Skip to main content

Home/ MOBIUS Libraries/ Group items tagged text

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
adrienne_mobius

Credo's Literati integrates ReadSpeaker text-to-speech accessibility - 0 views

www.thedigitalshift.com/...ibility-features-into-literati

literati accessibility readspeaker credo reference text-to-speech

shared by adrienne_mobius on 29 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • adrienne_mobius on 29 Mar 13
     
    "Text to speech removes barriers for auditory learners, learners who are visually impaired and those who are learning English as a second language."
Scott Peterson

Judge Says Fair Use Protects Universities in Book-Scanning Project - 0 views

www.wired.com/...fair-use-book-scanning

Professional Development.

shared by Scott Peterson on 18 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • Scott Peterson on 18 Oct 12
     
    A victory for fair use, with scanned materials that are used in the HathiTrust. The HathiTrust repository use materials scanned from the Google Books but he access is more restrictive, allowing full text searches only with the copyright holder's permission--but does allow full text for readers with print disabilities. A Federal judge ruled this is covered by fair use, while related lawsuits against Google continue.
Donna Bacon

New Partnership of Barnes & Noble and Microsoft Will Promote Digital Textbooks - chroni... - 5 views

www.readability.com/read

shared by Donna Bacon on 01 May 12 - No Cached
  • Donna Bacon on 01 May 12
     
    College students still don't want e-textbooks!  Wonder if this partnership will help students change their minds.....
  • ...3 more comments...
  • anonymous on 02 May 12
     
    Are you serious? They LOVE e-textbooks... you can pirate them instead of spending $160 on a dead tree...
  • Donna Bacon on 02 May 12
     
    Did you read the article???? It says e-textbooks are just not taking off....they seem to like the dead trees....
  • Sharla Lair on 02 May 12
     
    While getting my MLIS, I was often given the option of buying the textbook or the e-textbook. The highest priority for me was $$$$$. eTextbooks often cost more than the el cheapos in the bookstore, AND you don't even get to keep the e version. I was usually given access to the etextbook for only 4 months. To remedy this issue all together I got my books through MOBIUS! That way I didn't have to pay anything and I didn't have to store the book after the semester was over. For students to adopt e-texts, the model has to be changed. Make them pay a flat fee with their tuition. Call it a library fee or information fee. Then give them access to the required texts while they are enrolled in a course at no additional cost. Make the texts collaborative so digital notes can be taken perhaps Diigo style so they can be shared and commented on. There is a cool tool called Citelighter http://www.citelighter.com/. Citelighter is a virtual highlighter that automates the research and paper writing process. It allows the user to find and capture unique facts online, automatically generate citations, and write better quality papers in less time. They just launched a pro version in a partnership with Cengage. Citelighter Pro users are able to add to their experience with materials from Cengage Learning. If you make it affordable, accessible, and social, college students will dig it!
  • anonymous on 02 May 12
     
    @donna I skimmed it. They are cheaper in some cases than the book new - while buying a used book ten selling it back is cheaper in the long run. Also currently ebooks don't have any really compelling features over the paper ones. Still, I'm saying that the point of view that they "aren't taking off" just means the companies selling them haven't figured out how to make money off of them. I know from talking to friends that ebooks are fairly popular, but when people pirate them these companies can't track them. On the whole I agree with Sharla - if they made the product better and keep it affordable they will see sales. If I were going to college today I'd pirate every book I need. No way am I carrying all those heavy things, but I can't afford to pay for them. It's like with music and movies. I quit pirating that stuff because Netflix/Hulu/Spotify got good and cheap. If the ebooks improve, people will pay for the same reason - it's easier.
  • Jennifer Parsons on 02 May 12
     
    I think the reason why the print versions are preferred is here: ""Most e-textbooks are slightly glorified PDF's of the print version, although that's changing," [a National College Stores Association rep] said. "Digital e-books sell for about 60 percent of the cost of a new printed copy. Since students can go to their college store and rent a print copy for between 33 and 55 percent of the cost of a new book, the e-book really needs to have more functionality to make the higher price worth their while."" Add to that what Sharla pointed out-- you can't even keep the ebooks because you're really just leasing them-- and it's no wonder nobody's interested. It's a shame, too, because I'd love to be able to do things like textbook exercises in an ebook on a tablet, or make notes in the electronic text to export and read later.
Justin Hopkins

