Current Cites for December 2017

Current Cites for December 2017 is out! You can find the issue here...

It's the end of year update and I was already in holiday mode so naturally I went with an article on (what else?) Twitter. Fun and academic at the same time, you might say.

IFLA Library Map of the World

Neat interactive world map provided by IFLA allowing you to find out how many libraries, librarians, etc. there are in countries ranging from Latvia to Papua New Guinea.

See more here: https://librarymap.ifla.org/map

In Support of Net Neutrality

I used the "Express Comment" form provided by the FCC to file my opinion regarding the proposed move by the FCC Chair to end Net Neutrality (17-108, "Restoring Internet Freedom" [sic]):

"Net Neutrality is the modern equivalent of free speech. Carriers are utilities and cannot decide (or favor) specific communications. I already pay more for streaming content AS streaming content. Giving one source any kind of advantage, be it financial or through faster connectivity, is to deny me my right for equal access to _all_ content." #SaveNetNeutrality 

Thought of the Day

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USA Today Predicts: No Future for Librarians or Communicators; We Predict: No Future for USA Today Predictions

[Update: Opps, after a little consideration, original authors decide "Libraries and Librarians Aren't About to Disappear"]

The library ed group ALISE* sent out a rather indignant response to a recent article in USA Today. The article's title was, "Careers: 8 Jobs That Won’t Exist in 2030" and it listed a number of professions whose days were counted. First on the list was "Librarian". Librarian, you might ask, why librarian? Well, because, according to the article, books are dead, and so are libraries.

But wait a minute, ALISE counters in its response, "librarians do more than simply check out books". Of course anyone who has stepped into a library in the past 10-20 years would know this.

But rather than rush to judgement based on this first point, it might be helpful to have a look at one or two of the other supposed dead-end careers. For example, last on the list is, "8. Social media manager". That's doomed as well? Why of course, the article responds cheerily: "who needs these experts when we’re all becoming experts?"

Okay, wait a second. We're all becoming experts? Nice to know but even if we ignore the technical side of things (and that's being really generous), there's still the social and communication parts. What about them? Has their evolution down through the ages ever given the impression that they'll someday somehow become the equivalent of child's play? Good news if true!

Since that doesn't seem likely, someone should tell the USA Today author that communication will always require skill, that it is too important to leave to just anyone who walks through the door, that it remains a difficult task, no matter what our level of technology, because either people don't know or don't wish to know and in a world with less than perfect agreement, we are about as likely to say bye-bye to our media managers as we are to our librarians. They both continue to perform essential tasks.
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*Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE)

Bye-Bye WebDesign-L

Anyone who had anything to do (technically speaking) with the World Wide Web back in the early days would know Steve Champeon and the email list, WebDesign-L. Steve was the 'list-mom' and he managed a true center of communication for web designers and web developers in that period.

Well, Steve announced on the list that he had decided to shut the thing down. In the past few years it may not have been the hive of activity that it once was. People move on; times change; communication methods evolve. Still WebDesign-L played an absolutely crucial role in the development of the web, at least from a technical perspective.

Steve, thanks for all your support! It truly was of historical proportions.

Domain Suggestions from GoDaddy

Houston? Huh?

UPDATE: Needless to say, this post went up more than two weeks ago -- i.e. more than two weeks before the current tragedy. Coincidence, that's all.

90th Anniversary of Germania Broadcast - Thanks to All!

Monday, July 24th was the 90th anniversary of the Germania Broadcast (background). We celebrated this pioneering German-American radio show in typical 21st century fashion : namely through Facebook posts and Twitter feeds. Daddy would have been proud to know that his work spanning more than 40 years was recognized by such worthy groups as the Consulate General of Germany (hence the photo above), the Goethe Institute and the Chicago History Museum. Thank you to all!

90th Anniversary of 1st Foreign Language Radio Show in Chicago/USA

 

Just a reminder: July 24 marks the 90th anniversary of the Germania Broadcast, one of the first foreign language radio shows in the U.S. Starting in 1927, it was produced in Chicago by my father William L. Klein. The program ran for more than 40 years and was an integral part of Chicago cultural life (particularly German-American, naturally). More info here: http://www.germaniabroadcast.net/ 

Leading up to the event, I'll be posting on a number of topics including what kind of music and entertainment they actually played plus a look at all the amazing events they sponsored including concerts, festivals and even trips abroad: [link]

Finally, I'll be publishing the complete brochure which they put out in 1952 to celebrate the 25th Anniversary: [link]

Registration at ALA 2017

 Of course, I registered in advance! First day at the American Library Association's 2017 Conference.

