Odyssey Online

…while this article from PC World is largely about Microsoft, it does give current browser share numbers. In a word, more good news for Firefox and Chrome.

One of the real joys of Firefox are the add-ons. Recent news on new Youtube add-ons for Firefox has just come down the pipe…for an overview of Firefox add-ons see the notes for a presentation back a year or two ago, but still current in terms of the add-ons as concept, and the add-ons it covers.

For information on what Chrome is and how Google is positioning it to be a web-based operating system, see these powerpoint notes for a presentation I did last December. Even though it’s a powerpoint it will still provide commentary on what Google is up to (warning, some sardonic comments about Google along the way…)

…in a very interesting very quiet move, Google has personalized all searches. That is, based on the information Google keeps on searches an individual does, and based on information uploaded to Google by gmail and the like users, each Google search will be a little bit different.  Good commentary on what this means from Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land, and Mercedes Bunz in the Guardian. Sullivan makes a good connection to this and reference work done by librarians.  In a library every search is customized as a researcher works with a librarian to find the best materials…what Sullivan points out though, is that you wouldn’t expect a librarian to remember a conversation, verbatim, you had a half a year ago. That’s what Google does, and, I agree with Sullivan, that’s the creepy part.  What happens in the library stays in the library, even as the books leave…is that perhaps an advantage of a library.

Also, with criticism growing from the news industry of Google’s role in the economics of news delivery, Eric Schmidt takes a few pages of the Wall Street Journal to defend his company…

…Google Book posts still being researched, will be forthcoming.  In the meantime, the Washington Post is reporting that comments by White House Chief Technology Officer James McLaughlin linking Net Neutrality to free speech have generated controversy…

…with the holiday at hand how about a new favorite subject heading: Thanksgiving Day–History.  A couple of titles on Thanksgiving anyway, and Pilgrims (New Plymouth Colony) will widen the story still further…

…whilst somewhat off topic for Odyssey Online, Atlantic Magazine is reported that the recent congressional election in NY-23 has yielded a new bit of political slang: Scozzafavaed.

…our collection of slang dictionaries can be searched out by the subject heading English Language–Slang–Dictionaries, ready resources all for charting the fluid nature of the English Language…

…much has been going on in our Interlibrary Loan Office in the name of moving requests more quickly, and while most of this is things-technical that don’t effect how the SLU Community makes requests to borrow materials, we did come up with Five Really Helpful Things to Know About Interlibrary Loan. All five things do in fact help, this takes just a minute to read, take a look!

…while it is maybe a little late in the semester day to think about changing how one organizes, there are Firefox add-ons built to help one organize one’s online work, anyway.  Add-ons are little applications developers have created to work in Firefox, and a nice sampling of these can be found on the Fashion Your Firefox page.  These break down popular add-ons by type, and you’ll note at the bottom of the list Executive Assistant.  This links through to Reminder Fox, Glue, and Sxipper, each of which helps with one little part of organizing one’s day.  Firefox rules…

…not that I make it a practice to engage in shameless self-promotion, but if you are looking for information on the who/what/how of Firefox, and suggestions for effective and useful Firefox add-ons, I’ve had a word or two to say about that…

…while a little off topic, that is not strictly on Information and Libraries, some interesting resources on the ongoing financial distress have crossed my desk.   One resource is a collection of essays from Berkeley Electronic Press called the Economist’s Voice, which present a number of points of view on the “how’s” and “why’s” of the crisis’ history (and possible ways out). Also, Jonathan Jarvis has created a video on how the crisis came about called Crisis of Credit Visualized. It’s a concise, intelligent, and very much for noneconomist resource that makes a compelling case about what happened. Not exactly chreeful stuff, but helpful in make sense of all what the media is extolling…

…nothing like a Friday morning for thinking about the many ways one can share digital information. A number of our databases and utilities now provide spaces for collaborative work…place where material can be uploaded for a group. Refworks has file sharing capability, and using it is as easy as putting down that Friday morning donut. Simply go to the Tools pull down menu, and then the Share References Option. You’ll see your Refworks folders, and an URL beside them. Click on the Options button and you’ll see an E-Mail URL button, which, when clicked, will open up an e-mail for sending the URL and instructions on accessing the shared folder. One pull down and two clicks and you can be working on a bibliography with classmates or colleagues…

…now that the Ecomonic Stimulus Package is in under consideration by Congress (officially known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan), there are a number of resources that will allow you to follow legislative action “blow by blow.”  LexisNexis Congressional has search features for reserach on Bills and Laws including legislative histories, as well as searches for committee memberships, daily congressional action, and “hot politics.”  On the open web there his (and there has always been) Thomas, the Library of Congress’ legislative search engine.  Thomas allows for many of the same searches, and for bill tracking…that is following the path of legislation and amendments to said through the maze of committees. All of this means that one doesn’t have to rely on the media (CNN or otherwise) to see how this plan (and the tremendous amount of money this plan constitutes) evolves…