Do you ever just want to ask factual questions of your favorite search engine and have it compute answers for you? Well soon you might be able to do just that.
Stephen Wolfram received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Caltech in 1979 when he was 20 and in 1988 created computational software that has become the standard in its field, and went on to focus on cellular automata and complex systems.
The new year is here and it is time to look to the past to see where we have been. Ars technica gives us an interesting post on the open source victories of 2008.
And what will the future bring? According to some, librarian will be one of the best careers for 2009. Apparently librarians will…
…go on shopping sprees, deciding which books and online resources to buy. They may even get to put on performances, like children’s puppet shows, and run other programs, like book discussion groups for elders.
It was also one of the best careers for 2008, but if you take a look the median salary appears to have dropped by $4000. Maybe we need to put on better puppet shows…
Tim Berners-Lee has announced he creation of the World Wide Web Foundation, which seeks,
- to advance One Web that is free and open,
- to expand the Web’s capability and robustness,
- and to extend the Web’s benefits to all people on the planet.
The Web Foundation is bringing together business leaders, technology innovators, academia, government, NGOs, and experts in many fields to tackle challenges that, like the Web, are global in scale. By funding research, technology development, and outreach, the Web Foundation strives to enable all people to share knowledge, access services, conduct commerce, participate in good governance, and communicate in creative ways.
There is also an interesting short article at the BBC on the role of the Foundation in certifying websites that it has found a reliable source of information.
An interesting presentation by Brewster Kahle on the creation of an enormous digital library that will be free to everyone.
Location, location, location!
I was very excited when I first discovered geocaching and location-based gaming a few months ago, and now everything seems to be about “where”.
What is geocaching?
Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called “geocaches” or “caches”) anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and “treasure,” usually toys or trinkets of little value. Today, well over 800,000 geocaches are registered on various websites devoted to the pastime.
And location-based gaming?
A location-based game (or location-enabled game) is one in which the game play somehow evolves and progresses via a player’s location. Thus, location-based games almost always support some kind of localization technology, for example by using satellite positioning like GPS. “Urban gaming” or “Street Games” are typically multi-player location-based games played out on city streets and built up urban environments.
To my mind, these forms of games and libraries seem to be made for each other. First, and I believe most importantly, they create a means of uniting the virtual and the real worlds, allowing people to explore both the library building and its resources. Second, they engage people and create community through story telling (which I have posted about before), and encourage those ephemeral real life experiences, the sudden discovery of a new idea or place, that can be transformative. Third, they seem to have a wider appeal across age groups than traditional console games, and allow for family or team co-operation and interaction.
A few libraries have already taken up the idea. The most interesting example is the location based game Scoot from Australia, which in the past has involved the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, State Library of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, the Arts Centre and the Melbourne Museum. The Shifted Librarian also had a recent post that gives a great example of using geocaching in libraries.
For those who are interested, two events have taken place recently that featured some wonderful information. The first is Where 2.0, that had a great presentation by the founder of Geocaching.com, Jeremy Irish, covering the basics of game design. He mentions the new platform he has developed, Wherigo, that seems to have a lot of potential for creative uses of the technology with minimal expense and knowledge, while avoiding some of the legal issues associated with geocaching. The second is Come Out & Play, which focuses on location-based gaming. The recent SXSW Festival included a panel on location based gaming which featured Catherine Herdlick, one of the organizers of the festival.
So, grab your cellphone or GPS and get out there!
Library Cult honors the Curators Code.
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