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

“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:

Information has become a cradle to grave problem and certainty. Despite the fact that we’ve left the Stone Age, we still use stone in lots of the same ways that we used it back then. Information is the same way. It will always exist. We will always need it.

information
sense data
sensation
…
perception

The universe itself might be made of information, according to quantum information theorists. But, really, what is information?

With the exception of the occasional computer scientist, we do not *know* what information is. We talk about it all the time, but if we try to define it, we just end up with discrepancies. 200+ definitions exist, including the technical definition, which is not what David Weinberger means with this talk.

Information theory indicates two primary kinds/definitions of information, based on Charles Babbage’s thoughts: “something you didn’t know and now you do” and “the contents of a table-standardized expression.” Claude Shannon took over the term and created a new, highly technical meaning for it. There is now a mathematical expression about information. Page 36, chapter 1 has a good definition involving transferring information. That definition is “not what the culture took up” from the definition.

Something you are about to learn -> contents of a table ->

(he’s moving too fast for me to take notes about his slides)

why?
what enabled information to take over the world?
its utility
its politics

Information theory lets us figure out how to handle information, like with computers and hard drives. Without it, our world and its devices would be very different.

Information works by reducing the amount of information associated with an object. Our current age makes it seem like information is more about overload than stipping things down to their essential bits.

“We are far better able to manage the abundance of crap than the abundance of good. … The good stuff is the challenge to our culture. … [people and institutions] assume a scarcity of the good stuff.” Many ideas are premised on the assumption that there’s not enough good stuff and people will pay for it. Institutions depending on scarcity fail. Newspapers are dealing with these challenges now and new revenue models. The amount of signal that looks like noise is clouding things.

“Of course, this requires new ways to organize things. I am not going to talk about that.”

We need to know how to enter and navigate the information respositories. Precision and recall used to be key concepts. Relevance and “interestingness” are newer concepts when dealing with search results.

Old ideas about how to enter the information space (think Tron or Desk Set) might not work these days. The newer generation is fused so well with information, they are always in the world of information.

“Bits apply to everything.” Everything has a base in information.

Information became a dominant metaphor during the communication age. At the beginning, Shannon was working with a communication theory and expressed that he wasn’t dealing with semantics. Warren Weaver wrote about similar ideas and went so far as to give a very loose, broad definition of communication. “We have a conduit metaphor for communication theory.” But why? Vibrations traveling through the air make the basics of communication, but that’s not what’s important to us. What’s important to us are the topics. Descartes and metaphysics show how people can visualize their worlds in their heads, perhaps to the point of us never being able to reach true reality. The world is something that’s interesting and relevant. Maybe one now sees the world differently because of the communication. How much do messages matter without everything that’s interesting and important?

During war time, someone came up with a theory of improvements related to the various needs of war, like having communication techniques that work through explosions, chaos, and broken communication lines.

Are links content or medium? Both? They add information to a page while supplying a path through a linked world. Generative paths. In our world, we assume information just works.

Models. Yucca Flats and atomic wastes. The financial meltdown. There are always limitations, no matter how hard we try. Purely formal abstractions leave out important pieces. It all comes back down to bits, these measurements of differences. Our ability to use and model bits comes back down to them being exactly how the world is not.

“Agree, support, dispute, discount, disagree, reject, recommend, extend, amplify, endorse, denounce, concur, connect” shown in a linking web

Fragments express differences we don’t appreciate enough.

David Weinberger is, as always, awesomely fascinating.

Q&As:

Q: A link breaks down the traditional view of information because it’s a link and information at the same time and clouds whatever information exists about sequence. Word order has information and meaning. Links change that. Should someone click the link immediately? Finish the page and return to the link or linked material? What?

A: One debate related to information theory has to do with language being a part of information and coming up with an information theory above just language theory. Lots of signaling happens all around us. It’s not all linguistic. Are links linguistic or something else? Word order is linguistic. Underlines or different colors for links.

Q: John Palfrey asked very elegantly about how David’s lecture fits with the other work he’s done. Ethan Zuckerman said he was going to ask a similar question simply as “So, what?”

A: David builds on his own intersts that might not interest anyone else. He hopes he’s contributing to the dialog.

Q: How do links work with various interoperability issues?

A: Everything is information and everything is miscellaneous. David doesn’t think it’s the age of links, but rather the age of the network. We’re rethinking everything as networks.

Q: You’ve done a great job of defining how we got to where we are. What’s next?

Q: Information is an abstraction, but tech dependent. Focusing on the tech limitations and relationship with information might help it seem more normative.

Q: When you talk about distinctions, you talk about someone how has given something a distinction. What about inserting human agency into information?

A: “Three fabulous questions and I’ll be done at some time in 2011 answering them.” We don’t know what’s next, but we can grope our way forward.

Is saying viruses communicate backreading into what viruses are doing? Do viruses really transmit information? Does a Jacard loom contain information?

Information already has a human element in it. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be information.

Ethan Zuckerman wrote about the talk, too. His thoughts, like usual, are worth a read.

“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

“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

“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

The Open’s theme is ‘Doing More with Less,’ and we’re lucky enough to have a collection of some of the brightest minds in social media and marketing to talk about how they are using the web to expand their businesses, making both time and money stretch to maximum efficiency. …”

“The wait is over! The Boston Book Festival has just announced its official schedule of events, and with 31 to choose from, and you’re guaranteed a fun-filled, jam-packed day on Saturday, October 24 between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Click here for the list of sessions with times and locations.”

