Wired.com Goes Creative Commons

Announced on 7 Nov 2011. Wired.com's statement:

"Beginning today, we’re releasing all Wired.com staff-produced photos under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC) license and making them available in high-res format on a newly launched public Flickr stream."

More info, from the CreativeCommons.org blog:
"... Wired.com’s announcement that from now on all Wired.com staff-produced photos will be released under a CC Attribution-Noncommercial license (CC BY-NC)! Wired.com’s Editor in Chief Evan Hansen says,

“Creative Commons turns ten years old next year, and the simple idea of releasing content with “some rights reserved” has revolutionized online sharing and fueled a thriving remix culture. At Wired.com, we’ve benefited from CC-licensed photos for years — thank you sharers! Now we’re going to start sharing ourselves.”"

Here's Wired.com's CC-BY-NC Flickr stream, at www.flickr.com/photos/wiredphotostream.


What's significant to me was that Wired.com is a recognisable brandname. Their very public statement on CC was also very clear to me (see quote at the beginning of this post).

They have made a long-term commitment rather than a one-off publicity stunt (some people might think this was a one-off thing if they only noticed the selected 50 images).

Their Flickr stream would be one good resource to get CC-BY-NC photos of people in the tech industry (since Wired.com covers that sort of news extensively).


Probably images of gadgets, events and tech stuff.


(Which reminds me: I've not blogged about YouTube's "hybrid" adoption of Creative Commons; check this and this out).

Art practice: "Blue Skies, Green Hills"

On a Sunday afternoon back in March, my wife cajoled me into painting an acrylic piece. I said 'cajoled' because I was a bit lazy to pick up the paint brush... but she prepared all the paints and palette so I had no excuse.

She practiced on her own piece, and I did mine. For reference, we used one of the paintings featured in the book “Art school: A complete painters course” by Patricia Monahan, Patricia Seligman, and Wendy Clouse.

NLBsearchplus | ISBN: 9780600614135



This was her paint palette (she bought a "stay wet" palette).


I started my piece by sketching the outlines of the hills, in pencil.


The fun part starts: I applied a mix of blue and white to the sky.


Then started on the green hills, working towards darker colours (in Acrylics, you work from dark to light -- but I'm never one to follow the rules strictly):






When the painting was almost complete, I decided the sky needed a touch of gray and some reflection of the green. If not, the sky was a bit too plain looking.


The completed painting. Took about 2 hours, slightly less.


There are several DVDs and books, on "How To Paint", from the Public Libraries. They come with step-by-step illustrations. Check out the "Arts and Recreation" section.

[Also blogged at MyRightBrain.wordpress.com]

Video tutorial on using UB school-wide blog system

Kevin "The Mac Guy" did a video tutorial on using the UB School of Informatics school-wide blog system. The video tutorial runs for almost 25 minutes but you can skip sections (try skipping to the 11th minute and the 20th minute, he talks about RSS).

Their system runs on Wordpress, so even if you are not a UB student, maybe you'll find it useful. Or if you want to match Kevin's face to his voice, run the video!

A few thoughts from watching the video:

1. Video tutorial is something I have wanted to do for ages. To show people how to use the OPAC, even how to reserve books etc. Any volunteers?
2. And why not do a "homemade" video-tour of the library? A-la Reality-TV style.
3. Useful to have an index (with brief annotation) when I run the video. List the video in segments (like a DVD menu). If I want to skip to certain parts of the video, I can.
4. Consider posting a picture of the speaker. It helps to place a face to the sound and video.
   
5. Would be cool to have a Comments feature on the video page. I might want to type in comments while watching.
6. Or how about an IM chat button?
7. On using the mouse when doing demos -- have Minimal Movement for the Mouse. And move it slower. It's different when you are on control of the mouse and doing a word document. But the audience will follow the mouse movement. You go in circles, their eyes track in circles.

Great job, Kevin!


Tag: blog tutorial

Books on Open Source, LINUX etc

On the second day of Bukit Merah Community Library's re-opening, a customer asked me -- half in jest -- if NLB was paid by Microsoft to boycott books on Open Source. I laughed and said no.

He said there were few books on Open Source and LINUX while majority were Microsoft-related. He's right, but not because our public library has any bias. Generally speaking, the collection reflect the demand from customers and it's not surprising that most readers who go for Computer & IT books are Microsoft users. Anyway, I took his point and yes, Open Source will be something that readers would find of increasing relevance.

James Seng was helpful in recommending a few publications. Glad to say they are in some our libraries already (under "Computers & IT").

Linux Journal

Refer to the Magazines section (under "L")
Check for item availability here.


The Cathedral and the bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an accidental revolutionary/ Eric S. Raymond

Call No.: 005.1 RAY [COM]
Check for item availability here.


Free as in freedom: Richard Stallman's crusade for free software/ Sam Williams

Call No.: 005.12092 WIL [COM]
Check for item availability here.


Understanding Open Source Software development/ Joseph Feller

Call No.: 005.1 FEL [COM]
Check for item availability here.


If you think there can be more of the same titles in other libraries, or if you have other titles to suggest, feel free to post your suggestions here.

BTW, do comment on why you think they are suitable -- the library does review and evaluate the books before acquiring them but it doesn't hurt to have actual users tell us a bit more, 'cos you folks are likely to know better.

Tag: books open source, book linux, magazine linux

The library as a centre for a country's Human Resource Development Movement

Just came back from the Singapore HRM Awards 2005 ceremony at Fullerton Hotel. The event organised by HRM (Human Resource Magazine) dished out awards to public and private sector organisations for "Best Workplace Health Practices", "Best Use of Technology", "Best Employer Branding", Best Training, Learning & Development", "Best Retention Strategies", "Best Worklife Balance Practices", "Best HR team", "Best HR Director", and "Employer of Choice". The National Library Board was one of the nominees for "Best Workplace Health Practices". If I recall correctly, NLB won the same award in 2003 and 2004. Didn't win this year.

A few of the winners espoused a few consistent themes in their acceptance speech. They viewed HR as a "calling" and a driving force in the organisation's success (i.e. people were the ones who achieved results for the company, and HR is responsible for developing people). The recipient of the "Lifetime Achievement" award mentioned that HR was more than just a driving force in a company setting -- it was also a force for driving social change in a country (he's consulted for countries in HR issues).

That got me thinking about libraries and the Human Resource Movement/ function: In many ways, libraries are centres for Human Resource Development, aren't they?

I mean the library in both the physical sense (i.e. provision of print and digital resources, programmes and services) and also as a driver for "human development initiatives" like Information Literacy Programmes. A real-life example from NLB called "Aspiration Pathfinder" (run by some really cool folks who, in my opinion, epitomises the 'modern librarian').

Perhaps in the marketing and branding of libraries, we should seriously consider positioning ourselves as Human Development Agencies. Heck, even Human Development Consultants.