July 2006 Archives

YALSA, or the Young Adult Library Services Association, will be a good place to keep up with DOPA news in the next few weeks. According to a recent post in their blog, they will be publishing some good information, including; sample letters that you can send to your newspaper editors, a Legislative Advocacy Guide for when you contact your senator regarding the issue, and a Social Networking Site Toolkit to use to "help educate your coworkers and library users about the pros and cons of social networking sites."

Tags: yalsa, dopa, library, libraries, social networking

I want a new digital camera. I'm not all that great at taking pictures to begin with, so I'm thinking I need all the help I can get. Anyway, I came to this today as I was getting pictures from my mom's party in Indiana for her to a CD...I'm not happy with most of them I took that day. I know a lot of it is me, I can get good pictures if I take some time to make them good...but then again, I think our digital camera has been dropped one too many times too. Most of my pictures come out blurry on the left side of the image. I'd like one with higher mega pixels and I'd also like one with an optical zoom.

Oh well, there's a lot of things I want that we can't really afford to get so I'll just add this one to the list :)

Tags: camera, digital camera, pictures, photography

I haven't been all political since well before the disastrous election of '04, however, this DOPA thing just burns me up. Anyway, there's a petition going on over at saveyourspace.org I was number 800 something to sign it.

TechCrunch is even on the bandwagon with an extremely well written post today. There's also some other posts listed on the TechCrunch one worth checking out.

Teachers are against this, librarians are against this, what I don't understand is why the government feels that they have to do our jobs for us by deciding what is right for our students/patrons/children. I don't have children, but to be honest with you, my views wouldn't be much different if I did. I'd also be damn sure to know what they're doing on the internet and I guarantee you I won't want the federal government telling me how to raise them. This bill is flat out wrong!

And yikes, I just read my representatives speech on the floor of the House and I'm shocked he even voted for this thing after what he said! This is an actual quote:

This is, essentially, a shin plaster on a cancer. This is a piece of legislation which is going to be notorious for its ineffectiveness and, of course, for its political benefits to some of the Members hereabout.

Yet I'm still curious as to why he voted for this...he mentioned the opposition by librarians and teachers, he mentioned the bill's ineffectiveness to stave online predators, the fact that it was a placebo and the real problem won't be solved, yet he still voted for the bill!? I don't get it?! Is this truly how our government works? You get up, disagree with a piece of legislature, and then vote to have it passed? I'm simply disappointed.

Tags: dopa, dopa petition, petition, library, libraries, politics

Well, it seems, according to the Center for Democracy and Technology, that DOPA (Deleting Online Predators Act) was passed today in the House, it now moves on to the Senate. When I heard they were trying to rush it through a few days ago, I had very little doubt it would get passed, as sad as that made me.

I sent email to my representative right when word of the bill came out, I did receive a letter response back from him. I normally have no objections to my representative, however, this particular time his response clearly indicated that he was in favor of the bill. Not only was he in favor of this bill he also told me that he voted for the CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act) when it became law in 2000. I posted the letter on my bulletin board in front of my desk at home, I'm not sure why, maybe to remind myself that the world is full of things that don't make sense.

As an aside, I've discovered a site, GovTrack, for tracking the actions of certain bills, my representative, and congress people. I've been tracking DOPA there, and since I'm also tracking my representative, it kindly told me that he voted 'aye' on the bill...as suspected.

Tags: govtrack, dopa, cipa, cdt, politics, library, libraries, social networking

Lifehacker pointed to a blog post on two different types of people, simplifiers ad complexifiers, and asks whether "you make things more complicated." I found a few of the comments on Lifehacker's post pretty interesting though. First, to quote the original article:

"Complexifiers are adverse to reduction. Their instincts are to turn simple assignments into quagmires, and to reject simple ideas until they're buried (or asphyxiated) in layers of abstraction....They take pride in consuming more bandwidth, time, and patience than needed, and expect rewards for it.

Simplifiers strive on concision...They find ways to communicate complex ideas in simple terms without losing the idea's essence or power."

Here are a few of the comments I found interesting:

AKthe47 says:

It's often the case that 'complexifiers' make things more complicated in the hopes of analyzing a problem into its base components so that a similar problem can be resolved much more quickly.

arul_v says:

This categorizing into "complexifiers" and "simplifiers" is a perfect example of how trying to trivially simplify inherently complex things can lead to wrong results.

tnoetz01 says:

Anyone who tries to lump the entire globe into two categories is usually wrong. Simple enough for you?

