Leadership

Here's a link to an article about leadership and a new book about leadership, which could be relevant to managing and providing leadership in libraries. The author has both academic and corporate experience.

Leadership

Here's a link to an article about leadership and a new book about leadership, which could be relevant to managing and providing leadership in libraries. The author has both academic and corporate experience.

Wikipedia's Downside

Here's an article from the NY Times on corporations editing articles in Wikipedia - or editing out information that they don't like. This seems to be the downside of wiki's. We really will need a wikiscanner - one already exists.

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New TableRank Search Engine

Here's a link to an article about a new tableRank (cf. Google's pageRank) search engine, coming out of the IT school at Penn State. It searches for tables on the internet. The world of searching is constantly changing, and perhaps we will be getting more and more refined tools!!

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Skype Problems

Yesterday Skype went down for unknown reasons, but the reasons might be found in the software that has been downloaded by absolutely all users since 2003. Here's a link to a NY Times article which will probably become unavailable within a week when it is no longer free. This seems to show the vulnerability of networks, especially hubs. They are resistant to everyday errors, but because they are arranged into hubs, shooting at hubs brings them down. Yet Skype is a peer-to-peer system, so maybe you wouldn't expect this.

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Reflections on Computer Assignments: Need CSS help!!!

As I went through the past announcements on our course management system, in order to find out more about how to do an external style sheet for a webpage, I found an announcement on how to delete reserves from Koha. For some reason, I had missed this before. It might be the solution to the problem I had with Koha, where some books were listed as "nonreservable" - see my earlier Koha Assignment post. However, I will not have time to investigate this possibility.

Also I would like to report that my search engine page is now appearing on the web - apparently it did publish, but did now show the other day. So, if I need to, I will be able to link it to my main personal webpage. However, I don't need to right now.

I might not complete the final leg of my computer assignment, I am sorry to report. I have started it, by including the Thoreau excerpt as Thoreau2.html document in Kompozer, and, following directions given, I tried to link el to the external style sheet provided by the instructor. However, even though the sheet showed, the formatting of the document did not change, and I couldn't get the editor to work.

The problem might be that I couldn't directly link to this particular style sheet without first making sure it was in the same directory. I am not sure how to make sure it is in the same directory, unless I upload through FileZilla through my public and html directories. However, I am not sure where and how to save it first. I don't even know where or how to use notepad, which others keep mentioning in their posts on a discussion board. Can I save it in microsoft word, and, if so, what type of document should I save it as? CSS is not available there, at least not under that name.

I have been looking through some instructions from a website on external CSS stylesheets, but I am still not sure how to link them up. These instructions tell you how to include the information in the code of your html document - would that be the Thoreau document? And how do I find an external style sheet. I simply do not understand. I understand why an external style sheet is useful, because it can globally control format, but I don't understand where you find such sheets or how you would create them. I tried checking the code of some of my fellow students webpages, but I still don't understand what I am supposed to do.

I have a similar problem publishing webpages. I know how to do it in FileZilla, but when I create new webpages, I do not know how to do it in Kompozer - am I supposed to publish to a new site and fill out new information? When I try to do that, it reports that directory was not found, although it seems to say it is published. Nonetheless, I can't find it on the web. Although I understand the importance of public and html directories, I do not understand how to actually fill out the menus that Kompozer has. I end up wildly trying to different things.

Only recently have I figured out how to make a folder in Kompozer.

Sometimes I feel very foolish asking the questions I do. Really, I often find that nobody wants to answer them. It could be for a variety of reasons: 1) I post the questions really late, and nobody sees them; 2) My questions are not clear, so nobody understands what my problem is; 3) The information is available elsewhere in the course (although I might not realize it), and people figure I should know this. 4) I might give the impression that I have not even tried to find the solution before asking the question. This is seldom true - sometimes I have spent hours and hours trying to solve a problem, without any success. 5) People think I have not read elsewhere in the discussion board - I actually spend a lot of time reading the discussion board, but sometimes I do forget what I have read, even if I have copied it down. 6) Other students - especially those posting to the discussion boards - are just as confused as I am.

However, sometimes some fellow students have been very helpful.

