Sutherland Shire Libraries Staff News

Future Scenarios. Society - the last CCTV camera is pulled down.

FUTURE SCENARIOS.
SOCIETY - THE LAST CCTV CAMERA IS PULLED DOWN.


Thanks to EBSCO for the following.


HOODIES AND TOILET PAPER HEADWEAR GO OUT OF FASHION


Sun, The; 29.04.2010, p55-55, 1
A thief wrapped his head in loo paper so he wouldn't be spotted on CCTV for a hold-up in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.  ANZ REF. VIA EBSCO


CCTV cameras will not be installed at Varsity Lakes Skate Park, despite its reputation as a Gold Coast graffiti hotspot.
Area councillor Jan Grew said while the amount of new graffiti at the park had decreased in recent weeks, the cameras had been ineffective.
``The trial did not work because the vandals wore hoodies to hide their identity,'' she said. ``It is a difficult situation because the kids are not stupid and are obviously not going to look at the cameras.
Source: Gold Coast Sun, Apr 01, 2010, p10, 1p
Item: 201004012010545011


NO MORE FINES FOR HONKING A CAR HORN IN PROTEST AT A CCTV CAMERA


THE first item of business for workers on a controversial public housing project at Bluewater Harbour yesterday was to put in CCTV cameras - a move that has outraged residents.
Late yesterday, Housing Minister Karen Struthers justified the move by saying the cameras were installed as a security measure.
But that has done little to quell residents' anger with several claiming the cameras are an invasion of privacy.


The security cameras have already claimed one victim after Bluewater Harbour resident Nathan Shingles saw the installation and honked his car horn in protest.
Less than 30 minutes later, police were at Mr Shingles' home and fined him $160 for the improper use of his car horn. Mr Shingles said he would appeal the fine in court.


ORWELL's FEARFUL PREDICTION EASED


Orwell's nightmare has come true
IF THERE was any doubt we are sleepwalking towards an Orwellian state-controlled society, the revelation that the police are secretly snapping up to 14m drivers each day would seem to confirm it
We are one of the most spied-on societies in the world, with about 4.2m CCTV cameras for a population of just over 60m. China, a virtual police state with 1.3 billion people, has only 2.75m cameras.


Frank Greaney, Liverpool Wrong arm of the law Your article refers to the stopping, searching and threatening with arrest of a man and his daughter under the Terrorism Act. The justification was that their car had been spotted near a demonstration against the arms trade.


Since when has participation in a demonstration been a justification for treatment as a possible criminal? In what way can it be considered an act of terrorism? The problem with surveillance, as with antiterrorism laws, is that it is disgracefully abused. Judith Menes, Consett, Co Durham


Source: Sunday Times, The, Apr 11, 2010, p20, 1p
Item: 7EH34419605


COUCH DETECTIVES OUT OF WORK


In theory, cameras not only catch criminals in the act but also deter them from offending while making the average citizen feel more secure.That perception of safety then fills the streets with confident pedestrians, thereby producing real safety. But theory falls short of reality.
In the UK, which has embraced the technology with fundamentalist zeal, wide research suggests CCTV does little or nothing to reduce crimes of violence, although it has a significant impact on vehicle theft.
Britons have spent at least half a billion pounds on more than 4 million cameras (they gobble up 80 per cent of the Home Office budget for crime prevention); but London's Metropolitan Police revealed last year that only one crime is solved for every 1000 of the capital's million-plus cameras, not least because it is difficult to watch them all.


That's where the Internet Eyes scheme comes in. If it passes the UK privacy commissioner's scrutiny, idle reality-TV addicts will soon be encouraged to monitor live CCTV footage for criminal activity,
with a 1000 ($1720) monthly prize for the couch potato with the most scalps.


You can't even go for a night-time stroll with your lover these days without a closed-circuit television lens capturing your indiscretion. At least that's what Michelle Chantelois hopes, seeking CCTV confirmation of her claimed promenade with South Australia's Premier, Mike Rann.
So watch out, wandering politicians; how long before these amateur Philip Marlowes are engaged by jilted dames bent on revenge?

Dianne Ollerenshaw

EbscoHost Integrated Search (EHIS)

Can all library staff post to this blog?

In the words of Barack "Yes we can!"
It's simple and you don't need access to blogger.
Email your post to:
suthlib.staffnews@blogger.com
and it will publish to this blog.

Some things you should really know about the internet as it is today.

Some things you  should  really know about the internet as it is today.


