Disruptive Library Technology Jester

Disruptive Library Technology Jester

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Peter E. Murray

Library technologist, open source advocate, striving to think globally while acting locally

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  • Issue 77: New and Interesting from ALA Exhibits

    I'm just home from the American Library Association meeting in San Francisco, so this week's threads are just a brief view of new and interesting things I found on the exhibit floor.

    • Book-Donations-Processing-as-a-Service
    • Free Driver's Ed Resources for Libraries
    • Free Online Obituaries Service from Orange County Library

    Note! Funding for …

     Posted on  July 02, 2015
     and last updated January 15, 2018
     ·  3 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Data Management Plans, Better Q/A Sessions, App for Bird Identification

    This week's threads:

    • Where should you keep your data? Your library can help with that answer!
    • Use index cards for your next presentation's question and answer session -- it'll make for a better experience for you and your audience.
    • What's that bird? There is an app for that! Give it your …
     Posted on  June 25, 2015
     and last updated June 25, 2015
     ·  3 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Let's Encrypt is coming, Businesses want you coming to the office, OR2015 Summary

    This week's threads:

    • Let's Encrypt announces its launch schedule, so soon everyone can have web servers with encrypted transmissions;
    • Ploys by businesses to get you to come into the office, if you work at a place where coming into an office is optional; and
    • A summary of Open Repositories 2015 …
     Posted on  June 18, 2015
     and last updated June 18, 2015
     ·  4 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Advertising and Privacy, Giving Away Linux, A View of the Future

    In just a few weeks there will be a gathering of 25,000 librarians in the streets of San Francisco for the American Library Association annual meeting. The topics on my mind as the meeting draws closer? How patrons intersect with advertising and privacy when using our services. What one …

     Posted on  June 11, 2015
     and last updated June 11, 2015
     ·  5 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Man Photocopies Ebook, Google AutoAwesomes Photos, Librarians Called to HTTPS

    In this week's threads: a protest -- or maybe just an art project -- by a reader who saves his e-book copy of Orwell's 1984 by photocopying each page from his Kindle, the "AutoAwesome" nature of artificial intelligence, and a call to action for libraries to implement encryption on their websites.

    Feel …

     Posted on  May 28, 2015
     and last updated May 28, 2015
     ·  5 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Library RFP Registry, Transformed Libraries talk at IMLSfocus, DIY VPN

    Welcome spring in the northern hemisphere! Thoughts turn to fresh new growth -- a new tool to help with writing documents for procuring library systems, a fresh way to think about how libraries can transform and be transformed, and spring cleaning for your browsing habits with a do-it-yourself VPN.

    Feel free …

     Posted on  May 07, 2015
     and last updated May 07, 2015
     ·  5 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Fake Social Media, Netflix is Huge, Secret TPP is Bad

    In this week's Thursday Threads we look at the rise of fake social media influence, how a young media company (Netflix) is now bigger than an old media company (CBS), and a reminder of how secrecy in constructing trade agreements is a bad idea.

    Feel free to send this newsletter …

     Posted on  April 23, 2015
     and last updated April 23, 2015
     ·  4 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Web Time Travel, Fake Engine Noise, The Tech Behind Delivering Pictures of Behinds

    In this week's DLTJ Thursday Threads: the introduction of a web service that points you to old copies of web pages, dispelling illusions of engine noise, and admiring the technical architecture of Amazon Web Services that gives us the power to witness Kim Kardashian’s back side.

    Feel free to …

     Posted on  February 05, 2015
     and last updated February 05, 2015
     ·  4 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Google Maps is Good, DRM is Bad, and Two-factor Authentication can be Ugly

    Black and white photo of four men in suits examine a tabletop map in an office setting, with additional maps displayed on the wall behind them.

    Looking at maps, Eastern Carolina University Digital Collections.

