Showing posts with label Wikipedia. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

After Some Victories, the Time Has Come to Legally Define ‘Fair Use’ | The Open Standard

After Some Victories, the Time Has Come to Legally Define ‘Fair Use’

The Library of Congress Credit: Flickr / m01229

As technologies evolve, advancing and
inhibiting our ability to provide access to content, the vagaries of the
law make self-censorship the default position for those unclear of
their rights.

“Where once I feared a chilling effect, I am now sensing a warming glow.” - Kevin Smith, Duke University’s Scholarly Communications Officer

I’m a librarian. Sharing within the limits of the law is what we do.
Sometimes if the sharing laws are restrictive, we work towards changing
those laws. We match patrons with the content that they want in the
format that they prefer, optimally. Fair Use
is a legally-outlined exception to copyright law that permits limited
use of copyrighted material without the asking for permission. Putting a
music clip in a YouTube video or a screenshot in your magazine article?
Might be fair use, might not. Read more...

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Don't overlook your school librarian, they're the unsung heroes of literacy | Teacher Network | Guardian Professional

School
librarians are depressingly underused, argues Sally Dring. Many
teachers would be amazed at how much support they can give them and
their students.

Library book checkout card — ‘Many school librarians are seen purely as minders of a spare IT suite or as date label stampers.’ Photograph: Alamy

When talking about teaching and learning, most people don’t
immediately think of librarians. But in a school where the librarian or
learning resource centre manager is valued and properly made use of, we
can teach important skills.

Librarians are in the privileged position of being able to work with
teachers across all subjects and students of all ages, observing the
inner workings of a school from a slight distance.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the belief that students are adept at
using the latest technology to find the information they need is simply
not true. Students turn up in the library with the ubiquitous task of
researching a topic and they don’t know where to start. Usually they
head to Google, which takes them straight to Wikipedia (it’s top of the
list so it doesn’t take much effort). Wikipedia is handy if you know how
to use it properly, but many students need this explaining to them.
Should they choose to go to university, a Wikipedia footnote will not be
acceptable.

A librarian’s area of expertise is in information management and we
try to make the process of finding information easier for our students
and staff by providing relevant, reliable resources to support the areas
they are studying or teaching. We teach information literacy – finding,
assessing, evaluating, using and referencing information. We can also
share this knowledge with teachers if it’s needed, especially since some
find learning how to use new technology, or keeping up with the latest
programmes and websites, very difficult. Read more....

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Join the “Art + Feminism” Wikipedia Edit-a-thon @ Eyebeam, Saturday February 1st, 2014 noon-6PM

Join the “Art + Feminism” Wikipedia Edit-a-thon @ Eyebeam, aimed at collaboratively expanding Wikipedia articles covering Art and Feminism, and the biographies of women artists organized by Eyebeam Fellows, members of ARLIS, faculty of CUNY College of Staten Island, members of the Wikimedia NYC Chapter, and METRO’s own Wikipedian-in-Residence.

The event is open to anyone who wishes to attend. No Wikipedia editing experience necessary; as needed throughout the event, tutoring will be provided for Wikipedia newcomers.

Location: Eyebeam Art and Technology Center (540 West 21st Street)

Time: Saturday February 1, noon – 6pm

Tutorials for the beginner Wikipedian, reference materials, and light refreshments will be provided.

Please bring a laptop or plan to share with someone as Eyebeam has no more than a few computers to lend out. For the editing-averse, we invite you to stop by to show your support and learn more about Wikipedia.

Eyebeam is happy to be providing childcare; please contact us at artandfeminismwiki@gmail.com to let us know the age and number of children requiring supervision.

There are also regional events that day in Brooklyn, Westchester County, and the Hudson Valley, as well as over 22 satellite locations worldwide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/ArtAndFeminism
http://www.meetup.com/WikimediaNYC/events/161612622/
For more information on METRO’s related Wikipedia events and projects see the METRO GLAM-Wiki page (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums-Wikipedia).

