May 08, 2008 — Thursday
Open Source Software in Education
Educause Quarterly has an new article on the use of open source software in teaching and learning by Shaheen E. Lakhan and Kavita Jhunjhunwala. The article first looks at the history of open source before moving on to the role of open source in learning. The authors also look at some of the different learning management tools out there (including Sakai) before talking about the direction all this might be headed: Web 2.0.
Why does this matter? Because it suggests a change towards student-centered learning:
The traditional learning structure—where students take a backseat while content is developed by instructors and then structured and delivered as courses—has undergone a radical change with the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies. Students have become an important component in the development and distribution of learning content.
For more, go read the rest: “Open Source Software in Education.”
In the meantime, what do you think? As digital learning evolves will it move towards more student-centered learning? The answer seems fairly clearly yes to me, since that’s a move in teaching in general, and Web 2.0 technologies certainly help facilitate that.
— michael | 01:24 PM | Comments (0) | Something to think about
May 07, 2008 — Wednesday
Sci-Fi Wednesday: Iron Sky
The trailer for Iron Sky has just been release. Iron Sky? A film made by the folks who brought you “Star Wreck” (imagine Star Trek, Babylon 5, and the parody of Space Balls). Iron Sky imagines the Nazi’s fleeing to the moon in 1945... only to come back in 2018:
via BoingBoing
— michael | 02:06 PM | Comments (0) | Random bits
May 06, 2008 — Tuesday
50 Games in 1 Semester
Gamasutra reports on the Experimental Gameplay Project at Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center in the article, “How to Prototype a Game in Under 7 Days: Tips and Tricks from 4 Grad Students Who Made Over 50 Games in 1 Semester.”
There were three rules:
1. Each game must be made in less than seven days,
2. Each game must be made by exactly one person,
3. Each game must be based around a common theme i.e. “gravity,” “vegetation,” “swarms,” etc.
If you’re interested in game design, you might want to go read the whole thing: “How to Prototype a Game in Under 7 Days: Tips and Tricks from 4 Grad Students Who Made Over 50 Games in 1 Semester.”
If you are a fan of games can also check out Mudd to EA: life after graduation, a presentation by Michael Coupland, a 2006 graduate of Harvey Mudd College, who gave a talk about his work as a software engineer for Electronic Arts at the Libraries on April 28, 2007 which is available in the CCDL.
via Slashdot
— michael | 01:26 PM | Comments (0) | Random bits
May 05, 2008 — Monday
Cinco de Mayo - US Census Bureau
Today is Cinco de Mayo, so Happy Cinco de Mayo. If you’re wondering about the latest facts and figures, you can rest assured. The US Census Bureau has the latest with their Facts for Features: Cinco de Mayo. The Bureau explains:
Cinco de Mayo celebrates the legendary Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, in which a Mexican force of 4,500 men faced 6,000 well-trained French soldiers. The battle lasted four hours and ended in a victory for the Mexican army under Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza. Along with Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16, Cinco de Mayo has become a time to celebrate Mexican heritage and culture.
Some of the facts include:
— 28.3 million - # of US residents of Mexican origin in 2006
— 9% - percent of total US population this represents
— 25.7 - median age of people in the US of Mexican descent
— 630,000 - # of Mexican-Americans who are US military veterans
— $37,661 - median household income in 2006 for households with a householder of Mexican origin
— 23% - poverty rate in 2006 for people of Mexican heritage
For more, go read the whole thing: Facts for Features: Cinco de Mayo.
— michael | 10:16 AM | Comments (0) | I found it online
May 02, 2008 — Friday
City of Shadows
Photographer Alexey Titarenko took a series of timelapse photos in St. Petersburg between 1992 and 1994, following the collapse of the Soviet Union which he’s titled: City of Shadows. The images are haunting. Titarenko also has other series (some of which are also timelapse photos) including: Venice Series (2001–2008), Havana Series (2003, 2006), Time Standing Still (1998–2000), Black & White Magic of St. Petersburg (1995–1997), and Nomenklatura of Signs (1986–1991).
via kottke
— michael | 01:12 PM | Comments (0) | Random bits
Newspaper Blackout Poems
Although a little late for National Poetry Month, which was April, and so ended a couple days ago, this still looks interesting. Newspaper Blackout Poems are the work of Austin Kleon who takes newspaper articles and a sharpie to create poems. The results are interesting. An example:
Agoraphobia
To go read more, visit Kleon’s Newspaper Blackout Poems blog.
