Archive for September, 2005
Thursday, September 29th, 2005
The Role of IM in Reference
Instant Messaging is a widely used method of communication today. According to the most recent stats I could find, there are over 21 million users of AOL’s Instant Messenger program, 10.6 million users of Yahoo!’s Messenger program, and 10.3 million users of MSN Messenger. Sure there’s probably overlap, as many people (such as I) use […]
3 Comments » - Posted in Technology, Libraries by pfitz
Thursday, September 29th, 2005
Literature Map
Here’s a new tool that I found out about on a library-related blog called Library Stuff. It’s a website called Literature-Map. The basic principle is simple: you enter the name of an author and then you get a graphical representation of similar authors. It may take you a minute to get used to the names […]
No Comments » - Posted in Technology by pfitz
Wednesday, September 28th, 2005
Managing Email Lists
One of the mixed blessings of technology is the ease of communication. To send an email is quick and easy, but receiving them can develop problems. Spam is, of course, a major problem, but even GOOD emails can be difficult to handle. No matter what your profession, there are listservs or email-based mailing lists that […]
No Comments » - Posted in Technology by pfitz
Friday, September 23rd, 2005
Google Earth Improves
If you haven’t had a chance to visit (and download) Google Earth, it’s really a must-have. It’s a fantastic mapping program with sattelite photos, 3-D buildings in many major cities, driving directions, and an interface that feels like 3-D. You can type in ‘Paris’ and the globe will turn and you will zoom over to […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Technology by pfitz
Thursday, September 22nd, 2005
Technology Increases Search Speed
The development of online databases has totally changed the world of research. Sure this is a given for most people nowadays, but it’s still worth mentioning. Searching a database is simply TONS faster than paging through one (or multiple) books! There are all kinds of examples of this (as many as there are online databases), […]
No Comments » - Posted in Technology, Libraries by pfitz
Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
Commercialization of Websites
One ramification of the growth of technology is that sites may start out free, but then they have to make more of a profit, so what started as a free, quality site becomes an ad-ridden nightmare.
A recent example is MyBlogSite. It began as a terrific site for hosting blogs. It had all the features I […]
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