thoughts and links about information and library science

Things are crazy busy this semester and I haven’t had much time to reflect or to blog for that matter.  The big news is my main excuse but I am also now involved a really cool project.  Our ASIS&T student group is also getting up and running.  Hopefully I will have a link to a cool new website for the group soon!

So what do I do with all my free time?  Well, on the bus I am able to listen to great podcasts.  My favorite one these days is Radio Lab–a new episode on laughter is up now!

I am working on getting myself enthusiastic about the new semester and I have found myself a little stuck…inertia from a month of not reading articles and not having to think about school has set in.   However, one of the things I love about school is that every semester is a fresh start and everything is new(ish) again!

I also am still adjusting from the business world to the world of Higher Education.  One thing that is especially surprising is how poorly information is organized and presented at the university and school.  There are multiple places to go for all different types of information.  The main web site for UNC hasn’t been changed for years (2000 vs 2008), the school’s web site is infamously difficult to navigate, there is no consistent method that professors use to deliver course materials (I go to Blackboard, Sakai, and ad-hoc sites for the schedule/syllabus and then to a bunch of other sites for the readings), not to mention all of the other information in mailing lists, wikis, and facebook.  I am not complaining since I am, after all,  learning about how to be an expert in the field of information.  It just seems to be more difficult than it needs to be–especially with all these experts around. However, institutional inertia is strong.  I would love to work on some of these problems but my time in school is short…

My XO laptop from the OLPC project has arrived!  No matter what your thoughts are on the OLPC project, this is a pretty cool little computer…I wish I had one when I was 10!  Here is my current computing setup (not pictured is my work PC on the opposite desk):

I’ve installed the Opera browser on it (it comes with another browser that doesn’t have as many features), Adobe Flash, SimCity, and a couple of ebooks.  I am looking forward to the next OS update which will help the battery life (right now it is comparable to my MacBook) and, I hope, add stylus support for the trackpad.  I am longing for another one so I can play around with all of the networking features…it is a computer meant to be connected to other computers.