A Medieval Picture of Socrates and Plato
Daily Thoughts 04/21/2012
I finished reading Too Big To Know today. It introduced to a very different perspective on how knowledge networks are growing. It turns the traditional librarians perspective on its head. The ideas concerning knowledge networks helps me understand why the librarian profession has become so much more technology oriented in the last ten years.
Too Big to Know also introduced me to the idea of data science and the data commons where data sets are shared openly. This adds another layer of change which I am just beginning to understand. Places like http://data.gov/ where masses of free data sets about the United States are available. Information is becoming bigger and more complex every single day.
David Weinberger successfully shows why it is so important to be able to filter, categorize, and understand new ways of looking at knowledge without being overwhelmed. I find myself in a new country of the mind when I look at metadata, linked data, and data sets which can stretch the limits of my understanding.
The Future of Information A Program supported Metro New York Library Council and ASIST American Society of Information Science and Technology
As always, this is my own opinions. I also want to include some reflections on other experiences which this event helped bring into focus. I always try to keep things positive. If anything needs to be changed please let me know.
I went to a session called The Future of Information which was science fiction writers talking to information professionals about the future of information. It was based on an idea from similar sessions at the American Library Association. The session was hosted by the ASIST Sig of Metro New York. I am currently a member of My Metro as an individual. The event happened at the New York Hotel Pennsylvania on April 21, 2012 between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.. The event was hosted by Josh Hadro and Daniela. I am not perfect with these things.
The authors were David Louis Edelman who wrote the Jump 225 trilogy consisting of Infoquake, Multireal, and Geosynchron. The second author was Jeff Somers who wrote The Electric Church and The Digital Plaague. I purchased Infoquake and Multireal at the session.
David Edelman describes a future where there is near unlimited energy, unlimited computing, and centuries of peace. His science fiction describes how nanobots have made it possible to live in both a real and a virtual world in the future.
The question which David Edelman tries to answers is if we had a black box which could do anything how would you ask it to do things in the right way.
In contrast Jeff Somers describes how he is suspicious of how technology can solve any problem. He draws his writings from noire, especially Dorothy Sayers. The technology is near future and extrapolates on what we have today. It sounded very much like the new category of science fiction called near future thrillers to me.
I like how Jeff Somers describes how we had the technology of automobiles, television, and airplanes in the 1920s and 1930s but did not fully develop them until the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. People need to be convinced about a technology before they will use it.
The two views contrasted very nicely and made for an excellent and interesting presentation.
Some of the questions asked of the authors were what scares them.
David Edelman described his fear of a loss of privacy and an inability to opt out of computer networks. Jeff Somers focused on the increasing corporatization of the world where civil law clashes with private corporations, especially mercenary corporations.
Another question which was asked was what gives them hope.
Jeff Somers said that Make magazine and the hacker movement give him hope. I have only been to one hacker meetup so far, nyhackers. It was interesting. David Edelman sees hope in the increasing availability of knowledge, especially Wikipedia.
Jeff Somers gave a very nice pitch for libraries saying that he grew up around libraries. He also said that the library is more than books to him, it is also curation,organization, and filtering of knowledge.
In my own thoughts, this is the impression which I am getting from talking to other technical people. Some people see the future of librarianship in content management and information architecture on computers.
There was an open session for questions and answers from the audience. It was interesting listening.
I am not going to cover everything. They did mention the Digital Public Library of America. Recently Robert Darnton promised the Digital Public Library of America would be available by 2013. http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/ljinprint/currentissue/892434-403/infotech_dpla_gets_real_at.html.csp
Josh Hadro said that library school needs to change its perceptions and introduce hacker and maker culture into libraries. I think this is slowly happening. Metro New York Library Council is goiing to have a Makerbot demo on May 23, 2012.
http://metro.org/events/190/
Josh Hadro also quoted Clay Shirky with his famous statement,"It's not information overload. It's filter failure." This is the Web 2.0 video. http://vodpod.com/watch/1172451-clay-shirky-its-not-information-overload-its-filter-failure-web-2-0-expo-ny
I especially liked Jeff Somers statement about programming. He said that it is important to understand prgramming. Not understanding can leave you at the bottom. He also said take some time go learn from http://codecademy/ I have to say that the java part of Codecademy is like pulling teeth for me. I don't mind the CSS and HTML so far.
I have been looking around at various options. I have an account at Lynda.com http://www.lynda.com/through my work which lets me learn things like Photoshop. I have also been trying out various places around New York that are startup education oriented. Codecademy would be considered an educational startup. So would http://www.skillshare.com/ and http://generalassemb.ly/
I had a chance to mention the book Too Big to Know by David Weinberger. I enjoyed reading it. It changed some of my perceptions.
The talk covered all kinds of subjects; mesh networks, public wi-fi access, privacy and Facebook, and personalization. I rather liked David Louis Edelman's statement that when you put the word apple in the google search engine you can get Apple bank, Apple computers, or an Apple farmer.
In some ways, I'm not completely fond of personalization. I rather like search utilities like web ferret
http://www.webferret.com/
I felt like I was a little bit out of my depth. I was there originally for networking. It was more of an information session. I did get a chance to get a tinfoil hat which I ended up leaving behind and some candy. The people were very nice.
