The information literacy brown bag to be hosted by Skillman Library on October 6 leads off this week's ITS Coffee Break. A look at tech news beyond Lafayette's campus finds science fiction author Cory Doctorw trying out some alternative methods of publishing fiction, lessons for those afraid of cascading style sheets, news about Sony's new Reader product for viewing digital books, and a list of higher education podcast feeds. Finally, hosts Ken Newquist and Courtney Bentley look at ITS' upcoming workshop schedule, which includes “Acrobat I: Creating PDF Documents” and a host of training sessions for staff and administrators receiving new Lafayette computers.

Getting the Podcast

There are several ways to get the podcast:

• Download the MP3 directly
• Subscribe to the Soapbox podcast rss feed using an aggregator (you only need to do this once; subsequent shows should download automatically)
• Subscribe to the Soapbox feed via iTunes

Show Notes

ITS News

• Discussion on information literacy led by information literacy grant recipients Paul Barclay (history) and Jim Dearworth (biology)
  • Location: Gendebien Room, Skillman Library
  • Date: Friday, October 6, 12 noon. Lunch provided.
• Tweaks to the ITS web site

Tech News

• Cory Doctorow: Alternative Publishing
  • Short story "0wnz0red" released as 4-part podcast
    • http://craphound.com/?p=1682
  • Episodic, RSS-based version of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Tow
    • http://www.surfarama.com/index.php?p=242
• A List Apart: 12 Lessons For Those Afraid of CSS and Standards
  • A rundown of the problems — and their solutions — for folks switching to CSS layouts from table-based ones. Talks about what compromises you'll need to make, what layout concepts (like float, clear, width, height) you'll need to get your brain around and the right way to deal with nav links (as unordered lists, not as a bunch of stacked DIV tags).
    • http://www.alistapart.com/articles/12lessonsCSSandstandards
• Engadget: Sony Reader PRS-500 hands-on + Connect Reader screenshots
  • Sony's getting ready to release it's Reader product, which tries to may reading digital texts as easy on the eyes as reading a paper book. Engadget has lots of picks.
    • http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/26/sony-reader-prs-500-hands-on- connect-reader-screenshots/
• Higher Education Podcast Feeds
  • http://directory.edufeeds.com/index.php?c=2

Help

• Workshops
  • Monday, October 2, 2006 – PowerPoint I: Introduction to PowerPoint
  • Thursday, October 5, 2006 – Acrobat I: Creating PDF Documents
  • Rollout training
• Workshop Schedule:
  • http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~its/pages/calendar/

Comments

• Send us comments and suggestioins at itsblog@lafayette.edu.

The latest edition of the Lafayette Libraries & ITS newsletter Bytes & Books and the launch of the College Archives Photograph Collection lead off campus news in the 9/20 edition of the Coffee Break. In Tech News, Ken and Courtney look at applications designed to be loaded onto portable computer drives such as USB Flash keychains or iPods, discuss science fiction author David Brin's essay “Why Johnny can't code” and then chat about Microsoft's own Soapbox. In Help News, they announce upcoming workshops on podcasting and adminsitrative computer training.

Getting the Podcast

There are several ways to get the podcast:

• Download the MP3 directly
• Subscribe to the Soapbox podcast rss feed using an aggregator (you only need to do this once; subsequent shows should download automatically)
• Subscribe to the Soapbox feed via iTunes

Show Notes

ITS News

• Network Outage for September
• Bytes & Books Available online. Get the PDF.
• News about Fall Exhibitions, New Interlibrary Loan System featuring electronic delivery of articles, Digitized Early American Newspapers Transform, Research for Students, Faculty From the Archives: The Tale of a Court-Martialed Lieutenant, his Expelled Son, and a Mysterious Honorary Degree
• http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~library/bytesandbooks/b&b_2006_fall.pdf
• College Archives Photograph Collection
• http://imago.lafayette.edu/cap/

Tech News

• Portable Apps
• Windows-centric, portable versions of apps such as Firefox, Audacity, FileZilla
• http://portableapps.com/
• Salon: Why Johnny can't code by David Brin
• Science fiction author talks about his quest to find a version of BASIC that will run on a modern computer. As his frustration grows, he discusses what the implications are for computer science in the US when kids can no longer write simple programs in something like BASIC, which is an exceedingly limiting langauge, but very useful for learning how to program. His ultimate solution? Buying a vintage Commodore 64.
• http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2006/09/14/basic/
• Microsoft's Soapbox
• http://soapbox.msn.com/
• commandN
• http://commandn.typepad.com/

Help

• Podcasting Workshop on 9/25 at 4:10 p.m.
• Series of administrative computer training sessions
• Designed for those getting a new Lafayette computer this month
• Registration requested
• Handouts for training will be posted on the web site for those who want a sneak peek
• ITS Web Site Evaluation Volunteers wanted: Email itsblog@lafayette.edu if you're interested.
• Workshop Schedule
• http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~its/pages/calendar/

September's scheduled network outage and news about updates to the Skillman Mac Lab top ITS News in this edition of the ITS Coffee Break. In Tech News, Ken and Courtney discuss Facebook's pending transition from closed to open community, talk about a Wired reporter's recent experiment in community reporting and editing via a wiki, and delve into the war of ratings at Digg.com. Announcements about upcoming Word Basics and Podcasting 101 workshops round out the podcast.

Getting the Podcast

There are several ways to get the podcast:

• Download the MP3 directly
• Subscribe to the Soapbox podcast rss feed using an aggregator (you only need to do this once; subsequent shows should download automatically)
• Subscribe to the Soapbox feed via iTunes

Show Notes

ITS News

• Network Outage Scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 20
• Mac lab in Skillman
• The Macs are in the process of being re-imaged to include latest versions of iLife, Macromedia, Adobe and Final Cut Pro

Tech News

• Facebook Opens Up
• According to reports in AdAge, Facebook is about to open its doors to the world, abandoning its previous school-centric exclusivity.
• http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=111795
• The Wiki That Edited Me
• An article from a Wired reporter about having his article on wikis edited wiki-style by his readers.
• Said it allowed him to make contact with sources he hadn't been able to reach, and encouraged him to follow-up on additional leads, but the story grew longer and longer, and didn't have the consistent feel of a Wired story.
• http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71737-0.html
• Digg Fights Top Users For Control
• After some users of the popular social linking site claim that top users were gaming the system by forming cadres and then promoting each other's posts. The creators made changes to make the site more democratic by giving greater weight to votes from people who don't know other people. Now the top 1% of posters on the site are leaving, saying that they've been unfairly attacked and sidelined.
• Meanwhile, over at Netscape.com (which is now a social linking site, who knew?)  they argue that the proper way to reward your top posters is to pay them.
• http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71750-0.html

Help News

• Upcoming Workshops
• Word I: The Basics  — Monday, September 18, 2006 — 4:10-5:30 p.m.
• Podcasting 101 — Monday, September 25, 2006 — 4:10-5:30 p.m.