 Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Thom Hickey from OCLC left a comment about their xISBN service, something I've been dying to discuss publicly but didn't think I could. Little did I know that they've got an entire project site for it available to anyone and everyone! (Emphasis below is mine.)
"xISBN supplies ISBNs associated with individual intellectual works represented in the OCLC WorldCat database. Give it an ISBN, and it returns a list of associated ISBNs....
The ISBNs returned from the service can in turn be re-used in an 'or' query to a bibliographic database to improve the chances of a user finding any/all instances of the work in a given database. So a user finding an item of interest at Amazon (for example) could conveniently query his/her local library online catalog to find out if any editions or printings (hardback or paperback, first printing or third printing, and even cases where various titles have been used) of the item are held by the library.
As an experimental project of OCLC Research, this service is available without charge or guarantee. Access does not require registration or authentication. OCLC reserves the right to modify or discontinue the service without prior notice. The xISBN server is believed to be stable, have good uptime, and to have the capacity to handle a reasonably high volume of requests without a significant degradation of response time or service failures, but OCLC does not guarantee service levels for experimental systems.
To use the xISBN service, enter the following URL into your browser window:
http://labs.oclc.org/xisbn/[ISBN]
substituting an actual ISBN for [ISBN]. For example, try:
http://labs.oclc.org/xisbn/0441172717
(0441172717 is the ISBN for Dune, by Frank Herbert.)
The Library Lookup bookmarklet application modified to use the xISBN service is ideal for this. Try this:
Visit the OCLC bookmarklet project.
Add the xISBN bookmarklet for Seattle Public Library to your browser
Pull up the Amazon description for Harry Potter y la cámara secreta/ J.K. Rowling [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in Spanish]
Invoke the Seattle Public Library xISBN bookmarklet.
The bookmarklet approach is one possible means of using the service, but any application that can generate and send a URL could be used with the xISBN web service."
In the past, when I've hinted about an ISBN lookup service, this is what I was referring to. It could be hee-uge and benefit library patrons, library staff, and web surfers in general. We've already seen how the LibraryLookup Bookmarklet can help patrons, but take a look at the very cool work Art Rhyno is doing to make life easier for himself and other staff at the Leddy Library.
Then increase the order of magnitude and think about non-library web services using xISBN. How about All Consuming for starters? The fancy new services in Office 2003 that link out to commercial sites like Amazon could also be localized to the user's own library, whether it be a school/academic library for a student, a corporate library for an employee, or the public library.
Tomorrow, I'm going to delve further into this and see what kind of a bookmarklet I can hack together for SWAN with my meager hack skills. I hope some of the techie folks in the non-library world pick up on this and run with it!
KanGuard
"Kansas has provided a model for all libraries to follow. Using open source products, Linux and Squidgauard, they are providing free filtering to all public libraries for a narrowly defined collection of websites that a group of librarians believes must be blocked in order to comply with CIPA.
Here's the link: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/KSL/libtech/kanguard
This was a result of some creative software engineers and the support of the State Library.
Hooray for Kansas for getting it right!" [Galeciablog]
This is what I wanted to see happen in Illinois or at least at the system level. No go, though. Everyone is too busy reinventing their own wheels.
Original SimCity Online
"Classic Live - SimCity.com: I've recently become (re-)addicted to SimCity 3000 (which I checked out from my local library on a 30-day loan, believe it or not). You can play the orignal SimCity online here. Via Metafilter." [Gadgetopia]
This is the first mention of a library I can recall on any of the tech-oriented blogs, and it's not even for a remotely-accessible service like online reference, database access from home, or requesting books via a PDA or cell phone. That's just sad.
Addendum: Deane sent me an email to note several mentions of libraries on Gadgetopia, but that's not really what I meant by this post. To clarify, this is the first time I can recall seeing any such site highlight using a library service.