(2) Mind Hacks: Does bouncing your leg improve cognition? - Quora - 2 views

www.quora.com/...ing-your-leg-improve-cognition

cognition hacks

shared by Justin Hopkins on 15 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Bouncing your leg rhythmically improves cognition if it keeps you focused on your material instead of wishing you could be elsewhere, moving in another way, and therefore distracting you from your text. Your focus on your text and processing that text contribute to improved cognition. Whatever helps -- do it.
  • If you want to improve your cognition, start jumping rope. Aim to improve the number of times you skip rope without tripping the rope -- and improve by at least 1 count every day. Keep a chart. You will see that as your jumprope ability increases, your cognitive ability will also increase. I don't know if it is a 1:1 correlation, or even a causation. I do know there is some correlation because I have seen it in every one of my students.
  • "So why do kids with ADHD fidget and wiggle and run and jump and bounce and scream and play so much? Kids with ADHD are understimulated, which means that their thresholds are so high, that the stimuli in their environment does not cause them to release enough neurotransmitters to fit into all the necessary receptor sites. Messages don't pass from one neuron to another as easily as they do for those of us without ADHD. Their thresholds are high. Kids with ADHD fidget and squirm in order to provide extra stimulation, which translates into more keys fitting into more locks, and they can pass messages efficiently. Ever studied something intensely and then noticed that your leg was bouncing? Same thing. You were bouncing your leg to stimulate yourself and send a sufficient number of neurotransmitters into the synapse. When kids have to stimulate themselves, it can be hard on everyone around them, since this translates into bouncing off the walls."
  • Justin Hopkins on 15 Aug 12
     
    This is pretty remarkable. We've probably all noticed folks who bounce their leg when they're thinking hard about something. I've noticed that lately - having a lot to think about with Evergreen - that I've worked up quite a gum chewing habit. I often stop working to do pushups or whatnot as well. It really does help. Anyway, very cool read.
Scott Peterson

Lebanon Library Torched, 78,000 Books Burned By Islamists - 0 views

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/...-library-burned_n_4543928.html

Professional Development

shared by Scott Peterson on 10 Jan 14 - No Cached
  • Scott Peterson on 10 Jan 14
     
    Ancient books in a historic library in the Lebanese city of Tripoli have been torched by Islamist, after a pamphlet purportedly insulting religion was found inside one of the books. Security sources say that up to 78,000 books, many irreplaceable ancient Muslim and Christian texts and manuscripts, are now unsalvageable, according to Agence France Press.
  • Scott Peterson on 10 Jan 14
     
    Ancient books in a historic library in the Lebanese city of Tripoli have been torched by Islamist, after a pamphlet purportedly insulting religion was found inside one of the books. Security sources say that up to 78,000 books, many irreplaceable ancient Muslim and Christian texts and manuscripts, are now unsalvageable, according to Agence France Press.
Scott Peterson

Books From Nowhere - 0 views

chronicle.com/...135962

Professional Development

shared by Scott Peterson on 06 Dec 12 - No Cached
  • Scott Peterson on 06 Dec 12
     
    An article that addresses a problem which has come up before, namely "junk" books made from electronic files, in this case physical copies as opposed to eBooks, but with the same problems. Material in the text is missing, as well as the publisher and print date, edition, the notation about original language or any information about the author. Such information, separated from the original work, means that the context and in some cases documentation for the book are lost, which could harm research and preservation in the long run.
Scott Peterson

New DRM Will Change the Words in Your E-Book - 0 views

www.wired.com/...new-ebook-drm

Professional Development

shared by Scott Peterson on 20 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • Scott Peterson on 20 Jun 13
     
    A new DRM feature called "SiDiM" intends to watermark eBooks by slightly changing the punctuation and text for each copy, this making them unique. Some concerns is how it may changes things for the reader or from what the author intended. A similar technique is used for some music files.
Scott Peterson

'Libraries in Exile' fights to save priceless manuscripts in Mali - 0 views

www.csmonitor.com/...-priceless-manuscripts-in-Mali

Professional Development

shared by Scott Peterson on 20 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • Scott Peterson on 20 Jun 13
     
    Mali has been engaged in a civil war for over a year; a unique aspect of that country is the many collections of historical texts dating back to the middle ages, often held in private hands, which have now been threatened by the conflict. Libraries in Exile is attempting to save some of these works by raising money via the CrowdSourcing site IndieGoGo.
anonymous

