Web services development and academic library faculty infrastructure

The following exchange was sent via email to several library faculty
members at a university library. I am posting it because I think it is
representative of some of the problems we as academic librarian
practitioners face when negotiating technological opportunities with the
time demands of scholarly activity.

Dear __,
First all, I think the Duke project is cool and it would be very
useful for us to have a mobile app, and/or an alternative Website
interface designed for smaller mobile screens.

As far as pursuing these projects goes, we are faced once again with the
dilemma of opting to explore the creation of new technology projects which
could be of benefit to our users, or focusing on research and publication for promotion and tenure. To be fair,
research benefits our users in a much more abstracted way, by advancing the profession and
increasing our own knowledge.

Secondly, our talent pool of programming/scripting, API, app development
skills is ad hoc and, with no disrespect intended, shallow.

An alternative approach from building this kind of tool from the ground up
might be to monitor librarian/developer sites and lists (web4lib, open
source for libraries) to find a customizable tool for our needs. We might
also find a commercial service or developer who could provide the
necessary tools, as we have done in the past with questionpoint and, currently,
springshare.

thoughts?
Steve

A colleague's reply,

While I think that developing apps is undoubtedly cool in many ways, and
it does give us something pretty and shiny to show outsiders, it's not yet
something we can do. We don't have the policies, infrastructure,
staffing, and pool of expertise in place - not so far as we are all aware,
that is. The idea of finding a customizable tool is more achievable, but
again, we very much need essential pieces of a foundation in place to
support such possibilities.

It is illustrative to me of the difficulty of establishing the proper
foundation for potential innovation in the Library that this discussion
did not include anyone with a technological perspective to contribute.

The notion that research and publication prevents us from exploring
options is a red herring, and I'm disappointed to see the failure of _blank_
Library to do cool mobile apps attributed to a system that many of us
committed to when we accepted our positions. After all, our library is
hardly unique in having tenure for librarians, and I cannot believe that
there are no interesting explorations of technology and avenues of service
being undertaken at places like CU-Boulder, Penn State, UNM, and
elsewhere.

I then replied,

If I gave the impression that I blame the tenure system, I didn't make
myself clear because I do not blame the system for the above mentioned
difficulties we face. I do feel however, that an identifiable tension
exists between the need to research and publish while on the tenure
track, and the ability to: 1. establish policies, infrastructure,
staffing, and a pool of expertise; and 2. explore new skills and modes
of practice that would allow us to create productivity tools that can
benefit our users.

I wholeheartedly agree that such projects create research and
publication opportunities both in advancement of one's career and, to
share with our colleagues. However, since the projects we are talking
about require the acquisition of a new skill and then the
application of that skill (in an environment already possessing the
necessary policies, infrastructure, staffing, and pool of expertise), and
only then designing a study, publishing scholarship based on research that
has a lower time intensity seems to be a more prudent choice.

Perhaps I misspoke when I said "we are faced once again with the
dilemma of opting to explore the creation of new technology projects which
could be of benefit to our users, or focusing on research and publication
to ensure our career on the tenure track." The word "dilemma" is not
the best term to use. Maybe I should have said we are faced with "a
frustrating choice" Independent of our commitment to the tenure system,
The system is not without its shortcomings, and in libraries as in many
other areas of scholarship, the tenure system undergoing examination if
not outright change in terms of the acceptable forms that scholarship
takes.

Steve

nano-vlog? video-im v-tweets?

Lately I've come across two new Web services that have a lot of educational potential. 12seconds.tv currently in beta and Seesmic.com, which advertises itself as video instant messaging.

My first thought besides that it is totally fun, is that it could make class discussion boards way more interesting.