I can only speak for myself, but I would put myself into the complexifier category and I don't think that one of these categories is better than the other. I also agree with the comments above. First of all, whenever I start a project that I know is going to take me a long time to learn or implement, I always think about the future benefits of the initial implementation. It may take me a long time to execute now but the next time I do it I will have beat the learning curve and made it simpler not just for myself, but for anybody else who wants to benefit from my work.

I also agree that it is too much to classify people into two categories. I may consider myself a complexifier but I also see benefit in collaboration with people who are not like me. I prefer to work with people who have opposite strengths than I do because their strengths and my strengths make up a better whole outcome. Therefore you need complexifiers and simplifiers working together in order to attack a project at all angles.

Speaking as if there are only two types of people in the world (which we know that there isn't), the original author of this post negates the contributions of the complexifier, however the complexifier is better at different things than a simplifier. I believe that both can take a problem and simplify it to its most basic parts, but a complexifier is able to wrap their heads around truly complex problems, especially problems that do not have one straight answer. Speaking as somebody whose mind is constantly racing with different thoughts, calculations, and scenarios, it's necessary for complexifiers to go through ever aspect of those thoughts and not completely settle on the "simplest" answer, but rather the "best" answer. I would even reason to guess that complexifiers are more adapt to thinking outside the box than simplifiers. Complexifiers like to brainstorm their ideas, sometimes verbally, and I believe that a lot of great ideas can come out of those thoughts...even some of the most abstract ones.

There's room for all sorts of people in a workplace, the key is to understand where you fit in, and if you're a manager, to understand how others fit into your organization.

Technorati : business, personality, relationships, workplace, workplace relationships

I had a request for mailing labels from somebody in the orchestra...usually I send out the file already formatted in labels so they can print it up on their computer. I'm stumped though. I couldn't find the Avery number she sent over in Word so I looked it up on the Avery website. It's for dot matrix labels?!!! They still make these?! Holy crap, now I don't know what to do, no wonder why I can't find the labels in Word.

***

Unbelieveable...I never noticed this before but there is an option in the label dialog for dot matrix printers!!! And the labels I need are in there!!! I don't know if I should be baffled or impressed actually. This whole thing is a little too much for me this morning.

Technorati : dot matrix, dot matrix printers, labels, printer, printers

Adaptive Path published part one of an interview with Steven Johnson, who happens to be my current hero. Johnson discusses hypertext, interfaces, web 2.0, virtual space, and physical space...

If you haven't read Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter, you should, it is an amazing book.

I'm looking forward to part 2 of the interview.

Technorati : adaptive path, interview, popular culture, steven johnson, technology

I just got word on the library blogosphere that there will be a Library Camp East coming up at Darien Public Library in Connecticut. It will be the same format as the previous and original library camp, only a different location. I probably won't be able to attend but I'll be following the event on the Library 2.0 Wiki, I'm curious to what the new group of library campers decide to talk about in their sessions.

Technorati : library, library 2.0, library 2.0 wiki, library camp, library camp east, wiki

I started a new book:

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

Which I'm loving! The author is witty and amusing, and I can totally relate her chronicles of her "ordinary life". It's a recommended read.

Technorati : books, encyclopedia, humor

I was excited about this article...

Alcohol allowed in the library, but not by the books

until I read it and realized that alcohol is only allowed in the library's conference facilities...bummer. I think the library would be more appealing to the population if they served beer. I think the staff would have an easier time dealing with patrons too :)

Technorati : alcohol, libraries, library

I have four weeks between this semester and the next and I have a feeling I'm going to be cramming a lot in to those four weeks. For one, I finally have time to work on projects for the orchestra, and given that the new season starts in September, this is the perfect opportunity to do this. I, thankfully, was not involved in the brochure design this year, but I have next year's brochure to transfer information to the website.

On Thursday I began looking at the website and thinking about how I wanted to update it and continue to reorganize it. Using one of my favorite firefox extension, Scrapbook, I created a textual sitemap so I can see all parts of the website. Scrapbook is the best thing for this, plus the site is automatically organized on my local drive so I can see every part of it, I can even check broken links to outside sites. Luckily the website is not huge, but even if it was, Scrapbook is still a great tool for this.