For all the hours of time I have put into this course, I don't expect that I have accomplished all the goals that were set for us. However, I do get the impression there are some other students who have also had had difficulties. I am sorry to hear that, and I wish I could have been more help than I have been. However, at least, I realize that is not simply a personal problem.

Search Engine for Chemistry!!!

Here's a link to research on designing a search engine for chemistry which won't return as many irrelevant results. The algorithm was designed in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology. "With the new engine, scientists searching for research on CH4 or methane no longer have to wade through search results about Channel 4 or Chapter 4 as ChemxSeer will only return documents with references to the chemical formula."

This seems to be an important achievement in search engines, because one common problem with search engines, such as Google, is unusually large search return sets. The other problem is a null set, when you think some information should be available. I had some trouble with the latter when I was searching for links to my Thoreau fragment, and had to think of some more creative ways to search.

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Exhaustion!!!! (Webpage, Kompozer, Filezilla)

exhaustion

Click on the above link to see a whole page of photos from Flickr on "exhaustion", which happens to be how I presently feel. My professor suggested that I try to create my search engine and my GRAZR widget on a separate webpage and then link to my main webpage, in order to avoid conflicts in code. Thus, I opened a new page in Kompozer, and inserted the code to my Google Search Engine, which should have showed up like the one on the sidebar of this blog (except without being cut off). Nothing whatsoever showed. I tried to publish anyway, and all that came up was a blank page (which, I assume is not surprising, given the preview).

However, when I saved my personal webpage to my desktop, the desktop copy still contained the code, and both the search engine and GRAZR widget showed up. Thus, it seemed to me I might simply have a publishing problem. I tried to publish again from FileZilla and it worked!!!!! Something worked without taking 3 hours, how exciting!!!! I will not try to fix what is not presently broken. In other words, it might be better for me to have these items on a separate page linked to my main page - certainly it would be more sophisticated - but I don't think I should touch it now.

At the same time, I am still worried, because I need to do the last segment of the assignment, which is the external style sheets for the Thoreau. I will do that on a separate page, but then I will need to link it to my main page, which means resaving and republishing my main page. Will I be able to do this again without losing the search engine and the GRAZR widget? It is so hard to tell, because sometimes things don't show up in Kompozer, but do show up when I save to desktop. I think the code is still in Kompozer, but lots of items don't show on the page in Kompozer, so I don't know if I will lose them or not.

I am also running short on time. I still need to finish grading 50 midterm exams, I will need to post twice on 4 books, which I need to finish reading, and I have to make time to do the Thoreau external stylesheet, as well as be prepared to redo a few elements of my main page in case I do lose them in resaving and republishing.

I have learned a lot in this class, but there is a lot I still don't understand about both formatting a web page and publishing it. It is nice to see a completed project, regardless of how unsophisticated, but it is frustrating getting to that point.

Mechanical Computers superior?

Here's a link to a blog post in NewScientist technology blog (from BBC) that discusses the advantages of mechanical computers based on nanoparticles over the present silicon based computers. This would be interesting to compare to my previous blog on optical computing. In any case, the field of computing hardware remains a place with great potential for change, and, for all we know, it will go through a paradigm shift. After all, recording technology has often gone through such shifts - from varieties of analog recording to varieties of digital recording.

Disappearing Google Search Engine

My google search engine in the sidebar sometimes disappears, although when it is there, it seems to work. When it disappears from the side bar, an icon remains. When I click on the icon, the code for the search engine shows, but I don't know what to do about it.

I also had the search engine as an element in an older post - although it was there for a long time, it recently disappeared completely, and I don't know why. There is no icon left on that blog post.

You may also see my google search engine on NonHuman Primate Morality on my website. So far, it has remained there, but I am a little concerned about it. Some people seem to include the entire search engine page, which shows favored sites, but mine only includes the actual engine.

More on Autism Exhibit at Penn State Library

Here's an article with images on the autism exhibit at Penn State Library that I referred to in an earlier post. I liked the addition of images. This exhibit seems to correspond to a national conference on autism held each year at Penn State for families of people who are autistic, educators, neuroscientists, and others.

