Just for Fun

Tech Fun and Relaxation

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! Today I thought talk a bit about some of the recent tech news. There’s been a lot of interesting and important tech news in the last few days and I just want to highlight a couple of things. And I also want to talk about relaxation because, dear reader, this is my last day on campus before the holiday vacation and I’m ready for relaxing. But first, tech fun!

By now you’ve probably heard about the possibility of Yahoo discontinuing the popular social bookmarking service, delicious.I’ve had a delicious account for years (before you had to have a Yahoo account) and love the interface and usefulness of the service. So I know, it’s annoying and frustrating to have to move your bookmarks. After you freak out about this, check out WebWorkerDaily’s 5 delicious alternatives article or Lifehacker’s post on best bookmarking services.

Luckily I’ve been trying Google Bookmarks for a while so I had somewhere to easily deposit my bookmarks from delicious. I just wish the tags had transferred over too. But I guess this will force me to actually clean up my bookmarks.

In other (good) tech news: About.me is now open to all. About.me is a simple to use splash page where you can link together all your online information. And the pages look fantastic with very little effort. I created a page a while ago. If you want to see an example of a page you can see mine here: about.me/dianakwakimoto. [Note: You may not be able to get to About.me (because of an amazing amount of traffic due to Lifehacker’s article, no doubt). But be patient and try again later because it really is great.]

And now from tech news to relaxation. While many of us talk about relaxing over the holidays, I’d wager that a lot of us will be checking work email and trying to get work stuff done. That’s why I’m sharing this wonderful idea from danah boyd on her email sabbatical. I just love this idea and hope to implement it sometime soon because everyone deserves a true break without worrying about an avalanche of email when they return to work.

And because it is the 17th, the video had to be about Tron Legacy. Check out this great video about the sound editing and soundtrack–lots of fun, pretty stuff.

Enjoy your weekend, read a lot, and relax. I may or may not be back next week with a post, but I’ll definitely be back in the new year. Have a wonderful holiday and very happy new year, dear readers!

Lists, Interviews, and Research

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Happy Wednesday! First, congratulations to all the San Jose SLIS students who’ve survived another semester. Enjoy your break! I’m completely enjoying break week here at work because I’m getting so much work done. Plus, dear reader, it has given me the chance to write about more lists and fun stuff. So let’s get right into it, shall we?

I don’t care if you think you don’t care about typography, you must go take a look at this post from I Love Typography, Codex type: the Week in Type. This is one of the most beautiful posts and awesome lists I’ve seen in a while. Makes me just want to design a thousand things instead of finishing up retention dossier.

And, yes, it is the season of lists. Lifehacker has another great list: Most popular photography tips, tricks, and hacks of 2010. This is just perfect timing for all those holiday photos that you just know you’ll be taking when you get together with family and friends. Also, you may want to check out Lifehacker’s most popular DIY projects of 2010 before you meet up with your family and friends because you know DIY projects (and tech support) are almost always on the table when you visit family. Or, at least, they are in my family.

Now for something serious that you should read, take to heart, and share with your patrons: Lifehacker’s article on the main reason why you suck at interviews: lack of preparation. I’ve been talking with friends and interns lately a lot about interviewing and careers and so I think this is a very timely article. Plus, the article speaks the truth–prepare for your interviews! Really. I’m not joking. It’s like a presentation–you don’t try to wing it and you do practice. It takes time and sometimes you feel really silly prepping for an interview, but it is worth it. Before I interviewed for my present position, I did a lot of research about the school, the library, the faculty, the tenure process, etc. I probably looked a little silly at the gym studying books on interviewing techniques and statistics on the school while on the elliptical trainer, but it paid off during the interview. I felt confident that I knew what I was talking about and could actually ask intelligent questions. So practice and prepare.

Okay, I’m off my soapbox and think that we must end with a couple of fun bits because it is the holiday season after all.

First: for those living in the Bay Area, Saturn Cafe is now in Berkeley! This is so exciting for those of us addicted to Saturn Cafe’s yummy veggie food, but sadly no longer live close to the original Saturn Cafe in Santa Cruz. Really, you need to go try the Saturn Cafe. Have the nachos, you won’t be sorry.

Second: you know we have to end with a funny video. So here is Simon’s Cat in ‘Santa Claws.’ Even if you’ve seen it before give yourself a 2 minute and 13 second break and watch it again. You’ll smile and smiling is good for you.