— michael | 10:51 AM | Comments (0) | Random bits
May 01, 2008 — Thursday
Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month - US Census Bureau
May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, and the US Census Bureau has released their Facts for features for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. From the release:
In 1978, a joint congressional resolution established Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week. The first 10 days of May were chosen to coincide with two important milestones in Asian/Pacific American history: the arrival in the United States of the first Japanese immigrants (May 7, 1843) and contributions of Chinese workers to the building of the transcontinental railroad, completed on May 10, 1869. In 1992, Congress expanded the observance to a monthlong celebration. Per a 1997 Office of Management and Budget directive, the Asian or Pacific Islander racial category was separated into two categories: Asian and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. Thus, this Facts for Features contains a section for each.
Some of the facts include:
— 14.9 million - # (estimated) of US residents in July 2006 who said they were Asian alone or Asian in combination with one or more other races
— ~5% - percent of total US population this represents
— 5 million - Asian population in California
— $64,238 - median household income for single-race Asians in 2006
— 1 million - # (estimated) of US residents in July 2006 who said they are Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, either alone or in combination with one or more other races
— ~0.3% percent of total US population this represents
— $49,361 - median income of households headed by single-race Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
For more, go read the entire release: Facts for features for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.
— michael | 02:33 PM | Comments (0) | I found it online
Interview with New British Coin Designer
Matthew Dent, who redesigned the coins for the Royal Mint, is interviewed by Creative Review about the process of designing the new coins. The first question and answer:
Although you haven’t designed coins before, is currency something that’s interested you before, as a non-designer and designer?As a child I was interested in all things shiny, and as I grew up I became interested in all things ‘designy’. There are moments in my life where currency, and especially coinage, made an impression on me in different ways, though I’d never actually considered designing coinage until I became aware of the competition.
Read the rest: Designs on Your Money.
For more: previous liblog post and news from the Royal Mint.
— michael | 11:21 AM | Comments (0) | Random bits
Resources for Online Writers
If you do much writing, you might be interested in Job Profiles post on “50 Awesome Open Source Resources for Online Writers” by Christina Laun which covers a range of types of resources including Word Processors, Reference, Organization, Helpful Tools, and Web Tools. For more, go check out the whole list: “50 Awesome Open Source Resources for Online Writers.”
— michael | 10:16 AM | Comments (0) | I found it online
April 30, 2008 — Wednesday
Ampersand again
Hoefler & Frere-Jones take a look at their “middle name” (the ampersand). H&FJ explains:
Though it feels like a modern appendix to our ancient alphabet, the ampersand is considerably older than many of the letters that we use today. By the time the letter W entered the Latin alphabet in the seventh century, ampersands had enjoyed six hundred years of continuous use; one appears in Pompeiian graffiti, establishing the symbol at least as far back as A.D. 79.
To read the rest, and also see some examples, go read the rest: “Our Middle Name.”
Previously on liblog: & the ampersand that points out Adobe’s ampersand page.
— michael | 08:06 PM | Comments (0) | Random bits
Sci-Fi Wednesday: Artemis Eternal
Artemis Eternal is a community based sci-fi/fantasy film that is in preproduction. Jess Stover, the person behind all this explains:
I’m a filmmaker in Los Angeles at the helm of project ARTEMIS (‘Artemis Eternal’) a short, scifi-fantasy film currently in preproduction that is professionally-led, community-funded, cross-platform and supported by an audience of Wingmen who accept the challenge to create a better professional model for film production, distribution and exhibition. Here’s a 2-minute clip.
For more, you can watch that video or check out the projects flash site.
via via BoingBoing
— michael | 01:50 PM | Comments (0) | Random bits
April 29, 2008 — Tuesday
Cities at Night
Ever wonder what does the world like at night from space? Then the new feature from NASA’s earth observatory provides you with the answer you’ve been looking for. The article, “Cities at Night: THe View from Space,” provides exactly what you’d expect, images of some of the world’s cities at night, and the views are pretty amazing. You can check out Chicago, the Vegas strip, Denver, and Tokyo Bay among other cities.
For more, go read the whole thing: “Cities at Night: THe View from Space.”