    Three threads this week: how mapping technologies have come such a long way in the past few years, and why explaining digital rights management is bad for your sanity, a cautionary tale for those trying to be more conscious about security their …

     Posted on  December 18, 2014
     and last updated December 18, 2014
     ·  4 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: All about online privacy, or lack thereof

    Are you paranoid yet? Are you worried that the secret you shared anonymously might come right back to you? Or wondering why advertisements seem to follow you around from web page to web page? Or just creeped out by internet-enabled services tracking your every move? Or angry that mobile carriers …

     Posted on  December 11, 2014
     and last updated December 11, 2014
     ·  6 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Mobile Device Encryption, Getty Images for Free

    Just a brief pair of threads this week. First is a look at what is happening with mobile device encryption as consumer electronics companies deal with data privacy in the post-Snowden era. There is also the predictable backlash from law enforcement organizations, and perhaps I just telegraphed how I feel …

     Posted on  October 02, 2014
     and last updated October 02, 2014
     ·  5 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Patron Privacy on Library Sites, Communicating with Developers, Kuali Continued

    In the DLTJ Thursday Threads this week: an analysis of how external services included on library web pages can impact patron privacy, pointers to a series of helpful posts from OCLC on communication between software users and software developers, and lastly an update on the continuing discussion of the Kuali …

     Posted on  September 18, 2014
     and last updated September 18, 2014
     ·  5 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Sakai Reverberations, Ada Initiative Fundraising, Cost of Bandwidth

    Welcome to the latest edition of Thursday Threads. This week's post has a continuation of the commentary about the Kuali Board's decisions from last month. Next, news of a fundraising campaign by the Ada Initiative in support of women in technology fields. Lastly, an article that looks at the relative …

     Posted on  September 11, 2014
     and last updated September 11, 2014
     ·  5 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: History of the Future, Kuali change-of-focus, 2018 Mindset List

    This weeks threads are a mixture of the future, the present and the past. Starting things off is A History of the Future in 100 Objects, a revealing look at what technology and society has in store for us. Parts of this resource are available freely on the website with …

     Posted on  September 04, 2014
     and last updated September 04, 2014
     ·  6 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Twitter Timeline Changes, Report on Future Library Technology, USB Security

    Two weeks in a row! This week's DLTJ Thursday Threads looks at how Twitter changed its timeline functionality to include things that it thinks you'll find interesting. Next, for the academic libraries in the audience, is a report from the New Media Consortium on trends and technologies that will libraries …

     Posted on  August 21, 2014
     and last updated August 21, 2014
     ·  7 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Payment Card Security, Crap Detection, VoIP in your Hand

    Welcome to the revival of DLTJ Thursday Threads. With the summer over and the feeling of renewal towards this blog and its topics, I'm happy to be back sharing tidbits of technology that I hope you will find interesting. Today's set of threads covers the gnarly security issues behind the …

     Posted on  August 14, 2014
     and last updated August 14, 2014
     ·  4 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Password Managers, DRM coming to the Browser, Personal Data Brokers

    It is a security/privacy edition of DLTJ Thursday Threads this week. First a link to a 3-page PDF that talks about the use of password managers to keep all of your internet passwords unique and strong. Next a story about how the W3C standards body is looking at standardizing …

     Posted on  October 10, 2013
     and last updated October 10, 2013
     ·  5 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Windows XP end-of-life, Maturing open source models, Trashcans that track you

    Three groups of stories in this long-in-coming DLTJ Thursday Threads. First, we look at the pent-up risks of running Windows XP systems given that support for that operating system is scheduled to end in April 2014. Second, a pair of articles that look at the ups and downs of open …

     Posted on  September 26, 2013
     and last updated September 26, 2013
     ·  7 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Developer Genders, Facebook Release Engineering, Alcohol Among Technologists

    You'll get the sense that this week's Thursday Threads is stacked towards cultural awareness. First is the view of a developer of the female gender in a room of peers at a meeting of the Digital Public Library of America. The second thread is a pointer to a story about …

     Posted on  April 12, 2012
     and last updated April 12, 2012
     ·  13 minutes reading time
  • Thursday Threads: Open Source Advocates Twitch at Blackboard's Strategy and Effect of Copyright/DRM on Access

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    Thursday Threads has been a back-burner activity for quite a while now. Blame it on too many interesting things happening at home and at work (to say nothing of the early arrival of spring weather). This week will be …

     Posted on  April 05, 2012
     and last updated January 15, 2018
     ·  6 minutes reading time