NewsForge | Getting open source into public libraries
Grok Headline matches for NewsForge | Getting open source into public libraries
Getting open source into public
libraries
Getting open source into public
libraries
12/15/2003 08:09 AMEditor's note: Bob Kerr has tackled an important task: Making open
source software available through local libraries. He's been extremely
successful at doing it. But that's not all. He has also written a
Howto on the subject so that others can follow his lead. We invited
Bob to do a commentary on the subject for NewsForge, and he has
graciously accepted. If you are looking for a way to help spread open
source software to those still on the wrong side of the digital
divide, Bob writes with intimate knowledge of one way you can do just
that.
Open Source CD Lending For Public
Libraries?
Open Source CD Lending For Public
Libraries?
12/15/2003 04:27 PMNewsForge: Finding an Open Source
Programming Job
NewsForge: Finding an Open Source
Programming Job
05/06/2004 07:11 PM"Brian Aker, director of architecture for MySQL AB, says one good way
to find an open source programming job is to contact him. He's
looking..."
NewsForge: Will DB2 and Oracle Databases
Go Open Source?
NewsForge: Will DB2 and Oracle Databases
Go Open Source?
08/07/2004 07:19 PM"MySQL Vice President of Marketing Zack Urlocker said databases and
related software are among the technologies most impacted by open
source..."
NewsForge: Open Source Helps Flickr
Share Photos
NewsForge: Open Source Helps Flickr
Share Photos
02/05/2005 09:07 PMFrom a
new post on PHP Magazine's site today:
NewsForge: Feed Your Funny Bone with
Open Source Comic Strip Aggregation
Software
NewsForge: Feed Your Funny Bone with
Open Source Comic Strip Aggregation
Software
12/19/2004 03:24 PM"I tested a half dozen different tools to help satisfy my comical
appetite. The tools run the gamut of programming language preferences,
as you can find applications written in PHP, Perl, Python, and
Java...."
Global Libraries and open source
infrastructure
Global Libraries and open source
infrastructure
04/07/2005 10:58 PM
Great article in
Slate by Paul Boutin
on Brewster Kahle called The Archivist. It
mentions ourmedia.org. We're proud to be associated with Brewster.
As JD and I have gone around and explained ourmedia.org to folks, the #1 question
we get back is: "and who is this guy Brewster? Free - forever? Yah -
right!"
So from now on - I'll just point them at this and
many other articles on Brewster and the Internet Archive. Currently we're
little more than a better front-end and community to the IA. We've
got lots of work done on attaching meta-data to media, but until we
get open APIs - like
Fickr's - we ain't done yet.
Collections, ratings, better tags - we've got our work cut out for
us. But we'll also be getting new kinds of services integrated - like
the Jon Udell/Doug Kaye clipping service lick. Or Bittorrent
support.
Who knows - maybe even Orb or Brightcove support.
ourmedia.org will be infrastructure for anyone to build on top of.
They'll be full source-code
implementations available so we're hoping for all sorts of
'white-labeled' ourmedia's. We use a system called Drupal - and this
is what it's all about. Building reference designs so others can take
it and run with it.
Maybe even some major high-end media tool company will build a
protoype tool with it.
Or maybe Clay Shirky wil require all his students to get 'situated'
with it. In an afternoon.
Open Source and Libraries: A Fine Match
Open Source and Libraries: A Fine Match
02/14/2004 05:25 PMGuardian:
O
ffice politics.
Bob Kerr, a member of the Edinburgh Linux Users
Group, has convinced more than 80% of Scotland's public libraries to
stock OpenOffice - the free, open-source alternative to Microsoft
Office.First-ever public demo of an open-source
PC on Monday
First-ever public demo of an open-source
PC on Monday
12/11/2003 05:01 PMThe OpenCores movement, which produces open-source-licensed "code" for
producing chips using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) has built
a complete RISC computer that runs Linux using open source libraries
to describe the hardware characteristics. This means that your open
source operating system can now run on open source microprocessors.
Monday will mark the first-ever public demonstration of the system.
On Monday, December 15, at 7pm, OpenCores developer Damjan
Lampret will give the first public demonstration of an
all-Open Source System-On-Chip (SoC) at the Freedom Technology
Center in Mountain View, California, USA. The new OpenCores
System-On-Chip, developed and manufactured by Flextronics
Semiconductor, runs Linux, uClinux, or eCos. The SoC is
exclusively built with freely licensed OpenCores IP cores.
