Children 'Know More about Internet than Books'

"Six out of 10 youngsters questioned knew the term "homepage" meant the introduction to a website yet only 9% could explain the meaning of a preface in a book.

While 38% knew a hardback was a type of book, 57% correctly answered that hard drive was part of a computer.

The results come in a survey of 1,000 seven to 16-year-olds questioned by NOP Research across the UK.

Less than a quarter knew what to do if someone asked them to RSVP - to reply to an invitation - although 70% were aware what "www" meant in terms of the world-wide web....

Youngsters' reliance on the internet suggests fewer are heading to their local public library to do research. In the poll 25% said the net was their first port of call for help with homework....

In the poll 61% had helped an adult with using the internet, more than a third offer advice to their parents and 20% to their teacher." [Ananova, via snowdeal.org | conflux]

And you wondered why your library needs to start shifting now.

Library Fun with XML

"Via the XML4LIB mailing list comes a gem for Jenny and others like her: Eric Lease Morgan’s Fun with XML:

'I found my explorations into XML to be fun and exciting. Because I was describing, manipulating, and disseminating data and information I found myself doing real library work.'

Good stuff...." [Caveat Lector]

Dorothea beat me to posting this one! I won't pretend that I understand most of what Eric discusses, but I'd like to think I will someday.

On a side note, Eric has been a busy boy, also releasing a new version of the MyLibrary software.

"MyLibrary is a user-centered, customizable interface to collections of Internet resources -- a portal providing the means for maintaining much of a database-driven website."

BNF Turned into Giant Display

I've posted about this before, but the live stream is available right now and at the moment, it's nighttime in Paris so you can watch the fun. I'm utterly mesmerized by this! [via /usr/lib/info]

DRM Bill Proposed in US House

"A bill introduced Wednesday in the U.S. House of Representatives approaches digital rights management (DRM) from consumers' standpoint by ensuring that people who buy digital media can make backup copies and play them on whatever device they like without fear of breaking copyright law, according to the bill's sponsor.

Representative Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California whose district includes Silicon Valley, introduced the bill, saying the legislation seeks to maintain in the digital age the same balance that existing U.S. copyright law establishes between the interest of copyright holders in controlling the use of their works and the interests of the public in the free flow of ideas, information and commerce.

'Consumers need a voice in this debate,' a release issued by Lofgren's office quotes the congresswoman as saying. "Right now it is the entertainment industry versus the technology industry, and the consumers are watching from the sidelines."

The bill seeks to punish digital pirates without treating every consumer as a criminal, the release said. Lofgren noted that current proposals to combat digital piracy focus on "locking down" content and controlling how consumers use it. Cryptographic tools currently under development, for example, could play a role in legislative efforts to prevent copyright violations of DVDs.

The bill also prohibits shrink-wrapped licenses, also known as EULAs (end-user license agreements), that limit consumer rights, and the proposal clarifies the ways in which consumers can legally sell, archive or give away copies of digital works they purchased. In addition the law gives flexibility to digital content owners to develop new and innovative ways to protect their content and enable its use without violating copyright law." [InfoWorld: Top News]

Do my eyes deceive me? Is this common sense being interjected into the debate? Room spinning... Jenny confused....

I'm trying to research the bill and verify it in order to get the details so that I can encourage my representatives to vote for it! Now if we could just get her to add language clarifying a library's right to circulate content....

Addendum: Just as I was starting to research the bill, we lost power at work. We heard that a crane in the nearby expressway construction fell on some power lines, but I haven't been able to find any trace of the story on the web. I guess the web is only good for finding really big breaking news.

Anyway, the Zoe Lofgren's DRM bill is all over the blogosphere now, so here are some further links:

• Greg Crisp points out Representative Zoe Lofgren's home page and the text of the Digital Choice and Freedom Act.
• Dave Winer points to Rep. Lofgren's Press Release about the bill, which also includes a list of supporters and a section-by-section analysis.
• The Mercury News says Representative Rick Boucher is planning to introduce similar legislation on Thursday.
• As usual, Ernest Miller at LawMeme provides background and context for A New Bill for Digital Fair Use.

"On the plane this morning got caught up on some magazine reading. I absolutely love MIT's Technology Review - in its latest incarnation, it focuses on all things relating to innovation. The result is a magazine that is full of useful and intriguing information.

This month's cover story is on data extinction (available to subscribers only) - the challenge of preserving access to data as systems, applicaions and operating systems evolve. Some revealing statistics:

• volume of business-related e-mail will rise from 2.6 trillion messages in 2001 to 5.9 trillion messages in 2005 (source: IDC)
• JPEG is becoming outmoded by JPEG 2000; result: in five years it may be difficult for you to view photos taken today with digital cameras.
• Land use and natural resource inventories for the state of New York in the late 60s are no longer accessible - the customized software that produced the inventories no longer exists.
• NASA satellite data from the 70s is completely unreadable today.

...." [tins ::: Rick Klau's weblog]

I really wanted to read this article after Rick pointed it out, so I hopped on over to FirstSearch and looked it up in ArticleFirst. Unfortunately, they're a little behind and the "current issue" is still September. However, I will soon be able to go back there and read this article for free, and I want to stress yet again that if you are an Illinois resident, so can you. (If you don't live in Illinois, check with your local public library for similar access because other states offer this type of service, too.)

Illinois residents are entitled to use several of the FirstSearch databases for free, courtesy of your friendly Illinois State Library. If I'm not mistaken, 2002 is the ten-year anniversary for this program, so if you're not already taking advantage of this great opportunity, you've been missing out big time and you should make haste to do so.

The first thing to do is find your local public library's web site and see if they offer scripted access to the FirstSearch databases. If they do, you should just have to put in your library barcode number to get access. (Note to SLS libraries: if you're not already offering this, contact me and we'll get you set up!). If they don't, you'll have to contact them to get the autho and password in order to manually enter it. Did I mention this is free to you?

Either way, you'll get free access to ABI/INFORM (business information), ArticleFirst (13,000 journals in all types of categories), ERIC (educational documents and articles), Health & Wellness Information, MEDLINE, Periodical Abstracts (1500 popular and academic journals, including transcripts), Wilson Select Plus (Readers Guide abstracts and more), and WorldCat (find materials at thousands of libraries) among others. Even better, some of these databases provide the full text of the article online, right there on the screen. Did I mention this is free to you?!

In ArticleFirst, you can also browse by journal title and often view the current issue. So in the near future, I'll come back and check for the article Rick highlighted. :-)