Flu-Shot Day at UIC

The sticker reads, "I Got My Flu Vaccine! Did You?"

Normally I don't bother but this year, it seems like there's a heightened awareness. Judging by the larger crowd even at 10 in the morning, I'd say a lot of people were feeling the same way.

Cloud Computing : The Un-Definition

I was out on the prowl for articles for this month's CurrentCites, when I came across an interesting article called "Libraries in the Cloud: Making a Case for Google and Amazon" in this month's 'Computers in Libraries'.

Maybe I'm being too picky but I don't think the author gets off to the best start with this definition of the subject:

"Many definitions exist for cloud computing, and a uniform definition is hard to find. In its most basic form, cloud computing is the availability of IT-type needs offered as services, often through a third-party vendor."

I 'spose that's right but frankly you could say the same thing about the guy who comes in and fixes our HP printers when they're on the fritz.

The missing ingredient of course which admittedly the author gets to a sentence or two further down, is 'hosted through the web'. I think I'd have put that in a bit earlier.

In any case, besides that, the article is a good introduction to the subject from a library point of view.

UPDATE: While I'm at it, CiL also has an interesting article on an almost DIY approach to archiving websites called, "Web Archiving for the Rest of Us". They look at "donation-ware" SiteSucker for harvesting and then Apple's Time Machine and FileMerge for version control. Quite resourceful!

My 9/11 Home Video: Lower Manhattan Two Weeks After the Attack

I've posted this before but every year at this time I'm reminded of the incredible tragedy that happened while I was living in New York and its aftermath.

It's strange but maybe understandable: my initial reaction immediately following the attack that morning -- after the shock and confusion -- was simply to go to work, show my face and help in any way needed.

In November, we'll be celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I was there and it easily has to be the most significant public event I ever personally witnessed in a good way. By the same token, 9/11 had to be the worst.

Twitter v. RSS -- Who Cares? It's the Syndication, Stupid!

It's only on weekends and public holidays that I catch up with my readings.

It's only on weekends and public holidays that I catch up with my readings.

Anyway, I had a look at yet another post on the Twitter v. RSS conundrum. Here are a couple of others (1, 2) that I've read in the past couple of days.

I guess initially my reaction was, if you're depending on Twitter as your aggregator, you're in trouble because it pretty much sucks for that purpose. I mean, I'd sooner try to navigate the credits as they stream by of a feature film.

But that was only my initial reaction. From a practical standpoint, if a significant portion of your potential audience is going somewhere, then whether it sucks or not really doesn't matter.

The whole purpose of our current approach to the web is, to borrow a phrase, 'Write once, read many'. The number of outlets through which we're able to deliver our content -- free of redundancy or duplication of our efforts -- is a measure of success in this digital survival of the fittest.

The question then should never be whether a particular tool sucks but whether the content we're providing can fit into the framework. In other words, it's all about syndication.*

The moment this brilliant conclusion dawned on me, I had a look at Drupal's Twitter Module and opened an account on TwitterFeed. So yes, I've drunk the Koolaide.

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*Note: happily enough, syndication works both ways. We syndicate our own content and then turn around and reuse the content of others. So even Twitter may suck less depending on how we access it, whether directly or through some value-added intermediary.

Amazon Kindle: Why Get It for Free If You Can Pay for It?

This is so unfair! 'The Great Slump of 1930' by John Maynard Keynes which goes for the outrageous price of 'free' at Project Gutenberg Canada is being offered by Amazon to Kindle users for a mere $4.25. How does Amazon get away with it?