The chip includes the OpenRISC OR1200 32-bit processor, a Memory
Controller for SDRAM/FLASH/SRAM, a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet MAC,
32-bit, 33/66MHz PCI support, and a 16550 UART.
Link
(
Thanks, Seth!)
CUWiN Goes Public with Open-Source Mesh
System
CUWiN Goes Public with Open-Source Mesh
System
02/01/2005 09:12 PM The Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN) released the
fruit of their efforts at the end of the week: The project is an
open-source effort to provide mesh networking with no center. The
system is self configuring among nodes which need no non-volatile or
permanent storage. To set up a CUWiN network, you burn a CD with the
0.5.5 software later this week and use it to boot a computer with a
support wireless card. The system finds nearby nodes, creates tables,
and establishes itself as part of the network. The software is free
and open source. The full press release is after the jump....
UK launches 'critical' public sector
open source initiative
UK launches 'critical' public sector
open source initiative
04/09/2005 05:19 AMZDNet Apr 9 2005 7:59AM GMT
Open Source group wins € 2.6m EC
grant for public sector push
Open Source group wins € 2.6m EC
grant for public sector push
04/16/2004 08:50 AM'Local business ecosystems'
Ayamon Announces Public Beta Testing of
Open Source Support Website
Ayamon Announces Public Beta Testing of
Open Source Support Website
06/15/2004 02:15 AMAyamon is pleased to announce public beta testing of a new website
designed to help businesses and individuals find commercial support
and consulting services for Open Source software. [PRWEB Jun 15, 2004]
NOSI, the Nonprofit Open Source
Initiative, announces the release of its
new guide "Choosing and Using Open
Source Software: A Primer for
Nonprofits."
NOSI, the Nonprofit Open Source
Initiative, announces the release of its
new guide "Choosing and Using Open
Source Software: A Primer for
Nonprofits."
02/17/2004 11:57 PMAs per a recent post, I love to see (and hope to one day do it myself)
Open Source Software in Non-Profits. Seems http://www.nosi.net found
my post:
http://thelostolive.net/tlo/comments.php?id=1786_0_1_0_C
And commented the release of its new guide "Choosing and Using Open
Source Software: A Primer for Nonprofits." And now in their own words:
___snip____
--
From: Katrin Verclas
Email: steering (a) nosi.net
Hi, Kevin -
NOSI actually just released a new...
ACCESS AT UK PUBLIC LIBRARIES
ACCESS AT UK PUBLIC LIBRARIES
12/30/2003 07:42 PMIN THE UK MOST PUBLIC LIBRARIES CAN BE ACCESSED. THEN AGAIN WHY NOT
JUST POP IN AS THE WEB IS ACCESSED FREE ANYWAY.
Open-source activist Bruce Perens joins
open-source defense group
Open-source activist Bruce Perens joins
open-source defense group
05/07/2004 04:33 PMA key leader in the open-source software movement has been appointed
to the board of Open Source Risk Management, which is defending the
legal standing of open-source software.
Internet Revives Public Libraries
Internet Revives Public Libraries
04/27/2004 07:28 AMIM Should Be One of Top Strategic
Technologies for Public Libraries for
2005
IM Should Be One of Top Strategic
Technologies for Public Libraries for
2005
04/28/2004 12:19 AMIM One of Top
Strategic Technologies for 2005
"IM is among the top strategic technologies for 2005 selected by Gartn
er.
Given the popularity of instant messaging, enterprises who want to
keep employees happy and more productive will need to set policies for
the use of instant messaging. In the future IM will be more integrated
into applications, rather than an island of online dialog that
vapourises when the window is closed. (via Dan Farber ZDNet Australia)" [Smart
Mobs]
Public Libraries Trading Quaintness For
Cash
Public Libraries Trading Quaintness For
Cash
12/02/2003 02:31 PMtheodp writes "To help nourish lean budgets, public libraries are
increasingly eyeing the e-commerce used-book market as an alternative
to the long-standing ...