“In addition to our illustrious workshops, panels, presentations and performances, there will be more than 30 exhibitor booths set up in the plaza, featuring local booksellers, publishers, educators, and arts organizations. Meet authors and get books signed!”

“Don’t forget to bring the kids! We have several great events planned for the young ones, including fun activities put on by some of our exhibitors– the Boston Children’s Museum, 826 and One Laptop Per Child for example. And don’t be surprised if you run into Curious George or Madeline!”

“Also, be sure to check out the Festival Stage in Copley Square plaza, featuring live tunes ranging from a cappella to bluegrass, funk to reggae, with some impressive talent from Berklee College of Music.”

“Feeling peckish? Score a free cup of joe from Green Mountain Coffee or a chowdah sample from the Legal Seafoods Chowder Truck.”

Most events are free, but some require purchased tickets to attend.

Ken Burns, Anita Diamant, Anita Shreve, Jane Kamensky and Walter Isaacson are some of the writers who will be attending. Nicholas Negroponte will be talking about the One Laptop Per Child project, New York Times personal technology columnist David Pogue will leading a discussion on ebooks and digitalization.

For more information:

http://www.bostonbookfest.org/index.php

Posted by Rich

The Globe has a special section on their Web site about the prospects of selling and the future of journalism.

Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Center for Research on Computation and Society are facilitating a free Ruby on Rails workshop this weekend, October 16 and 17. Intended to be a supportive learning environment to encourage women in the software industry, men can register as the guest of a woman. Newbies are welcome. There is a discount with an in-home child care provider. Register through the blog post linked above.

Popular with developers, Ruby on Rails simplifies the programming of Web applications and should be a good first language for someone without programming experience. Knowing a programming language will only help librarians in these times. If you can’t figure out how to use Ruby in your job, learn a different language, like perhaps Python. I’ve heard from many programmers that learning languages becomes easier after they’ve learned one.

Addenda 10/15: The ladies running the workshop told participants it is full. I think there will be a webcast or some kind of audio archive. Information might be in the blog post linked above.

10/17: Webcast! IRC on freenode.net: #boston.rb -> Boston Ruby group’s channel, which they’re encouraging the participants to use today. Tweet hashtag: #rorw4w (In English: that’s the Twitter tag.)

And lots more notes~ That way you folks who don’t care about programming and what nifty tools like Ruby on Rails can do can easily skip this post.

Notes on downloading and installing the software are on the devChix wiki. Ruby and Rails require lots of pieces in order to work and to work together. One of the strengths is that they can sit on top of any database language. For the class, we’re using SQL. The sets of slides our instructor, Sarah Allen, uses are available via Slideshare and GitHub. There’s also a Ruby group on Google Groups. Supposedly, it’s safe to ask for help there. I can’t vouch for that because I haven’t posted on the list before. I’m in the beginner’s workshop.

Because I have Panther (Mac OS 10.3.9), my experience downloading and installing all of the software is different from a lot of other people’s experience. Apple has included Ruby as part of what comes with their machines since Leopard (10.5). I needed to snag git from a site other than that linked to from the wiki because those were all for more recent versions of Mac OSX. The One-click installer for Ruby didn’t work as I expected it to, so I ended up installing the various tars by hand. Thank you, JB, for taking the time several years ago to teach me how to do that when I needed to install mutt at work. Because of going through that experience, I knew to download the tar, find the README, INSTALL, or other file in the folder, and follow the instructions for installing the files. I became really good at ./configure, make, sudo make install, and so on. All together, it wasn’t too much yak shaving. I’ve been in situations before where each time I wanted to install software, I needed to grab another language or program or three. I use Terminal, Mac’s command window, all the time, so having to manually install the various programs wasn’t that horrible on its own. It was just mostly time consuming work between the downloads and waiting for the code to compile. If you have never had to install software that way, consider yourself lucky on some level, but I’ll say it’s very good knowledge to have. Luckily, there were rolling chairs, but unfortunately, the steps got in the way.

Sarah Allen and Sarah Mei, the ladies behind the workshop, both decided to do something about the gender disparity in the open source community. Sarah Allen, our workshop leader, talked about attending conferences regularly where there would be 6 women out of 200 total attendees. About 3% of the people in the open source developer community are women. The Sarahs would like that number to grow and see these workshops as a way to connect to women and encourage them to participate. The organizer at Berkman, Liana Leahy, admits when she attends tech gatherings, she often feels like she’s representing her gender more than being there as an equal.

In the class, we’re going to do some test driven development (writing code to address test plans) and agile programming.

Needed:

• ruby
• rails
• rake (make for ruby)
• git
• database (SQLite is what we’re using in the course, but it runs on top of many other ones)
• editor (Any editor should work. I’m using BBEdit because Komodo Edit (their suggestion) wasn’t working on my machine: the newest free version runs on a higher OS. After some digging, I found Komodo Edit 4.3.2 runs on 10.3.9, so I downloaded, installed, and began using it because it has better project management and Ruby visualization.)
• heroku (free rails hosting with some awesome project names)

During the intro, they asked for a show of hands as to who had programming experience. Most of my developer friends don’t consider anything of the dappling I’ve done to be real programming, so I kept my hand down. When Sarah was naming languages after that, she listed Basic. W00t! I’m finally somewhere where my past programming experience counts for something. Of course, she also listed COBOL, Pascal, and several other older languages no longer popular. Some of the older ladies raised their hands in response. That made me grin. We’re worried about gender disparities in programming now. Imagine what it was like 40 years ago.