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.
“The Podcamp Foundation is teaming up with TechWeb And O’Reilly Publishing to plan the Open sessions at the Web 2.0 Conference at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City on Wednesday, November 18th and Thursday, November 19th, 2009.
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 Boston Book Festival is being held on Saturday, October 24, 2009 in the Copley Square area between 10 am-6 pm:
“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
I breathed a big sigh of relief when I read the front page headline of my paper copy of The Boston Globe yesterday: The New York Times decided not to sell The Globe. The future of this newspaper and Boston journalism were in question. Sure, there are lots of news sources around here, but without this newspaper, the area would be missing a major source of news. I wonder how the folks at the Boston Herald are taking the news.
The Globe has a special section on their Web site about the prospects of selling and the future of journalism.
(Oof. I really haven’t posted this workshop yet. My apologies for the late notice.)
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.
The Massachusetts Open Source Project, which includes selecting an open source ILS system for three Massachusetts library networks, will be holding information sessions on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at the Palmer Public Library and Thursday, October 29, 2009 at the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium offices in North Andover, Massachusetts. Staff from MVLC, NOBLE and C/W Mars library networks will be giving presentations as well as discussing the recommended open source ILS system, Evergreen.
There’s MassLNC Development Site for further information on the project:
Here’s more information on the project:
http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/images/mvlcconnections0908.pdf
For directions on the two meetings:
http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2009/10/08/ma-open-source-info-session
h/t to the Swiss Army Librarian
Posted by Rich
The Carnegie Corporation of New York and the America Library Association are coordinating the “I Love My Librarian 2009 awards for deserving school, academic, and public librarians nationwide. Nominations close Friday, October 9.
WBUR’s Here And Now program had an interview with Cushing Academy’s Headmaster James Tracy about his decision to get rid of books and install computers and other electronic devices:
http://www.hereandnow.org/2009/09/rundown-922/
Also the Classical Bookworm blog had a posting on the Cushing library decision:
“I give the headmaster points for acknowledging that they can do this because they are richer than God, as the saying goes. I do wonder whether encouraging students to read books for pleasure carries much water when you’re getting rid of your book collection. Teens are notoriously adept at spotting when grownups are not walking the walk.”
The posting includes a link to a live interview:
Posted by Rich
Kristen emailed to say last year’s InfoCamp in Seattle was a great success with more than 200 attendees and lots of exciting things. To start the excitement this year, there is a shipshape tweet for Talk Like a Pirate Day about the gathering, as well as useful info on the wiki. Admission to the event at Cleveland High School building, 5511 15th Ave S, Seattle, Washington, is $10 for students and $50 for everyone else.
Too bad I don’t think I can be in Seattle in a few weeks … That sounds like a lot of fun!
I hate to post on top of Rich’s contribution about the front page Globe story on Cushing Academy’s changes to their library, but I want to make sure word gets out that the Special Library Association’s $50 discount on the 2010 Annual Conference registration ends today, Friday, September 4. The conference is in June 13-16 in New Orleans. With the discount, members pay $395 and nonmembers pay $875. (The price difference alone is incentive to join SLA, no?)