pt but is scaleable). So, yes on % or ems
...but don't use pt unless you want to lockdown display.

Two great resources:
pts vs ems vs %
and a conversion chart.

Time flies (projects and more)

So, your might be wondering why I've been so quiet. Busy busy busy.
I set up my art page on facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/robinfayarts
You do not need to friend me (or even "like" the page) in order to see my photos and artwork.
I will be migrating a huge chunk of my art website there, will I redesign it in Drupal (I'm getting rid of all of the stand alone products, so that it's just Drupal)
.
I just helped put together a lunch group to read and discuss metadata and the semantic web. It should be a lot of fun (even though we'll all be giving up lunch time!) but I love getting together for a scholarly discussion. I just hope that we can split facilitation up amongst the group, so that it's just not me (though I am doing the first one). I'm calling us the Metadata Munch Lunch Group. heh.

Secondly, still working on the book proposal. It was going to focus more on the semantic web, but given how little practical application there is at the moment, we're redirecting it to be more about searching as the web involves... kind of a web 2.5, I suppose. I will still cover the semantic web, but not so much in a "here's how to do a semantic web" project.

Beth & I are going to finish writing our article on training for metadata/cataloging librarians in December. We're going to get this done if it kills both of us (100 pages of comments...) and I think we might possibly have another co-author or proofreader, which is great help.

Also, still teaching Drupal and working on a Drupal II class for Winter for Lyrasis.

Finally, starting work on little experiment with EXIF and ITPC data (the data embedded in JPGs) to see how search engines handle them. Should be interesting and I'm working with a couple of folks. More on that later -- I don't want to give away the details before it happens.

I also have a couple of crosspublishing opportunities as well as teaching for the Social Media/Web2.0 program. The Libraries program was so successful we've been asked to expand to campus. I really am going to try to get this organized into a digital format (it was really hard the last time because of all of the different file formats and some people had no handouts) but teaching at Training & Development we'll have access to webinar software and mics.

Oh, and then I'm on the new Gadget Group, which should be alot of fun and organizing TedX for Women at UGA (12/7; 12/8) which now conflicts with a Knowledge Repository meeting. I should receive the schedule soon and can see if we need to do both days or if we can choose one day. I also hope to line up a few local speakers.

and if I survive all that, then I plan to go on vacation in Janurary for my birthday!

Twitter for librarians

Tools I use:

To future/schedule tweets

• Future tweets
• Brizzly

To post:

• Brizzly
• delicious to twitter (links)
  
• picnik (twitpic) to twitter (images)
  

To manage followers/following

• TwitterKarma: see follows/unfollows and when they posted last (can be slow)
• Mytweeple: same as above with a little more info
  
• 
  

To manage my presence:

• Klout
• Twitterstatistics
• 
  

Librarians and library people I follow

• @libraryfuture

[I follow more non-library people than I do librarians, but that's because my interests range way beyond traditional library work]

Feedback on copyright of older sound materials

I think it would be wonderful to have some of the older sound recordings in the public domain... please feel free to provide your comments via the links below (not to me here, please!)
---------------
November 4, 2010
Important Copyright Reform Development

We are at a significant moment in ARSC's long fight to reform U.S. copyright law. As a direct result of ARSC-sponsored legislation, the U.S. Copyright Office has undertaken a study of the "desirability and means" of bringing recordings made before 1972 under federal (rather than state) copyright law. Among other things, this would establish for the first time a public domain for the oldest recordings in the U.S.
There is a short window during which the public may submit comments on this proposal. All comments will be posted on the internet and will be considered in the Copyright Office's report to Congress. This is a rare opportunity for all those concerned with preservation and access to be heard. The deadline for public comment is December 20, 2010. Following that there will be a thirty day period during which "reply comments" (comments on the comments) may be submitted (until January 19, 2011) .
You can be assured that interest groups in Washington will avail themselves of this opportunity to advocate for their positions. ARSC and various library organizations will also be commenting. However it is vital that the Copyright Office hear from as many citizens as possible, archivists and collectors, professionals and non-professionals alike, not only to hear the reasons why people care about preserving and making accessible historical recordings, but also so they can gauge the breadth of support for change.
The Copyright Office has posted an official Notice of Inquiry on its website at www.copyright.gov/docs/sound. It is lengthy and somewhat legalistic, including 30 specific questions in which the CO is interested. However it is important to remember that comments may take any form you wish and may be from anyone - they simply need to relate to the "desirability and means" of bringing pre-1972 recordings under federal law to promote preservation and access. You can get an idea of the types of comments typically submitted by viewing those submitted in the "Orphan Works" inquiry a few years ago, at www.copyright.gov/orphan/comments/index.html. (More than 700 were submitted in that inquiry.) Particularly valuable are examples of the harm done by current law.
More information on the subject, and ARSC's position, is at www.recordingcopyright.org. Basically we believe that this change will benefit both users and rights holders. It is only the first step in ARSC's program of five recommended changes, but it is a critical one because none of the others are feasible until older recordings are brought under unified federal law.
The Copyright Committee urges you to take advantage of this unusual, and limited, opportunity for public comment by going to www.copyright.gov/docs/sound and registering your comments, no matter how detailed or brief they may be. The more people the government hears from, the better.

Tim Brooks
Chair, ARSC Copyright and Fair Use Committee

Vintage computer ads

These are great. Enjoy my geeky/techy friends....
more here

Archiving twitter -- good idea or not?

As many of you know, the Library of Congress acquired (was given) the Twitter archive beginning with 2006 (read more about that here). I think this is interesting but at the same time, it seems to go against the nature of twitter. Twitter has always been real time and if you are so inclined, you can sit and just watch the updates happen.

Searching in twitter (even your own tweets) has never been particularly easy, Given the 140 character limit, many tweeters use url shorteners, some of which do not maintain/archive the original link for long. Others have used url shortening services or referred to links which no longer exists.

Throw in all of the conversational element of twitter (is the archive threaded?), the private accounts (which are not archived), the spam, and the fleeting nature of twitterverse attention span, and well... I wonder how useful the archive will be. In terms of sifting through trending topics or as a window into pop culture, maybe...