Afterwards, I also learned that Apple partnered with Pearson, McGraw Hill, DK, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to create inexpensive textbooks. http://9to5mac.com/2012/01/19/apples-new-ibook-textbooks-start-at-14-99-or-less-from-partners-pearson-mcgraw-hill-houghton-mifflin-harcourt/
This reminds me of how technology companies are increasingly competing with publishers. If you think of Amazon, it is basically structured like a startup in each of its divisions. I was also reading about O'reilly media and they announced that they were creating a system called Agile Publishing. This is a session from the February Tools of Change for Publishing conference. http://www.toccon.com/toc2012/public/schedule/detail/23005 Why this is important is that Agile software is a form of project management software that is used in startups to plan for growth. It is just an idea that I find interesting.
I also mentioned http://www.findings.com/ which to me is very much like a Twitter for books.
Showing posts with label too big to know. Show all posts
Showing posts with label too big to know. Show all posts
Saturday, April 21, 2012
I 
Friday, April 20, 2012
Daily Thoughts 04/20/2012
Daily Thoughts 04/20/2012
I read some more of Too Big To Know on the way to work this morning. David Weinberger is writing about crowdsourcing which I find rather interesting. For example, Kickstarter http://www.kickstarter.com/ is a crowdsourced way to fund creative projects. Another crowdsourced idea is the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing which runs different programs from a screensaver on home computers. It is a way to use excess computing power while people are not using their computers. The project originally started as SETI@HOME a screensaver which would help the process of searching for alien signals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Open_Infrastructure_for_Network_Computing
This morning, I updated the Facebook and Twitter accounts for the library. We are having Ellen Datlow who is an editor run a panel with three authors, John Langan, Gregory Frost, and Laird Barron on May 8, 2012 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the anthology Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe
http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/Book-Reading
Thinking ahead to May, there is also the Book and Bake Sale by The Friends of the Library on May 4 and May 5. It is always nice to get some coffee, buy a few books, and have a baked treats.
It reminds me that I checked the gift books this morning and picked out a few titles to add to our collection. I also checked the displays to see that they were in order. I am working with Title Tales to pick out books which we plan on ordering.
I also spent some time thinking about programming today.
I found one of those odd events that is a little puzzling. The title is The Future: What Does It Mean? It is sponsored by Metro and ASIS. I am a member of My Metro. It should be quite interesting. It is an open discussion about the future of information with a mixture of information professionals and science fiction authors. http://www.facebook.com/events/309056385827702/
I read some more of Too Big to Know on the subway going home. I learned about how complex data is now being shared in specialized networks of experts. Some of the data is too knowledge intensive to fit in standard texts and is stored in computers. On an outside thought, I have noticed two recent startups in New York focused on expert communities, the first is http://www.petridish.org which is a community focused on funding interesting scientist projects, and the second is http://www.quirky.com which is a social community focused on product development. This is a bit different than what David Weinberger is writing about, but there is connection because of the focus on specialized data.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Daily Thoughts 04/19/2012
Daily Thoughts 04/19/2012
I read a little bit of Too Big to Know Rethinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren't the Facts, Experts Are Eveywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room is the Room by David Weinberger.
David Weinberger is writing about networked information inside computer systems. In this environment none of the information is destroyed, and it is also often filtered by groups of people in a social network. This is a very different method of filtering information than what happens inside a library where people acquire books then deselect them when they no longer are needed. His descriptions are quite interesting. They remind me of the concept in science fiction of the "Final Encyclopedia" or a computer system that contains the sum total of all human knowledge. This book also introduces concepts like the data commons. It also reminds me to find out a little bit more about "Big Data", or emerging ways to view very large amounts of knowledge.
There are very real applications in the library setting for big data. Overdrive Inc. is bringing "big data" to the world of library e-books. http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20120412/FREE/120419952 It is also an emerging concept in ASIS the American Society for Information Science. With very large open source systems, massive amounts of data can be sifted to learn new things about libraries, library patrons, and how we read and learn.
This morning, I finished checking through the New York Times Book Review and checked the current events display. I am also going to look for some more books on abstract art. I spent some more time finding books on abstract art, mostly American abstract painting.
I also spent some time this afternoon in the computer lab helping people with job search and how to fill out basic online applications. We had the computer lab open between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. today. I also took time to speak to our computer instructor who comes in on Tuesdays to teach a basic and an intermediate computer course.
I read a little bit more of Too Big to Know on the way home. He is describing how the idea of facts was created. It is a relatively recent invention. With the idea of "facts", we get the creation of experts and knowledge. Books store static knowledge creating a "canon" of acceptable and vetted facts in a limited contained area. In contrast, the internet is a giant ever expanding mass of often self-contradictory, inaccurate information.
One idea that strikes me is that e-books are not similar to books, yet they are still packaged and sold as a self-contained product. I rather like this O'reilly article called The Line Between Book and Internet Will Disappear.http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/09/beyond-ebooks-publisher-as-api.html I do not agree with the idea that all books should be locked to the internet. Many are perfectly fine as self contained objects.
I also had a chance to read some more of An Economist Gets Lunch New Rules for Everyday Foodies. I rather like that the author likes food trucks, local ethnic cuisine, barbecue, and disdains fast food, big name restaurants, and junk food. His tastes are appealing to me.
Web Bits
Why One in Five U.S. Adults Doesn't Use the Internet
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/13/tech/web/pew-not-using-internet/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
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