Daily Thoughts 07/10/2014
I checked the Twitter and Facebook for the library. Facebook redid its algorithm recently so things may not be as effective for a while.
On the way to work, I finished reading The Zero Marginal Cost Society The Internet of Things, The Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism by Jeremy Rifkin. I thought the last bit, the eclipse of capitalism was a bit overblown. The book is very anecdotal and most of the things being described are very new, so whether they catch on is not always known yet. I learned quite a bit from reading this book. The last part is about materialism versus sustainability and quality of life. I learned that the number one reason for decreased family size is when electricity becomes available where it previously was not there.
I also read a bit more of Smart Machines, IBM's Watson and the Era of Cognitive Computing. I am reading about neural net computers with a new architecture that is better at sensing the world. One of the major issues in cataloging material is how to catalog images and sounds. With Artificial Intelligence that can recognize picture or sound this changes considerably. It becomes possible to use more than keyword based metadata.
I also read the first chapter of Designing the Internet of Things. There are two aspects of the internet of things. A device that can sense something and the ability to communicate through the internet. A few examples of the internet of things would be a pill bottle that could sense whether you opened it at a particular time and notify your doctor if you did not and an umbrella whose handle would light up when the weather channel indicated rain. These are both examples from the book.
I checked the displays this afternoon. I am working late tonight. We are showing The Book Thief and discussing the book this afternoon between 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Kabiru Mohammed is also reading from his poetry book, Life's Portrait from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.. Both events are in the community room.
The computer lab is open from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.. A colleague is proctoring an exam today at 3:00 p.m.. There is a Microsoft Excel class tonight in the computer lab from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 pm.
Web Bits
Troy PL Battle for Survival: Anti-Tax and Book Burning
Threats
http://www.infotoday.com/mls/jul14/Hendrickson--Troy-PLs-Battle-for-Survival.shtmlThe French Do Buy Books. Real Books. -- Opinion
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/10/opinion/pamela-druckerman-the-french-do-buy-books-real-books.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=OP_TFD_20140710&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=2
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