New Computing Technology

Here's a link to a NewScientist article on optical computing. Will this eventually render our present computer technology obsolete, thereby requiring migration of all data once again? There is also an interesting article on what is wrong with Web 2.0 from the point of view of Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger in the latest print issue, but I don't have a link to it.

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KOHA Assignment

I have finished my KOHA Assignment (see list of 15 books below in blue), although only the first 3 books show on the virtual shelves. I did the first three books and then came back to the assignment later, and no books since then have shown on my virtual shelves (most of them were done by July 9th). I thought it was because they were duplicates (as I mentioned in a previous post), but I have checked quite a few of them in the KOHA catalog, and they aren't duplicates (for those just added, the catalog reports ''no items returned" after checking both through ISBN# and title), except for one title I accidentally entered twice. (I tried to delete my duplicate, and although the record deleted, the duplicate title remains when I run my subject search, "Good and Evil"). By the way, after I started to check for duplicates, I did reject a few books that were already in KOHA's catalog, which means that I must have been searching the catalog correctly.

When I run a search on the virtual shelves, my entire list of 15 shows, with 12 labeled as "not reservable". I had asked on the discussion board about this, and one person told me that this meant they were duplicates; a second person told me that this did not matter, because our professor did not tell us the books had to be reservable. I tried to contact the professor by e-mail, but he did not reply. Therefore, I am not sure what the problem or the solution is.

In any case, I am not getting my webpage assignments done because of the time I have devoted to the KOHA assignment, so, having reached an impasse, I have declared this done. Here is my list of books, and their ISBNs:

"Anatomy of Evil", by Anshen, Rugh Nanda: 0918825156

"Encountering Evil: Live Options in Theodicy", by Davis, Stephen T., ed. : 0804205175

"An Essay on the Origin of Evil", by King, William: 082401782X

"Evil: A Reader", by T&T Clark: 0567089754

"Evil: A Historical and Theological Perspective", by Schwarz, Hans: 0788099108

"Evil and Suffering", by Neusner, Jacob, ed. 0829812849

"Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy", by Neiman, Susan: 0691096082

"Facing Evil: Light at the Core of Darkness", by Woodruff, Paul & Wilmer, Harry, eds. 0812690788

"Freud, Women, and Morality: The Psychology of Good and Evil", by Sagan, Eli. 0465025706

"Imagining Evil", by Horne, Brian. 0232521611

"The Power of God: Readings on Omnipotence and Evil", by ed. Linwood Urban & Douglas Walker, 0195022017 (This is the one I myself duplicated - I put it in twice accidentally).

"Powers of Good and Evil: Moralities, Commodities, and Popular Belief": 1571819924

"Radical Evil: A Philosophical Interrogation", by Bernstein, Richard J. 0745629547

"The Trouble with Evil: Social Control at the Edge of Morality", by Lemert, Edwin McCarthy. 0791432432

"Wickedness", by Midgely, Mary. 0415255511

I rather enjoyed this assignment until I could not resolve my problem. If anyone has the answer, please let me know. I noticed that there were a few other students who had very books on their virtual shelves, although many students had more than 15 books on their virtual shelves.

There were also a lot of recent electronic resources or e-books in the Library of Congress Catalog on this subject. There were also a lot of foreign language books, especially in German, on this subject. This was a very broad subject, as you should be able to gather from the diverse focus of the books listed above - some theological, some philosophical, some social, etc.

Autism Exhibit at Pattee Library, Penn State

Here's a link to the list of exhibits presently at Pattee Library of Penn State. Unfortunately the link does not include any images; it just includes information. I noticed this list of exhibits because there is an exhibit from July 15 through September on autism, and I had a previous post on autism - how autistics like the virtual game, Second Life. On the way back from Pittsburgh, I hope to stop and see this exhibit, and stop in Paterno Library to say hello to the librarians who recommended the library school at Pitt.

Blogs, State College Arts Festival & Pittsburgh

On my way to Pittsburgh I stopped to stay overnight at a friend's place in State College, PA, where presently there is also an arts festival going on. My friend, an engineer, is unfamiliar with blogs, and said the name "blogs" sounded something like "dog poop". So there's an interesting thought!!! Click the link above for some images from the State College arts festival. It is an annual event.

