This week’s 4cast:
1. Facebook Opens Up, Makes MySpace Look Bad
Facebook, the social networking website originally aimed at college students (but now open to everyone), recently made its API available to third-party developers, allowing anyone to create applications that can be used on Facebook pages. Some observers are predicting that more users will ditch the uptight confines of MySpace.
- Facebook opens its API in hopes of eclipsing MySpace (Ars Technica)
- Facebook Launches Facebook Platform; They are the Anti-MySpace (TechCrunch)
- Facebook Opens Up Its ‘Platform’ To Everyone (Search Engine Land)
- MySpace v. Facebook: “It’s Not A Decision. It’s an IQ Test” (TechCrunch)
2. LibraryThing & WorldCat Local Introduce Guinea Pigs
Both LibraryThing for Libraries (a service that allows libraries to enhance their OPACs with LibraryThing stuff) and WorldCat Local (a service that allows libraries to enhance their OPACs with WorldCat stuff) are now beta-testing in the wild.
- Danbury, CT kicks off LibraryThing for Libraries! (Thingology)
- LibraryThing for Libraries (Life as I Know It)
- First WorldCat Local Installation Is Up! (LibrarianInBlack)
- WorldCat Local Goes Live! (Space Age Librarian)
3. Congress to FCC: Faster! Faster!
Recently, the FCC has been taking it on the chin (see item 4) due to their questionable methods of measuring broadband availability. Congress is now realizing that American broadband looks pretty lousy compared to most developed nations, and is taking steps to improve the national broadband outlook. The first step? Updating the definition of “broadband.”
- House Dems: Broadband isn’t broadband unless it’s 2Mbps (Ars Technica)
- Hey FCC: 200 Kbps Isn’t ‘Broadband’ (Today @ PC World)
- Bill Seeks to ‘Get Our Broadband House in Order’ (InternetNews)
- U.S. High-Speed Internet Is Slow (Free Press)
4. Be Cool, Stay in Library School?
So are MLS students being taught the right kinds of skills? It’s only the future of the profession at stake, after all.
- What are the library students of today learning? (Library Garden)
- What They Should Teach in Library School (Library 2.0: An Academic’s Perspective)
- In Library School and Beyond (Life as I Know It)
- Lovin’ the Legal Stuff (It’s all good)