I'm also brainstorming some more automation on the front page. Updating the homepage with the next event falls in my lap most of the time, and often I forget or do it too late. I have thought about doing it as a blog post, where I can future date it to come out after the previous event. I would only have to create the event snippets one time and then I don't have to think about it much after I have it set up. I love automation! Blogger would be perfect because it's simple to use and I've messed around with it...it ftps fine into your own website...however they don't have the future dating function either, which is a key component. I might play around with adding WordPress into the site. With the functionality of blog software in the site, I could eventually elaborate on it for more functionality in the future. News updates or press releases on the home page could be a possiblity, and I don't forsee this being too hard for me to set up either. I'm trying to keep things as easy as possible.

A website project for way in the future would be to set up an online ticketing solution for the orchestra. I'm not sure how to go about this yet but this is definitely a future project...

My second four week project in between classes will be trying to figure out how to transfer my Access database for the orchestra to our server so I can get it online for members and staff to use. I found a great article online on how to migrate from Microsoft Access to MySQL and still be able to utilize the Access interface locally...this is what I want because currently I've been using the database to create labels for orchestra board members. Since it's easy to do a mail merge with Access and Word, this is perfect and I want to continue using the functionality if I can. My goal for doing this is to take data entry out of my hands. My job is really just to manage the database, I don't receive the subscription forms and several different people handle that. I usually get updates to the database by email or scraps of paper at board meetings (which I usually lose). If I can create an interface to get board members to interact with the database directly, I think it could save everybody time...plus I hate data entry.... I really have to think out the process though, I already forsee some challenges in how it will function...the challenges could be easy for me to figure out if I had to do it only in Access, however I'm also learning new technology...I'm sure I'll have fun with it though. I do love learning new things.

My update about Windows Genuine Advantage...I successfully uninstalled it from my computer. Technically you can only uninstall beta versions (or whatever they called it), which mine wasn't, but the directions for uninstalling worked on my version, although it involved changing files names, restarting several times and updating the registry...it wasn't hard for me but I can't see somebody like my mom trying it. Immediately after I got it uninstalled I got a Windows Update telling me I needed to install it again (which I didn't). I'm not worried about not having it, apparently even if you're running an illegal copy of Windows (which I'm not), you still get critical updates from Microsoft...which is all I want anyway. Besides, I have good virus protection and a firewall on my computer so I think I'll be ok not getting any extra updates for IE (which I hardly use), or Windows Media Player (which I hardly use).

I started messing around with the new beta version of Firefox 2.0 on Thursday too. I like it alright, but some of their updates conflict with two extensions (because they're similar to what the extensions do), so I have had some problems with that. I used the Nightly Tester Tools firefox extension to force my old extensions to work with the beta version. I wish I had known about this extension before! It would have saved me a lot of time, and it works beautifully. The two extensions I was having some trouble with are SpellBound and Tab Mix Plus. I disabled both of these for the time being. Firefox 2.0 is supposed to have the same compatibility as SpellBound, but I haven't got this to work right on my browser...now neither work so I need to look into that, SpellBound is hands down my favorite extension. The same is true for Tab Mix Plus, and it doesn't seem like I can override Firefox's new tab options so I can use Tab Mix Plus instead (which is way more powerful). Firefox 2.0 is supposed to have session saver ability built in but this doesn't seem as strong as Tab Mix Plus either. I've phased out using Tab Mix Plus for session saver because I've been using GoogleSync, but I like having Tab Mix Plus available for restoring browser crashes. However, as updates start happening for the newer version then the extension will eventually work better, so I'm not worried about it at the moment. My updgraded browser has been running fine...

