SISummer11

Public Policy Institute study shows the gap for broadband access in the home is higher in Latino communities in California; 50 percent do not have access to Internet at home.

An article on the issues that the digital divide is having in online education

I can really see how digital divide can even apply to adult online learners. There is definitely a skill set that we must develop as online students, that is very different from the skills we had as traditional students.

Per discussion topic 1--This article deals with the Canadian postal worker strike, which is still going on.

The article I want to bring into the digital divide class discussion this week is about a project that is "creating Internet networks for eastern Afghanistan whose main components can be built out of trash" such as boards, wires, plastic tubs, and cans. Most importantly, the networks built "can be deployed by anyone anywhere where local infrastructure will not permit a conventional network" (they can even run "off-grid" via car-battery).

There are currently huge riots happening in the virtual world of EVE online, a science fiction massively multiplayer online game, after the publisher changed the in-game currency, making clothes for players' avatars cost 20-25 USD a piece and space monocles cost 68 dollars. Also, the game has a parliament that meets in Iceland. woah!

It sounds like these gamers on on the verge of an epic win...obviously demonstrating their ability to change virtual worlds by way of impending cultural collapse. This makes me rethink Jane McGonical's talk. I was assuming all positive outcomes when applying the collaborative game play concept. Now I wonder what the likelihood is that simulations of real world scenarios (like ending world hunger) will produce not just a failed result but possibly create even bigger problems.

Sorry if this comes up twice, I've been having internet connection issues. This is a really great article about an artist who made a pixellated version of a Miles Davis photograph for his chiptune tribute.  The photographer sued him and the artist lost.  It's just really important to ask ourselves where the line between copy and transformative work should be drawn and the artist (who wrote the article) provides several examples of items for sale that he finds to be similar to his work, yet appear unchallenged.

I never realized there were so many categories of games. Check out the video about the piano staircase, designed to get more people to take the stairs. It's an example of gamification, creating a game that encourages people to buy a product or to behave in a particular way.

Using this definition, "serious games" are the types that we would use in schools to teach a particular concept, while "gamification" is turning anything into a game. It seems to me that many of is in this class would be more interested in the idea of "serious games", unless we were trying to do some sort of public relations effort in our library, which might bring more of "gamification" into play.

I've been having some technical problems starting a new link to a US Depart. of State sponsored Serious Games Conference, so here it is: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/05/164134.htm Further down the page is a link to live streaming of the conference. It really is starting to look like serious business..!

JK: Messing with the muggles

for anyone who doesn't know, Bitcoins are an online, completely anonymous currency that's been raising some hype lately after being 'discovered' by more mainstream users.

holy stolen Bitcoins batman! Not sure if anyone has been following this but, the attack and the subsequent crash jeopardizes the Bitcoin as virtual currency http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13857192

I've been trying to get some bitcoins for months. No dice yet.

LJ blog about social & digital media

Wow...maybe I spoke too soon when I said speech-to-text programs would never dominate the web. Bromley might have been on the right track..

Pretty interesting! Especially the translation.

This was the website Christine Borgman mentions in the lecture that can be searched for publisher's copyright conditions for authors archiving their work online.

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned Jaron Lanier or this book, but a friend just recommended it and I was looking up to see what his views are like. It seems that the book, among other things, talks about having to have a self before we begin to share it. Are we disregarding the complexities of life with social media? Are we demonstrating to people that we're living rather than finding personal meaning in life? But I really need to look into it a bit more and I'm not quite sure what I think yet. He's a preeeetty interesting character, that's for sure, with a different take on things. Anyone read this? What do you think?

Someone I know just asked me to sign up for a Pinterest account. Anyone ever hear of it before? According to the site, "Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests." I think I'll give it a go.

Thanks for sharing -- this looks fantastic! It's got that great gawker atmosphere, just sharing good stuff. And kind of a way to collect things you like without actually having them. Cool.

Why I posted this: The site, which will combine social networking elements with an immersive game-like world, will fully open in October, but a lucky few will be allowed to pre-register before anyone else.

This seemed relevant to the ongoing ebooks saga for anyone interested.

Wow - I'll be watching this. Though I'm glad a library is going to press the issue with Overdrive sooner rather than later - I mean, how realistic is it that libraries have to stay with the same e-book vendor forever or lose their content? Ridiculous. Thanks for posting this.

I was looking for a definition on this term, "Augmented Reality," which came up in my searching yesterday, when I came across this Common Craft video explaining it. Some of this stuff just blows my mind!

A really interesting series of videos, audio, visualizations, and other outputs from "Hyper-Public: A Symposium on Designing Privacy and Public Space," at Harvard's Berkman Center

Interesting to think about the fact that the concept of privacy is really shifting. Danna boyd's illustrates this point well with her statement that that "even though we're in the public, doesn't mean we desire publicity." She also mentioned "youth" hiding in broad day light through their use of online code.

A friend of mine fowarded me this article. What is interesting is what Dr. Bidwell says about the impact of digitization and ereaders. The impact of digitization: That's a vexing question and has all sorts of implications for our profession. Digitizing early books is a major achievement. Some people wonder whether we're digitizing ourselves out of a job. I don't think so. It is marvelous to have digital versions of an early book on the Web, but there's nothing like the multiple examination of early books to see how it was produced and received. What about e-readers? You're talking to a curator of printed books. I have nothing against readers. I like to read the printed book.