Monday, 02 September, 2002

exploded into categories I've just added a new feature to this blog which I hope will help against information overload. You can now view this blog in the categories along the left-hand side. If you're interested in my posts on academic law libraries but nothing else, just choose that category. Each category has its own RSS feed, so if you wish you can unsubscribe from the main blog and only subscribe to the categories which interest you. 5:50:48 PM    comment []

the exploded library is one month old! I started the first version of the exploded library on August 1. One month, two versions, several rants and a few technical problems later, I’ve decided to change the exploded library’s look again. I had two main problems with the Heat template. Firstly, I didn’t like the way it sometimes displayed hypertext in a different & larger font. Secondly, the main colour often looked more brown than red to me, particularly on different monitors. Because I see colours a little differently than most people (read colourblind), I’m not quite sure if that’s how the colour really looked, but it was starting to bug me. The Salon template has one major drawback: it’s quite cluttered. On the other hand, I like the easy-to-read white background and the functionality in the template. My goal is to design my own template, but that can wait and this will do for the time being. Is there a problem with a librarian being somehow affiliated with an online news publisher? I think that true independence is an illusion – we’re all influenced by different media and schools of thought. By having the Salon banner on my blog, I am being somewhat aware of my influences (after all, I do like Salon and subscribe to Salon Premium). The exploded library is independent in the sense in that it’s my soapbox, and not the mouthpiece of my employer or Salon or any particular point of view to which I’m sympathetic. I can be mainstream, alternative, radical or just weird. I’m free to be inconsistent, paradoxical and to ignore party lines. Sometimes I’ll bite the hand that feeds me – including my employer for making me work on Labor Day! Getting Good Friday off really isn’t a fair trade. 3:19:15 PM    comment []

An RSS feed for any website - I have always wanted to find a program that will .... - I have always wanted to find a program that will create an RSS feed for any web site, especially one that would do it with a click of a button. For those that use Radio, this option is already available via Stapler or RSS Distiller. Tonight, Scripting led me to My RSS and I thought that this was the solution. Put in any URL and a feed will be created for you, at no cost. I did this with a few of my favorite sites and was very dissapointed. First, they only give you a few feeds from the selected page, which is of no use ("better than nothing" is not an option here - I wouldn't want to miss anything) and I am given sites that don't appear in the feeds. Second, once I clicked on a feed, I was taken to a redirect screen, where I would have to wait 15 seconds, then the site would appear. Last, I the feeds are only updated once a day. Now, here is the catch, (there always is a catch, right?). If I wanted to "sponsor" a feed (A.K.A - hand over some money), the feed will be updated every hour. Also, if sponsored, then everyone would be able to subscribe to these advanced features Granted, the service is in beta, so I really didn't expect much. Regarding the missing feeds (my first point above), they do say that the program will "learn" the page as it scrapes the information every day, which is a good step. I'll continue to monitor this program and see what happens. Still, I'm not sure that users will pay for feeds...I just haven't thought about this aspect of RSS. [Library Stuff - Updated daily by Steven M. Cohen] Hmm, both Stapler and RSS Distiller seem worth a look... 12:27:04 PM    comment []

Fortune article on Google Google Makes the Right Moves [The Virtual Acquisition Shelf & News Desk] Make sure you read Gary's comments about AlltheWeb and Wisenut. 12:13:41 PM    comment []

- "It is called the USA Patriot Act, and the very .... - "It is called the USA Patriot Act, and the very name implies duty -- duty, in this case, to tell FBI agents what certain people are reading and writing at the local library." "Federal investigators want to strip away the cloak of anonymity that helped Sept. 11 suspects communicate on public library computers without detection. A provision buried within the 342-page Patriot Act, which took effect in October, allows agents to demand records from librarians and booksellers with unprecedented ease." "Many in the library community fear an intrusion by Big Brother into the sacrosanct privacy rights of library patrons. The Patriot Act trumps laws in 48 states, including Florida, that specifically protect library records as confidential." (from The Miami Herald) LS Thoughts - A nice piece and overview of the USA Patriot Act. [Library Stuff - Updated daily by Steven M. Cohen] 12:06:25 PM    comment []

The Role of Librarian as Educator [The Virtual Acquisition Shelf & News Desk] 12:03:14 PM    comment []