Today's video is a quick look (under 5 minutes) on the web's most recognizable error - the 404 page. In a few minutes, Renny Gleeson talks about how web designers can take a "oops, you fell through the cracks" moment, and how companies can use those moments to build a different kind of relationship with the people who see them. Some fun examples, too!
(This has gotten me thinking about how libraries can do that better:
find the places people get stuck and say stuff that's more useful than
"Hey, that book's not found." What does it get you thinking about?)
Friday, July 13, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Underground Books
The site, which also features people using their ereaders on Fridays, reminded me of this old post of mine about the anonymity of digital books, and how they have been a boon to the readers (and sellers!) of genres some readers prefer to read under cover, so to speak. (50 Shades of Grey, a title many readers might feel uncomfortable reading on the subway, was recently the first Amazon Kindle book to sell over a million copies.)
So go ahead: release your inner book voyeur, and see what you think. And for you multi-lingual types out there, there's an additional level of spying: the site regularly asks for translations of non-English titles!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Tagging Netflix: Like Cataloging, but Simpler
I just came across a fascinating article about how Netflix categorizes movies. Did you know, for example, that Netflix actually pays over 40 people a couple hundred dollars a week (each) to watch 5 or so movies (per week) for them and tag each movie in great detail? How do I get a gig like that? :-)
Basically, the taggers watch the film and keep track of all sorts of details--happy or sad ending, amount of profanity, humor, quirky, sci-fi, romance--you name it. Each movie then has more than 100 different data points, and those are then used to recommend to Netflix viewers what they'll like and what they should see next.
I enjoyed the article on many different levels. First of all, as a Netflix user myself, it was fun to get an insight into how the company decides what I'll like and how much I'll like it. Yes, a fancy algorithm is the big basis of this, but you need to put data into that algorithm, and I'm sure this is some of the data that piece of tech needs to function. It's nice to know that all the fancy computer programs in the world still can't substitute for human beings watching something and evaluating it.
Second, the librarian in me loved seeing the care and detail a company is taking to make sure it categorizes its offerings correctly. There's really little difference between this and what I do as a cataloger. The article mentions how some movies can be harder to categorize than others, and that's true about any classification system. You'll have something in place that seems like it covers all the bases, but there's always going to be some strange entry that doesn't really fit anywhere. The solution is to force it somewhere--because if you keep making crazy exceptions for individual items, then pretty soon you lose the utility of the organizational system you're using.
Anyway--just interesting to see a "real world" application of some basic cataloging principles, used for a purpose that so many people take advantage of every day. Wanted to share. :-)
Basically, the taggers watch the film and keep track of all sorts of details--happy or sad ending, amount of profanity, humor, quirky, sci-fi, romance--you name it. Each movie then has more than 100 different data points, and those are then used to recommend to Netflix viewers what they'll like and what they should see next.
I enjoyed the article on many different levels. First of all, as a Netflix user myself, it was fun to get an insight into how the company decides what I'll like and how much I'll like it. Yes, a fancy algorithm is the big basis of this, but you need to put data into that algorithm, and I'm sure this is some of the data that piece of tech needs to function. It's nice to know that all the fancy computer programs in the world still can't substitute for human beings watching something and evaluating it.
Second, the librarian in me loved seeing the care and detail a company is taking to make sure it categorizes its offerings correctly. There's really little difference between this and what I do as a cataloger. The article mentions how some movies can be harder to categorize than others, and that's true about any classification system. You'll have something in place that seems like it covers all the bases, but there's always going to be some strange entry that doesn't really fit anywhere. The solution is to force it somewhere--because if you keep making crazy exceptions for individual items, then pretty soon you lose the utility of the organizational system you're using.
Anyway--just interesting to see a "real world" application of some basic cataloging principles, used for a purpose that so many people take advantage of every day. Wanted to share. :-)
Friday, July 6, 2012
Friday video: a cool outdoor experience
Tn this TEDTalk, physicist Wolfgang Kessling talks about using solar power to create a comfortable setting for spectators and players.
While I'm sort of in the "Why don't we just not do these things in very hot climates?" category, I find the actual science fascinating. (Especially as we are heading into summer here.)
Take a look and see what you think!
While I'm sort of in the "Why don't we just not do these things in very hot climates?" category, I find the actual science fascinating. (Especially as we are heading into summer here.)