— michael | 02:22 PM | Comments (0) | Random bits
April 25, 2008 — Friday
From Graffiti: A Claremont Colleges Library in the Midwest
A Claremont Colleges Library in the Midwest
One of the Claremont Colleges Libraries’ greatest resources for primary documents is not located any where near Claremont, but lies almost 1800 miles away, in Chicago, the Center For Research Libraries (CRL). CRL is a library cooperative that houses materials held by few other libraries in North America. Such resources as older and current foreign newspapers, dissertations from foreign universities, government documents from around the world, rarer journals and magazines, and microform sets focusing on everything from missionaries to labor organizations in South Africa during apartheid are available to students, faculty, and staff by virtue of the Libraries’ CRL membership. There are two major ways of exploring CRL’s holdings—by clicking on the Center for Research Libraries button after you’ve done a search in Blais or by visiting the CRL website. There you can find the CRL catalog as well as topic guides and databases designed to locate specific types of items among holdings such as foreign and ethnic newspapers. CRL materials can be requested through the Libraries’ Interlibrary Loan. CRL also offers a growing number of digital collections, available from their website.— Adam Rosenkranz,
Reference Librarian/Bibliographer
From Graffiti, Volume 2, Issue 3, April 15-May 31, 2005 (pdf), from the Graffiti Archives.
— michael | 12:57 PM | Comments (0) | The more you know
April 24, 2008 — Thursday
Federal Government Spending in 2006 - Census Bureau
The US Censusu Bureau has released data on government spending from 2006 entitled: Where Did Your Federal Dollars Go in 2006?
Some of the facts of 2006 covered include:
— $2.45 trillion - federal government’s domestic spending
— 7.5% - percent increase in federal spending over 2005
— $400 billion - defense spending
— 10.3% - percent California received of the total distribution of federal expenditures
For more, go read the whole thing: Where Did Your Federal Dollars Go in 2006?
— michael | 03:41 PM | Comments (0) | I found it online
April 23, 2008 — Wednesday
Sci-Fi Wednesday: Robot Conductor?
Robots having been growing in complexity for years, but now Honda’s ASIMO will be conducting Yo-Yo Ma and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, according to Business Wire: “ Honda’s ASIMO Robot to Conduct the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.”
As the lead graph explains:
Honda’s ASIMO (http://asimo.honda.com) humanoid robot will focus attention on the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s (ASIMO’s appearance will draw attention to the DSO’s nationally acclaimed youth music programs, and particularly DSO’s effort to encourage and support involvement of children in Detroit.
For more, go read the whole thing: “ Honda’s ASIMO Robot to Conduct the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.”
— michael | 09:18 AM | Comments (0) | Random bits
April 22, 2008 — Tuesday
Climate Change: Earth Day
Today is Earth Day, and there are numerous blog posts and news items that are worth reading about.
Among all these things, to honor Earth Day, I just wanted to point out these great set of images by Stuart Franklin on the Times website: “In the Time of Trees” which is a short set of photos of trees.
Also, as part of Earth Day: some semi-randomly chosen facts to consider:
It takes 5,000 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat (so 1 pound of meat uses the equivalent water of taking a 5-7 minute shower every day for a year)
— michael | 02:44 PM | Comments (0) | Something to think about
April 21, 2008 — Monday
Honnold Library Record: Honnold Library
From the Honnold Library Record, Volume 5, Number 1. Spring 1962:
The First Days of the Honnold Library
On July 1 of this year the Honnold Library will have been open ten years. On that date in 1952 the Library was indeed open, but there were as yet no doors on the building. In order to close the library at night, large panel boards were placed in the doorway. On the second floor in front of the loan desk the carpenters doing the finishing woodwork operated a power saw. This activity, although making the normal routine of checking out books somewhat difficult, was of extraordinary interest to the students.
At the same time that the carpenters were finishing the woodwork, the last coat of paint was being put on the outside of the building. This operation brought out the fact, hitherto unsuspected, that of two hundred members of the Claremont Colleges faculties, one hundred and ninety-five were experts on color. Also, of one hundred and thirty trustees, one hundred and twenty-five were similar experts. The faculty appointed its color committee and the trustees appointed theirs and on one occasion they assembled in joint session; never were such great questions debated by so many so learnedly.
The library was one of the few buildings in Claremont scheduled when construction began to go into operation on a certain day which actually went into operation on that date. The completion of the building, the moving of books from the old libraries, the consolidation of collections, and the opening of the summer session were all so interdependent that the library had to open regardless of the fact that the building was not quite completed.
But even after a building is completed it takes years to so place the counters, tables, lights and bookcases that the library is a comfortable and efficient place in which to work. Now after ten years of use, the Honnold Library, modified and arranged as experience has indicated, is a functional, attractive, and efficient building.