All the Best,
Dorothy Howard
–
Dorothy Howard, Open Data Fellow
Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO)
212.228.2320 x127

Monday, January 27, 2014

Contributing to Wikipedia Articles on Music: An Interview with Bob Kosovsky of NYPL's LPA - 01-27... METRO

Members in the news: Bob Kosovsky

METRO’s Wikipedian-in-Residence Dorothy Howard talks with Bob
Kosovsky about editing articles on music and music manuscripts on
Wikipedia. The NYPL Library of the Performing Arts, Music Division has
held three Wikipedia Edit-a-Thons, hosting its first in 2011 titled
“Wikipedia! The Musical!”

DH: Tell us a little about your experience with Wikipedia. When did you first get started editing?

BK: I first registered for Wikipedia in July 2006 because I kept
hearing about it in the news and though it was another Web 2.0 technique
that I should learn. That summer, I was working with a lot of sheet
music from musicals. One of the difficulties I encountered was capturing
information about the lesser-known musicals especially those from the
turn of the 20th century, and having that information handy. Although I
found some entries in reference books, I kept thinking that it would be
helpful if I created my own reference tool, a collection of
bibliographic information. As I began to collect this information, I
thought "Why not add it to Wikipedia?" So I began my editing career by
working on articles devoted to turn-of-the-century musicals and the
people involved with them.

What topics do you edit most as an employee of the New
York Public Library at the New York Public Library for the Performing
Arts?

As
a trained musician who is interested in the performing arts, I edit
articles primarily dealing with the performing arts, especially on
music. One pet project of mine is creating articles on some of our
intellectually valuable music manuscripts. For decades we have kept a
file of published journal articles on these manuscripts. Those articles
have been essential in creating Wikipedia entries.

Beyond that pet project, I don't have a systematic plan and edit
whatever strikes my fancy within the sphere of my subject specialty. I
try to edit things that I regard as being helpful to others that come to
my attention as a result of work, through reference questions, or
through dialogues on music-related email lists that I follow. I once had
an email reference question where the patron asked who was the
"Broadway Rose" mentioned in Betty Comden's and Adolph Green's lyrics to
the song "Conga" from Leonard Bernstein's musical "Wonderful Town."
That made me create an article on Broadway Rose. Some time ago a
European music librarian lamented that Wikipedia did not have a detailed
list of composer catalogs (necessary tools in field of music
scholarship). So I took it upon myself to add bibliographic information
to the article "Catalogues of classical compositions." Read more...

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Find Unadvertised Job Openings with a Clever Google Search

Most job openings at most companies go unadvertised—that is, they're posted on their site, but they're not farmed out to recruiters or posted on massive job boards. That also makes them harder to find.

Thankfully, Google can do the job for you. Use these search strings to uncover matching gigs.

The market for new jobs is so competitive that most companies don't see a need to spend a ton of money hiring third-party recruiting firms or posting their jobs to the top of big job boards just to get candidates to apply. Between internal referral programs and word-of-mouth, posting a job to the company's "Careers" page is usually enough. To uncover those unadvertised openings, all you need is a little Google-fu. The folks at the Glassdoor Blog explain that all you need to do is cast your net over the major employee applicant tracking systems that companies use to post and manage responses to their job postings:

Do you know what an applicant tracking system is? Wikipedia defines it as “a software application that enables the electronic handling of recruitment needs.” As a jobseeker, you refer to it as the electronic blackhole that eats up resumes. Specifically, it’s the system you interact with when you apply for a job on a company careers website. One of the more popular applicant tracking systems is produced by a company called “Taleo.”

With a little help from Google, you will be able to search company websites that are using the Taleo system. In this way, you will be able to find jobs that are not posted on (insert leading job board name here) and have an edge on your competition. Let me show you how. Read more...

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Research Like a Librarian: Using "Big6 Skills" for Better Grades! | The New York Public Library

PSSSTT! Let me let you in on a little librarian research secret: finding information at branches and online isn't hard (anyone can do it). In fact, in this digital age of big databases, Google and Wikipedia we are on information overload. We are surrounded by too much information actually. So how do librarians research? What do we know that you don't?

Well, we know how to evaluate information, dissect it, analyze it, reassemble it and put it to use effectively. One way to do this is through the "Big6 Skills"—a research and problem solving process, which was developed by two educators as a way to teach information and technology skills. I learned them while getting my Masters in Library Science and they BLEW MY MIND! Suddenly researching and organizing information for a paper or essay was a breeze. If only I'd learned them when I was in high school or middle school my life would've been totally different. I might've been Hillary Clinton or Simon Cowell. Read more...