Have a great rest of your day. I’ll be back on Friday with more library, tech, and holiday fun. Thanks for reading.

Lists, Nerds, Tips, Fun

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! Can you believe it’s Friday again? Amazing. I’m excited because 1. I think my cold is finally going away and 2. I get to visit the Archive of Recorded Sound at Stanford. I love going to other archives, seeing what the archivists and librarians are doing, and bringing back new insights to use in our archives. Plus, it is getting close to the end of the year and you know what that means, right? Yup, the start of all the wonderful end-of-the-year lists. Yay! So let’s as the good Doctor would say, Allons-y!

Oh, Lifehacker, how I love that I can always count on you for wonderful tips. But, more importantly, I can also count on you to have lists. I like lists a lot and Lifehacker doesn’t disappoint with Most Popular Top 10s of 2010. Seriously, give this article a read and see if there are any great tech tips you missed the first time around.

Speaking of tech tips, if you are an Android user and find your phone’s performance is, well, lacking, check out Lifehacker’s How to Speed up Your Old, Sluggish Android Device.

Moving on from tech tips to design, check out this informative post Design v. Aesthetics. Now it’s no secret that I adore beautiful designs, but I’m definitely in the camp that if it isn’t usable or readable than it isn’t well designed (no matter how pretty it may be). Happy designing!

Talking about design brings me to Bridging the Nerd Gap’s “Why You’re a Huge Nerd.” It’s fantastic. As I tell all my first year students during our first class together: we’re sitting in class on a college campus and have the luxury of higher education. Not only are we all extremely fortunate, we are all geeks and nerds. You’re in college, make peace with that and the next few years will be a lot easier. In college, as in life, it is so much easier to just accept one’s nerdiness/geekiness than trying to hide it. I love this bit of the post:

There’s something innately attractive about somebody who really gives a crap about something….Seeing somebody’s inner nerd come bursting forth is an inspiring thing…”

I couldn’t agree more. Just say no to apathy and yes to being true to your inner nerd and/or geek. And, by the way, just in case you somehow missed it, today is “May the Force Be With Katie Day” or as her mom renamed it, “Wear Star Wars–Share Star Wars.”

Speaking of nerdiness, I absolutely love this (found via Hanna’s tumblr feed and originally from nevver).

formal apology

formal apology

And, because it is Friday and yes, I’m getting into the holiday spirit, here is a lovely, holiday clip created by Seduff and featuring the tenth Doctor. Enjoy!

Have a wonderful, restful weekend and your weekend assignment, should you choose to accept it (inspired by Bridging the Nerd Gap), is to dig “around in somebody’s head to figure out what kind of nerd they are.” Be nice and share with them what kind of a nerd you are too and then go get a cup of hot cocoa together (’cause it is definitely hot cocoa weather here). I’ll be back next week with more information and random fun.

Web Typography and Other Geeky Fun

/ dwakimoto

Hello, dear readers. I know I’m a bit late in publishing this post. I’m sorry, but I plead illness as my excuse and hopefully you’ll find something in today’s bag of geeky fun useful and that will absolve me from the horror of not posting on a Friday. Anyway, as the good doctor would say, Allons-y!

It’s probably fairly obvious by now, but I have a weakness for good design and lovely typography. I’m, not surprisingly, very happy with Smashing Magazine lately for all their wonderful resources on typography, especially this round-up of 100 educational resources, tools and techniques for web typography. Get ready to drool if you have an appreciation for well-designed fonts and layouts.

Speaking of fonts, something else that is fun to play with is WhatFontis.com. Upload an image of a font you can’t identify and (with any luck) WhatFontis will be able to identify it for you. Yes, I know, this could be very, very bad because you might spend hours playing with this site. Don’t say I haven’t warned you.

In other useful, geeky news, check out this article from The Atlantic on taking care of your personal archives. What can I say? I get excited whenever an interview with an archivist gets published in something other than Archival Outlook. Read it and then get cracking on backing-up, remounting, and otherwise taking care of your personal archives.

In other super-important news, today is the 12th Annual International Transgender Day of Remembrance. Please go over to the Future Feminist Librarian-Activist’s site and read Anna’s thoughtful post for today.