Firstly I confess that at my house, we spend far too much time on the internet. Two weeks ago our internet connection failed and  for the entire weekend  we had no access.
It was almost as if some essential utility had been disconnected. Not that long ago the internet was a new phenomenon,  a computer network used only by scientists. A place  where geeks exchanged emails about computer stuff and nerds adopted the guise of game characters who only existed in virtual worlds called MUDs. Now the internet is something that more and more of us are becoming dependent upon.  How did this happen? And what does it mean for us as individuals and  as information workers? How can we gain a more rounded view of what the internet has become?
To answer the above I want to share with you an article by John Naughton which appeared in The Guardian online edition. Naughton lists nine points to consider in his essay; I will list them here and attempt brief summaries, but if you are remotely interested, read the essay at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jun/20/internet-everything-need-to-know


1. Take the long view. -  We are living through a revolution. Its only 21 years since the web was born and there was nothing like it before, so we can't learn from history. We have many questions about what the internet will eventually mean in terms of its effect on a thousand things including say, libraries. But its too early to tell. We will just have to wait. Even if by the time we know the answer it may be too late to do anything about it.


2. The web is not the net. -  Many people think the web is the net but the web is just a part of the whole internet which includes all the infrastructure, email, file exchanges of all sorts, phone and video traffic and in the future, traffic that we have yet to imagine.  So the web is important but its only one part of the jigsaw.


3. Disruptions are par for the course. - The very open nature of the beast makes it vulnerable to attack by viruses etc. The original design of the internet allowed anyone to send any type of computer file to anywhere on the net. If the path is blocked the network looks for another route The idea was to put packets of data in and hopefully deliver them to the correct recipient.  This inevitably led to smart but belligerent  programmers  testing the system with viruses and other disruptive programs.


4. -  Think Ecosystem. In the natural world, plant and animal evolution happens very very slowly.  Before the internet, in the information 'ecosystem" things took many years to change. (The  Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th edition was published in 1911,  and although updates have been issued over the years the current edition is only the 15th). The advent of cheap computing and the internet has accelerated the evolution of the information ecosytem at rates which were unbelievable only twenty years ago.


5. - The new information environment is complex. -   Get used to it.. Faster change - more participants - more interraction - sms,  email, socilal websites, flickr, twitter, facebook, blogs, forums, google, wikipedia, databases and catalogues. PCs, laptops, smartphones, iPads.  Its hard for individuals organisations and institutions to keep up, to  adapt and to change.


6. The Network is now the computer. -   The first  public computers owned by the library were not connected to any network. The only way to get information off them was via a floppy disk or a printer. Today, a comptuer which does not connect to the net is the exception. Your email and other files are just as likely to live on a remote server owned by someone like Google, as they are to live on your PC. This makes us more and more dependent on the internet. and more willing to give up any privacy associated with our files.


7. The old web model is dead. -  Not long ago the web was just a publishing medium. You made webpages and they were hosted on a web server. But since then we have had web 2.0 with webmail, voice and video chat, youtube, blogging, social networking etc.  And the development continues apace.


8. The good vs the bad.  - The internet can be a great and wonderful  force for good but also contains material which can harm us. The debate will go on forever, but as a surveillance tool there is none better. Everything we do on the net is recorded.


9. Copyright law is obsolete. -  Everywhere you look on the net you can see things that infringe copyright. In a digital world copying is not only effortless, it is necessay. Every web page you view is a copy, downloaded from the host computer. The only way to stop this would be to shut down the internet. We need new laws relevant to the digital age. But we will be shutting the stable too long after the horse has bolted.
 

Read the full  article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jun/20/internet-everything-need-to-know


Max

A census trick question

I was asked on the Ref desk today if we had fiche records of the collectors books from early 20th century census in Australia - say, around 1915.
I discovered there was a census in 1911, but none of the usual suspects (Mitchell Library, etc.) has any primary documents from it.
Then the penny dropped - as the State Library of QLD says in its helpful guide -

Prior to 2001 it was Australian federal government policy to destroy all name-identified census returns for privacy reasons, and all returns for censuses conducted between 1901 and 2001 have been destroyed.

Of course, I should have realised this - there was a question from the 2006 census giving you the option to not have your census questionnaire destroyed, reflecting the new laws post-2001.
Just thought I'd share this for those who may not have realised the situation.
And kudos to State Library of QLD - NSW Archives and Mitchell do not make this information readily available in their guides. Perhaps they assume we all know.
Brian

Philosophy parties in Kids?

Throw away the colouring books, games and such - lets tackle the BIG questions with our kids.

From ALGA News, June 4, 2010
International news
In France, a publisher's idea of philosophy parties (gouter philo) for children has been taken up by local councils, libraries and schools. Lancry library in Paris organised a debate on good and evil. Luneville library in eastern France invited children to eat macaroons and debate language, beauty and taste. The French see it as giving children a handle on an increasingly complex world. One occasion was initiated by Oscar, a nine-year-old who wanted to talk about God, war and evil. Another gouter philo focused on death. Oscar's mother observed that children have a real interest in grappling with the big questions - which is one definition of philosophy.

Actually, not such a silly idea, but could you imagine trying to remain politically correct, and not offending any parents, in discussions with a group of 10 year olds.

