Michael E. Casey's Blog, page 11
June 7, 2009
news and notes
From Ars Technica: The makers of the commercial reference management application EndNote have sued an open source alternative called Zotero, claiming that its ability to import EndNote files violated its creators’ software license. That case has now been dismissed, leaving Zotero in the clear. [I've been playing with Zotero, and it looks good.:]
From The New York Times Bits Blog: Aneesh Chopra, tell us what the nation’s CTO really does. “My job is to serve as the innovation platform champion in ad
June 6, 2009
June 4, 2009
happiness is love
Is there a formula—some mix of love, work, and psychological adaptation—for a good life? For 72 years, researchers at Harvard have been examining this question, following 268 men who entered college in the late 1930s through war, career, marriage and divorce, parenthood and grandparenthood, and old age. Here, for the first time, a journalist gains access to the archive of one of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies in history. Its contents, as much literature as science, offer profound in
internet access for all: your voice is needed
The FCC is currently taking public comments on how to write the nation’s broadband plan. As librarians, I think we all understand the importance of ubiquitous high-quality access to the Internet. Universal broadband access is something we should all support.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 set aside $7.2 billion for broadband stimulus. It also requires the FCC to begin drafting a national broadband plan. The plan will help determine the future of Internet access across the coun
de-deweyfication continues
It’s been almost two years since Andrew LaVallee interviewed me, amongst many others, for his Wall Street Journal article, Discord Over Dewey. LaVallee’s article was about the Maricopa County Library District’s efforts to move away from Dewey to word-based subject classification in two of its branches. Now we see the Rangeview Library District experimenting with De-Deweyfication. From BusinessWire:
…the district is replacing the 133-year-old Dewey Decimal Classification with its own WordThink sys
June 3, 2009
a few thoughts on crisis leadership
Crises bring stress, chaos, outsized external demands, and political upheaval to an organization and its leadership. Managing a crisis in today’s world is increasingly complex and fraught with opportunities for failure. The modern crisis does not follow the model of yesterday, where the organization had to deal with the press and the public through a reasonably controlled single voice.
Today’s crisis is not confined by such limiting walls. Today’s organization must deal with many avenues of commu
remembering tiananmen
I can’t believe it’s been twenty years since the Tiananmen massacre. How clearly I remember sitting in my little brick house on Mary Ann Street on Pittsburgh’s South Side, packing my suitcase and preparing to drive to DC to visit my girlfriend, when across the television screen comes CNN’s amazing coverage of the Chinese government’s crackdown. Over the next few days, as stories and photos, and eventually video leaked out, the whole world was able to see what happened.
Tiananmen was a social upri
mapumental
From Brady Forrest over on O’Reilly Radar comes this cool look at Mapumental.
…a map app that lets you pivot on travel-time, “scenicness”, and house-price in the London area. Just enter a postal code and if you’re looking for a home in the area Mapumental should be very helpful to you.
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June 2, 2009
cheese can soften any day
123 wonderful cheese reviews over on The Kitchn. Yummmmmm!!
I should mention that one of my favorite cheeses, livarot, is not reviewed. If you can find it, try it. It’s deliciously soft and smelly.
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