Closure Tools - Google Developers - 0 views

developers.google.com/...compiler

web-development javascript programming

shared by anonymous on 24 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • The Closure Compiler is a tool for making JavaScript download and run faster. It is a true compiler for JavaScript. Instead of compiling from a source language to machine code, it compiles from JavaScript to better JavaScript. It parses your JavaScript, analyzes it, removes dead code and rewrites and minimizes what's left. It also checks syntax, variable references, and types, and warns about common JavaScript pitfalls.
  • anonymous on 24 Apr 12
     
    This works amazingly well. The javascript we use to send text messages in the webpacs went from 8.5k to 4.3k. Also this works to combine multiple scripts and optimize them all together.
Scott Peterson

Tumblrarian 101: Tumblr for Libraries and Librarians - 1 views

www.thedigitalshift.com/...r-for-libraries-and-librarians

Professional Development

shared by Scott Peterson on 28 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Megan Durham on 28 Aug 12
     
    I think I have a Tumblr account (?) but obviously I don't use it. Anyone have one? Tumblr got me a job. Being intimidated by the prospect of a "full-size" blog, I joined Tumblr in February 2011. Since then I've shamelessly promoted my "name" and stalked down as many libraries/librarians on the site as I could find. I've connected with libraries, librarians, library students, publishers, writers, readers, Doctor Who fanatics, and cat lovers.
  • Scott Peterson on 30 Aug 12
     
    A bit too much of a fan piece but a general description of how librarians can use Tumblr as networking. The basic function is similar to Twitter--namely microblogging, but post aren't limited to 140 characters of text and can include image, videos, and audio clips.
anonymous

Magic: the Gathering is Turing Complete - 0 views

www.toothycat.net/...HowItWorks.html

technology touring

shared by anonymous on 13 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • anonymous on 13 Sep 12
     
    A 50-card M:tG combo for four players is demonstrated that is used to construct a simple Turing machine, performing arbitrary computations just by following the rules of Magic and card text thereafter.
Scott Peterson

Master files for eBooks - 0 views

pgtei.pglaf.org/0.4

Professional Development

shared by Scott Peterson on 09 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Scott Peterson on 09 Aug 12
     
    The Project Gutenberg Text Encoding Initiative is intended to create a machine readable (not intended for human eyes) file that encodes markup and formatting data. When processed by a conversion script it outputs usable formats including PDF and UTF-8, keeping the same formatting across all. While an interesting idea I've heard little about it, and there doesn't seem to be a converted effort to make PGTEI a standard for eBooks.
Scott Peterson

History of Project Gutenberg - 0 views

www.gutenbergnews.org/...history-of-project-gutenberg

Professional Development

shared by Scott Peterson on 09 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Scott Peterson on 09 Aug 12
     
    With eBooks having taken off in the past few years I was curious about the current status of Project Gutenberg, the original resource of online books. Starting in 1971 with the Declaration of Independence Gutenberg initially relied on manually typing in royalty free books into a text format. The project is still continuing, but the founder died last year and as of July 8th the archive is only 40,000 books, an almost miniscule number compared to the digitization efforts of Google.
Justin Hopkins

Google Exec, Others Advise Tight Web Security After Writer Hack - 0 views

slashdot.org/...web-security-after-writer-hack

security google

shared by Justin Hopkins on 14 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Justin Hopkins on 14 Aug 12
     
    If you don't already know what 2 factor authentication is - it's the use of a second out of band communication channel that is used in addition to your password. In the case of Google it means that when you go to log in they will send you a text message with a 6 digit numerical code that you'll type in as well. This means that would be hackers would need to not only know your password but also have physical access to your phone.  I've already enabled this feature for Google apps @mobiusconsortium.org - if you'd like to enable it for your account (it takes like 10 minutes to get set up and fix your applications) just let me know. 
Jennifer Parsons

Letterology: Please Don't Eat the Library Paste - 0 views

letterology.blogspot.com/...se-dont-eat-library-paste.html

library Unprofessional_Development

shared by Jennifer Parsons on 14 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • I'm not making this up. This gravestone marker is from the Goldfield Pioneer Cemetery in Goldfield, Nevada. It marks the grave of the "Unknown Library Paste Man"
  • Jennifer Parsons on 14 Jun 12
     
    Not actually a hoax.  (In case you were, you know, tempted to eat library paste.)
Scott Peterson

Interactive books for iPad, iPhone, and the web - 0 views

www.inkling.com

Professional Development

shared by Scott Peterson on 02 Aug 13 - No Cached
  • Scott Peterson on 02 Aug 13
     
