*I'm backdating a few posts to keep up the illusion that I never leave the front of my computer for such things as camping and otherwise spending quality time with my family.*
WhatTheInternetKnowsAboutYou.com uses an unintentional security hole that exists in most browsers – the ability to see which links you've clicked in the past to turn them that generic “visited link” purple – to be able to view your browsing history (explanation here).
As they say on the site, this used to be a lot less worrisome when we just went to some basic sites but now, with people visiting social networking sites and URL's that tell a lot about us (which sites we hit on Wikipedia, sites we've hit via Google searches), the potential for malicious use is much higher.
The most excellent Common Craft videos on YouTube provided inspiration for this cool video from the Edmonton Public Library about their “Fine Free Day” promotion…
…although these are quite a bit better quality than usual since we got a real photographer to take them as opposed to me whipping out the iPhone and going “Hold it!” anytime Pace does something cute.
(Funny story – we were at Central last Saturday and one of the pages saw Pace run by. Then she looked up and saw me close behind and goes “Is that yours?” I say “yes” and she goes “But he's so cute!”)
NB: The preceding anecdote may have contained (very) slight paraphrasing for comedic effect.
After years of planning and preparation, today was a pretty momentous day for Regina Public Library. Having recently completed a major Program and Services Review which looked at all aspects of the organization – staffing, programming, facilities – today was the official implementation day for one of the key components of the new structure – a revamped staffing model and organizational chart.
As you can well imagine, there are a huge range of emotions over the changes that are happening – some staff are moving to new units or branches, others are moving their physical location – and that means that people are feeling excited, nervous, frustrated, sad and angry – often with all of these feeling swirling around at the same time.
My role at RPL is a fairly unique one in a number of different ways – for example, I'm the only in-scope employee in the HR department which is otherwise completely comprised of out-of-scope staff.
Another unique aspect of my job is the work that I actually get to do. The major responsibility of my position is all staff training and development which is fairly standard. But the other part is a bit more nebulous – “Organization Development” which you can read definitions of in various places but which for me, basically means that I have a pretty wide flexibility to do various things to help the organization successfully achieve its goals.
Sometimes that's helping a manager develop policy, sometimes that's talking to front-line staff to see what concerns they have about their day-to-day work. And sometimes, like today, it's taking 20 dozen doughnuts around to every single branch and unit in the organization as a small gesture of thanks to the staff for their dedication to RPL. Needless to say, I enjoy my job quite a bit!
A great story about the reaction to a photo of a naked model in fashion magazine Glamour which the magazine dared to run with the model looking normal (ack – a paunch!) rather than air-brushed to Hefner-esque visions of perfection.
State of the Art: Apple's Sleek Upgrade – The New York Times raves about Snow Leopard, the new update to the core Apple operating system, Leopard. The most amazing thing? After years of features wars that turned OS's and various applications into larger and larger messes, this upgrade may be the first time in history that a software program has significantly reduced its footprint – by eliminating unnecessary files (instead of having GB of printer drivers “just in case” even though most people use one or maybe two at most) and tightening up the existing programs. The tagline “A snow leopard is just like a leopard but faster and with a smaller footprint” definitely applies!
I'd recently read another article about “10 Ways to Improve the iPhone” or something like that but can't find it again [Edit: Found it.]. One point the article made made which I agree with strongly is that they need a better way to organize your apps. Right now, I have about ten different tabs with anywhere from a couple to a full dock of apps on them. They're grouped roughly as “Apps I Use Regularly”, “News Sites”, “Games”, “More Games”, “Book-Related”, “Reference Services”, “Pace Games”, “Camera Related”, “Social Networking”, “Music” and “Utilities”. (Sounds anal but I'm a librarian – what can I say?”) The problem is that when a tab fills up, I have to either figure out a way to reorganize things one app at a time or create a new “category” out of things I already have grouped together (I used to have all my “Social Networking” apps on the same tab as my “News” apps but split them apart when I got more than the 16 total apps you're allowed to have on any one tab.
Came across this thought puzzle via a MetaFilter thread which, in turn, comes from a review of a book called “The Idea of Justice” by Amartya Sen.
Here's the puzzle…
“Take three kids and a flute. Anne says the flute should be given to her
because she is the only one who knows how to play it. Bob says the
flute should be handed to him as he is so poor he has no toys to play
with. Carla says the flute is hers because it is the fruit of her own
labour. How do we decide between these three legitimate claims?”
There's a case for all of the children to have ownership of the flute but my initial reaction was that Bob should have the flute. Obviously, that's a pretty instinctive pick for me and my value system but once you read the MetaFilter comments, you see all kinds of other options are out there including some very creative ways that all three children would benefit (in its simplest form, “Why does someone have to own it? Why can't they share it?”).
You also see that the puzzle is worded neutrally in terms of the case that can be made for each child but also that everyone reads into the puzzle, their own meaning and cultural assumptions (some read it as “Carla deserves the flute because she made it” but others point out that she could be a factory worker who gets an hourly wage but has no claim of ownership in this situation.) Finally, some ask how would this be different if the item in question wasn't a musical instrument but something like a university scholarship? Or what if it was food? (Anne is a food lover, Bob is hungry and Carla made the cake – who should get it?)