In other, not nearly as important, but good for some weekend relaxation and enjoyment news, I have to share with you Joy the Baker’s vegan pumpkin walnut bread recipe. It is superb and makes two giant loaves of bread–perfect for when you find out your new intern is vegan and none of your standard baking recipes are anywhere close to being vegan (just saying). Also, just on the off chance you missed it last week, here’s a link to Stephen Abram’s Geek cred post.

And if you missed part 1 of John Green’s explanation of the French Revolution, or want to see parts 2 & 3, head over to Hanna’s blog where she has posted all of them.

As for me, my pick for a video this week is John Green’s video about his latest trip to Amsterdam because I know a lot of people will be traveling soon for Thanksgiving and will probably be able to empathize with John’s experiences with airports and flights. Enjoy.

Have a lovely weekend, rest, relax, and read (and don’t catch a cold; it’s no fun). See you next week for more tech, library, and archival fun!

Middle of the Week Inspiration

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Dear readers, it is a gloomy Wednesday morning here, so I thought we could all use a little inspiration for getting things done (especially as tomorrow is a holiday). With that in mind, I have a very short post on productivity, ending with an awesome video (courtesy of Hanna who wonderfully alerted me to its presence).

Do like Post-it notes? I happen to love them, as can be easily deduced from a quick look around my office. It should come as no surprise that I’m quite partial to this article, “If it won’t fit on a post-it, It Won’t Fit in Your Day” on managing your to-do list and getting things done. This is especially helpful for those of us who try to cram way too much into one day and feel a bit stressed when we don’t accomplish the 23rd item on our task list for the day. So say it with me, “Post-it to-do lists for the win!”

One of my favorite non-library blogs is WebWorkerDaily. I highly recommend subscribing to the feed if you don’t already. One of the recent posts is especially pertinent to any discussion about productivity: Top 3 Productivity Pitfalls Disguised as Work-Boosting Tools. I know for those among us that love what we do (and are probably slightly Type A by nature) could definitely do with taking at least some time off on the weekends from work. Give yourself permission to relax a bit and you’ll probably be more productive when you get back to work. Another tip: get over the myth of multi-tasking and just focus on one task at a time–you’ll get your work done faster.

Finally, not a tip on productivity, but just basic inspiration, check out John’s blog post over at Ink and Vellum on Getting back into Research Mode. (And, by the way, isn’t that a great name for a blog?) It’s a lovely post on the transitions John’s made from researching in the humanities to researching in the LIS field and a great read for those of us who are constantly researching and writing in this profession. And personally, I can definitely relate to needing to change my perceptions of research and translate my research skills when I began in the LIS/archives field; however, I came from a biological sciences background and not the humanities. Luckily, our field and profession is so interdisciplinary and broad that I think it is only strengthened by those of us coming from non-social science backgrounds who have chosen to apply our research skills to LIS/archival research.

Feel inspired to get up, get your Post-it to-do list finished, and start a research project? Or do you just really want that third cup of coffee? No worries, either way, let’s end with this fantastic trailer from TRON Legacy:

Have a great rest of your week and I’ll be back on Friday with some technology fun for the library.

Break from Library: Monterey Bay Aquarium

/ dwakimoto

Hi, dear readers. We have a break in the scheduled programming of Internet Librarian 2010 updates in order to talk about the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Now I’m a bit biased, as I’ll get into later, but I think everyone at the conference should take a break and go see this awesome aquarium.

So why am I biased? Well, for one thing a UCSC alumnus founded the aquarium (go Banana Slugs!). But mainly, it’s because one of my closest friends, Monika, works at the aquarium as an aviculturist. (If you go and see her, be sure to be nice and say hi.)

Monika at the Hot Pink Flamingos Exhibit

Monika at the Hot Pink Flamingos Exhibit

Not only is the Monterey Bay Aquarium a beautiful aquarium and lovely place, it is a great place to see technology being used wonderfully for education in a fun way. We can learn a lot about deploying technology in ways that really work. In the Hot Pink Flamingos exhibit, they have used video cameras and touchscreen computers in order to engage visitors to publicly pledge to do one thing that will help the planet (such as eating less meat, driving less, writing to your representatives, etc.). How could we use technology in ways that engage our users and are intuitive? Something to think about as you are going through the aquarium.

photo of avocets

Avocets

Oh, and the aviary is fantastic too, as you can see from the above photo. So take a break and go learn about the fantastically cool seahorses, the interesting eels, and the lovely birds. Then come on back to the conference refreshed and energized to dive back into the technological fray!

