Comments for Hidden Peanuts

Comment on Review: Nintendo DS Lite Browser by Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 22:47:32 +0000

I had left a comment on this review close to five years ago. Even though time and technology changes (swapped in my DS Lite for a DSi XL long ago. I wanted WPA support), I think I still prefer the Nintendo Web Browser over the iPod Touch’s. Reading this review again reminded me that you don’t “need” a lot to enjoy the web.

Comment on Web services I use, 2012 edition by Diana

Diana — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 22:21:03 +0000

I loved the social features of Google Reader. I still use it but I miss the great conversations I participated in. Google+ only woo’d about 20% of my Google Reader crowd so now I have narrower conversations on fewer topics.

Comment on Web services I use, 2011 edition by Web services I use, 2012 edition | Hidden Peanuts

Web services I use, 2012 edition | Hidden Peanuts — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 19:27:32 +0000

[...] I last posted this list, a few things have changed. First, here’s the things I used last year but don’t [...]

Comment on R.I.P Fictionwise by Chad

Chad — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:01:35 +0000

Oh I’m sorry to hear that! I’ve been luckier and most (though not quite all) of my titles have now made the transition. I do agree that DRM needs to be tossed in the bin.

Comment on R.I.P Fictionwise by Donna M.

Donna M. — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:10:58 +0000

You may be sanguine, but I’ve lost the majority of 959 ebooks. I have a useless Cybook and B&N hasn’t yet transferred any of my ebooks. Most are mult-format, but the best were usually Mobi which is already dead.

I now very much regret my 4,000 paper books that I decided to resell on Amazon when I started buying ebooks at Fictionwise. Same reason I’m not comfortable with cloud storage – you never know when you will lose thousands of dollars.

I own the Cybook (not my first), a Nook and a Kindle Touch and I can still only recover a fraction of my books. The world needs to revolte against DRM.

Comment on Defining what I do: What makes a technology emerging or disruptive? by Tegan

Tegan — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 17:01:31 +0000

As a Technology Services Librarian (which seems to be something of a parallel position with a different mouthful of a name) this was fantastic to read!

Comment on Defining what I do: What makes a technology emerging or disruptive? by Emily Krug

Emily Krug — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 13:47:54 +0000

Thanks for helping define what I do! I am an Emerging Technologies and Cataloging Librarian at a community college, and I often have difficulty explaining what exactly the first part of my title means. This is a great way to think about emerging technologies. I really like thinking of it in terms of how it disrupts or changes the way we do things.

Comment on Defining what I do: What makes a technology emerging or disruptive? by Robin

Robin — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 03:46:06 +0000

Thank you for a good read! As an emerging tech librarian too, I was glad to see a cheat sheet of sorts, because I am an arm-flailer myself.

In many ways, I think emerging/disruptive technologies are tied to emerging/disruptive philosophies. 3D printers have been so successful because of the growing community of people who believe very firmly in openness and making and sharing. Ebooks in libraries are often hindered because the publishers’ philosophy (/business model) is so stale. But on the latter point, I want to believe that things are shifting in our favor as more content industries shift to the subscription model (access to everything all the time). Maybe.

It’s so easy for me to get bogged down in the day-to-day of emerging tech (“How do I fix this responsive Drupal theme?”) that I forget how exciting it actually is! Thanks for a reminder.

Comment on Defining what I do: What makes a technology emerging or disruptive? by Steve Watkins

Steve Watkins — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 23:35:13 +0000

Nice piece, Chad, you did a great job of capturing the essence of the distinction between emerging and disruptive, IMHO. I also agree with your comment in response to Alan about “watching adoption of disruptive technology by our users.” I was thinking back to some years ago when nearly every student walked by on campus with a cell phone to their ear engaged in conversation and then a sea change occurred that was made clear when their phones were in hand with thumbs typing out texts while walking. That was just about the time that I realized it was time to think about a mobile-friendly suite of library services, as users had clearly moved to a different mode of interacting via their devices.

Comment on Defining what I do: What makes a technology emerging or disruptive? by Chad

Chad — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 19:28:14 +0000

Thanks for the kind words Alan. I read your post, and I think we really are coming at this from just slightly different angles. I completely agree that we should place meeting our users’ needs as the #1 priority. Otherwise, what’s the point of the library? By watching adoption of disruptive technology by our users (ebooks etc), that’s how we can best meet them. Even if an adaptation means radically changing what the library looks like. If that tech does disintermediate us from our users’ workflows, then there will probably be other needs that pop up to replace them. There will always (within the next few lifetimes anyway) be unmet information needs in an academic community. The trick is to notice them in time and make the shift.