Watching Grass Grow

What is interesting about podcasts is that they have put new life into an old technology, that is, radio. I find listening can be very refreshing, a restful change from looking and being bombarded with still and moving pictures. I think that's why people like to stare into space, or watch the grass grow. They need a break from signs, posters, billboards, televisions and computer screens.

By the way there is a group on Flickr called Watching Grass Grow. Here is a lovely photo by dmb272 taken from that group.

Pod to pod

My partner got into podcasts some time ago and now listens to them while travelling on the train rather than reading a book. He is especially fond of anything involving Melvyn Bragg from the BBC.

We now have a new stereo system that has a docking station for an MP3 player. My partner downloads a pod cast from the BBC, puts the MP3 player into the stereo and we listen together. Like an old fashioned family sitting around the wireless (radio).

One of my favourite podcasts is Ramblings with Clare Balding .

Slamming the hoards

I was amazed at the number and range of questions posted on the answer boards. I suppose this is the modern equivalent of hanging over the back fence and asking your neighbour a question.

I took a close look at the questions in the health category on both WikiAnswers and on Yahoo!7Answers. I found that about half the questions actually required the person to see a doctor. What they were after was an interpretation of a set of symptoms, in other words medical advice not plain information.

So if I was slamming the boards as a health librarian, my most frequently used answer would be; "Go see your doctor". That would not make me very popular and would certainly not get me any Best Answer votes. Despite this, I think the slamming the boards campaign is an excellent idea.

Lists vs clouds

I've been looking at the Del.ici.ous site, specifically the 2 options of viewing the tags in a cloud or in a list. The list view is easier to read. The cloud view looks more dynamic and perhaps is good for communicating when it's not necessary to read every word. I noticed in the cloud view you can use the size of letters to give some words more importance than others, while with the list the words you put at the top carry more weight than those lower down the list.

The Library Thingibob

Please feel free to inspect my list of good books for reading and relaxing.



I can see how the Library Thing could be used to promote new books in a library or for library patrons to share reviews of books and get ideas for other books they may enjoy.

The Fragile Internet

I've noticed that You Tube is very popular with our regular clients, mainly video clips of their favorite singers or bands. Frustrations arise when the people watching You Tube expect the same quality of video as film and television. They get annoyed when the online video slows down, or stops, or they get an error message.

I recently heard a radio interview with Frank Kelly (Professor of The Mathematics of Systems Master of Christ's College University of Cambridge). Among other things, he talks about the fragility of the Internet and how the technology is not as robust as we might expect.

Humanity's Final Exam

A wide range of video available online, even interviews with long gone dead people. I was very pleased to discover clips with Buckminster Fuller, a gentleman and a scholar, a radical and a visionary.