New Year's Technology Resolutions for
Public Libraries
New Year's Technology Resolutions for
Public Libraries
01/06/2004 03:21 AMFor 2004:
- Start a blog for your web site, and concentrate most of your news
there. If possible, put the blog posts on your home page (either make
it a blog or display headlines using RSS) so that your new information
gets maximum exposure. I'm not just hyping blogs - it truly will
make it easier for you to keep your site more current and dynamic, and
there are ways to do this at no additional cost.
- Provide remote access to as many of your databases as possible,
preferably using the patron's library barcode number as the autho key
rather than some inane autho/password combination required by the
vendor. A standing offer for SLS libraries: we'll implement
scripts to help you with this - just email me.
- Start investigating wireless networks because you need to offer
wireless access for the public to use with their own devices. Even if
you don't think you will implement it this year, you need to
understand what's involved because you will offer it at some point in
the future and it's best to be prepared when that time comes. I
know some people will argue that not all public libraries need to
offer this service, or at least not any time soon, but you can only
make an informed decision if you understand what's involved.
Example: a couple of weeks ago I was interviewed for a forthcoming
article in the Chicago
Sun-Times about technology in libraries. The paper sent a
photographer to get a picture of me for the article, and we met at the
Thomas Ford Memorial Library
to do this. The photographer was a gadget guy, so he was particularly
interested in hearing about ListenIllinois and wireless
access. He was thrilled to learn that the TFML offered free WiFi, and
he was even knowledgeable enough to ask why there were no signs
highlighting the service, specifically any warchalking symbols. In fact,
he said he was willing to sit in his car in the parking lot when the
Library is closed to use it because it would save him a trip downtown.
TFML isn't his home library, but it hadn't occurred to him to go to
public libraries for this service instead of Starbucks. Now, he'll try
us first and Starbucks second.
Is this guy on the leading edge of the bell curve? Sure. But that
just means that the larger
number of people that make up the camel's hump of the bell curve are
on the horizon. You don't have to provide wireless access today
(although you really will have patrons that use it, just like TFML
does, even without any marketing), but you do need to start
thinking about it.
-
In the same vein, you need to start thinking about online,
real-time reference. In Illinois, there are consortia you can
join to make the strain on your resources easier, and this is
increasingly true in other states as well. Insta
nt messaging and chatting are moving beyond Generation Y and are
becoming a norm, making this a valid channel for library
reference here and now. To again use the Thomas Ford Library as an
example (I like using them because they are a relatively small library
surrounded by larger libraries), while I was waiting for the
photographer to show up, Rick was "on" the virtual reference desk for
MyWebLibrarian, and he
received two help requests within about a half hour. This was a little
before lunchtime on a weekday when school was out of session.
Again, think bell curve. You don't have to implement it tomorrow,
but you do have to understand what your options are, even if you just
throw up an AOL Instant Messenger link for specific hours each week,
just to get your feet wet. (In fact, this is exactly what TFML did
before they joined MWL.)
If your library is already doing all of these things,
congratulations! Of course, you can't rest on your laurels, but those
would be resolutions for another day....
Publishing the Public Domain in Illinois
Libraries??
Publishing the Public Domain in Illinois
Libraries??
01/16/2004 11:28 AMIn response to yester
day's criticism of Illinois Governor Blagojevich's plan to spend money
on 12 books per child per year rather than on libraries, Ernest
Miller comes up with a most interesting proposal.
Book Publishing in Every School and Library
"Why not split the difference?
What if Illinois spent at least part of the $26 million for the
book give away program to install book publishing equipment in every
library in Illinois? Then, just like the Internet
Bookmobile, children would be able to walk into a library and walk
out with a book they could keep. Frankly, I think every school and
library should have book publishing equipment. Given enough scale it
is probably cheaper to print out most public domain books and give
them away then deal with the costs of checking them out and
restocking. Heck, you could have an option: check the book out and be
subject to possible late fees, or pay $1 or so and keep the book.
Might work out pretty well."
Now there's a vision! I'm smelling a grant on the horizon
(because I don't see the Governor compromising). Any SLS library want to be my guinea
pig?! :-)
Public Libraries, the Internet and the
Impact of the Gates Foundation
Public Libraries, the Internet and the
Impact of the Gates Foundation
04/22/2004 08:00 PMBeSpacific Apr 23 2004 0:49AM GMT
Ashcroft orders public libraries to
destroy law books
Ashcroft orders public libraries to
destroy law books
08/03/2004 02:39 PMThe Justice Department is ordering public libraries to destroy
certain books it has deemed not "appropriate for external use."
