Radio Is Dead, Long Live Radio

Recently, I found myself wondering about radio. Radio, which had its first licensed broadcast in 1920 (Pluskota, 2015), has survived decades of new technology that should have destroyed it: television, 8-track tapes, cassette tapes, CDs, and MP3 players, just to name a few…

Usability: A Critical Thinking Exercise

The usability study was a great opportunity to think critically about the effects of a website’s design on how users access its content. That is certainly something I gained from doing it myself, and I’m sure all of us did while we shared our respective…

Moore’s Law: in Theory and Practice

We’ve had a number of fascinating discussions in our class sessions throughout this semester about the nature of digital technologies, which are undergoing immense changes, and how such changes are impacting society. I’ve enjoyed these discussions because it gives us…

My Brief Fling with Library Technical Services

This past summer I did an internship at a public library in Indiana, and part of that internship was working with a reference librarian. She was a wonderful mentor and fun to work with, but part of the deal was answering reference questions…

Public Libraries in the UK

Have you ever found yourself wondering about the situation with public libraries in the UK? Me too, which is how I found myself with a seemingly infinite number of tabs open in my browser, all with various Guardian articles from the past year. From these articles, it seems that…

An Admittedly Utopian View of Library Technology Services

As suggested by the above title, there will be quite a few “wouldn’t it be great if…” scenarios in the following paragraphs, but I believe this to be okay. I believe that thinking in the Utopian sense allows for us to reach higher…

‘People — AHHHHH’

My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest. I couldn’t concentrate on any sounds beyond my blood flow. The room grew warmer as time passed. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I abruptly shouted, “I’ll go next.” I volunteered to be the next student to do a 10-minute presentation.

The Archival Impulse(thanks Hal Foster!)

Recently, a fellow classmate tweeted about a Theaster Gates project, which got me thinking about how we set about preserving culture and the judgement calls we use to decide what objects and ideas make the cut. Foucault writes about how those who hold power…

The Library and Social Media

An important aspect of any organization is promotion and today, no promotion is more useful than social media. Not only is it a great medium for word of mouth, but it also allows organizations to connect with their users on a closer level. Most people are not going to visit a…

Mickey Mouse vs. the Public Domain

American copyright law can be a tricky thing. Originally, it was not quite as bad: when a work entered the public domain was a fixed term based on its first publication. In 1978, it was extended to fifty years past the life of the author, and in 1998, to 70 years past…

Being Free and Responsible

I encountered an article that discusses Internet filters on school computers, which is one part of the larger conversation about intellectual freedom issues. Doug Johnson, a school tech director quoted in the article, makes good points about how blocking certain websites prevents…

Looking Back

When I first came into this class I didn’t know what to expect. I’d taken technology-related “fundamentals” classes a number of times throughout my academic career and most had left me sour (“Chapter 1: The Keyboard”….really??”). The reason I’d always left those classes feeling empty is because they tend…

Redefinitions

Of all the thought-provoking and timely discussions we had as a class on Monday (November 9) the one I wished we’d been able to spend more time on was brought about by guest speaker Jeremy Shermak during his discussion of how the New York Times was able to turn their fortunes around during the early…

Creating for Your Community

Mesa County Libraries have launched a Kickstarter campaign for an app that they believe fills a “gap in the information ecosystem for their patrons.”(Enis) The app, Wild Colorado, gives information about animals indigenous to the region and allows users to take photos and share their experiences…

Everything Changes

My friend is annoyed with her public library. She has been for a while now. About a year ago, they started renovations. The goal was to make the library more of a community space — more computers, meeting rooms, and space in general. I know this because we went to visit her library while some…

Searching for Mr. Good-data…

Focusing on how data makes it way across the internet during last week’s class got me thinking about the topic that pervades so many LIS class discussions — and presumably many library conferences — what is the role of the library in the digital age? It never really struck me…

Brief Reflection

As the semester comes to an end, I thought that a brief reflective on the class might be in order. I signed up for the class in part because two of the librarians I met during my internship (and incidentally two of the librarians who I most respected) showed me how they used basic html skills as a…

We Built a Website

I’m building a website.

I’m also exaggerating. I’m currently interning for a non-profit that is just starting to get off the ground, and one of my assignments has been to create the website. But, as mentioned, “create” might be too strong of a word. We are, like many…

Survey Says: Renovation = Innovation

The Information Policy and Access Center at University of Maryland and the American Library Association having been working together on a survey that has collected data about public libraries and the internet for 20 years. (Koerber) The Digital Inclusion Survey “looked more closely at the…

Start Gaming

This past Saturday, November 21st, was International Games Day @ Your Library. Libraries all over the world hosted various game days and game themed programming throughout the weekend. International Games Day is the perfect opportunity to connect with people globally and to think of libraries as…

The Battle for Net Neutrality

On Friday, December 4th, the FCC found itself in a federal court, defending net neutrality. Again.

A quick review: net neutrality is the idea that users should be able to access all content and applications regardless of source, and that Internet…

Connecting with People in the Digital Divide

Libraries across the country, even the world, are connecting with their communities person to person, and through technology. Even with all the technological advances we see, people still need access to the technology and a person showing them how to use it.

Hour of Code

Today, in my daughter’s take home folder, her teacher had placed a notice that she and her classmates had been encouraged to participate in an Hour of Code at the school library. I had previously not heard of this program and after a little investigating found that this something that more libraries are…

Terrorism on the High Seas of Twitter

Earlier this month, at the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) Oversight Hearing, U.S. Rep. Joe Barton announced his plan to stop terrorists by shutting down websites including social media networks. “”ISIS and the terrorist networks can’t beat us militarily…