1. YouTube is going semi-pro.
There is a spot on their site called the Screening Room. The videos are now longer, better quality and available for purchase.
- Curtains up: YouTube Screening Room makes its world premiere (Webware)
- YouTube raises curtain on indie film screening room (Ars Technica)
- Report: YouTube begins experimenting with long-form video (c|net)
- Could YouTube become hub for feature films and TV shows? (c|net)
2. How private and secure are our medical records?
With privacy always at the front of our minds here in Ohio libraries, patrons viewing their medical records online could certainly push the limits. It may just increase the number of medical reference questions you get as well. (Don’t forget about Consumer Health Complete and Net Wellness!)
- Your Medical Data Online (Technology Review)
- Google Health
- Welcome to HealthVault by Microsoft
- Study: US adoption of electronic health records is abysmal (Ars Technica)
3. Want to feel like Lewis & Clark?
While not available in the US yet, it’s likely that each one of us will eventually be able to contribute something from our neighborhoods to Google Maps using Google Map Maker.
- Google Map Maker: Unleash your inner cartographer (c|net)
- Google Introduces Map Maker For “Uncharted” Regions (Search Engine Land)
- Google Lets You Change the World with MapMaker (Mashable)
- Google Map Maker: Crowdsourcing Cartography (Read Write Web)
4. A tag cloud is a visualization of word frequencies.
Here’s an idea…let’s go against nearly every Library of Congress subject heading and let the PEOPLE tag information into their own subject categories. How anti-librarian is THAT? Actually, it may be a great idea! At a glance, readers can tell what’s talked about, or tagged, the most. For a funny example of tagging, click here. To see real life applications and creation tools, see below.
- Wordle
- Tag Galaxy – uses photos tagged in Flickr (Try typing in “library” or your city name.)
- Tag Clouds Gallery: Examples And Good Practices (Smashing Magazine)
- OCLC Tag Cloud Builder