My drive to Pittsburgh from State College, which should have taken 3 hours, took twice as long, because I was going 1 mph in the last several miles due to the detour from 376 West. Then I got lost trying to find the location of the hotel. So it turned out to be a frustrating and hot day. At least I was able to locate my cohort and go out to dinner. And today, Sunday, I was able to locate a computer lab on campus at the Hillman Library.

Recent Frustrations: KOHA & others

Today, I just have a list of frustrations. My KOHA assignment for library school is not yet handed in, because I only have 3 out of 15 books on my virtual bookshelves, despite the fact that I tried to catalog 11. It seems that KOHA already has all my books in the system, and I haven't had the chance to find more books that aren't in the system. I even tried to start a virtual bookshelf on another topic, but KOHA had those books in the system, too. In any case, the first set of books was on the subject of good and evil, and the new set was on film noir, but I really haven't added anything to film noir. Perhaps I should choose a topic like "skiing". In any case, I plan to go back and try to finish the topic of good and evil. Finally, someone on the discussion board let me know how to check KOHA first to make sure KOHA does not yet have the book. I guess it works like a catalogue. That might seem obvious, but it did not occur to me. Sometimes things do occur to me, and I learn how to make my way around, but other times, things just do not occur to me.

My second frustration is that I haven't had a chance to try to publish my web page. I did it the other day, but I need to download FileZilla and go through all the steps to publish it. I have not been feeling well in the 97 degree heat of the last couple of days, and I have found it very difficult to work. (My stomach is also bothering me rather badly.) However, I hate to make excuses, and I just cannot afford to get behind. I am also supposed to be adding all sorts of elements to my web page this week, and I am held up. I have been following the discussion boards on these projects.

I teach 3 courses, 2 preparations right now, so there are some nights that I simply cannot devote to these projects, especially because I need to devote a substantial amount of time to them in order to achieve anything, and similarly, if I am grading or preparing what I teach, I need to devote a substantial amount of time to that. Therefore, I tend to chunk my time, instead of divide it among many different tasks each day.

Although I look forward to my trip to Pittsburgh for library school, I actually need the time to fulfill my assignments. I am worried that I will not be able to complete the courses, especially the computer course, because when I get back from Pittsburgh, I will have grading to do in all three classes. It would help if I was feeling better physically (and I hope that this heat wave breaks up just a little - I have no air conditioning at home.)

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Recommended Book

Here's a link the Amazon.com site for a book I strongly recommend, called "Information Feudalism: Who Owns the Knowledge Economy?" which addresses the effects of patents and copyrights internationally.

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Moore's Law and Power Laws

Here's a graph of Moore's law as applied to the increasing power of processors in computers. Power laws can also be applied to social networks found on the web, according to Bernardo A. Huberman, in his little, but dense work, "The Laws of the Web: Patterns in the Ecology of Information".

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GRAZR Widget

I hope this is my GRAZR widget. Unfortunately it links to a file that cannot be found, because my registry of my computer does not recognize OPML files. When I have a chance to download a program that fixes that, the widget should work.

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Problem with links

I am having difficulties with my links - some do not seem to work, that is, they are not bringing up the pages to which they are linked, and I don't know why. As far as I know, the material to which I link is not part of a private subscription or licensed database. I have been able to fix some of my links - http:// appeared twice in a row in some of the code, which is why the linking wasn't working for some of them.

Disabled access to library?

Here's a link to a NewScientist Article which suggests that parapalegics and other disabled people might be able to use a computer by controlling a cursor with their tongues. This opens up the possibility that libraries will be able to provide even greater access to their electronic resources.

I am not able to make a link to NewScientist, print edition, but the latest issue includes a discussion of how autistics, especially those with Asperger's syndrome are really benefitting from the virtual game, Second Life. Originally a neuroscientist started an island in Second Life, to be of therapeutic value to autistics, but many of those who participated then wandered off the island to participate in the larger game. Some autistics rejected the island, and started their own communities, because they see their "condition" as not a disease which needs therapy, but as a variation that should be accepted.