Technology for Friday

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! I’m so glad it is almost the weekend, mainly because I’ve gone through the last couple of days thinking it was Friday only to be rudely shocked by the fact that it wasn’t yet Friday. But that is neither here nor there, so let’s get into the fun technology stuff for today. Today’s technology links are a bit of this and a bit of that, some just for fun, some that you can use, and others that would be good to pass on to your library users.

First up, because I linked to Lifehacker’s guide to the best iPhone apps a few weeks ago, I thought I should link to the Lifehacker pack for Android for all those readers with Android phones. It really is a fantastic list of apps; I found a couple new ones to add to my phone that are very helpful (and I should probably add a couple more, but I need to do something other than play with the phone).

Speaking of technology and libraries, if you somehow forgot about it, registration is open for Internet Librarian 2010 being held October 25-27 in Monterey, California. If you work in the library field and love technology (I mean, really love to experiment with all the latest technology and are completely fine with being geeky), this is the library conference on the West Coast for you.

For a super helpful search tool, check out CloudMagic, a Gmail browser extension that improves searching for contacts and emails in Gmail. This is a definite must for those who have massive amounts of saved email or really anyone who wants to save time when they search.

For those who are fans of the show Bones (thanks Anna, for the reminder that this is totally something Angela would have in the lab!) or James Bond-like gadgets, check out this video on the Virtual Autopsy Table video. How amazing is that technology? The image quality and ability to work through different layers is great. I wonder if medical schools in the United States will adopt this technology.

Now step back from the computer and smell the delicious scent of fresh brewed tea after you read an article that says you should home brew your tea to reap the most polyphenols. Just another great reason to break out the kettle and brew a lovely pot of tea. Oh, and if you are ever in the Boston/Cambridge area, you must check out my favorite tea shop, Tealuxe in Harvard Square (the Newbury Street Location unfortunately is closed). Check out the creme de la Earl Grey–fantastic!

Now that you have your cup of tea (not too close to the computer of course, don’t want to spill it on the keyboard!), relax and take a peak at this example of using QR codes for marketing. (I thought I’d re-share this video because it explained to me how to use QR Codes and The Litbrarian’s post about QR Codes reminded me I need to use this video when I teach information literacy classes in the fall). Enjoy.

QR Codes in a Living Book

Have a fantastic weekend full of relaxation, soaking up the last bits of summer, and reading great books (but if you finish Mockingjay please don’t spoiler it for me!).

P.S. Anyone in Cambridge area see the Doctor around MIT?

LoC and Digital Fun

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! So this will be short because I’m brain dead from this week, but wanted to share some interesting links about the Library of Congress and other digital stuff that’s been floating around online. So let’s get to the fun stuff and then we can get on to the weekend.

Check out the cool news about Library of Congress’ National Digital Stewardship Alliance. Yay, for more digital preservation standards and educational efforts.

Oh, and if you have an iPhone, check out Library of Congress’ iPhone app for a virtual tour of the library. Let me know if you like it. If you find one for Android, let me know too.

And, if you want to jailbreak your iPhone, check out the Jailbreak Matrix. Now that Library of Congress’ Copyright Office has deemed it legal to jailbreak your phone, you might want to know the best way. Oh, and if you have an Android phone and want to get more out of it (and use Twitter), check out completeandroid for lots of cool tips. (Thanks to litbrarian for pointing this out to me)

For something different and fun, check out How to Pick the Perfect Typeface. It is both a funny and useful flowchart. Even if you don’t do graphic design, check out the flowchart since it is fun, kind of like xkcd’s Tech Support Cheat Sheet.

Finally, check out xkcd’s “Still No Sleep” comic and then get some sleep this weekend (have fun and read too):

Still No Sleep by xkcd

Still No Sleep by xkcd

Digital Archives, Productivity, and Having a Good Day

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! Isn’t it just so lovely that it is almost the weekend? I think it is and so I have the usual random assortment of articles and thinking points. Today’s topics are digital archives (because, really, who doesn’t like talking about archives?), productivity (because I can’t seem to get away from the topic), and having a good day (because it is better than having a bad day). This will be a short post, perfect for a quick break from working on your important Friday work. So let’s talk archives!