Camera Phones Help Buyers Beware
"During the past six months, no fewer than four software firms have released applications to help consumers turn their camera-equipped mobile phones into personal bar-code scanners....
Although the technologies are still in their early stages, the trend is rekindling talk of a shopping revolution.
'Clearly, this is going to change the way people think about shopping,' said Olivier Attia, chief executive of New York-based Scanbuy, one of the firms specializing in bar-code-scanning software.
For example, 'with a camera phone that is also a bar-code scanner, you can go into a store like Barnes & Noble, take a photo of the ISBN number on a book and instantly receive a coupon offering the book for 30 percent less at Amazon.com,' said Attia." [Wired News]
Of course, I think the better example is that a person could scan an ISBN and automatically request the title from their local library!
"While I'm probably going to stick with Bloglines for a while, I might as well play with the 14 day trial of Newsgator Online Services. The one feature that I don't see (and is now an essential part of my aggregation needs) is the neat e-mail subscriptions that Bloglines offers. I've always wanted to read my e-mail in my aggregator rather than read my RSS feeds in my e-mail client..." [Library Stuff]
After playing with Bloglines earlier, Steven gave me a heads up about Newsgator's new service. I had mistakenly assumed it ran off Outlook, but he says it's completely independent and is similar to BL. Of course, it's not free, but I'll still try to take it for a spin in the near future.
Our Everyday, Everywhere Exposure to Video
"Digital video is starting to have profound implications for the way humans absorb information, interact and communicate.
Are we entering a post-literate society? How does the presence of screens with moving images just about everywhere affect our behavior? Is Big Brother watching us, or does it just feel that way?...
Consider, however, Deja View's Camwear, to my mind the 'killer app' of CES this year. A tiny camera clips onto your glasses, hat or shirt pocket. It's attached by a thin cord (which you can run inside your shirt or top) to a camcorder that, because it uses flash storage and has no display, is about the size and weight of a deck of cards.
Here's the concept: Camwear records everything you do, but doesn't store it anywhere until you tell it to, and then only in 30-second clips (16 on an included 64 megabyte memory card, but it accepts up to a 512 MB card).
But the key is this: You get to decide after the fact if something's worth keeping — and then capture it — rather than recording everything and having to go back and view and edit hours of video.
For longer clips you can 'daisy-chain' 30-second segments (although you'll miss about 1.5 seconds of action in between). Battery life is around four hours. It uses state-of-the-art MPEG-4 formatting and works with a PC, Mac, TV and related display devices.
Beyond the obvious 'America's Funniest Home Videos' application, Camwear has a host of intriguing uses. Consider the ATM that doesn't give you your cash. Or the salesperson who changes the deal on you. Or playing back the earthquake or car crash to the insurance agent. It's your life as Reality TV....
Then there's our quality of life and self-concept as human beings. If the camera is always on us and our surroundings, what does that do to our sense of privacy, security and individuality?...." [Seattle Times, via JD's New Media Musings]
On the one hand, that's a pretty scary world to think about living in. On the other hand, I really-really-really want one of these things! Parents know how many times you wish you had a video recorder handy when the kids say something particularly funny or just work their kid-like charm.
I've mentioned here before that libraries need to start consider cameraphones in their policies, and this opens a whole new can of worms to the mix. It's not that cameraphones in and of themselves are so bad, and you certainly can't ban them. They're not terribly unique -- anyone could walk into your library with a 35mm camera tomorrow and start snapping pictures -- but their approaching ubiquity brings with them new issues.
However libraries have a myriad of policies governing appropriate behavior in these very public places, many of which are designed to maintain patron privacy. One of these days, someone is going to walk into a library and be obvious about taking pictures of people with their phone, even uploading them to the internet on the spot. It's better to be proactive and discuss how to handle this type of situation when it comes up, rather than have your surprised staff be reactive and make a bad situation worse.
And hey, it's better to talk about this stuff now, before everyone has a Deja View Camwear.
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