Everything Bad is Good for you

I just requested this book from the library. Here is the text from the book jacket:
"Drawing from fields as diverse as neuroscience, economics, and media theory, Steven Johnson shows that the junk culture we're so eager to dismiss is actually making us more intelligent. A video game will never be a book, Johnson acknowledges, nor should it aspire to be - and, in fact, video games, from Tetris to The Sims to Grand Theft Auto, have been shown to raise IQ scores and develop cognitive abilities that can't be learned from books. Likewise, when examined closely and taken seriously, successful television - the hit shows of every genre: The Simpsons, 24, The Apprentice - reveals surprising narrative sophistication and intellectual demands." "Johnson calls this upward trend the Sleeper Curve, after the classic sequence from Woody Allen's mock sci-fi film, where a team of scientists from 2173 are astounded that twentieth-century society failed to grasp the nutritional merits of cream pies and hot fudge. In Everything Bad Is Good for You, Johnson argues that the Sleeper Curve is the single most important new force altering the mental development of young people today, and that it is largely a force for good: enhancing our cognitive faculties, not dumbing them down." -attribution

New Ian McDonald Story Collection

OK, this is a just a re-post of Cory Doctorow's February 27th Boing Boing front page with some of that good 'ole librarian added value.
(C.) Doctorow writes,

"Ian McDonald is one of science fiction's finest working writers, and his latest short story collection Cyberabad Days, is the kind of book that showcases exactly what science fiction is for.Cyberabad Days returns to McDonald's India of 2047, a balkanized state that we toured in his 2006 novel River of Gods, which was nominated for the best novel Hugo Award. The India of River of Gods has fractured into a handful of warring nations, wracked by water-shortage and poverty, rising on rogue technology, compassion, and the synthesis of the modern and the ancient. " (more)


Ian McDonald in...

Contemporary Authors. Go! (restricted access)
Half.com Go!


Ian McDonald Titles:

Futures : four novellas, Peter Crowther, Peter F. Hamilton, Watching trees grow, et al. 2001 Warner Books. pp. 365

Watching trees grow, Peter F. Hamilton, Ian McDonald and Tendeléo's story. 2002 Gollancz. pp. 103

Cyberabad days, Ian McDonald. 2009 Pyr, Projected Date: 0902.

Brasyl, Ian McDonald. 2007 Pyr.

River of gods, Ian McDonald. 2006 Pyr.

Ares express, Ian McDonald. 2001 Earthlight.

Kirinya, Ian McDonald. 1998 Victor Gollancz.

Sacrifice of fools, Ian McDonald. 1997 Vista.

Evolution's shore, Ian McDonald. 1995 Bantam Books.

Chaga, Ian McDonald. 1995 Gollancz.

Terminal café, Ian McDonald. 1994 Bantam Books.

Scissors cut paper wrap stone, Ian McDonald. 1994 Bantam.

Necroville, Ian McDonald. 1994 V. Gollancz.

The broken land, Ian McDonald. 1992 Bantam Books.

King of morning, queen of day, Ian McDonald. 1991 Bantam.

Out on blue six, Ian McDonald. 1989 Bantam.

Desolation road, Ian McDonald. 1988 Bantam.

Empire dreams, Ian McDonald. 1988 Bantam.

new social media aggregators

I only recently checked in on my Twitter account after six months. I didn't see the point. But after reviewing a really old message from Erik Swedlund, I started surfing the social media sites again. Swedlund had posted a few tweets from an app called twhirl, which led me to seesmic, and along the way Hulu, and return to Friendfeed. I doubt I have all that much content to generate on these user generated content sites, but they are fun to play with and they could benefit my Internet life and work in one way or another. OK well, cheers hipsmart and all, I've gotta go to Second Life right now and make my avatar walk, fly and sit down.

iPhone Document Scanner - buy custom personalized products from Ponoko

Hello, and thanks for visiting my showroom!

When I got my iPhone last year I loved having everything important in one place, and the ability to get rid of unnecessary devices, documents and info...

View >>

e-paper, haptics, and visor displays

Nature News has a special issue out on "Big Data," Nature 455, 8-9 (2008) | doi:10.1038/455008a .

The following quote comes from the article "Big data: The next Google." "When you start to combine visor graphics with more accurate global-positioning data, as will be provided by the European Galileo satellites, you can overlay online information onto the world around you. So as you're walking down a busy city street you will be able to see reviews of shops and restaurants, adverts for services, other people who have similar interests to you, or whatever.

When you are wearing a visor your surroundings can have a completely different appearance: a burger restaurant can look like a giant burger without flouting planning laws. You could be seen as your Second Life virtual avatar. Or Johnny Depp, or Claudia Schiffer. You get the best of both worlds."

--Ian Pearson Futurizon consultancy, Ipswich, UK