It's a Wacky Wiki World
Be sure to avoid homework by reading, editing or composing something on LibLand, a wiki from the ALA, created specifically for library students.
Good luck with your final week of the semester!
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Be sure to avoid homework by reading, editing or composing something on LibLand, a wiki from the ALA, created specifically for library students.
Good luck with your final week of the semester!
Just when you were thinking to yourself, "my word, the dazzling array of library blogs revealed to me through Melissa's post on LISZEN is a veritable treasure trove of information, but how, oh how, is a mere mortal to keep track of this nonstop blog-a-thon!?," along comes a way to do just that.
And just now, when you said further, "she must be joking-- surely, such a thing is the realm of computer science fiction, and has no place on a serious student activity group blog!," along comes LibWorm to rock your world, gentle reader.
Essentially, LibWorm functions much like LISZEN in the way it allows users to search for keywords amongst thousands of library-themed blogs. LibWorm takes things a bit further, however, and provides RSS feeds for the search results. "Huh?," you might say? I know I did. But listen up: let's say you're interested in what bloggers are saying about the Google Books project. If you enter the search term "google books," you'll get a list of the most recent blog entries that contain this phrase in the title, body or tag set. Neat, but you're not done! Immediately before the list of search results, a handy little RSS button is displayed. Click it, copy the file into your RSS aggregator of choice, and a steady stream of blog entries about Google Books will be forever yours. This post is getting pretty wordy, so I'll give only the briefest of rundowns of the other amazingly awesome features:
-LibWorm also provides pre-packaged feed categories and subject guides on topics such as Special Libraries (Academic, Government, Art, Medical, etc.), Wikis, Podcasts, Web2.0, Young Adult Lit, Open Access, and dozens more).
-LibWorm also functions as an RSS aggregator. After creating a (free) account, you can start saving the RSS files from your chosen feeds directly to the site (I haven't done this, as I am a die-hard Google Reader fanatic, but I'd imagine it would be a handy and convenient thing).
-You can save individual articles (called "clippings") for later reference.
-Naturally, you can upload feeds-- either from your own blog(s) or from blogs that you feel simply must be included.
Go forth and LibWorm!
A fascinating artlcle, "Open-Source Spying" published in the New York Times Magazine Online today poses the question: "Could blogs and wikis prevent the next 9/11?" (1) The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is experimenting with something they call "Intellipedia, a wiki that any intelligence employee with classified clearance [can] read and contribute to," (5), but finding a balance between secrecy & social networking tools is not an easy task in the world of international intelligence & security. Classified information and national security aside a moment, could social software in the hands of intelligence agencies threaten the privacy and civil liberties of individuals in our country?
What role, if any, can libraries and librarians have in helping intelligence agencies sort through all of the static of information and "connect the dots" (5) in order to protect the public; not only from potential violence or attacks, but from encroachment upon their privacy and civil rights? Feel free to add your thoughts to this discussion.