Internet

LibraryBox & Google Summer of Code

I am thrilled to be able to announce that The LibraryBox Project has been invited to be one of the projects included in the Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s Google Summer of Code.

If you aren’t familiar with the Google Summer of Code, it is a program that gets undergraduates connected to open source projects via mentor organizations. The goal is to give the students experience working on useful open code, while projects benefit from their skills to set and meet development goals. Google pays the students a stipend, and the whole open source community wins.

From LibraryBox & Google Summer of Code | Pattern Recognition

I am thrilled to be able to announce that The LibraryBox Project has been invited to be one of the projects included in the Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s Google Summer of Code.

If you aren’t familiar with the Google Summer of Code, it is a program that gets undergraduates connected to open source projects via mentor organizations. The goal is to give the students experience working on useful open code, while projects benefit from their skills to set and meet development goals. Google pays the students a stipend, and the whole open source community wins.

From LibraryBox & Google Summer of Code | Pattern Recognition

This renowned mathematician is bent on proving academic journals can cost nothing

But in the four years that have passed, little has changed. Despite a decades-old “open access” movement — which aims to put research findings in the public domain instead of languishing behind expensive paywalls — the traditional approach to publishing remains firmly entrenched.

So Gowers is now launching his second attack, this time with a lot more intention.

This week, he debuted a new online mathematics journal called Discrete Analysis. The nonprofit venture is owned and published by a team of scholars. With no publisher middlemen, access will be completely free for all.

From This renowned mathematician is bent on proving academic journals can cost nothing – Vox

But in the four years that have passed, little has changed. Despite a decades-old “open access” movement — which aims to put research findings in the public domain instead of languishing behind expensive paywalls — the traditional approach to publishing remains firmly entrenched.

So Gowers is now launching his second attack, this time with a lot more intention.

This week, he debuted a new online mathematics journal called Discrete Analysis. The nonprofit venture is owned and published by a team of scholars. With no publisher middlemen, access will be completely free for all.

From This renowned mathematician is bent on proving academic journals can cost nothing – Vox

March 7, 2016 by Blake Academic Libraries Internet

Wikimedia Foundation director resigns after uproar over “Knowledge Engine”

Earlier this month, documents related to the grant were leaked to and published by The Signpost, Wikipedia’s online newspaper. In a special report, The Signpost published the 13-page grant agreement and ran an article asserting that the “Knowledge Engine” would be, contrary to statements by Jimmy Wales and other board members, some type of generalized Internet search engine. “The presentation contrasts the ideals and motivations of commercial search engines—they ‘highlight paid results, track users’ internet habits, sell information to marketing firms’—with those of ‘Wikipedia Search’, which will be private, transparent, and globally representative,” wrote The Signpost. “It repeatedly stressed that “no other search engines carry these ideals.”

From Wikimedia Foundation director resigns after uproar over “Knowledge Engine” | Ars Technica

Earlier this month, documents related to the grant were leaked to and published by The Signpost, Wikipedia’s online newspaper. In a special report, The Signpost published the 13-page grant agreement and ran an article asserting that the “Knowledge Engine” would be, contrary to statements by Jimmy Wales and other board members, some type of generalized Internet search engine. “The presentation contrasts the ideals and motivations of commercial search engines—they ‘highlight paid results, track users’ internet habits, sell information to marketing firms’—with those of ‘Wikipedia Search’, which will be private, transparent, and globally representative,” wrote The Signpost. “It repeatedly stressed that “no other search engines carry these ideals.”

From Wikimedia Foundation director resigns after uproar over “Knowledge Engine” | Ars Technica

March 1, 2016 by Blake Internet

Online Privacy and the Invisible Market for Our Data.

Abstract: Consumers constantly enter into blind bargains online. We trade our personal information for free websites and apps, without knowing exactly what will be done with our data. There is nominally a notice and choice regime in place via lengthy privacy policies. However, virtually no one reads them. In this ill-informed environment, companies can gather and exploit as much data as technologically possible, with very few legal boundaries. The consequences for consumers are often far-removed from their actions, or entirely invisible to them. Americans deserve a rigorous notice and choice regime. Such a regime would allow consumers to make informed decisions and regain some measure of control over their personal information. This article explores the problems with the current marketplace for our digital data, and explains how we can make a robust notice and choice regime work for consumers.

From Notice and Consent – Schneier on Security You can read the Paper Here.

Abstract: Consumers constantly enter into blind bargains online. We trade our personal information for free websites and apps, without knowing exactly what will be done with our data. There is nominally a notice and choice regime in place via lengthy privacy policies. However, virtually no one reads them. In this ill-informed environment, companies can gather and exploit as much data as technologically possible, with very few legal boundaries. The consequences for consumers are often far-removed from their actions, or entirely invisible to them. Americans deserve a rigorous notice and choice regime. Such a regime would allow consumers to make informed decisions and regain some measure of control over their personal information. This article explores the problems with the current marketplace for our digital data, and explains how we can make a robust notice and choice regime work for consumers.

From Notice and Consent – Schneier on Security You can read the Paper Here.

February 26, 2016 by Blake Internet Legal Issues Privacy

Yahoo Webscope: A reference library of interesting and scientifically useful datasets

The Yahoo Webscope Program is a reference library of interesting and scientifically useful datasets for non-commercial use by academics and other scientists.