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The Digital Public Library of America Has Arrived | The Scholarly Kitchen

Posted by Joseph Esposito ⋅ Apr 23, 2013

English: Illustration of the final chase of Moby-Dick. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Digital Public Library of America has just launched and can be found at the annoyingly unconventional URL http://dp.la. That’s the only criticism I have to make of it, the funny domain name. Otherwise it’s an impressive performance. I have just begun to browse it and expect that I will come to use it regularly. It’s a bit like Wikipedia in that respect — always present in the background when you need it and welcome for precisely that reason.

There will be endless commentary about DPLA, so my remarks here are simply to call attention to the project and to encourage people to check it out. It’s a moving target — what it is today will be significantly different in 6 months. Heaven only knows what it will look like in 5 years.

I have been watching the project since it was first conceived and I subscribed to several of the mailing lists for the working groups. There has always been a gap, at least in my opinion, between some of the lofty — and incendiary — aspirations of the project and the actual nuts-and-bolts work to get it up and running. The “information wants to be free” crowd has embraced DPLA, and that’s unfortunate. (There are many subgroups within the world of free information advocates.) But the actual service that is available right now is very useful, if limited by the current scope of its collections. I say “current scope” as though I actually knew what that scope is. Unlike in a physical library, you just can’t tell by digging into the search tool just how large DPLA is. You will not see documents that you don’t specifically request, so what you do see is the tip of the tip of the iceberg. Over time the amount of ice below the surface is no doubt going to grow beyond human measure. read more....

Monday, December 19, 2011

Book burning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Book burning -

Books burned by the Nazis, on display at Yad Vashem

Book burning, biblioclasm or libricide is the practice of destroying, often ceremoniously, books or other written material and media. In modern times, other forms of media, such as phonograph records, video tapes, and CDs have also been ceremoniously burned, torched, or shredded. The practice, usually carried out in public, is generally motivated by moral, religious, or political objections to the material.
Some particular cases of book burning are long and traumatically remembered - because the books destroyed were irreplaceable and their loss constituted a severe damage to cultural heritage, and/or because this instance of book burning has become emblematic of a harsh and oppressive regime. Such were the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, the obliteration of the Library of Baghdad, the burning of books and burying of scholars under China's Qin Dynasty, the destruction of Aztec codices by Spanish conquistadors and priests, and the Nazi book burnings of Jewish literature.
Although one motivation for book burning may be censorship, it is in most cases an act of displaying severe displeasure, hatred, or contempt for the book's contents or author, or to attract attention for the outrage perceived by those who highly appreciate the book and its content. For example, the burning of Beatles records after a remark by John Lennon concerning Jesus Christ, the destruction of the Sarajevo National Library, and the 2010 Qur'an-burning controversy.

From Wikipedia. For full article, please click headline above.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Jaron Lanier's You Are Not a Gadget. - By Michael Agger - Slate Magazine

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Lessons learned: How college students seek information in the Digital Age by Alison J. Head, Ph.D. and Michael B. Eisenberg, Ph.D.

PIL-ProgressReport_2_2009.pdf - By Nitro PDF Software

The Information School, University of Washington
Research sponsored by a gift from ProQuest

Abstract: A report of findings from 2,318 respondents to a survey carried out among college students on six campuses distributed across the U.S. in the spring of 2009, as part of Project Information Literacy. Respondents, while curious in the beginning stages of research, employed a consistent and predictable research strategy for finding information, whether they were conducting course-related or everyday life research. Almost all of the respondents turned to the same set of tried and true information resources in the initial stages of research, regardless of their information goals. Almost all students used course readings and Google first for course-related research and Google and Wikipedia for everyday life research. Most students used library resources, especially scholarly databases for course-related research and far fewer, in comparison, used library services that required interacting with librarians. The findings suggest that students conceptualize research, especially tasks associated with seeking information, as a competency learned by rote, rather than as an opportunity to learn, develop, or expand upon an information-gathering strategy which leverages the wide range of resources available to them in the digital age.

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Tuesday, October 21, 2014