The Department of Justice has called for these five public
documents, two of which are texts of federal statutes, to be removed
from depository libraries and destroyed, making their content
available only to those with access to a law office or law library.
The topics addressed in the named documents include information on how
citizens can retrieve items that may have been confiscated by the
government during an investigation. The documents to be removed and
destroyed include: Civil and Criminal Forfeiture Procedure; Select
Criminal Forfeiture Forms; Select Federal Asset Forfeiture Statutes;
Asset forfeiture and money laundering resource directory; and Civil
Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (CAFRA).
Link
Update
"[T]he
Department has determined that these materials are "not sufficiently
sensitive to require removal from the depository library system."
Drew sez: "I was outraged when I read the story about
Ashcroft ordering librarties to destroy books related to criminal
forfeiture procedures, so I did some digging. ResourceShelf is
carrying a brief that mentions that
the Justice department is rescinding the order.
Phew."
Do You Suffer from Open Source Phobia? -
six reasons you might relent and be
ready for an extreme makeover - OPEN
SOURCE - Magazine - Darwin Magazine
Do You Suffer from Open Source Phobia? -
six reasons you might relent and be
ready for an extreme makeover - OPEN
SOURCE - Magazine - Darwin Magazine
03/08/2004 11:20 PMhttp://www.darwinmag.com/read/030104/open.html
ASK A GROUP OF corporate IT leaders whether they'd rather stick their
arms into a box of tarantulas or allow open source software (OSS) on
their networks, and odds are most would start rolling up their
sleeves. Not to do any downloading, either.
Slashdot on Open Source Ideas and Open
Source Life
Slashdot on Open Source Ideas and Open
Source Life
06/23/2004 08:27 PM As Canada protects the patents on genes, Download Aborted wonders
whether the genetic code should be considered Open Source. It's
slashdotted here. And as atonement for saying something positive about
the people at Microsoft — man, you folks are rough! —
here's some slashdottism about the anti-Open Source think tanks that
Microsoft is funding. (But I still like the Microsofties I've met. So
there.)...
Adobe Source Libraries
Adobe Source Libraries
04/02/2005 02:34 AMVersion 1.0.2 Released
Open source opportunity, open source
risk
Open source opportunity, open source
risk
09/22/2004 10:44 AM
I've been traveling more than usual lately, and while on the road I've
been working my way through the
ITConversations audio
archive. It's full of gems, and one of them is Doug Kaye's
interview
with Philip Greenspun. While discussing the
ArsDigita flameout,
Greenspun offers insightful perspectives on the opportunity, and the
risk, of open source as a business model.
...Open source process for open source
development
Open source process for open source
development
04/05/2005 11:50 AM
Sun has given every possible indication that Open Solaris will be run as a true
open source project. The latest indication is the make-up of the board
of directors:
Casper Dik,
Roy Fielding,
Al Hopper,
Simon Phipps, and
Rich Teer.
(via Simon Phipps - congrats Simon!)
From open source to open services to
open information
From open source to open services to
open information
03/29/2005 12:00 PM
My
March
21 entry about upcoming.org turned out to be an odd juxtaposition
because, on the same day, a new events database called
EVDB was announced and shown at PC
Forum. It's due out shortly in public beta but I haven't seen it, so
for now I only know what you can also learn from reading, among
others:
Dan
Farber,
Ross
Mayfield,
Om Malik,
David
Weinberger, and
Paul
Kedrosky (whose recent archive is missing this morning, yikes).
The consensus seems to be that EVDB will be a Web-2.0-style,
Wiki-style, RSS-friendly, Flickr-and-del.icio.us-like thingy. Sounds
promising! I'll certainly check it out when it's public.
...Microsoft Depends On Shared Source, Dips
Toe In Open-Source Waters (TechWeb)
Microsoft Depends On Shared Source, Dips
Toe In Open-Source Waters (TechWeb)
04/08/2005 04:56 AMTechWeb - The software vendor will add to the 20 products it now
offers for source-code inspection under its Shared Source Initiative.