All datasets have been reviewed to conform to Yahoo’s data protection standards, including strict controls on privacy. We have a number of datasets that we are excited to share with you.

Yahoo is pleased to make these datasets available to researchers who are advancing the state of knowledge and understanding in web sciences. The datasets are only available for academic use by faculty and university researchers who agree to the Data Sharing Agreement.

From Webscope | Yahoo Labs

The Yahoo Webscope Program is a reference library of interesting and scientifically useful datasets for non-commercial use by academics and other scientists.

All datasets have been reviewed to conform to Yahoo’s data protection standards, including strict controls on privacy. We have a number of datasets that we are excited to share with you.

Yahoo is pleased to make these datasets available to researchers who are advancing the state of knowledge and understanding in web sciences. The datasets are only available for academic use by faculty and university researchers who agree to the Data Sharing Agreement.

From Webscope | Yahoo Labs

February 26, 2016 by Blake Internet Librarians Libraries Privacy Yahoo

What Does It Take To Be A “Bestselling Author”? $3 and 5 Minutes

Gone are the days of having to be selected to put out a book. Gone are the days of having to go to a bookstore to see what is available. Now you can check online, with real time reviews, AND, real time “bestseller” rankings. It’s unsurprising that as the barriers to entry for the book business went down, so did the quality of the books being produced. These days, over one million books are published each year, with at least half of these self-published. So it’s almost obvious that, given the volume, you could game your way to the top of a category with very few sales. And yet, in spite of the fact that it’s as easy as I’ve shown to become an Amazon best-seller, those same people get to cash in on the goodwill and prestige build up in the title “bestselling author.”

From What Does It Take To Be A “Bestselling Author”? $3 and 5 Minutes. | Observer

Gone are the days of having to be selected to put out a book. Gone are the days of having to go to a bookstore to see what is available. Now you can check online, with real time reviews, AND, real time “bestseller” rankings. It’s unsurprising that as the barriers to entry for the book business went down, so did the quality of the books being produced. These days, over one million books are published each year, with at least half of these self-published. So it’s almost obvious that, given the volume, you could game your way to the top of a category with very few sales. And yet, in spite of the fact that it’s as easy as I’ve shown to become an Amazon best-seller, those same people get to cash in on the goodwill and prestige build up in the title “bestselling author.”

From What Does It Take To Be A “Bestselling Author”? $3 and 5 Minutes. | Observer

February 25, 2016 by Blake Authors Internet

web application that runs the inlibraries.com website

inlibraries.com
Flask web application that runs the inlibraries.com website

The application generates a random library conference website based on the subdomain of the request URL. Underscores in the subdomain will be replaced with spaces.

Examples:

http://badgers.inlibraries.com
http://rabid_badgers.inlibraries.com

From inlibraries.com/README.md at master · waharnum/inlibraries.com

inlibraries.com
Flask web application that runs the inlibraries.com website

The application generates a random library conference website based on the subdomain of the request URL. Underscores in the subdomain will be replaced with spaces.

Examples:

http://badgers.inlibraries.com
http://rabid_badgers.inlibraries.com

From inlibraries.com/README.md at master · waharnum/inlibraries.com

February 20, 2016 by Blake Internet Libraries

A Short History of the Index Card

Index cards are mostly obsolete nowadays. We use them to create flash cards, write recipes, and occasionally fold them up into cool paper airplanes. But their original purpose was nothing less than organizing and classifying every known animal, plant, and mineral in the world. Later, they formed the backbone of the library system, allowing us to index vast sums of information and inadvertently creating many of the underlying ideas that allowed the Internet to flourish.

From A Short History of the Index Card

Index cards are mostly obsolete nowadays. We use them to create flash cards, write recipes, and occasionally fold them up into cool paper airplanes. But their original purpose was nothing less than organizing and classifying every known animal, plant, and mineral in the world. Later, they formed the backbone of the library system, allowing us to index vast sums of information and inadvertently creating many of the underlying ideas that allowed the Internet to flourish.

From A Short History of the Index Card

February 16, 2016 by Blake Internet Libraries

Simplifying Legalese For The Internet Age

The current User Agreement is too complicated, which allows large companies to take advantage of user ignorance. What can be done to change it?

The hard answer to this question is – there is no panacea for this issue.
That being said, we can always attempt to minimize the issues arising out of such complexities by trying to make it more succinct and understanding of users’ hopes and expectations. For that, one solution I have in mind is what I would call a Terms of Service Commons, or TOS Commons for short. The main aim of ToS Commons would be to create a middle ground between organisations and users, by attempting the following:

From Offprint

February 13, 2016 by Blake Internet Legal Issues

“The Future of Libraries” John Palfrey Radio Interview

John Palfrey, founding president of the Digital Public Library of America and a director of Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, recently told the Deseret News that he has “been struck by the number of times people tell [him] that they think libraries are less important than they were before, now that we have the Internet and Google. He says he thinks “just the opposite: Libraries are more important, not less important, and both as physical and virtual entities, than they’ve been in the past.” John Palfrey, author of the new book “BiblioTECH: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google,” joins Tom Williams to discuss the future of the library on Thursday’s Access Utah.

From “The Future of Libraries” On Thursday’s Access Utah | UPR Utah Public Radio

February 12, 2016 by Blake Google Internet Libraries