Barb

Silly library promotions

This came from LISnews

It is a video of singing dancing librarians which made me laugh.

http://lisnews.org/librarians_do_gaga_quotyeah_you_can_use_my_catalogquot

How much can you trust Wikipedia?

Wikipedia has put out a FAQ especially for Librarians so we can know exactly what it is and isn't.
I found it very interesting to see that it is the 5th most read webpage in the world. Therefore we as information professionals should be well aware of it's uses and pitfalls, so we can inform the public .

These statements I have reproduced are the ones that jumped out at me .

• The basic premise of Wikipedia - that mass collaboration, over time, will produce high quality material. And in December 2007, the German magazine Stern released a study concluding that the German Wikipedia was more accurate, complete and up-to-date than the longstanding print encyclopedia Brockhaus - the Encyclopedia Britannica of Germany.
• One thing that is great about Wikipedia is that it allows anyone to correct a mistake. On Wikipedia a mistake can be, and often is, fixed instantly. Wikipedia has a variety of filters and bots designed to prevent vandalism before it's completed, or revert it immediately after it's done. So, most vandalism is never seen by anybody.
• We believe that Wikipedia is an excellent starting point for research, and can be particularly useful for getting a quick and reasonably accessible overview of a particular topic area. Wikipedia can also be remarkably detailed and comprehensive, particularly in subject areas such as technology and science. But we don't believe that anyone should accept what they read on Wikipedia (or anywhere) uncritically.
• Particularly for pop-culture or non-traditional encyclopedic topics, Wikipedia may be the quickest, most accessible source of information for many patrons and students. This extends to librarians as well. But, Wikipedia's quality is not uniform, and evaluating articles is important! One way is to read the article's history.

These are the most important points in the FAQ, but there are some other good links and much information about how you, as a librarian, can help make Wikipedia better and if you are really keen how to become an editor!

Ref Rap: State Library Futures Forum Part Two

Last week I talked about the Bookends Scenario Report and the four possible scenarios. This week I’ll talk about some of the other interesting speakers at the forum.

Firstly, a panel of 8 discussed their interpretation of the four scenarios detailed in the Bookends Scenario Report. Some of the issues identified included rising oil prices, e-books and digital technology. The rise in oil prices could lead to an increase in Library users as more people try to save. It could also mean an increase in costs to the Library and a decrease in funding. E-books and digital technology will also have a strong effect on Libraries as questions are raised as to whether users will stop coming to the Library once they are able to download and find most of the information they need online. On a slightly more positive note Sherman Young pointed out that we now have the technology to design our own Internet applications. We can literally ‘build the future’. Kate Carruthers also suggested that Libraries need to focus on acting as community spaces using the ‘beer and nappies’ approach i.e. when fathers come into a supermarket to buy nappies there is a good chance they will impulse buy the beer sitting next to the nappies on the shelf.

Mal Booth, Belinda Tiffen and Sophie McDonald from UTS talked about the future of Libraries. UTS are currently moving much of their less used collection underground to be retrieved when requested. While this might create inconvenience to users as it prevents them from browsing, it does create more community space for the Library. They acknowledged that Libraries are becoming more collaborative for students, there is an emerging open source movement for researchers and the staff structure is becoming flatter with a lot more knowledge sharing.

Brian Haratsis discussed possible trends leading up to 2050. He predicted that improved transport will lead to stronger links with Asia. This will have an impact on trade, employment, tourism etc. He also predicted that more women will be entering the workforce and going back after childbirth so there will be greater demand for skills and employment training.

The talk by Chris Winter and Sarah Burns was very interesting. They discussed two projects by ABC innovations: Sydney Sidetracks and Gallipoli: the first day. Sydney sidetracks can be accessed from your PC or mobile phone and involves a self guided tour of Sydney complete with audio and visual e.g. you could walk to Martin Place and listen to audio recorded from end of war celebrations. Gallipoli provides an interactive map of the peninsula recreating the first day of the Australian campaign. This talk highlighted the increasing use of mobile phone’s and collaboration in delivering reference services (it also inspired me to look into investing in an iphone).

Morgan Williams from Yahoo!7 also presented an interesting talk about the impact that social networking is having on the Web. He said that the value of social referrals to information is rising over the value of search referrals. Both Facebook and Twitter use is increasing in Australia (Facebook at a huge rate). Yahoo!7 and other search engines are now trying to tailor their services towards this e.g. users are able to update their status from the Yahoo!7 site. Williams suggested that Libraries use this growth in social networking to create online communities linked to similar interests e.g. favourite books.

This is just some of what I found out at the talks. I’m interested in hearing your opinions. What do you think of the future of Libraries? Do you think UTS’s idea of creating more space is a good one? How can we use extra space in Libraries? How can we use online space? Is there any way we can implement the ‘Beer and Nappies’ principle? How can we attract Patrons to the Libraries as more and more information goes online? How can we stop me from asking so many questions? See what you can come up with and post your thoughts in the comments box below.

Karen B.