I have admitted it before and I’ll admit it again, I love research and I love researching in archives. I really think you do get “archives fever” when researching in an archives, or maybe that’s just because the last archives I was at didn’t have air conditioning and I was there in the middle of a heat wave. Either way, you don’t have to worry about that if you follow the Library of Congress’ Guide to Finding and Using Online Primary Sources from the Manuscript Division. Online archives: they are wonderful and should be shared. Even if you disliked your history classes when you were in grade school, high school, or even college, trust me, looking through primary source documents will make you enjoy learning. (You may never want to become a historian, but you’ll probably find something that strikes your fancy in LoC’s vast online collections. If not, head over to NARA–they have an amazing photography collection online too.)

Oh, and check out Library of Congress’ Podcast: Conversations about Digital Preservation. A podcast series on digital preservation–really could life get any better for the library and archives geeks among us?

Why, yes, yes it can. NARA recently debuted its first wiki which will hopefully continue to be populated with wonderful archival information and discussions. Granted it isn’t the prettiest site on the web, but hopefully it will become one of the most useful and get more people interested in archives and archival research.

This article from WebWorkerDaily is fantastic: Passion as “the Ultimate Productivity Tool”. (Reminds me a lot of the advice that Seth Godin writes in his books and blog about work, productivity and shipping.) Read the article and be inspired to do great work–work you love–because then work isn’t something you have to slog through, it’s something you (usually) enjoy. And, unless you have a TARDIS, you’ll never get this day back so why not be passionately productive?

Finally, I want you to have a good day–a great day even. But if you are feeling the makings of a bad day, take a break (grab a cup of tea) and read through Lifehacker’s The Science Behind Having a Bad Day and How to Solve It. I hope it helps.

Of course, I can’t leave you without something fun on a Friday. So go over and check out ThinkGeek. If you’ve never checked out their site before, you are in for a treat. If you already have, you know why it is awesome, geeky shopping fun. Did I mention they have the Friendship Algorithm on a t-shirt?

Have a great Friday, a fantastic weekend, read a lot, and The Waki Librarian will be back next week with more library and technology fun.

Books, Data Usage, and other Random Stuff

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! I know, finally a post that is actually posted on Friday. I thought it would be a good idea to get back on schedule. So here is a Friday’s worth of random academic, library, and technology fun facts and tips. From textbook news to characters falling back into their books, it’s all here so let’s get going.

As an academic librarian (and a student myself), I’m super-excited about the news that universities receiving federal financial assistance must “provide students with accurate textbook information including retail price at the time a student registers for the course.” Read the full article on Campus Chatter. This should really help the students looking for textbook information and the librarians–maybe once students find out about this new requirement, there will be fewer panicking students at the reference desk during the first days of classes. (A librarian can always hope!)

If you’ve been reading this blog for a bit, you know how much I like productivity tips and articles about self-improvement. So obviously, I really like this article: Saying ‘I will do it in the future’ is an Excuse for Failure from the simple dollar. Great advice, and a kick in the pants, that should have you evaluating your to-do list and actually getting things done. (It also reminds me of an episode of The Big Bang Theory where Sheldon talks about his future self creating a time machine and giving it to him in the past so that it takes the pressure off working on the machine in the present. But really, I like the article because at it’s heart, it is simply and powerfully a call to just get started and then inertia will take over.)

My sister and I were discussing data plans for smartphones over dinner last night (yes, we are both geeks…moving on…) and it reminded me that I hadn’t shared this great Lifehacker article: how to keep track of your cellphone data usage. Check this out for simple ways to track your data usage so your carrier won’t have an excuse to slap you with data overage charges.

Also, speaking of Lifehacker and technology, check out this slightly older post on the top 10 privacy tweaks you should know about. You probably already know about some of these, but even so, the list is a great review and helpful for making sure you don’t overshare without knowing it and tips for keeping what you want to keep private. Very good information in this age of perpetual connection online.

If you haven’t seen this Flickr set by Lissy Elle yet, you really need to go see it now. Get Back in Your Book is a fantastic series of “a collection of characters who strive to stay in the real world,” but are falling back into their books. Really, the photographs are amazing so take a little break and thank me later.

Finally, let’s end with a fun Vlogbrothers video, Book Nerd PARADISE, from John’s time at ALA:

Have a lovely weekend full of reading and fun. The Waki Librarian will be back next week with more library and technology news.

P.S. I’ll be working on changing up the theme/layout of the blog over the weekend, so don’t get concerned if it looks a little bit strange for a bit. It will just be me and it will all be sorted out, promise.