Monthly Archives: November 2009

Gartner Releases Top 10 Consumer Mobile Applications for 2012

A Gartner press release has been issued for their October report “Dataquest Insight: The Top Ten Consumer Mobile Applications for 2012.”  We don’t have access to the full Gartner report, so this press release gives us a bit more information.

Observing this report, the Gartner Hype Cycles for consumer mobile applications and maybe even simply the increased use of mobile devices in the Newman library, we can safely assume will be responding to this trend in our profession. The top ten applications are listed below.

  1. Money Transfer
  2. Location-Based Services
  3. Mobile Search
  4. Mobile Browsing
  5. Mobile Health Monitoring
  6. Mobile Payment
  7. Near Field Communication Services
  8. Mobile Advertising
  9. Mobile Instant Messaging
  10. Mobile Music

Also, I attended the Columbia University Libraries Assessment Forum thursday where Michael Lascarides of NYPL spoke about user experiences in his presentation “Uncovering Stories.”  He noted in one of his slides, in the past 18 months, mobile users accessing the NYPL website increased sevenfold.

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Thumbnail History of the Internet

It’s not scholarly but this blog post on the history of the internet is full of fun images and links.

Chapman, Cameron. “The History of the Internet in a Nutshell.” Six Revisions, 15 November 2009. Web.

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Tech Sharecase, 13 November 2009

Attendees
Stephen Francoeur, Ellen Kaufman, Louise Klusek, Jin Ma, Kannen Mohan, Ryan Phillips and Michael Waldman

Searching Blogs
Went over a patron request for finding quotes on blogs. The patron wanted to locate negative quotes about the Marvel acquisition by Disney. Discussed the resources for searching blogs: Factiva, Google Blog Search, LexisNexis and Twitter Search.

Baruch Blogs   
Noted how to find the RSS feed for the Newman Library News “blog.”  One has to navigate to the “News Archives” on library website (RSS icon not visible until you get to the WordPress version of the News Archives). Or, click on the following link: http://www.newman.baruch.cuny.edu/wordpress/?cat=4

Amazon Kindle
Discussed recent news that two colleges, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University, are not moving forward with wide distribution of the Kindle because of perceived discrimination against the blind.  Activating the audio feature on the current Kindle is a challenge for the blind given it requires navigating through the touch screen. Read the Associated Press article via NPR: “Schools shun Kindle, saying blind can’t use it”

Also discussed the Kindle application for desktop that was released this week.

Google Wave
Went over some features of Google Wave and Stephen and Jin demonstrated a discussion. Showed the Doctor Wave video which provides a good introduction to Google Wave. Cameron Neylon’s ChemSpidey robot, an application for tagging in Google Wave, was presented. Aunt Rosie translation robot was also shown.

EtherPad and Wikis for Student Participation
EtherPad and Wikis were discussed for use in class participation. Wikis in Blackboard can encourage class participation for those who prefer to type rather than speak aloud in class.

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2009-2010 Goals for CUNY Office of Library Services

It’s worth subscribing to the LIBRARY News feed from the CUNY Office of Library Services, if only to pick up interesting tidbits like this:

The goals for the 2009-2010 academic year are to:

• work with Computer Information Systems to ensure a reliable back-up for all CUNY library systems in the event of a failure;

• test Ex Libris’s remote information technology services;

• review and update the OLS websites;

• implement the ALEPH Reporting Center so that campus libraries have direct access to CUNY statistics;

• select and implement an electronic resources management system;

• ensure the flow of patron data from CUNYfirst—the university’s enterprise resource planning system for student administration, finance and human resources—to Aleph, the library system.

Read the rest of this post on the LIBRARY News site.

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Tech Sharecase, 30 October 2009

Attendees
Arthur Downing, Stephen Francoeur, Joseph Hartnett, Randy Hensley, Ellen Kaufman, Louise Klusek, Ryan Phillips

Google Discover Music
Talked about new Google Discover Music service in which search results are more socially based and about October 23, 2009, radio story from On the Media, “Charting the Charts,” which noted how Billboard is waning in influence and new services are appearing that measure music success differently. One such services is Band Metrics that ranks popularity not by sales but by an aggregation of metrics, including social ones. Search is changing the economic model for music rankings. Big Champagne offers another service that measures rankings using social aspects. What is a credible or reliable metric is shifting from authorities like SoundScan or Billboard to services that look at social use of media.

Google Social Search
This experiment from Google looks at who is in your social graph (your collection of online friends) so that it can present you with search results that are refined by content that your friends have posted online.

Google Reader
We looked at the way that people who use Google Reader can friend others who use the service and share notable feed items with each other.

Google Site Search Tool
The Baruch College website today unveiled its new site search engine powered by Google. The library website will be changing its search site software to Google soon as well.

2D Barcodes
Following up on Arthur’s comments on an earlier blog post here, We talked about 2D barcodes, QR codes, and their potential uses by colleges and libraries. We looked at the barcode service from ScanLife and the video about how Case Western Reserve University used ScanLife codes.

Mobile Websites for Libraries
We talked about various strategies for creating library websites that would render well on browsers in mobile phones.

Amazon Kindle vs. Barnes & Noble Nook
While talking about basic differences between new Nook reader coming out in November, we also discussed the Kindle loan program at North Carolina State University and how the service also offers patron-driven acquisitions (hear all the details about this on the Library 2.0 Gang podcast from September 2009 in which Orion Pozo from NCSU was interviewed).

TinyURL vs. HugeURL
TinyURL is a well-known service that will shrink a long URL with a brief one that redirects you to the original site. HugeURL is a funny spoof that turns short URLs into obscenely long ones.

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Murdoch may block Google searches

Here is a short BBC News article that may be of interest.

“He (Murdoch) believes that search engines cannot legally use headlines and paragraphs of news stories as search results.”

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US Cyberattack Capabilities book

Technology, Policy, Law and Ethics Regarding U.S. Acquisition and Use of Cyberattack Capabilities. (National Academies Press, 2009)

You can read it online at the NAP site, or listen to the podcast. Scroll down for the full-text listed by chapters or for the podcast link. This may be of interest to students in the information studies minor, as well.

“The United States is increasingly dependent on information and information technology for both civilian and military purposes, as are many other nations. Although there is a substantial literature on the potential impact of a cyberattack on the societal infrastructure of the United States, little has been written about the use of cyberattack as an instrument of U.S. policy.  ……”

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