Library Anime

This is awesome. An anime film about saving libraries from litigation against the freedom of expression.

I should look for a translation of the book it is based on.

Library Linkage

I have been thinking about using this space to collect some of the interesting library/information related articles I come across. I do want to track some of these interesting tidbits, and especially now that I've subscribed to the LISNews feed, I've got more of them than I can mentally organize.

Also, I haven't read them all yet. But I'd like to.

Here are a few to start:

Can Social Bookmarking Improve Web Search?

Architectures for Collaboration:Roles and Expectations for Digital Libraries

Not Dead Yet... I think I'll go for a walk...

Yeah. So um, hi. That whole "if you don't have anything nice to say..." rule makes for a crappy blog. Also, I've gone back to using Twitter as my primary status source, it seems. I am apparently getting better at short-form posting.

Quick update:
- My mobile phone is dead. It was in fact, my only phone, so if you need me, send a tweet or email. I hope to get a new one over the weekend.
- Big mystery project is still only 3/4 done and I haven't worked on it for weeks. I need to drop all other procrastinatory hobbies and get back to it. I'm kind of over this and ready for it to be finished. I still think it's going to be awesome, it's just... sooooo time consuming.
- I managed (after much last-minute scrambling) to submit my intent to graduate or whatever-the-heck-it's-called for December 2008. Why December graduation stuff has to be filed in March (aka 9 months in advance) is beyond me. Scheduling completion of a master's degree should not the temporal equivalent of birthing a baby, IMO.
- There's a big meet-and-greet for the applicants for the Saratoga Cemetery Board happening this Friday at 6pm in the Saratoga Senior Center. If you're a resident of Saratoga or Monte Sereno, or have friends/loved ones/acquaintances/enemies/pets/etc. who are, come on down and talk to the folks! It's only an hour, and we want the community to use this opportunity to give Supervisor Kniss their feedback.

End of Saturday

Well, the high tech craft panel was a disappointment. They weren't talking about everyday people crafting - it was four women who were working in fashion design using physical elements of technology (circuits, etc.). It turned into one of those "look I did this awesome thing!" panels - no philosophy of craft and how technology might influence it or anything that I would be interested in. Esin and I left about 20 minutes in. It was disappointing.

We skipped the last panel and hung out in the hall with Kristin and Wes, people watching. That was fun. Then Cuban food for dinner, an abortive attempt to find the 16bit party, and a lovely time with Dinah in the Hilton hotel bar.

Now I am tired. In the second Sunday panel, which is about to start.

Saturday @ SXSW

I have 15 minutes to kill before my next panel, so here's a quick rundown of the day. (Maybe I'll edit later to pick up the later bits.)

* Woke up earlier than intended, so lots of time to get ready, have some breakfast, etc. before heading to the convention center around 15 minutes before registration opened. More people had this same idea than did last year, but oddly enough I ended up standing in the line right next to someone I stood in the same line with last year. Small world, isn't it?

* First panel - Findable Rich Media. Can be summed up: don't be stupid, use language that bots can crawl behind all your pretty flash, and make sure the content is the same in Flash and crawl-able mediums.

* 2nd panel - Contextual Web. It was a quick idea of the concepts to consider while designing for the textual web - all correct and good but nothing new or in depth at all. It was really a very high level overview.

* Lunch with Esin/Wes/VJ @ the Hilton. I was low blood sugar girl, so eating was definitely good, and my sandwich was tasty.

* 3rd panel - Taking Your Web Talent to the Gaming Industry. Just thought it might be interesting to see what they had to say - the game industry is, as someone pointed out, one of the most romanticized places to work. Thought it was great that they solicited direction from the audience interests, and amusing when that led to, "If you aren't interested in A, B, or C, why are you here?" The panel was a bit unbalanced - and I found some of it kind of tedious. Ended up playing Chain Factor to amuse myself - O the irony!

* Roamed the halls before the high tech craft panel, and found the room by the girl with the wristwarmers knitting in the hall. Heh. Was interviewed by someone for a radio program about what sort of craft did I do, and how did I think technology could be incorporated into it? She really wanted to talk about incorporating actual physical technology into craft, but I think the strongest connection for me personally is the craft communities that interact via the web.

* 4th panel - High Tech Craft.

--= That's where I am for now! The panel should start in just a few minutes. =--

At SXSW! Knitting!

So I've made it to SXSW - sitting in the conference center with Esin and Wes, franticly working on the laptop cozy. Was hoping to be done by now. Am not. See?

Now must run to panel.

Macbook Pro did not automatically adjust time to new timezone - says it is 7:51am.

Haircut

I had a sudden realization, once I got my loads of homework turned in on Sunday evening, that I was leaving town for SXSW in 4 days. Am totally unprepared. Clothes are not clean, I haven't looked at the panel list yet, and I haven't asked my folks to feed my poor kitties, either.

In addition, I'm having the "in my old SXSW pictures I am skinny and cute and now I am old and fat" problem that I've been having for the last year or two. Working in an office in high stress situations with lots of readily available food were not good for me, yo.

But the feeling prompted me to get a haircut, because everyone looks better with a good haircut! And I'm happy with how it turned out. Not that I promise it will look like this in Austin, because one never knows about re-creating the stylist's look. She did allow for my low-maintenance style, though, which I appreciated (i.e. that's all blowdrying skillz, no product).