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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

OCLC - Part 1

It is a privilege to be able to participate and contribute to various boards. It is also a way to learn a lot, meet great people and gain new perspectives. That has certainly been the case since I joined the board of OCLC (see press release). Fifteen years ago some pundits -- myself not included -- were saying that libraries were history -- as in toast -- they were not long for the emerging digital world. Been to a local or college library lately? They are full of people and many are expanding their facilities. Library use has doubled over the past decade. What happened to the digital "vision"? It turns out that the digital and physical can get along together quite well.

The month after I graduated from Lehigh University in 1967, OCLC -- Online Computer Library Center, Inc. -- was founded in Dublin, Ohio as a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world's information and reducing information costs for libraries. More than 72,000 libraries in 171 countries and territories around the world use OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend and preserve library materials. Each of these five verbs has special and profound meaning to a very large number of librarians and library visitors.

Over the months ahead, as I learn more about OCLC, some stories about the various services of OCLC will appear in follow-on postings. For now I will just highlight one of them -- the crown jewel -- WorldCat. WorldCat is the world's largest network of library content and services, connecting millions of users to the collections and services of more than 10,000 libraries around the world. WorldCat.org lets you search not just the collections of libraries in your community but thousands more around the world. Thirty-one million new records were added to WorldCat in the past year bringing the total to 139 million. How does WorldCat differ from other web resources?

Suppose you are doing some research on the origins of a town where you live and specifically you want to learn more about the history of Connecticut's Golden Hill Paugussett tribe . You might find a book for sale at Barnes & Noble or Amazon about the subject but not necessarily. Using the web site or your iPhone you visit WorldCat and do the search. WorldCat tells you that A history of Connecticut's Golden Hill Paugussett tribe is not available in the local library but it is available at the Fairfield University library just fifteen miles away. If you are not in a hurry you could stop at your local library and ask them to arrange an interlibrary loan for you. In the past the lending process was manual and costly but using WorldCat tools, the libraries can handle book loans quite easily. If you are not sure the book you found is exactly what you are looking for you might use WorldCat's "Ask a Librarian" service.

WorldCat allows you to search for books, music CDs and videos -- all of the physical items you're used to getting from libraries -- but you can also discover downloadable audiobooks, article citations with links to their full text, authoritative research materials, and digital versions of rare items that aren't available to the public. Some libraries allow you to join a waiting list, reserve the item, check it out or even have it shipped or delivered. WorldCat also leverages the social computing model by allowing you to enter ratings and reviews and contribute factual notes. The more people enter the more useful WorldCat becomes. That is their model -- enhancing the sharing of information on a global basis. The vision is "The world's libraries. Connected.".

OCLC Homepage

WorldCat

Internet Technology, Media, Public Policy November 17, 2009 03:39 PM

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Knovel Interview

Prior to the Special Libraries Association convention at the Washington Convention Center in June there was an interview aranged by Knovel Corporation. The video was used on displays around the convention center and then made it's way to the Knovel Blog. The conference closed with a panel will be moderated by TV newscaster Judy Woodruff. The panelists were Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Robyn Meredith, and yours truly. In the video interview I tried to set the stage a bit and also cover a few things I suspected Judy would not ask about.

Conferences, Internet Technology, Media September 12, 2009 11:34 AM

Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Classical String Quartet

Violin

The first story about music here in patrickWeb was called "Running with Mozart" and it was published on August 17, 1997. There are quite a few other music related stories since. Some are about concerts, some about my conducting experiences, and many about the digital music.

Most of us think of MP3 or iPods when we hear the term digital music, but there is another kind of digital music. Actual music scores from hundreds of years of ago have been located, scanned and made available as PDF files for anyone who wants to examine them or perform them. The string quartet was one of the most widely-cultivated genres of chamber music during the Classical period, with Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven all being substantial contributors. The Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University Library has made a fantastic collection of sheet music for the string quartet published between 1770 and 1840 available online. I found it quite interesting to check out the crisp PDFs of some very old works -- the oldest published piece of music in the collection is from 1770 by Antonin Kammel (Czech Republic). Click on the link "Explore the Collection" on the left hand side of the homepage. Thanks to the Scout Report for uncovering this great resource.

