New Home for SEMLS Tech Watch

For the past year and a half, I have been planning to move SEMLS Tech Watch to the Movable Type platform we installed on our Web server. But it's never been a top priority and I was beginning to think I would live on Blogger forever. With the cancellation of my HTML class today due to the minuscule amount of snow on the roads, I decided I would use the free day to clear away some projects that have been sitting on the back burner. After creating a new blog for one of my colleagues who has been patiently waiting for one, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and move this blog to a new home. Because of the way we configured Movable Type on our server, I unfortunately could not keep the blog at the same URL. So this will be the last post that you can view on this Web site address. From now on, you will need to access SEMLS Tech Watch at www.semls.org/community/technews. I'm about to configure my feed now, but I'm fairly certain the RSS feed will be the same. E-mail notifications should also continue without interruption. See you on the new blog!

Science Reference Center Subscription is Now Active

As many of you know, SEMLS has selected Ebsco’s Science Reference Center as the new database subscription available to SEMLS members this year. The funds for a new database subscription were made available after the state took over the region’s ProQuest newspaper subscriptions. Ebsco has finished setting up access for SEMLS members. Since we already subscribe to Literary Reference Center through Ebsco, the access information is similar to what you use for that product. To access Science Reference Center and Literary Reference Center from one link, use the following URL: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,cookie,uid&custid=xxxx With this URL, you need to replace xxxx with your library's Ebsco customer ID. This is the same customer ID that is used in your library's link to Literary Reference Center. It usually starts with the letter s and is followed by seven numbers. If you want to link directly to Science Reference Center, the URL is: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,cookie,uid&profile=scienceref&custid=xxxx Once again, the xxxx needs to be replaced with your library's Ebsco customer ID. If you have any questions about setting up access for this subscription or cannot find your Ebsco customer ID, feel free to send an e-mail to helpdesk@semls.org.

Wikipedia Changes May Become More Restrictive

According to the NY Times, Wikipedia may restrict who can make updates to the encyclopedia. Under the new system, only registered, reliable users will be able to make live updates to Wikipedia. All others will be flagged to be reviewed by one of those reliable users. Will librarians be more accepting of Wikipedia with these rules? And is this a good move for Wikipedia? According to the article, under a test case with German Wikipedia, some revisions took as long as three weeks to appear on the site.

Digital Paper: a few years late, and not so flexible - The Boston Globe

Digital Paper: a few years late, and not so flexible - The Boston Globe

Posted using ShareThis

Top 100 Web Apps for 2008

OK - so it's the beginning of the new year, and it looks like I'll be posting a bunch of lists over the next couple of days. Here are the Top 100 Web Apps for 2008 from WebWare. Some, like WordPress, Flickr, and Pandora, are old favorites. Others, like ooVoo, are fairly new. I'll have to spend some time over the next week checking out some of these sites.

Top Technology Breakthroughs from Wired Magazine

Wired's list of Top Technology Breakthroughs for 2008 gives us some good ideas of what will be seeing over the next couple of years. Some, like the edible chip, are just creepy. Others, like flexible displays, could have a big impact on libraries as we continue to wait for the eBook device that will catch on with the public.

When Technology Fails: A New Report from Pew

The Pew Internet & American Life Project just issued a report on what consumers do when computers, Internet connections and devices fail. You can read the report at http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/267/report_display.asp. I was particularly interested in reading this report after spending the last few Saturdays helping my neighbor fix a problem with his Internet connection. The sole reason he has Internet is so that he can keep in touch with his son when he is in Iraq (fortunately, his son was in the US when this most recent Internet trouble came up.) I couldn't help but wonder what he would do if I wasn't available to help him with his computer. The tech support for his ISP was truly awful, and I doubt he ever would have been able to follow their instructions. According to the Pew report, 48% of tech users say they need help from others to get new devices and services to work. Is there a place for public libraries to assist these users? SEMLS has been bringing a Technology Sandbox to members so that library staff can get their hands on new gadgets and learn how to use them. Perhaps libraries can do similar programs for their users so that they can try some of this technology out before buying it.

I can't wait for this day to happen

According to this NY Times article, the days of faster boot-up times are coming soon. I can't wait! This article says the average boot time is three minutes. But it feels like my Vista machine takes an eternity. My Windows 98 machine at home, on the other hand, is a dream when it comes to boot-up time.