Right to link

TOTD attended an event on eCopyright for libraries and archives this week and heard a very interesting presentation from Struan Bartlett, Managing Director and Chairman on NewsNow and the Right2Link Campaign. The focus was on the right to link to newspaper content, but there was a more general message about protecting the right to follow and share links to any publicly available web site. You can learn more about the Right2Link campaign here:

http://www.right2link.org

Magnificent Maps

Maps have been receiving a lot of air time recently on both television and radio. The Telegraph even carried the headline “Maps – the new rock ‘n’ roll” in a feature about the current map season on BBC4. Tomorrow sees the opening of a new exhibition at the British Library, Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art, which runs until September. The accompanying web site, with illustrations and video descriptions from the curators, is excellent.

http://www.bl.uk/magnificentmaps/

Slowcoast

On 21 June 2009, Nick Hand set off on a 4541 mile cycle ride around the coast of Great Britain. The short documentary soundslides are a feature of this site. There’s an entry for Southsea, featuring members of the Southsea Breakfast Club.

http://www.slowcoast.co.uk

You can get your bike checked and ready to ride at one of the free Check ‘n’ Mend events, which begin today.

http://www.port.ac.uk/staffessentials/whatson/news/newsdetails,111241,en.html

Business interior photos

We’ve covered Google Street View before on TOTD, but now Google is working on a project to make the interiors of business premises available. TOTD hasn’t come across any examples yet, but one can get an idea of what is to come since this so called ‘Store View’ has been done before by the Dutch directory publisher De Telefoongids.

http://winkelspotter.detelefoongids.nl/

Click on the orange icon outside a shop and you can have a look inside.

Anzac and Gallipoli

Yesterday was Anzac Day, marking the anniversary of the allied expedition to capture the Gallipoli peninsula and the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. You can learn more about the Gallipoli landings here:

http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/

Chart Porn

Data can often be very hard to visualize and get your heard round, but this site makes dense blocks of data into something you really want to explore…

http://chartporn.org/

(Thanks to E for submitting this).

Earth Day and Google

Anyone using Google today will see that’s it’s Earth Day (more info by clicking on the Google logo).

TOTD has been looking at Google closely and some of the ‘extra’ features it offers.   Here’s some you may or may not know:

type ‘define:’ (without quotes) followed by a word you want to explore and Google will find a variety of dictionary definitions

type calculations into the search box to find solutions to maths problems

fed up of Google Books only find ‘partial views’?  Go to the Advanced Book Search and limit to just those books that have a full view.

University students can use Google Scholar preferences to find their own place of study and link their library’s databases to what Scholar finds in the way of academic articles.

Use Google’s Advanced search to find material which you can reuse under various creative commons licences without breaking copyright.

Use Google Reader to manage lots of blogs if you’re struggling to keep up (one tip is to sign up for interesting looking blogs that you don’t plan on reading – let many posts build up – then use the search feature to find specific items of interest; particularly useful if it’s a high volume blog).

World Creativity Week

Still time, just to celebrate this week: http://www.creativityday.org/Welcome.html although TOTD would argue that you don’t need a special week to be creative – get out and there and just do it! Of course, the choice of this site has *nothing* to do with the fact there’s a drummer on the frontpage – but secretly we’re delighted that’s an image they think is appropriate. If you’ve done something particularly creative this week, email us at totd@port.ac.uk and tell us about it.  Or just comment on this entry.

brain injury and memory loss

In a slightly unusual TOTD we couldn’t help but be inspired by this story of someone with severe short term memory loss using technology to try to piece together something of a memory. http://blog.evernote.com/2010/03/25/user-profile-patrick-jones-living-with-traumatic-brain-injury-with-help-from-evernote/

We’ve long been enthusiasts of mind-mapping but this is taking it a bit literally!  Let us  know if you have similar stories of triumph over adversity or uses of technology that perhaps the makers hadn’t expected.

Pranev Mistry and his SixthSense technology

While TOTD waits – impatiently! – to see the much hyped iPad in the flesh, as it were, this startling video shows where things might be going in a future that suddenly doesn’t seem all that far away.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/pranav_mistry_the_thrilling_potential_of_sixthsense_technology.html

It’s worth watching the whole thing – but if you’re really short of time watch from about 6 minutes in.  When he starts taking photos with his fingers, using a piece of paper as a laptop, playing pong on the metro train floor and moving text/spreadsheets from paper to screen and back it almost seems magical.  When it’s readily available it’s going to make the iPad look like old hat!