The Size of the Collections Ten Years Ago and Now
When the book collections were moved into the present building, Claremont University College owned in round figures 79,000 volumes; Claremont Men's College 7,000; Pomona College 131,000, and Scripps 42,000.
At the end of the last academic year the colleges possessed a total of 375,000 volumes, an increase of 45%. During the same period the number of United States Government Documents has increased from 157,000 to 242,000, an increase of 54%.
The number of periodicals currently received has risen from 1,745 in 1956 to 3,110 in 1961, an increase of 78%.
These figures reflect nine years’ growth so that almost certainly the library will double in size in twenty years and very probably in less time than that.
The Increased Use of Books in the Last DecadeDuring the first year of the Library’s operation students and faculty checked out 36,500 books at the circulation desk. In the last academic year they checked out 70,000, an increase in nine years of 92%. This year, our tenth, the increase may well reach 100%.
Part of this increase is due, of course, to a larger student body, but by far the greater part is owing to the simple fact that students and faculty use more books. This increased use is the natural consequence of the steady improvement in the quality of students and the quality of work expected of them.
The duties of a library are two-fold and in part contradictory: to preserve books and to promote their use. We feel that while providing appropriate safeguards for the collections, we have at the same time made it possible for the members of the colleges to use books generously and freely.
The Growth in the Rate of AcquisitionsIn the first year in the Honnold Library 8,780 books were added to the collections. Last year 17,945 volumes were added, an acceleration increase of more than 106%.
Certainly the Colleges, the Friends of the Colleges and of the Library may view these statistics with satisfaction. We are frequently overpowered with contemplating the vast numbers of old books we do not have and with the vast numbers of new books pouring from the publishers. It is some satisfaction to recall that we have been aware of the task before us and have constantly increased our rate of acquisitions.
Gifts to the Library from the Honnold Library SocietyThe Honnold Library Society since its founding has every year consistently provided funds for the purchase of important books and collections. Only a few of these purchases can be singled out here.
In 1955 the Society purchased an extensive collection of materials on George Washington from the library of the late Rupert Hughes. In the following year a collection of 700 books on the languages of Southwest Asia was purchased which contained many rare items. In 1957 the Society provided $5,000 for the purchase of books in Europe by the Librarian, and a similar gift of $3,000 was given in 1961.
Four members of the Society, Edward D. Lyman, Dr. Seeley G. Mudd and Mr. and Mrs. Howard D. Mills, established a biography collection which they add to yearly.
Many individual members of the Society are perennial donors to the Library. A few of these are Dr. and Mrs. Egerton Crispin, H. W. Pittenger, Mrs. Elbert Shirk, Mr. and Mrs. Homer D. Crotty, Garner Beckett, Carl I. Wheat, William Clary, Mrs. Fred Smith, Earl Huntley, Thornton Douglas, Frank R. Seaver, R. J. Wig, and Herbert Rempel.
Gifts to the LibraryOver the past nine years the Library has received more than twenty-two hundred gifts. Of this number it is only possible here to note a few of the books and collections which have been given.
In the first year of the Honnold Library, Mrs. Adelaide McCormick gave her collection of more than a thousand Korean books to the Library, certainly one of the outstanding collections on this subject in the country.
Mr. Leonard Bell not only gave his Stevenson collection but gave an endowment for its continued growth. Mr. William Clary endowed the Oxford Collection, provided a room for it, and continued to add many volumes to it each year.
One of the finest gifts this Library has received was the collection on the Italian Renaissance given by the late Harold C. Bodman of Santa Barbara. This valuable and extensive collection has attracted Renaissance scholars from the entire country; its excellence is owing to Harold Bodman’s knowledge and discrimination and his years of patient effort in acquiring the books.
Two collections which have been received, those from the estate of Elizabeth McIntyre and from the estate of Professor John Mill McClelland, have contained not only valuable books but also prints and paintings. Most of the pictures now hanging in the Library are from these two gifts.
What may well prove to be one of the most remarkable collections in the Library is the collection on hymnology, given to the Library by the late Dean Robert G. McCutchan and Helen C. McCutchan. This collection actually is broader than it sounds; it contains song books of temperance societies, political parties, Civil War songs, and children's song books from the late eighteenth down to the present century. It is of great value to students of the history of American music generally.