In any case, this shows how web 2.0 and cyberspace, which, according to Lawrence Lessig in Code: Version 2.0, is a richer experience than the internet and one entirely dependent upon virtual space, might be more all-inclusive than the web and the internet have been thus far. The book, Leonardo's Laptop, discusses how universal usability should become a goal, although that book provides a precising definition in terms of approximately 100% of the population. For universal accessibility to become a goal, social networks and relationships, and not just technology will have to be taken into account, and technology will have to be designed with users' needs in mind.

Royalties for web radio

Here's a link to the BBC tech news on the day of silence held this past Tuesday for the new royalties that will be going into effect for Web radio. This will mean an exorbitant cost for web radio, such as NPR. It is part of the continuing fight over what role copyright law or intellectual property law will play on the Web and the internet, and who will bear the costs.

Notice of connection problems

This post is not going to be exciting. My phone line at home is dead, so I am up at the school where I teach trying to get some work done. My phone went dead on Friday (yesterday) and is not supposed to be fixed until Monday, somewhere between 8 am and 7:15 pm. That really holds me up for both my classes I take and the classes I teach. It is not all convenient, to say the least. I am supposed to blog at least 3 times per week, but it looks like I will need to catch up during this coming week. So this is, in a sense a notice.

Folksonomy

Here's some data as to how many more categories are found through folksonomy than occur in traditional taxonomies.&; Some organizations use these to update their own taxonomies, but it seems to be speculation as to whether any number of categories or classifications are shared by a large number of people.This is an interesting problem to ponder when it comes to subject directories, which can sometimes narrow searches that are so broad from search engines.Even search engines that rank retrieval through number of popular links tend to be broad and don't necessarily evaluate these links.Are links really analogous to citations, for instance?  However,folksonomies do allow user input into the classification process for organizations that still rely on more traditional taxonomies. Follow this link.

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For some reason the link is not working. However, I decided that to delete this post, which is what I would usually do.

LIS2600 "Digital Reference" in Scopus

Here's my URL to bloglines feed for Scopus folder. I have it as a link. Enjoy!!!

Nonhuman Primate Morality Search Engine

Here's a link to my Google customized search engine on Nonhuman Primate Morality. It is hardly complete at this point, but if this is an interest of yours, try searching. Right now it is somewhat biased in the direction of Frans de Waal's work on nonhuman primates and the evolution of morality. In the future I hope to add other primatologists, anthropologists or scientists, such as Mark Hauser (unsympathetic to de Waal's theses) and Sarah Hrdy, who has interesting things to say about females in the animal world. Here's a better link that does not go to the gadget but to the search engine. You should try searching with primate morality, nonhuman primate morality, empathy in primates, Frans de Waal. I am not sure why these labels are not showing up, but those are the searches I performed to gather particular webpages, of which there should be more than the 5 now listed. There were lots of web pages I chose to enter.

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Google Wakes Up!!

This article addresses Google's seeking government support to fight Internet censorship abroad, but for reasons of international trade rather than principles of freedom of speech or freedom of inquiry. So perhaps this is a mixed blessing, or is it simply a pragmatic way to address censorship? Certainly international trade agreements, like those on patents through the WTO (World Trade Organization) are not always fair to undeveloped nations, so appeals to international trade are not prima facie based on human rights, and could, in fact, be used against human rights at other times and places. In fact, Google might be a case in point, since it agreed to censor its website in China because the Chinese government made it a condition of allowing Chinese users access to Google web pages. Censorship by governments has become an increasing problem in many Asian nations. Human rights activists often want us to approach such problems with a boycott approach, such as that against apartheid in South Africa. Businesses have often resisted boycotts claiming that they are actually improving the situation for citizens in the countries where they practice business. However, does an information access business work on the same model as other types of business? Would boycotts or sanctions work or is Google's present approach to put pressure through appeals to trade the best approach? "Under World Trade Organization rules, countries can limit trade for national security or public moral reasons" which leaves countries broad justifications for filtering material on the internet or web. Check out this article on Google

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Virtual Libraries/Internet access on the rise

Here's an article on public libraries and how 99% of them now offer internet access, how they have maintained themselves as public forums and community centers by going virtual, and allowing more noise. I think this shows how libraries can still remain very relevant in a digital age, and in a way often overlooked by those who promote digital libraries as only "gateways" to information. However, as community centers do they complement or compete with other community centers, such as YMCA's, coffee shops, bookstores, etc.

