Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009

Found this on SlideShare.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009

View more documents from Jane Hart.

Text Translation on Google Translate

Google Translate is a tool that allows you to translate text, documents and webpages between over 50 languages.

Not Just Another Brick in the Wall: Engaging 21st Century Learning Through Participatory School Librarianship

Not Just Another Brick in the Wall: Engaging 21st Century Learning Through Participatory School Librarianship

View more presentations from Buffy Hamilton.

Handwriting fonts.

Was wondering how people make PPT slides with handwritten fonts. Then I came across this useful post on Rapid eLearning Blog - "Over 100 Free Handwritten Fonts". I am yet to try fontcapture.com to create a font for my own handwriting. Anyway, there are few common handwritten fonts readily available from other sources.

in reference to:

"Over 100 Free Handwritten Fonts"
- Over 100 Free Handwritten Fonts » The Rapid eLearning Blog (view on Google Sidewiki)

YouTube Video: Social Media Revolution

A writeup on limitations of Google Scholar for academic citing.

Newswire Analysis: Google Scholar’s Ghost Authors, Lost Authors, and Other Problems - 9/24/2009 - Library Journal

Via Mallikarjun Dora on Lis-Forum

Why Libraries should use and adopt Open Source Software?

I am just back from 12^th NATIONAL CONVENTION ON KNOWLEDGE, LIBRARY AND INFORMATION NETWORKING (NACLIN 2009) of DELNET. There, I argued that Open Source Software is best candidate for being used in Libraries. Both Library as well as Open Source Communities have similar ideologies. Computing history has shown us that both hardware and software have very short life span. They tend to get obsolete in no time when compared to Libraries - which are long term entities. Open Source software is a community effort. Thus there would be someone from community to take place of original developers in case they leave the project. Using Open Source Software is as good as legally owning it. Even libraries can sponsor further development. Thus it is worth to use and adopt open source software for long-term gains and continuity.

Digital Research Tools (DiRT) Wiki

Digital Research Tools (DiRT) Wiki collects information about tools and resources that can help scholars conduct research more efficiently or creatively.

Pazpar2

Pazpar2 is a metasearching middleware webservice featuring merging, relevance ranking, record sorting, and faceted results.

Twitter Hindi Reference

Twitter:
`Chidiyaghar` ya phir `Chahchahati Bahar`

Tweet:
Chahchahana

Tweetup:
Chahchahata Milan

VT:
Yeh Bapu ne bola hai. VT bole toh Vaapis Tweet

Trending Topics:
Ubharta Vishay

Hashtag:
Soochak Shabd

LOLZ:
MKH=Mogambo Khush Hua(Ho Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha)

ROTFL:
MLLKH=Mogambo Lot Lot ke Khush Hua

Via Jai Hind: Proud to be an Indian in 'Twitter Hindi Diwas'

24 new features planned for the next release of EPrints

Leslie Carr in his post EPrints and its Development talks about new features planned for the next release of EPrints.

Access to the scientific literature in India

A paper Access to the scientific literature in India uses an evidence-based approach to assess the difficulties faced by developing country scientists in accessing the scientific literature. According to this paper Indian scientists have shorter references lists; they are more likely to cite articles from open access journals and are less likely to cite articles from expensive journals.

Evolution of Librarianship in ICE age.

Who, Why & How We Serve: The Evolution of Collaborative Librarianship Through Social Media

View more presentations from Health sciences Libraries.

It talks about how librarianship is changing in this era of WEB 2.0 / Social Web. Hope all of us can fellow the evolution path indicated in the presentation.

Repositories Support Project (RSP)

Repositories Support Project (RSP) is a useful resource to guide establishing, maintaining and promoting Open Access repositories.

New Launch: Open Access Solutions

OPENACCESSSOLUTIONS.COM may be of interest for those who wish to edit, publish and electronically distribute a highly professional OA journal, yet remain independent.

VTLS Announces the Release of VITAL 4.0

Release of VITAL 4.0

VITAL is VTLS' solution for today's digital and institutional repositories. Designed to provide all functions of a repository VITAL provides capabilities to ingest, create, maintain, validate, uniquely identify, secure, preserve and export the contents of institutional collections.

