[ResourceShelf] Newsletter 444
Gary Price
Off the Shelf: ResourceShelf Newsletter
<http://www.resourceshelf.com/>
Number 444 February 25, 2010
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FUMSI Report: Folio on Widgets and Gadgets
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How are mobile devices and lightweight apps changing how information
professionals do their work? Learn from our survey on current habits,
then incorporate forward-looking ideas from 7 articles to improve your
own flexibility, mobility and customisation:
* Widgets and Gadgets Survey Results
* Widgets for Content Distribution: A Shift in the Internet,
by Barry Graubart
* Pharmaceutical industry: a discovery-led approach to
social media, by Daniel Ghinn
* Evolution in source evaluation: using social media data,
by Emily Wheeler and Samara Omundson
* Yahoo! Pipes: Relevant information on tap, by Scott Brown
* Say hello to Google Wave, by Malcolm Coles and Martin Belam
* Conference Information: Managing Before, During and After,
by Heidi Blanton
* Leveraging and Repurposing RSS, by Brian Westra
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On the off-chance that you are sick of hearing from me again and
again, the current Resource of the Week comes to you courtesy of
Adrian Janes, our UK contributing editor. Those of you who follow
DocuTicker, our sister site, have probably noticed Adrian's good work
in a steady stream of posts presenting UK/EU reports. Having begun his
career as an information professional in academic libraries, Adrian
currently works as an Information Services Librarian with the London
Borough of Havering. And we sincerely appreciate his contributions.
Have a great week, whichever side of the pond you're on.
sdk
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Resource of the Week - Notable Names Database (beta)
by Adrian Janes, Contributing Editor
Direct link to this post online: <http://digbig.com/5bbcxh>
Sometimes a resource is worth bookmarking for its potential as much as
its current usefulness. An example of this is the beta version of the
Notable Names Database (NNDB). In part, this serves as a reference
tool for some quick biographical fact-checking. It must be admitted
that, at present, coverage can vary greatly. Some entries simply note
the basics (e.g. Date of Birth, Birthplace, Occupation, Religion).
Others also include fairly detailed biographical accounts, and
bibliographies or filmographies of varying degrees of
comprehensiveness. (Oddly, musicians don't seem to have discographies
included at all.)
The NNDB includes both living and dead people, although the criteria
for inclusion are not specified beyond 'people we have determined to
be noteworthy'. The claimed 37,000+ subjects are largely American, but
there are also entries on such notables as:
* Salvador Dali * David Bowie; and * King Henry VIII of England
Apart from Living or Dead People, searching can be done through Band
Names, Book Titles, Movie Titles or full text.
The NNDB states that it 'mostly exists to document the connections
between people'. However it also works well in linking people to their
works. For example, a search in Book Titles for 'The Great Gatsby'
produces a list of books with 'great' in the title but headed by F.
Scott Fitzgerald's book and a link to his entry.
This concern with connections is best demonstrated by the site's most
intriguing feature, the NNDB Mapper. This not only includes personal
connections (e.g. family, fellow actors or band members, etc.), but it
works in the corporate and political fields as well. The connections
thus revealed between the latter areas are likely to be much less
well-known and yet potentially very significant.
A link to the map for an individual is indicated to the right of his
or her entry. Once the subject is loaded at the centre of their map,
his or her immediate connections (known as nodes) appear as well. Any
of these can in turn be clicked on to indicate their connections, and
so on. If the map appears to be getting too complicated, you can
'isolate' a subject (i.e making hr or she alone the centre of a map)
or 'prune' it, which removes nodes that, in the present state of the
database, have no further connections. There is also an option to
select from a list of nodes when it is particularly long. All of these
operations can be carried out simply and swiftly. User involvement is
encouraged; from here, you can either create a new map or browse the
library of maps created by other users.
Yet this facility also indicates one of the flaws of the NNDB; like
the early days of Wikipedia, there is no apparent mechanism or
authority in place for assuring the quality of the information. I feel
some confidence in the site because personal knowledge of many of the
subjects I checked chimes with what the NNDB yields; equally, there
are some glaring errors and omissions (e.g., Samuel Beckett's
bibliography ends at least 20 years too soon). But again like
Wikipedia, the site positively invites comments and corrections, which
is creditable and reinforces my belief that an already valuable
resource could grow into something of lasting worth.
Full post online with live links: <http://digbig.com/5bbcxh>
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Off the Shelf: Featured posts from ResourceShelf Visit ResourceShelf
now: <http://www.resourceshelf.com> or click a link to view the
entire post:
* San Francisco Public Library Hires Social Worker to Help Homeless
Patrons, First Library in U.S. to Offer Service -
<http://digbig.com/5bbcrw>
* Now Available: IFLA Compilation of News About Hatian Libraries -
<http://digbig.com/5bbcrx>
* Ingram's Deal with U.S. Dept. of Defense, Will Provide Downloadable
Audiobooks to All Service Members, Dependents, & National Guard -
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* Librarians Learn at ARL Meeting that Open Access to Research is
Inevitable - <http://digbig.com/5bbcsa>
* Google Adds Maps and Local Search for 30 African Nations -
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* The Future of the Internet IV: New Edition Now Available from the
Pew Internet & American Life Project - <http://digbig.com/5bbcsc>
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