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EPA Libraries

The EPA has put a moratorium on the closing of its libraries, due to complaints. There were several reasons that these libraries were being closed - budget slashes among them. How can we advocate for keeping libraries open? Check out this link.

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Digital Divide is National Concern, too

Here's a short article on the digital divide within the United States. So it is not just a global concern. Libraries can be a means to providing internet access for those who don't have it, and unlike cybercafes, internet access can be free of cost, if limited timewise, in a library. Bill Gates has helped fund Gates computer libraries where internet access is available, in small local libraries, such as the one in State College, PA.

Technology, freedom & privacy

Here's a link to Boing Boing director, talking or the transcript to what he said, for an Amnesty International webcast about technology and freedom globally. He warns us that technology has a downside, too, e.g., RFID tags can invade our privacy. RFID tags are used in passports, as he mentions, and in much library automation (for circulation, e.g.), which he does not mention. In other words, they have become more and more pervasive, as more functions are automated throughout society, sometimes with the actual intention of recognizing personal identification and information. The ALA has a position on privacy and confidentiality that library patrons have a right to free inquiry "without having the subject of one's interest examined or scrutinized by others." The ALA also has adopted a resolution on RFID technology. You can find more information about this policy at the following link on ALA RFID policy.

CIC and Google Cooperate on Digitizing Collections

Here's a link to an article about 12 universities cooperating with Google's project to digitize 10 million books. This is important because Google thereby provides a source of funding for what sometimes proves to be an expensive project, especially when the material digitized includes photos, or fragile items, or texts that you might not want to unbind, as well as possible copyright hurdles.

Dogged by Grade Inflation!!!

Comment on Digital Libraries and Digital Divide

The future of digital libraries might lie in speed and convenience in searching and access. That does not mean that digital is necessarily superior for all types of information access in terms of quality. There is also the problem of the digital divide - will poorer nations or communities suffer from lack of internet access or internet resources? This may especially be a problem or challenge given that how digital libraries will be funded and maintained is already and still a problem in developed nations. However, if an economic model could be found - and that might mean actual decisions to search for such a model - digital libraries could actually increase the ability of researchers in undeveloped nations to access necessary information in journals, because of the possibility of remote access. However, this might require flexible licensing agreements or open access. Thus, the main problems might not be technological, but might be economic and legal issues. The photo above and to the left is from a Unesco portal of digital libraries in Africa.

Lending books on-line

Check out this link

Google Search Being Challenged!!

Google Search is being challenged by those associated with Wikipedia - no, not legally challenged in court, but by new engineering efforts to challenge Google Search's predominance in web searching. Will there be new improvements on the horizon? What will this mean for libraries and librarians, as well as others who seek and access information on the web? Right now, search engines are proprietary, so we don't know how they rank what they locate. Will that change? See this article from NewScientist.

Women Hybrid Librarians/Technologists

Here's a link to an article from Library Journal.com about women librarians who like to play with technology, and how they have pursued their technological interests as librarians. It is interesting to see women as active and instrumental in how technology has been applied to reference services and circulation in libraries, right from the start. When I first learned that there are two basic ways people tend to approach technology - those who see it as a tool to get something useful done and those who like to play with it - the former was often connected to women and the latter to men. What is interesting here is that these women really seem to combine both qualities.

Luddites Still Abound!!!!

I think it is essential for libraries to consider their full range of users - from those who are technically savvy to those who are either indifferent to, or annoyed by technology. How this may be done may vary according to what type of library it is - public library, children's library, academic library, industry library.....etc. Here's a link to an article about a Pew survey, as reported in The Star, originally from "The Economist". Apparently, in a survey of 4000 American adults - the ages of the adults are not indicated which I see as a weakness in the reporting, if not, perhaps in the study - 49% seemed to have Luddite tendencies, instead of being "early Adopters" of technology. The latter is a marketing notion, like that of focus groups, used to try to determine future marketing campaigns. This survey does not indicate whether early adopters actually act as leaders of the pack. If they do, then we would expect many of these Luddites to eventually be won over to technology. The question also becomes one of whether there should be an educational campaign to overcome their initial resistance, and what part libraries should or should not play in such an educational campaign. When does such education in computer literacy become one of propaganda, of one seen as limiting choice rather than maximizing choice? However, a full 48% of the respondents to this survey did say that internet technology has given them more control over their lives, while 67% stated they enjoyed the choice given them through the world wide web. One wonders then whether the headlines of this article "Attention, tech laggards. You're not alone" is simply misleading.

