Comments on: some portland follow up and discussion of speed

By: deiteria » Menucha 2006 - day 1

deiteria » Menucha 2006 - day 1 — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 02:27:05 +0000

[...] The three keynote addresses at Menucha this year were presented back-to-back, and even though the speakers did not prepare together at all. Jessamyn West gave her “sensible technology” talk – which she always adapts and changes and updates so even if you’ve heard it before, there will be something that’s new. I should also mention that there are some speakers who, while interesting and effective, come across just as well in an audio-only environment like a podcast. Jessamyn West is not one of those speakers; she’s definitely worth hearing in person. Anyway, what I like about Jessamyn is that she is an advocate for libraries and for library users first, and a technology advocate second. So her work is always very well grounded in the impact that technology has (for good or ill) on libraries – particularly resource-poor, small, or rural libraries. This gives her perspective a certain relevance and significance that goes beyond “isn’t this cool?” [...]

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 03:52:03 +0000

Thanks, JW. Love your haircut, too!

By: christyanthemum

christyanthemum — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 01:01:19 +0000

I just read a new of Pew’s Internet reports–very interesting and useful for someone (me) who’s working on a business proposal/investment prospectus with my husband for his new business–a rural Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP). We’re located in NNY and if we can fend off the “big biz” telecommunications firms, we think Wireless Internet can make real progress for the rural/urban “digital divide” where we live (and in other rural areas). Simply getting access to put (our) equipment on telephone lines is NOT easy! But up here, it’s National Grid (formerly Niagara Mohawk).
I urge others to support small ISPs and WISPs whenever they can! Just the other day, we switched someone from a deathly-slow dial-up connection (often rural dial-up goes even slower due to OLD-OLD-OLD lines/infrastructure) to our high-speed wireless. Now, instead of waiting UP TO 30 MINUTES for 1 PAGE TO LOAD, they are happily surfing away at high speeds (and telling their neighbors, we hope!). A cable company (or DSL?) had recently told them that it would cost upwards of $50k for them to “build out” onto their country back road. (Which means they don’t want to be bothered; not enough profitability). I have a feeling this often happens to small rural libraries. We wanted to advertise our WISP on the bulletin board of our local library and they said NO; only non-profits allowed. We joked, “Well, we haven’t turned a profit yet, so technically we’re non-profit, right?” They didn’t oblige…(or laugh).
Lots of interesting overlaps in my-life-as-bookstore-owner and my-life-as-WISP-executive-assistant… –Long time reader; love your bookish insight, Jessamyn, and the Northeast Kingdom flair–

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:51:31 +0000

No no, please do. I think it’s a very striking example of web 1.0 vs web 2.0. I mean the other thing worth noting is that a visit to Wikipedia usually involved an awful lot of visits, reloading etc, whereas Encarta is more of a destination site, so there will be some traffic inflation just for that, but yeah, let the numbers speak for themselves.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 12:46:42 +0000

Ooooh… if I used that Pew slide about Encarta to illustrate a point I’m creakily making for a talk in Michigan this Thursday, would you feel ok about that? I don’t want you to think that I just lifted your talk (though if I had to steal someone’s talk, you would be high up on the list…)

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 04:39:12 +0000

good question! repaired.

By: Anna Creech

Anna Creech — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 03:16:58 +0000

Creechal?