I'm super late with this meme but I don't want to forget to record it for posterity - Jenny Levine's Shifted Librarian reminded me of it's existence ...
Why You Should Fall to Your Knees and Worship a Librarian.
April 09, 2004
Intelligent Human Language
I admit it, today I did a quick google search for "intelligent human agent" just to see who was infringing on my trademark. My favorite hit was this Finnish student's research paper proposal.
This got me wondering why, exactly, we all seem to find "Engrish" so amusing.
This got me wondering why, exactly, we all seem to find "Engrish" so amusing.
April 08, 2004
Dead Archive Source
OK, this may *seem* unrelated to the mission of this blog, but believe me, it's not. I never have time to read other people's blogs but today I took a quick look at Library Stuff because it was on Blogger's home page as a "Blog of Note" (congratulations, Steven!).
Steven had a good tip about yet another place to get recordings of Dead Shows.
Deadheads have long been pioneers of cyber communities (legend has it that Deadheads started the Well, and John Perry Barlow is a big force behind EFF), and they keep some pretty mean databases, too. Many of them are detail-oriented folks, I guess. Check out Deadbase for a shining example.
Steven had a good tip about yet another place to get recordings of Dead Shows.
Deadheads have long been pioneers of cyber communities (legend has it that Deadheads started the Well, and John Perry Barlow is a big force behind EFF), and they keep some pretty mean databases, too. Many of them are detail-oriented folks, I guess. Check out Deadbase for a shining example.
April 07, 2004
What is Your Data Worth?
No such thing as a free lunch. I *do* understand why a company providing me with a free email service might be justified in reaping some monetary benefit from my demographic info ... but do y'all realize how *valuable* this stuff is to marketers?
Here's a nifty tool that drives the point home:
The SWIPE Toolkit
Link courtesy of a post from the "Google is the Devil" Orkut community
(no, I'm not a member of that one ...).
Here's a nifty tool that drives the point home:
The SWIPE Toolkit
Link courtesy of a post from the "Google is the Devil" Orkut community
(no, I'm not a member of that one ...).
April 01, 2004
Gmail
A colleague and former professor, Mary Minow, clued me in to the whole google gmail thing early today. My initial response was like many others - just an April Fool's Day thing. But it ain't so. Mary and I are like-minded in our concerns for privacy issues, and the whole adwords Gmail thing just doesn't SMELL right. Another very close friend, however, argues that email is already scanned by machines to detect spam, so how is scanning in order to serve ads different? My reply is that I just don't want Ashcroft and Poindexter getting a hold of these technologies, or subpoenaing Google to deliver information to keep us all secure.
There's already a pretty big loophole, it seems to me, in Google's published privacy policy for Gmail:
"Google employees do not access the content of any mailboxes unless you specifically request them to do so (for example, if you are having technical difficulties accessing your account) or if required by law, to maintain our system, or to protect Google or the public." read more
What if someone decides they need "protection" from subversive, left-leaning librarians such as myself? What then? Oooh, protect us from the commie, pinko fags, the Daniel Ellsbergs, Allen Ginsbergs, Jim Morrisons, Michael Moores, etc., etc. Open an FBI file on me, quick! Oh yeah, wait, I think there already is one left over from that protest at Vandenburg AFB back in the 80's.
There's already a pretty big loophole, it seems to me, in Google's published privacy policy for Gmail:
"Google employees do not access the content of any mailboxes unless you specifically request them to do so (for example, if you are having technical difficulties accessing your account) or if required by law, to maintain our system, or to protect Google or the public." read more
What if someone decides they need "protection" from subversive, left-leaning librarians such as myself? What then? Oooh, protect us from the commie, pinko fags, the Daniel Ellsbergs, Allen Ginsbergs, Jim Morrisons, Michael Moores, etc., etc. Open an FBI file on me, quick! Oh yeah, wait, I think there already is one left over from that protest at Vandenburg AFB back in the 80's.
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