Turing, Internet Security and Digital Libraries

Turing's test was originally intended to determine whether computers could be considered "intelligent" or "think" - if one could not distinguish a human from a computer then the computer was considered "intelligent", leaving completely aside whether or not this meant the computer was actually "thinking", which is a vague term. This plays an important role in artificial intelligence programs. However Turing's test has also become important for internet/computer security in the use of CAPTCHAs, which stands for "Completely Automated Public Turing Text to Tell Computers and Humans apart". These are those distorted letters you see in registering for certain websites that you need to copy - humans can recognize these letters, while generally computer programs cannot. Now, here's a link that describes another use for the Turing Test, dubbed reCAPTCHAs which is directly related to digitization of books and manuscripts: Through reCAPTCHAs multiple computer users can be used to identify words in print that OCR (optical character recognition) often cannot understand because of fuzziness in the original, underlined text, and marginalia. This is interesting collaborative effort, depending upon the cooperation of strangers, and their agreement with each other. One wonders what its implications could be for various archives and private libraries, such as those of Nietzsche, etc. where books often include marginalia. One wonders whether there will be a future use for handwritten notebooks that have to be deciphered.

Humor Helps!

Check out this URL to

http://live.psu.edu/story/24385

cheer yourself up or at least to know why you should cheer yourself up!!!

Marlo's View

This post is about my parent's dog, Marlo, who was an abandoned waif my parents took into their Cape Cod home. In a later post I can post some photos of Cape Cod. Marlo, despite the fact that she was abandoned, and her hair was long and tangly and all coated and dirty when she was found (or rescued), has always been a very social and friendly dog and took well to a haircut and bath (unlike many other dogs). This isn't one of her most interesting poses and I cannot tell if she is glum or quizzical in this photo, but she looks comfortable enough. Perhaps how I feel after spending half the night on-line :)

Experimentalism

Today I will comment on my last blog, which was an experiment in using ScribeFire to make entries on my blog - obviously I did something wrong because interesting random letters appear at the end of each sentence. I think I entered that blog having clicked on rich text icon - perhaps it was the wrong icon. A friend tells me that the fonts between the browsers I used I might not watch, but I am not sure that that is the problem. I might try ScribeFire again tomorrow, and see if I can get it to work correctly.

I am thinking that I should have named this blog "Ambrosia's Experiments", because it is more likely to be a series of experiments in collecting photos, and links from the web. In any case, I do not pretend that these experiments are unified by any sense of method except trial and error, and if they come under any paradigm (I've been reading Thomas Kuhn's "Structure of Scientific Revolutions") I am not conscious of it.

Mixfusion and Disorganization Strike

This is the first blog I have ever done, and the first post on the blog.  I have to maintain this blog for library school, and I am presently mixed up and confused - what my junior high science teacher used to call "mixfused":  I seem to be eternally catching up with what I am supposed to do, that is,  when I can even keep track of what I am supposed to do.  In fact, I am supposed to post on this blog at least three times per week, and it is now the end of the week - as I stated, I am behind;  not left behind as in those NY Times best sellers, but running behind, regardless of how fast I run, and how late or early I am on-line.



I had to check out other blogs of my classmates to see what could in fact be put on a blog.  I don't presently know how to put photos, or audio clips or links on my blog, but, if I figure out how to do all that, I will adding such info in the future. 



So, so far, there is not much info in Ambrosia's Info blog, and it doesn't sound as if there's much ambrosia (food for the gods) either.  If you have any info or ambrosia to share, please feel free to respond to this blog.  Info on how to add photos, audio clips, links, etc. would be appreciated.

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