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WordCamp Boston happens at the spiffy Microsoft New England Research and Development Center in Kendall Square, Cambridge, on Saturday, January 23, 2010. Tickets are $20 and will probably sell out quickly.

“WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. WordCamps are open to WordPress.com and WordPress.org users alike.”

The Center for Research on Computation and Society hosts Ethan Zuckerman and Hal Roberts on Monday, November 23, at 11:45 am to discuss Media Cloud and Quantitative News Media Analysis at Harvard’s Maxwell Dworkin, room 119.

“The rapid rise of participatory media technologies – weblogs, social networks, microblogging, video sharing sites – are transforming the news media landscape, reshaping how ideas are spread. Much of the early research on the influence of participatory media on existing institutions focuses on specific, successful cases where media frames developed online influenced offline media. Our project seeks to complement this work with tools to facilitate quantitative analysis of the relationship between media sources. We will present our prototype system to retrieve, tag, cluster and analyze blog and newspaper data, and discuss how the Media Cloud platform will be used in our future experiments, and can be used by other researchers to analyze patterns of influence in news media.”

Deloitte’s upcoming webcastSocial Media and Government: Managing the Blurred Line between Personal Lives and Official Business discusses how businesses and governments can take advantage of social media while handling the risks of employees using the tools. Registration is free. The event is Tuesday, December 8, at 2 pm EST.

Today’s Boston Globe features a picture of the beautiful Boston Athaneum on its front page along with an article about how the private library with a rich, historical collection is marketing itself to younger people as a way to try to increase its members.

The Federal Trade Commission hosts the free public and webcast workshop From Town Criers to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive in the Internet Age? Tuesday and Wednesday, December 1-2, in Washington, DC. Pre-registration by those attending is encouraged to reserve space.

They are accepting public comment by Friday, 11/6. An organization called FreePress.org has put together a survey to add public comment.

Tuesday’s (11/10) Berkman Center for Internet & Society Luncheon Series features David Weinberger on What Information Was.

“It’s puzzling that even though we named an age after information, very few people can tell you what information is. And the ones with the clearest answers are often defining information in the technical sense, which is not the sense in which the culture took it up. In this session, we’ll look back at information, trying to understand what about it led us to embrace it as the dominant — paradigmatic — way of understanding ourselves and our world. David Weinberger will present an informal sketch of a direction, suggesting that we leaped into information because it reflected a long-held but squirrely metaphysics. There will be lots of time for open discussion.”

Folks attending in person should RSVP by Monday afternoon to rsvp @ cyber dot law dot harvard dot edu. Webcast listeners should tune in around 12:30 pm Tuesday.

Addenda 11/10: Notes from the talk:

Read the rest of this entry »

The Massachusetts Library Association is holding a rally for libraries on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at the State House at 11 am:

“Please join library colleagues and supporters for MLA’s rally for libraries! “Don’t Close the Books on Libraries” will take place on Wednesday, November 4th at 11:00 a.m. on the steps of the State House in the “well area”. Massachusetts Center for the Book’s annual MA Book Awards will be held inside the State House from 12:30 – 2:30 p.m., so plan to attend this exciting event following our rally so that we can celebrate and support Massachusetts libraries and authors!”

If you cannot be there, contact your state rep or senator!

http://capwiz.com/ala/ma/directory/statedir.tt?state=MA&lvl=state

On October 29, Massachusetts cities and towns dodged a bullet when the Governor didn’t cut local aid. But this could still happen depending upon what the State Legislature does. The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners have to cut 16 percent out of their FY2010 budget.

Posted by Rich

NEASIS&T is holding a program called “The library is dead. Long live the library! The rebirth of libraries in the 21st century” at the MIT Media Lab on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 between 9 am-4 pm.

“Library closures, slashed budgets, user apathy – everything’s online, right? It’s a story many of us have heard too often or experienced ourselves, especially with the recent downturn in the economy. But many libraries are re-inventing themselves, offering new services and transforming into very different entities while still at heart performing the same role they always have – helping communities connect with information.”

Come to this NEASIS&T program to hear:

* How changes in publishing are driving changes in libraries. How can we radically change an ancient institution that evolved from providing shared print copies into one that effectively provides online content (that we often don’t even own). It’s time to get past the kludges in our processes and organizational structures and embrace our future.
* What it takes to be a librarian these days. What skills and interests are necessary? In 10 years will we be librarians or technologists?
* Success stories from libraries that have radically changed their roles and services.
* How to design your library around user expectations and keep your organization relevant.

We’ll provide breakfast, lunch, and network access for all!

Speakers:

* John Palfrey, Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School & Co-Director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society
* Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian for Research & Instructional Services at Temple University’s Paley Library
* Shana Kimball, Publications Manger at the Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library
* Marguerite Avery, Senior Acquisitions Editor at The MIT Press
* Cyril Oberlander, Associate Director of Milne Library at the SUNY College at Geneseo

Cost:

Students / Retirees: $50
ASIST & SLA members: $60
General public: $75

For more info:

http://tinyurl.com/yf7rjdz

neasist09

Posted by Rich

Toby Pearlstein is giving the ISI Samuel Lazerow Memorial Lecture: Is There a Future for Special Libraries? on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 5 pm at the Kotzen Meeting Center, Simmons College, Boston, MA.

“2009 is the 100th anniversary of the Special Libraries Association, making this an ideal time to consider if there is a future for special libraries (and the skill set of librarians who work in them). Are we prepared to answer the question of whether in the struggle for our survival we will be “the fittest” or if special libraries will become a casualty of the ongoing information revolution? In exploring these questions Dr. Pearlstein will take a look at the roles special librarians have typically played as intermediaries and arbiters of information and knowledge in their parent organizations, discuss the increasing challenges to these roles from both within and outside the profession, and conclude by taking a pragmatic look at some ways to position ourselves for survival and success in a future of ongoing economic and social turbulence.”

RSVP
http://gslis.simmons.edu/signup/
by Tuesday November 10, 2009.

Posted by Rich

In September, The New York Review of Books printed an article about trends in the news industry and the potential future of news. An upcoming issue includes some editorials in response.