    An interesting web vendor that is offering interactive textbooks, which is in some ways the repackaging of the original "multimedia" CD-ROM's of the early 1990's, but now offered as a "book." They claim to be partnered with McGraw-Hill and Pearson, and it looks like a user needs to have a perpetual account to use their material although offline access is allowed. Some features such as streaming video and music are separate from the book so they are not true stand alone files, and purchasing a book as an app is currently only for a handful of titles. The list price of several of the books is very steep, and my main concern is how well the multimedia is integrated with the text and if there is any ability to share or transfer a license, which I can't find listed in their website FAQ.
adrienne_mobius

'Social Reading' Projects Bring Commentary Into the Text - Technology - The Chronicle o... - 0 views

chronicle.com/...135908

social reading Open Utopia

shared by adrienne_mobius on 29 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • adrienne_mobius on 29 Nov 12
     
    Stephen Duncombe, a professor at New York University, has created a free, online version of Thomas More's Utopia that anyone can browse and annotate. The project is called Open Utopia (http://theopenutopia.org/).
anonymous

3 Major Publishers Sue Open-Education Textbook Start-Up - Wired Campus - The Chronicle ... - 0 views

chronicle.com/...en-education-textbook-start-up

publishers higher education open education

shared by anonymous on 10 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • The publishers’ complaint takes issue with the way the upstart produces its open-education textbooks, which Boundless bills as free substitutes for expensive printed material. To gain access to the digital alternatives, students select the traditional books assigned in their classes, and Boundless pulls content from an array of open-education sources to knit together a text that the company claims is as good as the designated book. The company calls this mapping of printed book to open material “alignment”—a tactic the complaint said creates a finished product that violates the publishers’ copyrights.
anonymous

Release notes for Evergreen 2.2.0 - 0 views

evergreen-ils.org/...RELEASE_NOTES_2_2_0.html

evergreen

shared by anonymous on 19 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Z39.50 server target definitions have been removed from the sample opensrf.xml.example file
  • For each entry in z3950/services, map the following XML paths to the corresponding config.z3950_source table column as follows:
  • map the following XML paths to the corresponding config.z3950_attr
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • Custom Org Unit Trees
  • you can condense or re-order the organizational tree into a simpler structure for patrons using the OPAC while maintaining the complex organizational tree that is available to users of the staff client.
  • The basic catalog has been replaced by the Template Toolkit OPAC (TPAC).
  • Auto Suggest in Catalog Search
  • This feature is not turned on by default. You must turn it on in the Admin module.
  • 2.2.4. My Lists The My Lists feature replaces the bookbag feature that was available in versions proior to 2.2. This feature enables you to create temporary and permanent lists; create and edit notes for items in lists; place holds on items in lists; and share lists via RSS feeds and CSV files.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 19 Jun 12
       
      The RSS feed part of this could be particularly useful for libraries that want to maintain an external list of "new books" or whatever. 
  • SMS Text Messaging
  • 2.2.7. Credit Card Payment via Public Catalog Patrons can now use credit cards to pay fines and bills in My Account of the TPAC.
  • A preferred pickup location.
  • 2.2.9. Identify Previously-Checked-Out Items in Search Results When a user is logged into the TPAC and performs a search, this feature indicates in the results set when any of the result items were ever checked out by the logged-in user. Items will only be tagged when the related org setting is enabled and the user has opted in to circ history tracking.
  • The ability to set limits for a single library’s items, regardless of the checkout library.
  • Retarget All Statuses. Similar to Retarget Local Holds, this modifier will attempt to find a local hold to retarget, regardless of the status of the item being checked in. This modifier must be used in conjunction with the Retarget Local Holds modifier.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 19 Jun 12
       
      Does this mean that you can set a preference to fill local holds first? I don't really understand these checkin modifiers...
  • Provides a new library setting for age hold protection to be based on the copy’s active date instead of its create date.
  • Force and Cataloging Recall Holds
  • In version 2.2, you can specify match points between incoming and existing records to better detect matching records and prevent record duplication. You can also create quality controls to ensure that incoming matching records are superior in quality to existing catalog records.
  • You can also print your queue, email your queue, or export your queue as a CSV file.
  • 2.11.10. Auto-Login Supports auto-login in the staff client by adding three new command line parameters:
1 - 20 of 22 Next ›
Showing 20▼ items per page