All posts by Jonathan

Advocating independent causes

Here are a couple of causes worthy of support (in my humble opinion).

Save Net Radio: Preserving Music Diversity On The Net

At the request of the Recording Industry Association of America, the Copyright Royalty Board has increased the royalty payments internet radio stations must pay. That increase makes royalty payments drastically higher for the internet radio industry than those paid by traditional broadcasters. Even more absurd, royalty payments would be owed retroactively, for music that was played as far back as January of 2006 (which is kind of like the petroleum companies telling me I owe them money for the gas bought last year, because the price is higher this year).

When it comes to broadcast radio, I listen only to public radio, and the occasional sports broadcast. If I want to listen to music, I turn to internet radio such as Radio Paradise. Take a look at their playlist. You won’t hear a quarter of those songs on any commercial station.

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The term 2.0 jumps the shark

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.

Computers in Libraries 2007

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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.

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.

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Disconnected

Today I returned home from the Computers in Libraries conference (more on that soon). I was away for a week, and what I missed most was my internet connection. I found myself very envious of the librarians who had their own notebook computers, and were taking advantage of the free wi-fi in the conference rooms.

I spend a great deal of my normal day (both working and off days) using a computer. Going without access while seeing others online almost made me feel like a junkie in need of a fix. Waiting in line to use one of the conference’s eight email stations for ten minutes did not cut it. I wanted to check out the cool things the librarians were talking about in their presentations. I wanted to be able to take notes more efficiently. And, I wanted to do some of the normal, daily things I do on the web.

I seriously need a notebook computer.

Neko Case mesmerizes

Last night I went to the Neko Case concert at the Barrymore Theatre here in Madison. Her wonderful Fox Confessor Brings The Flood was my favorite album from last year, and I was very excited to see her perform live. I was not disappointed.

Hearing the music and that gorgeous voice resonate through the sold-out theater was an enchanting experience. From the Patsy Cline like crooning of the opening song, “A Widow’s Toast,” to the defiant (and almost shouting) end chorus of “Maybe Sparrow,” Neko’s voice was indeed the star of the show.

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Today’s web links

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