Reflections/or my Swansong/or maybe not...

Just the word 'reflections' sets off the Supremes song in my head. Out! Damned song! Out! (With apologies to Shakespeare).

Seriously though, it's been a whirlwind course. I just feel I haven't done it justice. I have not favoured courses as much as the current two. Internet and reading - a match made in heaven! Truth to tell, I've been holding court with my aquired knowledge. It feels good to be one step ahead of the young 'uns. Conversations go something like this: 'What, you don't know what a podcast is?! Or a QR code or a Wiki ?????!!! Well I do, and then I bore them to tears with my explanations or send them the link to my blog which I bet they've never opened.

So, is this my swansong...? Maybe, maybe not. You know what they say - it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings.

I haven't sung yet.

Internet Censorship - The Chinese hit back!

Information whether text or pictorial re: the  censorship of the internet in China abounds. The Chinese hit back at the West in this report from the China Daily. Read full report here:  http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2012-07/30/content_15628950.htm

 

 

World Digital Library or the World in Union

Wikipedia defines a digital library as  a library in which collections are stored in digital formats (as opposed to print, microform, or other media) and accessible via computers.The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks.

 

 

Currently digital libraries exist side by side with traditional libraries. However,  as technology advances, digital libraries expand and develope new and exciting ways to retrieve information. Case in point is the World Digital Library which encompasses the world's cultures under one link. See video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=971ocC4VqHM

The World in Union? Not impossible in cyberspace...

From Blogging Blues to...

In my previous post, I mentioned the fact that I'd fallen prey to malware called text - enhance in my blog.

Found a brilliant website, 'botcrawl', where I learnt that there are differents ways to eliminate it and instructions varied depending on which browser you use. Instructions for Internet Explorer are as follows:


 Step 1: Click the Tools button and then click Manage add-ons.



 Step 2: Under Show, click All add-ons or Toolbars and Extensions. (Depends which IE you use)

 Step 3: Select the Text Enhance plugin from the list of software, and click disable. Click here to view a list of possible extension names.
  Checked the blog - it's gone! Never to return. How can I be sure of that, you ask? Well, elementary, my dear Watson.  I learnt how to block the text-enhance cookie.

How to block the Text Enhance cookie

1. From the Tools menu of Internet Explorer, select Internet Options

2. Select the Privacy tab, and then click Sites. The Per site privacy actions window will be displayed

3. In the Per site privacy actions window, enter Text-Enhance.com in the Address of Web site field

4. Click Block

So not quite Blogging bliss, yet, but I'm getting there......!

Blogging Blues

Those of you who read this blog (I'm talking to you, Surayah), would have noticed spanners and wrenches in my sidebar and  pencils directly underneath the posts. I have no idea how they got there.

 Last time I blogged and saved - as one does - nothing out of the ordinary was present, just the usual blood, sweat and tears left on the post. (Yes, you read right - blogging is not for sissies). The next time I opened the blog, voila! There they were, cute little edit icons. New innovation from Google I thought. Then the realisation that no-one else had them and, oh no! I've done something wrong, AGAIN! They soon lost their charm after that and I spent the better part of last week and this afternoon trying to remove them.

Here's what I learnt after hours of trying:

• To remove the pencil edit icon, simply go to layout and 'unclick' the 'quickedit' option.
• Removing the spanners and wrenches were way more complicated. There were no simple instructions in Blogger help. You'd have to have a Phd in HTML to understand their instructions.Fortunately, I came across some really easy instructions in a blog simply entitled 'Spice up your Blog'. This time you used the Template option, go to customise, then advance, choose CSS and type in a code, which you then saved and applied to your blog. One visit to the diigo account assured that all was well in blogland.

But alas and alack, beyond the horizon were more horrors. Unfortunately, during my travails, I've picked up malware. That's malevolent software to the uniniated. So far, all it's done is something called 'text - enhance' which links certain words in my blog to spam ads. Now, I've been looking for a solution to this for the past few hours, nothing so far (that I understand), but I'm calling it a night. Not throwing in the towel - we librarians never do - but I'll live to fight/find another day.

Open Sesame/ Open Access

I've been reading articles on Open Access which have largely been academic. And dry. And BORING. I really wanted information that would be the opposite of the aforementioned. 

Just as I was about to give up, I serendipitously came across this online gem in the form of a podcast which features a talk by one, Gavin Yamey MD, Senior Editor of PLoS Medicine and Consulting Editor of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

PLoS is an acronym for the Public Library of Science, an international non-profit grassroots movement of scientists and physicians, who work to change the status quo by campaigning to make biomedical literature freely available for the global public good. PLoS not only talks the talk, but walks the walk by publishing7 Open Access journals. They also advocate for other traditional biomedical publishers to adopt more socially responsive practices.

Currently, there is no 'Open Sesame' to Open Access, but there are people like Gavin Yamey and others of his ilk who are doing their darndest to create an alternative. Click on the link below and listen. I promise you won't be bored.
 
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mediaberkman/2007/03/17/opening-up-to-open-access-part-one-2/

 

Emo about Ebooks

Or the librarian in black's emotive ebook rant. Read at www.librarianinblack.net/

I thought I'd pen the following to her. It'll go something like this.

