Tom Roper's Weblog

Peninsula Medical School

Yesterday I went to Exeter to visit the Peninsula Medical School. There are some photos on Flickr.

Eastbourne

As I was in Eastbourne yesterday, I captured though the magic of digital photography some pictures of the area where next year's HLG conference will take place, including some of the conference hotel.
My daughter and I enjoyed a splendid ice-cream in Favoloso's (vanilla chocolate chip for her, mango for me). I look forward to soothing my vocal chords with one next summer.

LibraryThing, AudioScrobbler usw

My sidebars are out of control. At the last count I had the following:
Reading: a CiteULike link (papers I'm reading or have read)
LibraryThing which provides a random feed from my collection (cataloguing just started, so only 122 so far)
On my Bookshelf, a TypeList of things I'm reading right now, mostly library books
Music: Audioscrobbler, which links to my Audioscrobbler profile (shows what I've been playing in iTunes and the iPod)
Photos: at the moment I have two links to my Flickr photos, one to the whole library and one that shows the most recent ones. This needs trimming. I also have TypePad photo albums and some .Mac ones as well, but Flickr is where current material goes.
Then there's the archive links, the RSS feed etc etc. So I've just done a quick rationalisation. I hope it makes things clearer.

RSS in Update

There's an idiot's guide to RSS in the latest Update, though oddly not in the online version.
All very good, as far as it goes, but concentrates on how to read feeds, not on what library and information services could do with them. Apropos, I hear a worrying story form a London public authority for whom I worked a long time ago. Staff started a blog to keep readers up to date with library developments, but some myopic petty functionary in the town halls communications department stopped it, on the grounds that all communication between the council and residents had to go through them. So I suppose the overdue notices will have to go through them as well.

Racing Post Trophy day

330 Doncaster: Septimus
345 Newbury: Day Flight
405 Doncaster: Marcus Andronicus
420 Newbury: Short Dance
440 Doncaster: Malapropism

NLM Long Range Plan 2006-2016 - Briefing Materials

I stumbled upon these, the NLM Long Range Plan 2006-2016 briefing materials:
fascinating

Didgeridoo

It is unfair of me to characterise life in Seaford as provincial. I see in this week's Sussex Express the following (not in their online version, as far as I can tell):
"A man was arrested for allegedly brandishing a didgeridoo at police officers. In the early hours of Friday police were called to Saltwood Road, Seaford, after a woman reported her boyfriend was becoming increasingly violent."
"When they arrived at the house, the 23 year-old man from Peacehaven produced a 5ft-long wooden pole, which it transpired was an Australian didgeridoo. He was charged with criminal damage and resisting arrest"

Cesarewitch Day

As every schoolboy knows, the Cesarewitch is amed after Tsar Alexander II, who is supposed to have come to Newmarket for the first running of the race in 1839. And speaking of things historical, there'll be a lot of sentimental money on Horatio Nelson in the Darley Dewhust Stakes. But I'm afraid I would have been on the other side at Trafalgar.
Newmarket 205: Peeress
Newmarket 235: George Washington
Newmarket 310: Alexander Goldrun
Newmarket 345: Swift Sailor
Newmarket 425: Abigail Pett

Suitability of Creative Commons for the UK Public Sector analysed in new report

Suitability of Creative Commons for the UK Public Sector analysed in new report: "

The Common Information Environment (CIE) today published the results of a study into the applicability of the international Creative Commons licenses to a range of UK public sector resources.

The study was undertaken for the CIE by Intrallect and the AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property & Technology Law at the University of Edinburgh.

The report, licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution licence to encourage dissemination and reuse of the findings, is available for download, along with a comprehensive set of appendices [both PDF downloads].

The CIE members are currently considering the report's recommendations.

Technorati Tags: Common Information Environment

"

(Via CIE News.)

ALPSP study of open access

The ALSP (Association of Learned Society Publishers) have released a study of Open Access:

The Facts About Open Access: A study of the financial and non-financial effects of alternative business models on scholarly journals (ISBN 978-0-907341-30-7) by Kaufman-Wills Group, LLC

Their conclusions:
1. " It is too early to tell whether Full Open Access is a viable business model ";  I think most people would agree.
2.  "Scholarly journal publishing is in an unprecedented state of flux"; incontestable.
3.  "Peer review and copy-editing may be less rigorous with Full Open Access journals"; highly controversial