Other music related stories at patrickWeb

Media, Music August 23, 2009 10:17 AM

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Paper Thin

Three of America's great business magazines have been around for a long time -- Forbes since 1917, BusinessWeek since 1929, and Fortune since 1930. I started reading them in 1967 when I completed engineering school and joined IBM. I stopped reading Forbes and Fortune regularly some years ago but have remained faithful to BusinessWeek for more than forty-two years. While some have criticized the magazine from time to time I have always found it an easy to read summary of what is going on in the business world. The business news coverage has been consistently good but what has not been consistent is the number of pages -- the current issue has 68. It used to be hundreds of pages. BusinessWeek has become "paper thin".

24/7 Wall St published an online story "The Sun Sets On BusinessWeek, Forbes, And Fortune" in May in which it claims BusinessWeek is in the worst shape of the three business magazine giants. Its advertising pages are said to have fallen 16% in 2008, are down 38% this year through the end of April, "and in the most recent issue, the drop was an extraordinary 63%". All of the magazines have an online presence but so many advertisers have moved online that advertising rates have declined. Industry experts say that Business Week has lost money for two years and will lose over $20 million this year if its advertising continues in a nose-down dive.

If the sun does indeed set on the three great business magazines, they will certainly not be the first to fall. The first issue of PC Magazine back in the summer of 1981 was a thrill to read and it was sad news this past November when Ziff Davis Media decided to cease publishing the magazine. "The viability for us to continue to publish in print just isn't there anymore," Jason Young, chief executive of Ziff Davis, said in an interview.

The problem is not just the recession, in my opinion. Certainly the economic times have accelerated things but the fundamental problem with advertising is that much of it is not effective. I would dare say most of it. Various consultants tell advertisers how many people are reading a magazine or watching a TV show. With a magazine there is no way to know. TV viewership gets sampled but I question any conclusions other than when an advertisement starts during my watching of CNBC, I hit the mute button. I watch 6 PM evening news starting at 6:20 and fast-forward over the ads. Some years ago there was a story about Buffalo, New York where someone measured the use of the city water system during the Super Bowl. For some reason water usage spiked upward during quarter ends and at halftime. If it could have been measured, no doubt that refrigerator compressor usage went up during these periods too.

It is true that some ads are watched and enjoyed and in fact WebMediaBrands (where I am a director) has made a business out of the phenomenon. Ads of the World -- a part of grahpics.com -- allows visitors to view top ads, news about ads, and learn how to create great ads. Aside from people who love ads, most people do not like ads that are blasted out in shotgun fashion. There may be ten million people who are candidates for a particular product or service but 200 million are presented with the ad. Advertisers don't like it either. That is why they are cutting back and causing the advertising recession. What advertisers do want is targeted ads. They want to advertise a new sports car to only those people who are ready to buy a car, can afford to pay for it or finance it, and who are inclined to want a sports car. The technologies of the Internet and supercomputing are laser focused on making targeted advertising possible. The emerging question will be whether the right to privacy will ultimately prevail. Stay tuned.

Media, e-Business August 9, 2009 11:00 AM

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Comcasted - 2

Broken phone There have been a number of stories here about service problems with Comcast. The company unfortunately gets a lot of criticism and I must say it is mostly well deserved. The latest concern is that Comcast is getting very aggressive with email marketing campaigns -- most recently an invitation to participate in their sweepstakes.

It used to be that everything from Comcast was paper. Now it is paper plus a barrage of emails. Notices of my monthly statement and anything related to cable service is fine but I don't want "Channel 1 On Demand: July highlights". Hopefully, spam filters will be able to tell the difference. At the bottom of the sweepstakes e-mail was "THIS E-MAIL IS AN ADVERTISEMENT". Really? Not only is your inbox spammed but your intelligence is questioned.

To add insult to injury the sweepstakes e-mail said "To exclude yourself from receiving future mailings regarding sweepstakes, please send a written request to "Thank You Times 3 Sweepstakes" C/O Comcast Cable Communications Management, LLC, Attention: Lifecycle Marketing, 1 Comcast Center, 1701 JFK Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19103-2838." The e-mail went out in a blast but a request to respect your privacy requires a written letter. Then they sum it up with "Comcast respects your privacy"! I took a look at their privacy policy and not surprisingly the 5,645 word document was written by lawyers to be read by lawyers. I could rant on, as many people and journalists do, but I'll stop for now. Comcasted.

Internet Technology, Media, Public Policy July 23, 2009 06:12 PM