Microsoft releases source code to open
source community
Microsoft releases source code to open
source community
05/05/2004 04:06 AMAbout a month ago, Microsoft posted some of its source code to
SourceForge. SourceForge is a, if not the, major distribution point
for open source software. Microsoft's code was put there under the
terms of the Common Public License, which allows modification,
addition, redistribution - in short, it allows most of the rights and
privileges that we associate with open source software.
Advice to Microsoft: Open Source the
Leaked Source
Advice to Microsoft: Open Source the
Leaked Source
02/13/2004 02:37 PMWhat should Microsoft do, now that a chunk of its NT 4.0 and Windows
2000 source code have leaked onto the Web? Our guest columnist says
Microsoft should make lemonade out of lemons and just open source the
whole enchilada.
Open source process for closed source
development
Open source process for closed source
development
04/05/2005 11:50 AM IBM Adopts
Open Development Internally: "Following on the success of its
Eclipse open-source development platform, IBM has quietly been using a
form of open-source development internally to create technology the
company will sell commercially.
IBM calls its model Community Source, which it defines as a
collaborative, internal, open-source-style environment for developing
and testing new technology.
Danny Sabbah, vice president of strategy and technology for the IBM
Software Group, in Armonk, N.Y., said IBM is using its Community
Source model across 100 projects and 2,000 developers in the company.
These projects span the IBM Software Group, Systems Group, Research
and Global Services, he said."
Very interesting. I'd like to learn more about that. What parts of the
so called open source development process have they built into the
Community Source model? I've found that most developers have different
definitions of the open source development process (via
Ross
Gardler).
Pingtel Breaks Open VoIP Monopolies With
New Open Source Business Model.
Pingtel Breaks Open VoIP Monopolies With
New Open Source Business Model.
02/18/2004 10:41 PMPi
ngtel Breaks Open VoIP Monopolies With New Open Source Business
Model. Interesting.
Open Standards - Open Source. The
Business, Legal & Technical Challenges
Ahead.
Open Standards - Open Source. The
Business, Legal & Technical Challenges
Ahead.
10/28/2003 11:06 PM
The meeting comprised four panels: Business, Technical, Legal,
and Social and Ethical, each of which featured an introduction of the
issues and follow-up with an interactive discussion between the
speakers and the audience. The aim was to capture and publish the
issues discussed in order to raise the industry awareness of the
benefits of Open Source.
Open source hackers release open fixes
for MSFT vulnerabilityware
Open source hackers release open fixes
for MSFT vulnerabilityware
12/19/2003 11:45 AMMSFT's apparent incapacity for patching MSIE vulnerabilities hasn't
deterred open-source hackers, who have released a free software patch
for a well-known Explorer vulnerability.
Update: Andrew sez, "...it contains buffer overflow exploits that are wide open for hax0r5 to take
advantage of. In addition, it redirects weird URL requests to -it's
own website-."
Update: Yoz points out
that the patch has been patched.
Link
(via /.)
Open-Xchange Server 5 Blends
Proprietary, Open-Source Perks
Open-Xchange Server 5 Blends
Proprietary, Open-Source Perks
04/12/2005 08:07 PMAccessible through common Web browsers, the collaboration platform
lets users share e-mail, calendar, tasks, threaded discussions and
documents originating from both proprietary and open-source systems.
When Open Source doesn't open and source
doesn't matter
When Open Source doesn't open and source
doesn't matter
07/20/2004 11:14 AMOne frustration too many: time for a rant. When a bug in Mozilla
(keyboard focus is on the previously selected window) has remained
unfixed for at least 18 to 24 months, when XFree86 mouse interaction
with PS/2 or GPM remains hazardous and makes a system unusable and
that bug has been fobbed off to the kernel developers and not dealt
with for at least two years - when there are more examples like this
that make using Open Source software a pain, what do you do?
Are you one of the few people with the time and money and
expertise sufficient to delve into the source yourself to fix the
problem?
Do we have it "too good" and these niggles are, by comparison to
the rest of the world's computer users (Windows), absolute peanuts?
More Than Open Data at the 2004 O'Reilly
Open Source Convention
More Than Open Data at the 2004 O'Reilly
Open Source Convention
08/09/2004 12:52 AMWi-Fi Technology Forum Aug 9 2004 5:11AM GMT
Grok Description matches for NewsForge | Getting open source into public libraries
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NewsForge | Getting open source into public libraries