Dear Sarah

A while ago, Sandy (that's our lecturer for LBS) set us the task of writing short essays. The lot of ebooks fell to yours truly. And, in retrospect, I'm so glad it did.

Because it led me to your blog. And your, well, colourful (some would say profane) rant about the perils of ebooks in libraries. Well, wasn't it an eye-opener for a behind-the-times-as always South African librarian. From now on I'm not going to bemoan the fact that  this literary phenomenon
will only be commonplace in our libraries light years hence. By that time you guys will have all those nasty little niggles like greedy aggregators, crap choices, licences and suchlike sorted. Then we'll import and just piggyback on your new improved system.

Or maybe Open Access will be universally declared. Who knows? In the meantime, don't stress so much, take calm deep breaths, it helps you know.



Ps. I was shocked at your language. I thought I was the only librarian who swore. In my head of course - my superiors would hang, draw and quarter me if I blogged like that.

The teeny-tiny url...

.....which links to my blog.


http://goo.gl/FgZCG





....&  the qr code which links to my library, Hanover Park's, facebook page.





Smug Chesire cat grin. Enough said.

The podcast and the plodder

Podcasts. Wherefore art thou? And how the dickens do you embed one in your blog without having a doctorate in ICT?

I'm pretty sure that's LIASA's RSS feed at the bottom of my blog - but why is this so complicated? Des writes that she'll try, try and try again. Make that times a googleplex for me.

And on I soldier. And 'stumbled upon' (geddit?) this:

http://libwww.freelibrary.org/podcast/



And this:

Retro & cool. I like.

Rss feeding at the communal library trough

When something newsworthy or plain idiosynchratic grabs my attention online -  I google, then choose which story/article I'll read. And no, I'm not fooled by Google's top searches' lists. Companies/persons can pay Google to advertise and voila,  their website tops the list of your searches. Rather, I find myself returning to those websites which are well written, current and succinct.

I now learn that I don't need to do all of the above. I can have daily updates of news,literary or otherwise, via RSS (Really Simple Syndication) or a Webfeed. Apparently all I need to do is download a RSS reader from the internet, then subscribe to my favourite sites and the latter will be neatly packaged and delivered to my virtual doorstep.

And whadda -ya- know? It was.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/westerncapeliasa/

We have lift-off! (Finally)

And about time, too.

Contrary to belief, I'm really not that scared of technology. Well, okay, a little bit. Is it showing?

I now have a passable(?) template. Now to add a few links I enjoy.  On facebook, of course. Here goes - the first one is www.facebook.com/ILoveLibraries. A really interesting group to make friends with. All sorts of little literary and library nuggets in their newsfeed. Frequently updated, I find it very informative. Another is a local page, www.facebook.com/pages/Centre-for-the-Book/185041714895675 . If you want to know what's happening on the literary and library local scene, this is your go - to guide.

Enjoy! Till next time. Which is going to be sooner than you think..

*!#@! I HATE MY WORK COMPUTER!*#@?!

Especially if I'm trying to do something in a hurry!
Like right now. 
For class later on.

You'd think that the monolithic municipal employer would do something about my connectivity by now. I've tried to blog since this morning. Yes, I know I'm putting my foot in it. But it's true! That's how bad our connectivity is.

Apparently we will get 'radio' sometime in the future. Along with Bonteheuwel Library. Pray, tell - what is 'radio?' I asked my district manager - did he not mean 'wireless?' Nope, was the reply - IT said radio. I haven't googled this yet, so feel free to enlighten me.

The title of this blog says it all.

Just last week in class, I felt so inspired. This was one assignment I was going to knock out of the park. I quite like writing. So bring it on! And then...

Well you're reading the result here, aren't you? Blank. Thinking. Blank.

Actually, you're sort of coerced. To read my blog, that is. Class assignment and all that. Which makes me think of earnest bloggers who get nary a comment, but blog earnestly - day after day - as if their lives depended on it.

Apparently you can get addicted to it.  Just google it. Some people neglect their kids, jobs, partners - all in the name of blogging. And it's not even as if they get paid for their efforts. Which is why I steered clear of using this social media app in the first place. You see I have an addictive personality. Current addiction - nicotine. So I'm really wary of this exercise. What if I get hooked? What nefarious path is our lecturer leading us down?

I mean I've been here before. Led astray by the the ubiquitous facebook. That dastardly of all social media apps. I found myself facebooking morning, noon and night. Until the beginning of 2012. Varsity beckoned after 13 years. Fees fully paid and a laptop thrown into the bargain. Quite a wrench, but I said goodbye to facebook. We went from an intimate relationship to being 'just friends.' Reckon I currently update once a month - but the rugby season's looming...so that could all change soon.

My niece, being a savy millenial has tried to turn me on to Twitter, which personally I think, is for the birds. Seriously, who is going to 'follow' a 46 year old librarian? At last count, I'm following 2 people - Alistair Coetzee and Gio Aplon. And my followers? Why, they number just 2. And yes, they are my nieces.

So, cracking my knuckles and rubbing my palms, here goes my first attempt at a blog. Eh? What's this. My rambling thoughts blogged. So, without further ado, let me publish my first - ever blog and let the chips fall where they may.