One group of books which Southern California book collectors will look on with great affection is the collection on fine printing gathered by the late Arthur Ellis and given to the Library by his daughter, Mrs. Joseph Fenton. Arthur Ellis was not only one of Los Angeles’ outstanding collectors, but he inspired others to collect books. He was a member of that very select brotherhood, those who have private presses, and he was also one of the founders of the Zamorano Club.
The largest single gift of books that the Library has received has been the private library of Professor Waldemar Westergaard, an extensive scholarly collection on the history of Northern Europe.
The Ralph B. Lloyd Foundation’s unique contribution over the past six years has been funds for the purchase of books in American literature. The library now has an excellent working collection in this field.
Where Shall We Go in the Next Ten Years?In attempting to plan for books and libraries in Claremont for the next ten years, it must be borne in mind that we are presently acquiring books at the rate of 18,000 per year and that over the last nine years we acquired 85,000 government documents. Thus, if the rate of acquisition does not increase, at the end of the decade we will have nearly 300,000 more volumes than we have now, far more than the present building will hold. As has been shown, the rate of acquisition has been constantly accelerated; hence the Library holdings in 1972 will probably show far more than a 300,000-item increase. If, as may be the case, new colleges are founded, this fact will further accelerate the rate of increase.
Undoubtedly photo-duplication methods will be much more highly developed ten years hence than they are now; but if past experience is a guide, this will not materially decrease the number of conventional books acquired but will simply increase the library’s usefulness by adding on microfilm, microcards, etc., books which it would be hopeless to think of acquiring in the conventional form.
The big library problem ten years hence will then be simply a problem of housing. The problem may be solved in two ways and perhaps by both, by either adding to the present building or constructing new buildings. We are already committed to the idea of a joint science library building to serve Claremont University, Harvey Mudd, Scripps and Claremont Men’s Colleges.
It would also be desirable to have a small building adjacent to Honnold devoted entirely to rare books and special collections. It might also be desirable to have adjacent to these two a third building, well lighted and conveniently arranged, which would house those books most useful to undergraduates.
Some of the materials mentioned here are physically located in Special Collections. For more information on those materials, contact Special Collections.
What is the Honnold Library Record?
The Honnold Library Record, published from 1958 until 1975, was the publication of the Honnold Library Society, the friends of the library group, founded in 1954. All the issues of the Honnold Library Record are available online in the CCDL in the Honnold Library Record Collection.
— michael | 04:29 PM | Comments (0) | The more you know
April 18, 2008 — Friday
Simply Google
Google is often seen as a one stop searching spot for online research, although it’s clear that things are a little more complicated than the one search box that show up at first. Right from the Google home page there are additional search options: images, maps, and news to name a few, as well as a drop down to searches of Google video, Google books, Google scholar, and even a search for blogs.
Beyond these, there is even a Google government search and a Google code search.
Of course, you can always go to Google’s Product page to get the full range of services, but what if you could search any of these without having to go to different pages?
Now you can, and it probably says something about the complexity of searching that there are this many different search options. To see almost all the different ways of searching Google, you should take a look at:
If you take a look, you will find 35 Google search boxes, as well as links to other Google products and search boxes for some of Google’s competitors.
Of course, another option is that you can always ask us, because remember, Google is still not doing a great job of searching the deep web.
— michael | 02:14 PM | Comments (0) | I found it online
April 16, 2008 — Wednesday
National Library Week - State of America’s Libraries
In honor of National Library Week, here is some of the information from the recently released ALA The State of America’s Libraries.
Some interesting details:
From a 2007 survey:
— 53% - % of Americans who said they had visited a public library in the last year
— 70% - % of those visitors who asked for and received assistance from library staff
— 88% - % of those asking who found all or some of what they were looking for
— 53% - % of those who didn’t ask who found all of some of what they were looking for
(hmm... maybe you should ask us)
Other facts to be gleaned from the report:
— over 2 billion - # of items checked out of public libraries annually
— 7 - # of books/year average user checks out of libraries
— $31 - cost to average taxpayer for public library services each year
That’s just the beginning of course. There’s information on the use of ebooks, gaming in libraries, outreach and diversity efforts, first amendment issues, and funding and salary information. To find out more about any of this you download the complete report: The State of America’s Libraries (pdf). You can also view just the information on academic libraries online.
— michael | 11:11 AM | I found it online
National Library Week - Free Books
Don’t forget: free books for Claremont Colleges students today at Honnold/Mudd starting at 3 PM.
— michael | 10:38 AM | @ the Libraries