Video on XAMPP - Install Apache, PHP, MySQL without fuss

If you want to try out an Open Source Software that requires LAMP (Linux, Apache, MyQSL and PHP / Perl), here is a simple solution. You don't have to run to a Linux Box. You can try and play with it on your Windows desktop itself. There is a packaged software that will install required files of Apache, MyQSL and PHP / Perl on your windows desktop. It is called XAMPP.

Here is a video that will help in installing this wonderful package.

Recent article cautioning over-reliance on Impact Factors

Here is yet another article cautioning over reliance on Impact Factors for measuring research impact.

[0902.2183] A principal component analysis of 39 scientific impact measures

..scientific impact is a multi-dimensional construct that can not be adequately measured by any single indicator, although some measures are more suitable than others. The commonly used citation Impact Factor is not positioned at the core of this construct, but at its periphery, and should thus be used with caution..

Open Source for Libraries

Good presentation on Open Source Softwares and issues associated with Open Source model. Surveys few Open Source Softwares that can be used in Libraries. Remember, there are many more.

Open Source for Libraries

View more presentations from Nicole Engard. (tags: opensource open)

novo|seek

novo|seek is an another search engine for PubMed. It claims to retrieve more relevant references with ability to fine tune search query.

RSS and Libraries

RSS and Its Use In Libraries

View more presentations from Sukhdev Singh. (tags: rss libraries)

Ranking of Indian Repositories

Ranking of Indian Repositories based on Ranking of Web of World Repositories, January 2009 Edition.

World Ranking among all types of Repositories               

• 38      Indian Institute of Science Bangalore ePrints   
• 105    Indian Statistical Institute Digital Library   
• 119    OpenMED@NIC   
• 208    Indian Institute of Astrophysics Dspace   
• 212    Raman Research Institute Digital Repository   
• 234    National Institute of Oceanography India Digital Repository   

 

World Ranking among Institutional Repositories      

• 28      Indian Institute of Science Bangalore ePrints   
• 89      Indian Statistical Institute Digital Library   
• 190    Indian Institute of Astrophysics Dspace   
• 194    Raman Research Institute Digital Repository   
• 208    National Institute of Oceanography India Digital Repository
• 279    National Aerospace Laboratories Institutional Repository

Science Blogging

Just came across a write up on science blogging in SciDev.Net - How to set up a science blog. If you are into scholarly, scientific or academic profession, writing a blog would help you to communicate with your peers.

India 2009 - an authoritative reference book on India available for download

Publication Division of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (Government of India) brings out an annual reference book on India every year. It usually contains comprehensive and authentic information on various subjects and facts on India. It covers economy, rural and urban development, industry and infrastructure, art and culture, health, defense, mass communication etc. It also covers important events of previous year.


It is a priced publication costing Rs. 345/- and available both in Hindi and English languages. However it available as PDF files from Publication Division's website. I could download it from the following links.

• India 2009 (A Reference Annual) in English. File Size 9.90 MB
• भारत 2009 in Hindi. File Size 14.92 MB

Annual Review of ReadWrite web technology in India - State of Innovation in India: 2009

ReadWriteWeb has a latest post calling it annual review of State of Innovation in India: 2009. Zoho; DimDim; Mkhoj; iYogi; TutorVista; Ubona; Mscriber; Obopay and Naukri finds mention in it.

Understanding how libraries (and librarians) can survive in the new media ecosystem

Just came across PowerPoint Presentation of Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet & American Life Project. The presentation is on How libraries can survive in the new media ecosystem. I am trying to understand the message conveyed by this presentation. It is about "how people's use of the internet and cell phones has fundamentally changed the 'information ecosystem' in 10 ways". Information in this age is Abundant, Cheap, Personally Oriented and Designed for participation. According to Lee, 'information ecosystem' is changing in the following manner:

- Volume of information grows

- Variety of information and sources of information grow

- Velocity of information increases and smart mobs emerge

- Venues of intersecting with information and people multiply and the availability of information expands.

- People’s vigilance for information changes. Attention is 'truncated' and 'elongated'.

