Springing

So, yesterday I mowed the yard for the first time on '08. Of course this made me sad that the recent snows were the end of winter. Really, though, it made me sad thinking of how many more time's I'll have to mow again before the grass resumes its hibernation.
It's not that I mind tending to the yard work... well, it's not that I mind tending to the yard work nearly as much as I used to. Something about when the grass you're trimming is your own, you don't mind the sweat so much. Is this just me? The mowing isn't what gets me anyway; it's the weed eating. I've purchased 3 weed eaters in 3 years and I haven't liked any of them. Maybe I'll have to bite the bullet and go with gas: environment be damned.

Anyway, this was just to signal that spring has sprung and now things will be different again at work. We're getting a thousand calls a day about help in filing taxes (more than half of which seem to come from really old people wondering about the new rebates. "I haven't filed taxes since 1979," they say, "but I want that $300!"

We're gearing up for summer reading program, which will soon invade everything we do to one level or another. I'll just say right here that I don't get summer reading programs. I just don't. From what I can tell, these programs save money in education by keeping up reading levels during the summer months. Ok, let the ISD pay for it! I'm not a teacher!

Sorry, enough on that. A coworker of mine told me that she saw an article on social networking sites that benefit librarians, but that I probably knew all of them already. I didn't know all of them. Some I had recently discovered, like ning. However, one really caught my eye with a high level of interest. I've got a public page HERE, but it's the private page that really intrigues me. It's like a homepage from yahoo, only better. I can get what i want when I want it, and then share it if I want to with the world! They even call it my universe so I can feel really special. I have a feeling Warren Ellis needs to know about this! He probably already does.

How does this work for libraries? What if small libraries could use this Ginger application as their website? Delivering information on all topics without having to host anything or have any web guru on staff. What could be next?

Ok, so maybe that won't work for most places. But how about THIS vision of the library of the future: Everything is labeled with rfid tags and stored in no particular order. The stacks are open for browsing, but most browsing is done via virtual 3d model. In fact, when a book is searched for, instead of giving a Dewey call number the computer screen pops up a read blip on the 3D library projection, with directions of exactly where to find this book on the shelf. No more missing books. No more need for accurate shelving. Digital browsing (perhaps even mechanical pickers that grab books from their locations and deliver them to you), all from your hand held device! Now, the downside (?) is that when it's overdue they can track the book's tag to that spot under your bed where you lost it and send the pickers on a black ops mission to your house for timely recovery.

You might want to arm yourself in defense. These pickers can get pretty mean.

Tried and True

I have been looking at this program called Scratch lately, thinking that maybe it is the future of internet based gaming. Games created by users for users. Sounds nice, right? Perhaps this will open gaming in new directions with truly original and fun games that business insiders haven't thought of yet. Does it? No, unfortunately not.

It's made for kids to program with, but the "non programming language savvy" user can find it a lot of fun too. The problem is that the games people are creating are nothing new. Users are copying formats of games they already know. There are many versions of Pong, Brickles, and Mazes instead of fresh ideas. Perhaps the ability to copy and tweak other members projects leads to this, but I must say I'm disappointed. Now, the graphics are limited and the majority of the users are still quite young, but I was hoping for some new ideas in gaming. Where are they?

I might be wrong. There are 7736 projects and I haven't checked them all. Someone show me the way. User generated content is limited to the creativity of the users... what does this say about the future of gaming? Oh well, I guess it only takes a few visionaries to change everything.

Libraries of the FUTURE...FUTure...Future...future

I would just like to say that Olive Software is awesome. I have no idea what it costs, but it can singlehandedly transfer a brick and mortar library into an online oasis of information. The way it translates into XML is so brilliant that I cannot possible understand how it's done.
It can create immediate online content out of archived materials, fresh from the printer newsletters, and anything else you can imagine. What if that archive of transcribed oral histories could be key word searchable? Or the hard copies of computer files that no one can access due to outdated formats? I'm sure you can all think of great applications for this...

Wait a second, I am not selling this, I promise. I just don't know of anything else that does exactly what this does. If you know of any, please tell me.

Oh yeah, the answer to the BLOG of TRIVIA is... the item pictured is the first working transitor, manufactured by Bell Labs in 1947. Pat yourselves on the back if you knew that already.