NeoArch

I’m not a huge Microsoft Word user, but when I do use Word, I like to keep versions of my documents. Back in the old days, before I did any coding, I would use multiple file names to accomplish this. What a nightmare! When I began writing a little code, a friend of mine turned me on to Subversion. It’s a great piece of software that allows me to maintain versions of my files without the hassle of multiple files and filenames. If you want to know more about it, Google it, or read the documentation at the site above.

When using Windows, I use a product called TortoiseSVN to keep track of my versioning of files. All this stuff is free, mind you. I have a site (ie. Subversion server) where I keep my code, and I also keep a number of my files there that pertain to the degree I’m pursuing. So, any papers I write go there. They’re versioned. They’re accessible from any web connected computer in the world. That is a very good thing, and I don’t know why more students don’t think of doing something like this. For that matter, I don’t know why Microsoft doesn’t think about doing something like this.

Just the other day, I found OfficeSVN. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know if the folks at WordPress/Automattic follow the agile development model, but I do know that they are amazing when it comes to responding to customer needs. I sent them an email this morning mentioning that the new theme that I use did not support the code html tag. I realize this is a minor change, but it was one that would make by blogging life better. I just got an email back from Noel informing me that the code tag is now fully supported. How’s that for responding to customer need? And I’m not even a paying customer! Talk about developing quickly and delivering often!

I just switched my workstation over to a static IP setup. It’s an Ubuntu machine, and I ran into a little snag. Every time that I tried to sudo any command, it returned the following error:

sudo: unable to resolve host MyComputersName

If you have this problem, it’s an easy fix. Edit your host file (sudo vim /etc/hosts). You probably have your machine name configured as localhost, 127.0.0.1, or 127.0.1.1. Whatever it is, change the ip address associated with the machine name to the new static ip address. Ubuntu will stop screaming at you.

For one of my classes at the University of Kentucky, I have to write about what makes a good blog. Now, I’ve never claimed that this is a good blog, but I have read a few that are. So, here are the characteristics that I think define a good blog, in about 500 words

• Brevity — Good blogging begins and ends with brevity. Just take a look at the blogs by Michael Stephens or Michael Casey, two of the most widely regarded bloggers in the library science community. Their posts are rarely more than one to two paragraphs. An exception to this rule is someone like Jenny Levine, but her posts are generally interesting enough to hold one’s attention for a time. Still, most people need their information in bite size pieces. Good bloggers have come to terms with this fact.
• Consistency — Good bloggers are consistent bloggers. They blog regularly, usually every day, sometimes multiple times per day. At the very least, one should blog at least once a week. Technorati’s recent State of the Blogosphere series addressed this issue noting that “Blogs with higher authority are typically updated more frequently than blogs with lower authority.“
• Timely — Good blogging depends upon being timely. No one cares about two day old information, much less two week old information. Good bloggers stay on top of their fields, and they are able to write a short editorial about an event in the field without thinking very much expending very much mental energy. This usually nearly always results in the use of multiple strikethroughs later. The one exception is Pepys’ Diary. It’s about 340 years away from being timely, but it’s always entertaining.
• Relevancy — Good blogging is Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been reading a little Carol Kuhlthau lately (as an assignment, not by choice), and I’ve actually enjoyed some of what she says about the information search process. Some of her ideas seem to be similar to things expressed by some of the Library 2.0 crowd, especially the idea that realizing where library users have uncertainty should help us design systems that actually help researchers get past the uncertainty. That’s a very user-centered idea of libraries (imagine that concept) and library services. I really wonder how much Kuhlthau has influenced other writers that I enjoy reading such as Jenny Levine, Michael Stephens, Michael Casey, and John Blyberg? They seem to say many of the same things, although all of these are much more readable than what I have read from Kuhlthau.