A Bloy and his Blog

For those unfamiliar with RSS, here is a brilliant video which describes what it is, and why you would want to use it:

RSS in Plain English

Found via the 9rules Design Community.

There’s been an interesting thread on the Web4Lib listserv about using the term Library 2.0 (which comes from the term Web 2.0). In the discussion, Tim Spalding (creator of Library Thing) said:

I don’t think Web 2.0 is a fad, but it’s clear the term has jumped the shark when the media starts talking about powerful marijuana as “Pot 2.0″.

Of course, everything will change when we have Pot 3.0, the Semantic Pot.

Which was so funny (to this web geek) I just had to share.

And for those of you who might need an explanation, here are links to jumping the shark and the semantic web.

Earlier this week I attended this year’s Computers in Libraries conference. While I wasn’t all that enamored with the hotel location, the conference itself was excellent. I got excited about, and learned a LOT of interesting things. Below are a few highlights.

The folks at the South Carolina State Library recently redesigned their site using Joomla, the open source content management system. This was a very inspirational session for me, as I’m looking at adding a CMS to my library’s website. More info is available at Joomla in Libraries.

Another intriguing session was Derick Willis’ talk entitled Creating Browsable Content with Django. Django is another open source CMS I want to learn more about.

read the rest of: Computers in Libraries 2007

My hosting company is upgrading the server this website resides on, so if you notice downtimes or general weirdness for a few hours tonight, that’s why.

I’ve never actually mentioned my hosting company here before, but if you’re looking for good web host, I highly recommend JaguarPC.

Since I’ve been with them (almost five years now) they’ve been expanding their business, and improving their services along with the expansion. That has been especially true over the past year or two. In addition to things like tonight’s server upgrade, a few months ago they upgraded all of their shared hosting customers to their newest, larger hosting plan at no extra charge! So, while still paying the same annual cost for the smaller plan, I got a huge increase in storage capacity, bandwidth limits, etc.

When I have had problems (or even just a question), their online support has been very good. Often responding to my concerns within minutes of submitting a ticket. They also have a good user forum with the company president, and top support people being active contributors.

Need a good web host? Try JaguarPC.

• Introducing Google TiSP - a free internet service provider we can all get behind. Not convinced? Make sure you read how it works, and the FAQ.
• Tired of dealing with electronic mail? Gmail Paper is now available. (The folks at Google Labs certainly have been busy lately.)
• From NPR’s Weekend Edition, a New York City councilman has proposed a bill to regulate obnoxious and distracting ringtones.
• President Bush calls up civil war reenactors for duty in Iraq, from the Onion News Network.

Look at 2006 through a different lens and you’ll see… a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It’s about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people’s network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It’s about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

Sure, it’s a mistake to romanticize all this any more than is strictly necessary. Web 2.0 harnesses the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom… But that’s what makes all this interesting.

Bravo. Excellent choice. It really is amazing how the power of the collaborative web has changed things. Here’s the article and links to related coverage.

Several months ago I discovered the website Lifehacker. Here’s their own description:

Computers make us more productive. Yeah, right. Lifehacker recommends the software downloads and web sites that actually save time. Don’t live to geek; geek to live.

Lifehacker has become one of my favorite websites to visit. Although the things they recommend might save time, the websites and software they talk about are almost always interesting and make it a VERY worthwhile site. Here are a few of the recent entries I found appealing.

• Macro photography how-to’s
• Ecoliving: The best of TreeHugger
• MacGyver Tip: Turn a CD spindle into a TP dispenser
• How to erase tourists from photos
• Ten bad things that are good for you
• The top 30 free Windows software apps