- The vibrance and immersive qualities of media environments makes them more compelling places to hang out and interact.

- Valence (relevance) of information improves – search and customization get better

- The voice of information democratizes and the visibility of new creators is enhanced.

- Voting on and ventilating about information proliferates as tagging, rating, and commenting occurs and collective intelligence asserts itself

- Social networks become more vivid and meaningful.

So what can Libraries and Librarians do in such an 'information ecosystem'? Well, they have been advised to take following actions:

-Be findable and available

-Think of yourself as a news node for information and interaction.

-Think of yourself as a social network node for people looking for 'friendsters'

-Think of yourself as an information hub -- an aggregator and a linker to others who have useful, interesting material

-Experiment with Web 2.0 applications

-Offer your good offices to help people master new literacies - Graphic; Navigation; Context; Focus; Skepticism; Ethical and Personal literacies.

The new information ecosystem and required actions for being relevant in this new ecosystem has been well explained by Lee. However, I am trying to understand how the ideas expressed by Lee Rainie correlate to the theory and philosophy of Library and Information Science. Changes in 'information ecosystem' is consistent with Ranganathan's Fifth Law - Library is a Growing Organism. The Library (system) being an Organism, grows and thus get more and more differentiated. It evolves like any other living organism on earth in response to changes in ecosystem. Most 'actions' suggested by Lee are consistent with Forth Law - Save the Time of The Reader. Well, I am not able to fit the concept of 'social networking' on Internet in terms of philosophy of library science. Perhaps, someone from you can help me.

LIS Blogs in India

Sri Badan Barman of Guwahati has compiled a list of 44 Library and Information Science Blogs in India. He has picked these from 69 blogs after hard work of ten days. He feels that Indian LIS bloggers are not professional enough to attract large number of readers. He advises bloggers to remain focussed on one or two themes.

Anyway, let me console myself - I write for myself.

MixedInk

MixedInk is a Free Collaborative Writing Tool.

OpenGoo

OpenGoo: An Open Source Web Office to create, collaborate, share and publish documents.

Article on UGC - User Generated Content in SEARCHER

A nice writeup on User Generated Content (UGC) appears in SEARCHER - U-Content: Project Gutenberg, Me, and You.

Open Access and Ranganathan's Laws of Library Science

About a week back I was seeking comments on Open Knowledge Society from subscribers of few library and information email groups. I expressed my personal view that Open Access is merely an extension of philosophy behind. Ranganathan's First Law of Library Science - Books Are For Use. I got few responses. I would to like share one response from Miss Charu Mathur. She is a School Librarian in Delhi and blog at VIRTUAL WORLD and LIBRARY WORLD. She feels that Open Access is not just extension of First Law but can applied to all Five Laws of Ranganathan."..The demand of second law, to get every reader his/her book can be fulfilled by only open access. Internet has opened the new door and information explosion already has taken place. In that situation only Open Access is the way by which any reader/user can have the required piece of information at the right time. Same is the case with third law which urges that every book/information has its reader/user. In absence of open access it is just like the situation where books were used to be kept in locked and chained wooden shelves. In As the demand of fourth law, only freely available information can save the time of reader/user, otherwise the process of opening the door of closed access is too cumbersome and time consuming and this is sheer violation of this law. In fifth law, Ranganathan suggest that Library is the growing organism, so as information. Peter Suber initiative is the best answer of this golden rule.." (Charu).

2009 - Yet Another New Year for me?

Wish you all a very Happy New Year - 2009. I rarely write about myself. So I will not write much.

People make 'New Year Resolutions'. I don't know how many of them actually stick to these resolutions. I had no any such resolution last year. So the question of sticking to such a resolution did not arise.

Last year was just fine for me. I was involved in few things, but the one that gives me satisfaction is the formation of a professional society - Open Knowledge Society. This is what I dreamed about three years back - a platform for people involved in promotion of "Open Access" in India. I am happy that a platform has been erected. I am proud to be one of its founder members. So now the stage is there, but now what about the actors? Well, they are still missing. So, If I can bring in more actors to this stage in 2009, I would consider having done something in this New Year.

Happy New Year.