update.
OH HAI.
I have a job as the E-Resources Cataloger at Davis Library at UNC Chapel Hill. It’s not a permanent job yet, but I will apply for it as a permanent position when it comes up.
So, I have more things to say and share that might actually be useful to someone (instead of mainly abstract theoretical stuff that takes a really long time to think out and write). So, maybe I will update this blog more often.
Maybe. 
the right idea, but…
Max Van Kleek; Michael Bernstein; David R. Karger & mc schraefel. (2007) “Gui — phooey!: the case for text input.” In UIST ’07: Proceedings of the 20th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology, pp. 193-202.
Abstract: Information cannot be found if it is not recorded. Existing rich graphical application approaches interfere with user input in many ways, forcing complex interactions to enter simple information, requiring complex cognition to decide where the data should be stored, and limiting the kind of information that can be entered to what can fit into specific applications’ data models. Freeform text entry suffers from none of these limitations but produces data that is hard to retrieve or visualize. We describe the design and implementation of Jourknow, a system that aims to bridge these two modalities, supporting lightweight text entry and weightless context capture that produces enough structure to support rich interactive presentation and retrieval of the arbitrary information entered.
I already have this. It is called Emacs org-mode with org-remember-insinuate.
Oh snap, I just saw that there is an org-mode <–> Freemind converter. must not play must not play must not play
Do you know how much I love Emacs?
No, you really have no idea…
more music for writing, or, netlabels are a grad student’s best friend
I downloaded a bunch of stuff recently and have been slowly working through it while working on my dissproposal. I recommend:
What we really like about the album is that it’s almost impossible to characterize it in a matter of specific musical genre or style. This is the music which can be depicted in such terms as “good” or “attractive”, or “visionary” or “surreal” but not “rock”, “hip-hop”, “glitch”, “negerpunk” or whatever is usually on your iPod/Winamp.The album starts with a deep, vibrant sound which reminds me the final dark electronic period of Coil magiciansmusicians. But soon the music turns into some sort of Tribal-Folk with a heartbreaking chorals, freakish oriental drum patterns, and blurred sitar/string melodies which flows in an endless ocean of acoustical noises. The more you listen to this epic ballade-intro, the more you realize that “GLitch ov Batumi” will settle down in your mp3-player for a long time. On the “Irenashvili djan” song you’ll have to deal with catchy overdriven acid flavored oriental broken beats a-la Muslimgauze. And on the “Mountings” you’ll be drowned in a deepest lake of abstract ambient. And the comprehensive title of “Drummers ov God” song needs no additional comments, I believe.
Also enjoyed today: Kittenhead, by Djinnestan, but I don’t know how much it would pull me in if it weren’t called KITTENHEAD:
In many ways, it defies easy categorization. It is very ambient, but contains rhythms. It is dark, yet at the same time whimsical. It includes acoustic instruments and vocals, but they have been processed virtually beyond recognition.
And finally, last night, I described the songs Inland and Track 2 by Cisfinitum to Will as “magnificently creepy.” More about Cisfinitum, via Wikipedia:
Cisfinitum’s leader and inspirer Eugene Voronovsky has graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory as a professional violinist. In his music he uses classical instruments such as violin, piano and percussion along with the sounds traditionally considered “non-musical”, like sound of mechanical coffee grinder or dying man’s breath, all of this subjected to thorough processing, in which both Soviet analog tools and modern digital processing technologies are used. That’s why Cisfinitum can be called the industrial-ambient reading of academic music.“Cisfinitum is the sound of eternity. I’ve always wanted to create the music of Russian cosmos, music capable of expressing information about Russia that is impossible to reveal by means of words. They call this ‘drone’ overseas, but I prefer to define it ‘metaphysical ambient’”, claims Eugene.
And I called “magnificently creepy.” That’s a good thing.
eye candy.
Collection of Penguin book covers, old and new. @Flickr.
via largeheartedboy
research that matters.
Aaron Swartz puts out a call for submissions of really important studies–science that matters:
In the comments, post your favorite study — the one that makes you sit up and say “wow, this result ought to change everything”. If you don’t mind, we’ll take the best to help fill up a new website we’re starting, collecting and sharing these new research results.
I’ll look forward to seeing what this new site turns out to be, and I’ll be mulling over my submission…
Read the full post and make your comments here.
ibiblio gets props.
via Paul Jones (scan of official document on his blog):
North Carolina
House of RepresentativesCertificate of
Acknowledgement and CongratulationsWhereas, October 31, 2007 will be the 15th anniversary of the first public demo of sunsite.unc.edu, which is now known as iBiblio.org; and
Whereas, the iBiblio website digital repository and community have become cultural treasures of the state of North Carolina, and
Whereas, iBiblio has played a pivotal role as both a medium and advocate for the free and open sharing of digital information.
Then, therefore this Eighth Day of March
In the Year of Two Thousand Seven,
Representatives Deborah Ross and Verla Insko recognizeiBiblio
For its commitment and contributions to technology and culture,
and to the North Carolina community as a whole.(signatures)
Joe Hackney – Speaker
Attested by Denise Weeks – Principal Clerk
Representative Deborah Ross – District # 38
Representative Verla Insko – District # 56
I’m happy to be a little part of it.