The $100 laptop: What went wrong - MSN Money

The $100 laptop: What went wrong - MSN Money: "I personally would love to see these laptops save the world, as some people have suggested they might. But those holding that opinion tend to view the world from the window of a five-star hotel.
In fact, this is a massive exercise in futility. And it's a shame."

No, not the happiest of Thanksgiving Day posts...but since technically it's not Turkey Day anymore, here it is! Besides, this is on target with a, ummmm...'discussion' I was having with Astro while we were out of town at a conference. Afraid I was on the same side largely as this writer Dvorak. I too think there are lots of other, better ways to spend the time, brainpower, chartible giving, and money that is going into this $100 PC project. Things that can make a more lasting difference in these developing countries. And how do you get around the fact that in most of these places the infrastructure is so poor? How does it help a village with no electricity, no running water, no reliable communication means to have laptops? Laptops that can only talk to each other (maybe!) and not to any greater network (because...well, see the point about 'no electricity'!)??

Techdirt: Will Digital Archiving Difficulties Wipe Out Important Elements Of Our History?

Techdirt: Will Digital Archiving Difficulties Wipe Out Important Elements Of Our History?em>
Even if you can store the data perfectly forever, without the right applications, it's meaningless. Matt Sullivan writes in with yet another article on the topic, this time from Popular Mechanics, that suggests we could be facing a "digital ice age" as plenty of data from this era of history are lost to bad archiving capabilities.

(Original article noted above is from Dec, 2006 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine.)

Well....yes. D'uh, I guess in a way. See, this issue apparently is now getting play in the slightly more popular press (I hedge and hate to take out the qualifier of "slightly" since PM is not exactly TIME or Newsweek in terms of its scope or readership...but is obviously vastly further reaching than all the academic stuff). And it's a known and researched topic in the archival, library and information science fields for quite some time. Apparently we've just been preaching to the choir and talking amongst ourselves until now. And even now, it's probably not someone from one of those disciplines doing the writing here. But he does reference some of the most famous examples of digital data obsolescence-- including the Navy's Aircraft Carrier, Nimitz.

Perhaps moral of this story/rant is to do research that has practical applications, work with practitioners on the research, and then get results published in both academic publications (cause I gotta go out and work on tenure someday, somehow) and more popular ones, outside my own field.

HA! So there...

I do NOT have an accent, and according to this, not the one I have sometimes been accused of having, and which I swear I don't.
See, that makes no sense in an online world without audio, and with a blogger trying to stay anonymous! But trust me when I say that when people ask me where I'm "from" (and that's a loaded question with no easy answer) and if I give them my birthplace, they then go "oh, of course, I thought you had a southern accent".
Well...dammit...I don't! And I've never lived anywhere where strong southern accents are the norm.
Hmmmph. Take the quiz yourself.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
North Central
The South
The Inland North
Boston
The Northeast
Philadelphia
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Meme mania

Followed a link from Elle, ABD to Seeking Academia for a different post, and then while reading, came across this one on one-word answer meme.Seeking Academia: The one word meme is harder than I thought it would be Came from elsewhere.
Fascinating. May have to do this...ok, WILL do this..
...feeling like channeling Yoda..."there is no try, only do"

So thanks, for yet another diversion, and reason I'm not asleep. Cool reason...but sleepy nonetheless.


· Yourself: enigma
· Your partner: steady
· Your hair: cinnamon
· Your Mother: collector
· Your Father: reticent
· Your Favorite Item: laptop
· Your dream last night: convoluted
· Your Favorite Drink: bourbon
· Your Dream Car: fast
· Your Dream Home: island
· The Room You Are In: study
· Your Ex: distant
· Your fear: rejection
· Where you Want to be in Ten Years? respected
· Who you hung out with last night: classmate
· What You're Not: disloyal
· Muffins: blueberry
· One of Your Wish List Items: motorcycle
· Time: 1995
· The Last Thing You Did: quiz
· What You Are Wearing: black
· Your favorite weather: nippy
· Your Favorite Book?: repeated
· Last thing you ate?: steak
· Your Life: bumblebee
· Your mood: sleepy
· Your Best Friends: soul
· What are you thinking about right now?: time
· Your car: sexy
· What are you doing at the moment: this
· Your summer: open
· Relationship status: stationary
· What is on your tv?: sports
· What is the weather like: unpredictable
· When is the last time you laughed: tonight

Comments on changes to/in ALA

Information Wants To Be Free » Blog Archive » ALA through my eyes: One year later

Blogger had vented a year ago about why not to join, or re-up with ALA (American Library Association) and wondered if things were ever going to change. She now thinks things have changed enough that she will indeed re-up. Nice summary in post about changes ALA has made, what they mean.

Also on this topic is a post from someone I know (sorta) about the academic library side of things and changes in ALA--and what it takes to make ALA/ACRL better. Comment thread may be most interesting part.

Fave Children's Book

Saw this post from Catalogblog that says there's a 'viral posting' going around (is that like a meme?) in honor of Children's Book Week, to name your fave kids's book. I'm guessing they mean fave from your own childhood, and not one you teach with, or read to kids in a library or school, or to your own kids. But I also guess it could be one of those too...

I'm not sure I can narrow it down to one. Several come to mind. Much more readily right now since about a month or so ago I was out buying favorite kids' books for a friend's baby shower. (everyone was to bring one or two of their favorites to start the family/baby's library-- naturally, having that Lib Sci degree, I didn't stop at one...or two!)

So...here's a quick Fave Five:
Uncle Wiggly-- loved those escapades with him and Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy. This is a suprisingly hard to find book in bookstores...at least in the brick-n-mortar world anyway. Original stories were written in 1920s I think, and re-released in 1970s, and again in the '80s. Some are in collections such as the one in the link, others are found separately.

Richard Scarry-- any...all! Love Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm... "Cars and Trucks and Things that Go", and the one with the story of the "Pie-rats".

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day--because sometimes days are just like that...still.

Amelia Bedelia-- love the puns, the word play. It's silly when you read as a kid, and still cracks me up as an adult, now reading to a new generation of kids.

The Little House series-- american classics. So many kids grew up learning to read with these books, and learning history and not even realizing it.

Well, that was a fun diversion. Everybody, go read a book. Better, go read a book to a child!

Wired News: A Sneak Peek at a Fractured Web

Wired News: A Sneak Peek at a Fractured Web: "Internet censorship is spreading and becoming more sophisticated across the planet, even as users develop savvier ways around it, according to early results in the first-ever comprehensive global survey of internet censorship."

Early release of data on big study from OpenNet Initiative looking at matters of cyberlaw, freedom of speech, and censorship of the web, on a global basis. Interesting points are countries that are less than forthright in their censorship tactics. The info age only comes to some of us, and the digital divide is global.

it's our job to bridge that gap...