TechWeek Reception at CapitalOne HQ

 Reception at the extremely nice HQ of CapitalOne.

Opps, Maybe Not the 'Future' After All

 

Interesting how titles tend to change over time. I was going through a number of old posts and saw a reference to an article in Newsweek from 10 years ago, extolling the virtues of the recently released Amazon Kindle. The title of the article was, "The Future of Reading". Since it was a relatively old link, I clicked on it just to make sure it still worked. And it did -- only the title of the article now read, "Amazon: Reinventing the Book".

That was funny. Did I get the original title wrong? I went to my best friend, Archive.org and looked the thing up -- and sure enough, the original title was "The Future of Reading"

So between 2007 and now, apparently the Kindle no longer rated as the "Future" of reading. This is understandable. For every true 'revolution' in technology, there are always a dozen (or more) false starts. This was one of them.

Staats-Zeitung, My Uncles and Abraham Lincoln

I saw Sidney Blumenthal discuss his book "The Political Life of Lincoln, 1849-1856" at Printers Row Lit Fest over the weekend.  He talked about the critical role local newspapers played in the anti-slavery movement -- some of which Lincoln wrote articles for.  One newspaper in particular was the Chicago-based "Staats-Zeitung".  This rang a bell for me as I recalled my uncles Julius and Ernest being involved with the same paper in the late 20s early 30s. Below is a copy of the newspaper's listing from the "Illinois Newspaper Directory & History" (1934).

Current Cites for May 2017

Current Cites for May 2017 is out! You can find the issue here...

I couldn't resist recommending something non-library this month -- an interview with Tim Berners Lee, inventor of the WWW. His advice for "young computer scientists" was what you might expect from a true innovator, namely, "ignoring conventional wisdom and following their own instincts."

Current Cites for Apr. 2017

Current Cites for Apr. 2017 is out! You can find the issue here...

The article I recommended almost seemed like an April Fool's joke when I first saw the title, "The Rewards of Predatory Publications at a Small Business School". But nope, it was serious -- the argument being, if you don't understand the 'incentives', you won't know how to counter them. Um, okay.

Group Shot at Drupal MidCamp 2017

(Yeah, that's me on the right, front row.) Drupal MidCamp was held at DePaul this year. Here's a link to the larger image...

No Dear, ISPs Are Not Websites

 Snider, Mike: "ISPs Can Now Collect and Sell Your Data: What to Know About Internet Privacy Rules", USA Today (4/4/2017).

So here's an analogy: if 50 years ago AT&T (or whatever they called themselves back then) had kept records of all your phone calls and then started selling that information to the highest bidder -- would they have gotten away with it? I don't think so. (In fact, interesting research topic.)

ISPs are not websites. They're governed by different rules, regulated by different agencies and golly-molly, ya just can't get on the internet without them. That makes them a utility and frankly, there's no similarity to Facebook, Google, etc.

But, hey, we're living in a free country! There's nothing keeping those ISPs from setting up their own groovy websites so they can take advantage of the same benefits. Problem solved!

Hippy Talk Circa 1970

 Early 1970s article from the Chicago alternative magazine 'The Seed'. Love the hippy talk: "head shop", "trick", "bust" and "rap".

Usability-Thursdays

MPOW: I set up shop at the computer lab in the Student Center and then hustled out to the hallway to ask students if they had time to test out a page. Some had to go to class. Others said yes (8 in total).

Results went on the writing pad and my cellphone served as a stopwatch.

Funniest moment: Someone who does webwork for another dept. said, "I wish we did testing too."

Current Cites for Jan. 2017

 Current Cites for Jan. 2017 is out! You can find the issue here...

First Books of 2017

Actually I've had the 'Handbook of Usability Testing' for years -- the first edition, that is.

Something funny about that article title...

Something funny about that article title...

Looks Like Uncle Julius

Found this picture in a book titled, "German Chicago: The Danube Swabians and the American Aid Societies". That older fellow with the bowtie sure looks like my Uncle Julius.

Behind the Scenes in WYSIWYG

 Looking at the 'plain text' behind the WYSIWYG. I'm impressed:

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<p>&nbsp;
<h3>Alumni Receptions 2017</h3>
</p>

Email Outside of Work? France Says 'Non Merci'

A couple of interesting articles on the law just passed in France regulating (remember that's not outlawing!) emails outside of work.

Deutsche Welle reports:

From today, organizations with more than 50 workers will need to start negotiations to define the rights of employees to ignore their smartphones and not be forced to check and send emails on weekends and in the evenings.

Engadget comments:

French companies will be more likely to respect your work/life balance -- even if they don't mark certain hours as off-limits, they can't make unexpected requests that force you to drop everything.