Podcast

The Lost Art of Conversation

Technology is often viewed as a double edged sword: it makes life easier but it also has the power to threaten jobs, privacy, and human connections.  Yale University & Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute polled industry experts in 2016 and found that machine intelligence (A.I.) will replace all human jobs by 2136. Despite statistics like this, I’d like to make the case that there are many ways that technology actually revitalizes communication. The next few posts will explore tech tools, like podcasts, that encourage rather than diminish human connections. Podcasts are everywhere, even TV legend Levar Burton recently announced his upcoming podcast: “LeVar Burton Reads.” That’s right, the host of Reading Rainbow who encouraged us to read as children is back, 2.0 style, with a podcast where he will read a “piece of short fiction.” A very brief history of the term “podcast”: Ben Hammersley, a British Journalist, invented the…

General information

The Open Library: Realizing the Promise and Mitigating the Peril

Cindy Gibbon, Access Services Coordinator of Multnomah County Library (MCL), Oregon, opened the discussion about privacy and intellectual freedom in a web 2.0 world by sharing the results of a study of MCL’s users. Some things MCL users said they want: Notification when requested items are added to the catalog Public comments and recommendations of books read Blogs, podcasts, reference via instant messaging Text message alerts Saved lists of titles checked out or of interest RSS feeds Ability to communicate online with other library patrons She then shared some compelling data from the December 2007 Pew Internet & American Life Project Survey about the ubiquity of mobile communications technologies. The bottom line: MCL patrons want a 2.0 library experience. Some library patrons indicated that it is important to them that their library records remain private, and some did not. Cindy pointed out that it is librarians’ responsibility to protect patrons’…

2008

Building and supporting Koha

Building and Support Koha, an open-source ILS Saturday June 28th, 2008, 10:30-12:00 Hyatt Regency Orange County John Houser, Senior Technology Consultant for PALINET, and Johsua Ferraro, CEO of Liblime, set out to answer common questions about open-source ILS systems with a focus on Liblime’s support for Koha. The format was an interview, and the resulting questions and answers were recorded. Watch for a link to the podcast version here. Representative questions and answers follow, but these are only samples of an extremely rich discussion of general and very specific technical details. Cost Don’t necessarily plan to save lots of money on an open-source ILS, as planning to contribute to development efforts has many advantages–primarily that you get to set the priorities for new features in the ILS. A representative of a Koha library in the audience pointedly disagreed, stressing that in his case there were significant cost savings. How does…

Podcast

2008 LITA Elections: Michelle Frisque

For the last of the LITA Election podcasts, we have one of the two candidates for LITA Vice President/President-Elect. Last up in this year’s election podcasts, but certainly not least, is Michelle Frisque. We hope that you enjoy the podcast, that it helps you to decide who you would like to see among LITA’s leadership in the upcoming year, and that you let us know both things. Don’t forget: Polls open March 17th, and you’ll be getting information in your email if you are a LITA member and eligible to vote. If you like these podcasts, and want to see us do more of them, please comment and let us know! As always, thanks to the 奇妙 David Lee King for his help with these podcasts.

Podcast

2008 LITA Elections: David Bretthauer

And finally we have the two candidates for LITA Vice President/President-Elect. First up (again, alphabetically) is David Bretthauer. We hope that you enjoy the podcast, that it helps you to decide who you would like to see among LITA’s leadership in the upcoming year, and that you let us know both things. Don’t forget: Polls open March 17th, and you’ll be getting information in your email if you are a LITA member and eligible to vote. If you like these podcasts, and want to see us do more of them, please comment and let us know! As always, thanks to the 素晴らしい David Lee King for his help with these podcasts.

Podcast

2008 LITA Elections: Lorre Smith

First up in our 2008 LITA Elections podcast are the candidates for Director-at-Large, and next among the candidates is Lorre Smith. We hope that you enjoy the podcast, that it helps you to decide who you would like to see among LITA’s leadership in the upcoming year, and that you let us know both things. Don’t forget: Polls open March 17th, and you’ll be getting information in your email if you are a LITA member and eligible to vote. If you like these podcasts, and want to see us do more of them, please comment and let us know! As always, thanks to the prachtig David Lee King for his help with these podcasts.

Podcast

2008 LITA Elections: Billy Kwan

First up in our 2008 LITA Elections podcast are the candidates for Director-at-Large, and next among the candidates is Billy Kwan. We hope that you enjoy the podcast, that it helps you to decide who you would like to see among LITA’s leadership in the upcoming year, and that you let us know both things. Don’t forget: Polls open March 17th, and you’ll be getting information in your email if you are a LITA member and eligible to vote. If you like these podcasts, and want to see us do more of them, please comment and let us know! As always, thanks to the wunderbar David Lee King for his help with these podcasts.

Podcast

2008 LITA Elections: Colleen Cuddy

First up in our 2008 LITA Elections podcast are the candidates for Director-at-Large, and next among the candidates is Colleen Cuddy. We hope that you enjoy the podcast, that it helps you to decide who you would like to see among LITA’s leadership in the upcoming year, and that you let us know both things. Don’t forget: Polls open March 17th, and you’ll be getting information in your email if you are a LITA member and eligible to vote. If you like these podcasts, and want to see us do more of them, please comment and let us know! As always, thanks to the meraviglioso David Lee King for his help with these podcasts.

Podcast

2008 LITA Elections: Mona Couts

First up in our 2008 LITA Elections podcasts are the candidates for Director-at-Large, and first among the candidates (alphabetically, at least!) is Mona Couts. Hope that you enjoy the podcast, that it helps you to decide who you would like to see among LITA’s leadership in the upcoming year, and that you let us know both things. Don’t forget: Polls open March 17th, and you’ll be getting information in your email if you are a LITA member and eligible to vote. If you like these podcasts, and want to see us do more of them, please comment and let us know! As always, thanks to the wonderful David Lee King for his help with these podcasts.