Take a look and see what you think!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
eBook Datamining
A lot of people have been discussing the way eBooks are changing the commercial landscape of publishing--and of libraries, for that matter. But I came across a fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday that talks about how eBooks are also changing the books themselves--and the way authors write them. I'll give you a second to click over to the article and check it out before I give some of my thoughts.
All good?
Okay.
I know I should have considered this earlier, but it never occurred to me that Apple or Amazon or Barnes & Noble would be able to monitor my reading habits by watching how I read a book. I can't say I really like the idea. Honestly, I think it might be something that turns a lot of people off reading eBooks. In my experience, many people look at reading as an intensely private affair. Yes, they'll be in book clubs, but no one goes around to check and see if you actually read the whole book, or if you skimmed it. Or if you just watched the movie.
I'm a pretty public person. I don't hide what I'm doing. I post what I'm reading on Goodreads a lot of the time. But that's all voluntary. The idea that some program or robot will be watching me--all the time . . . That's unsettling.
It's understandable why Apple and Amazon might want to do it, of course. They want to see what they can sell you next. The pretense is that they want to give you your next favorite book, but in the end, what they really want to do is make money off you. This makes me wonder if Apple is watching what apps I'm using on my iPads. How much of my information is really private?
Again--unsettling.
And speaking as an author, the idea that I might use the reading statistics of my books to make my books more marketable . . . That scares me a fair bit. (Maybe I'm just in an easily-frightened frame of mind today). When I write a book, I write for myself. Yes, I'll ask myself questions about what will be popular or marketable, but in the end, I write it the way I want to write it. The times when I've crowd-sourced the writing--written what my readers want, or what my writing group wants--the results are less than impressive.
In any case, we certainly live in interesting times. I've said it before--this is the Wild West of the electronic age, despite how far we think we've come. Times are changing very quickly, and it's anyone's guess where we'll be when all the cards hit the floor. Or maybe the cards will never hit the floor. Maybe there's no floor to hit anymore.
Thoughts?
All good?
Okay.
I know I should have considered this earlier, but it never occurred to me that Apple or Amazon or Barnes & Noble would be able to monitor my reading habits by watching how I read a book. I can't say I really like the idea. Honestly, I think it might be something that turns a lot of people off reading eBooks. In my experience, many people look at reading as an intensely private affair. Yes, they'll be in book clubs, but no one goes around to check and see if you actually read the whole book, or if you skimmed it. Or if you just watched the movie.
I'm a pretty public person. I don't hide what I'm doing. I post what I'm reading on Goodreads a lot of the time. But that's all voluntary. The idea that some program or robot will be watching me--all the time . . . That's unsettling.
It's understandable why Apple and Amazon might want to do it, of course. They want to see what they can sell you next. The pretense is that they want to give you your next favorite book, but in the end, what they really want to do is make money off you. This makes me wonder if Apple is watching what apps I'm using on my iPads. How much of my information is really private?
Again--unsettling.
And speaking as an author, the idea that I might use the reading statistics of my books to make my books more marketable . . . That scares me a fair bit. (Maybe I'm just in an easily-frightened frame of mind today). When I write a book, I write for myself. Yes, I'll ask myself questions about what will be popular or marketable, but in the end, I write it the way I want to write it. The times when I've crowd-sourced the writing--written what my readers want, or what my writing group wants--the results are less than impressive.
In any case, we certainly live in interesting times. I've said it before--this is the Wild West of the electronic age, despite how far we think we've come. Times are changing very quickly, and it's anyone's guess where we'll be when all the cards hit the floor. Or maybe the cards will never hit the floor. Maybe there's no floor to hit anymore.
Thoughts?
Monday, July 2, 2012
Video day: You're getting math in my history!
(Because I managed to forget that Friday was Friday once again, you get a video this morning. Happy Monday!)
Did you know that a number of historical patterns, unfolding over centuries and across the globe, fit into mathematical patterns? I knew a few of these, but not all of them, and I find the ideas of the underlying patterns and structures fascinating.
In six minutes, learn about how math reveals and explains trends in the size and frequency of wars, the changes in the English language, or the focus on a particular idea, trend, or event.
Did you know that a number of historical patterns, unfolding over centuries and across the globe, fit into mathematical patterns? I knew a few of these, but not all of them, and I find the ideas of the underlying patterns and structures fascinating.
In six minutes, learn about how math reveals and explains trends in the size and frequency of wars, the changes in the English language, or the focus on a particular idea, trend, or event.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
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