Technorati : databases, firefox, firefox 2.0, ms access, mysql, nightly tester tools, projects, scrapbook firefox extension, web, web design, websites, wga, windows genuine advantage

It seems I'm updating notifications for Windows every day, last night I didn't realize I was downloading Windows Genuine Advantage and now the damage is done. I should have paid more attention to what I was downloading on my computer. I don't have any illegal Windows products on my computer so I'm not worried about that, what I don't have on my computer is Service Pack 2. I avoided having to download it for many years and now the new notification is telling me that I have until October 10, 2006 before they stop supporting SP1. If I don't download it then it will keep bothering me about it. I still don't want to download it, my computer has been fine without it. Maybe I'll just bite the bullet on this one...but my computer is not happy right now and I don't want to add another headache to the mess. My speakers aren't working well, neither my headphone nor microphone jacks work, and it's starting to run slow again, painfully slow when programs open or on startup. I need to uninstall programs I'm not using mostly, but I'm sure it doesn't help that there's a new update from Windows every flipping day...most of the time I don't even install them when the notification pops up, it's not until I get sick of seeing that notification thing in my tray every day. I'm going to sit down with it and do some seriously cleaning, probably during my 4 week break from school, but I'm not looking forward to it. Maybe after it's running better I'll decide what I'll do about SP2.

Technorati : service pack 2, sp2, windows, windows genuine advantage, windows xp

Yippee! Google is opening up an operation in Ann Arbor that will bring 1,000 jobs to the state.

You bet I already took a look at the job offerings this morning! Nothing I'm too interested in though. There's some advertising, it looks like some engineering jobs, and maybe some print scanning (which makes sense). I've always said that I would love to work at Google, but I honestly never want to live anywhere but the mid-west...lucky for me my husband agrees.

Technorati : employment, google, google jobs, jobs

I got a message from the person at Absolute Michigan about using one of our Pictured Rocks pictures in their new Destination Michigan feature. Pictured Rocks is the first destination featured on the site and they used my Miner's Castle image from our camping trip last year. Like when they used one of my Tahquamenon Falls pictures on Michigan in Pictures, I'm truly flattered for being included, especially when I see the wonderful pictures that mine is included with.

What's even more is that I still haven't put up all of the pictures from that camping trip! I don't even have my favorite pictures up of the Crisp Point Lighthouse. Alex and I refer to it as "our lighthouse" because it was the one thing we did on the camping trip on our own (my mom and step-dad stayed at the campsite), it was a real adventure getting there, and the view was absolutely spectacular when we made it. As a matter of fact, the lighthouse on the top of this blog is that lighthouse. I recently grabbed the travel section in the Ann Arbor News one Sunday and saw that "our lighthouse" was the front page...I wanted to go back!

The more I see pictures of these places in Michigan the more I want to travel around the state and see more of these places. This summer we're talking about going camping along Lake Michigan somewhere. I can't wait!

Technorati : michigan, pictures, travel

The Ann Arbor Fairy Doors have recently been mentioned on Boing Boing. I only have a couple pictures of one taken with my camera phone. A search on flickr for "fairy door" also gives about 229 photos (as of today), most of them are the Ann Arbor doors. I would love to take my camera around town someday and get a picture of all of them (or all of the ones we can, I don't think all of them are in public places).

Technorati : ann arbor, ann arbor fairy doors, fairy doors, urban fairies

Went looking for this one, but I wanted to post it...a guy tried to call AOL to cancel his account and recorded the conversation. I've been in this guy's shoes one too many times, not with AOL, but with other dial up service providers. My favorite was with CompuServe a long time ago. The guy tried to get me to keep the account for email, I told him I didn't use CompuServe email ever...it was the total truth, I didn't, he absolutely didn't believe me!

I do think stuff like this needs to be put out there though; AOL, CompuServe, etc., you really need to work on your customer service skills. Are you so desperate to keep customers that you are willing to bully them about cancelling the service? Also, how can any person work at these call centers and do this all day? I would have to take a millions showers when I got home from work to stop feeling dirty from my job if I had to do this all day...it's sad.

Technorati : aol, aol cancellation, internet, internet cancellation

I found the following link on Lethal Librarian...(by the way Rikhei, Happy Birthday! I can't comment on your site, apparently I can't remember my WordPress login).

Anyway, here's the Library Musicial. Alex watched it with me this morning, he asked if I was going to send it to all of my library friends, I said that I wasn't sure because I felt slighty embarassed for the people in the video. Alex responded with, "why, you know they're just music people...all music people work in the library." This is true...at least in our school it was. It did remind me of the time we tried to make a horror movie one summer at Carthage...complete with torture chamber (which by now is long gone with the new library). Summers in the library at Carthage were fun times...my favorite memories were painting the rock with the technology department and the library vs. technology sand volleyball games (we got stomped on by the way)...oh and you can't forget the potlucks...yum!!!

Technorati : libraries, library, library musical, musical