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Microsoft has a long history of making complicated technology simple to use. Love it or hate it, Microsoft has done more to democratize technology than any other vendor. Could Microsoft do the same for R? Definitely maybe. A certain amount of complexity is inherent in R, of course. Red Hat’s Dave Neary argues, “R is for statistics and numerical analysis,” requiring an “understand[ing of] the math to some degree.” He goes on to suggest, “Saying it's too hard for mere mortals is like saying a saw is too hard. [You n]eed to learn the tools.” The promise behind the deal, however, is that Microsoft can significantly improve those tools, such that a tech-savvy, nonprogrammer can do “data science.”

Can Microsoft make R easy? | InfoWorld

If you're unsure which 3pm session to attend today @alamw15

ALCTS CRS Holdings Information Committee program Time: Saturday, January 31, 3:00-4:00 p.m. Location: McCormick Place West, Room W181a Please join us for two presentations on recent migrations to a new ILS! That’s right - not one, but two migration tales!

#alamw15

In a stipulation filed with the court this week, the Authors Guild v. HathiTrust was officially dismissed, by agreement of the parties. In a concession, HathiTrust officials agreed that the organization would, for a five-year period, notify the Authors Guild if it decides to change its practices. The resolution comes after the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in June, 2014, forcefully affirmed Judge Harold Baer’s October 2012 verdict in favor of the HathiTrust, and as the Second Circuit is reviewing the Authors Guild’s main suit against Google.

Authors Guild Drops HathiTrust Case

"How David McCandless makes beautiful visualizations that go viral over and over" - via Vox.com

Which brings me to the second reason that the NGA Online Editions is worth your attention — the custom-built content management system on which it operates. While the sustainability of the investment may be of concern, simply because any system will ultimately require upgrades, that a cultural heritage institution has designed and built exactly the publication platform needed to support an existing professional function is both laudable as well as indicative. It’s not that the private sector couldn’t have created this platform. It is more likely that the private sector couldn’t immediately see the way clear to a financially viable pricing or business model. That’s understandable, but that mindset doesn’t necessarily serve the needs of the scholar. Instead, this digital catalogue has emerged from the public sector, a publication attuned to the researcher need. It’s exciting to learn that the Gallery anticipates another such catalogue as this being released in 2015 on the topic of Italian painting with a third on American modernism planned for 2016.

Have You Looked At This: NGA Online Editions | The Scholarly Kitchen

Scholars see their well-established publishing practices as separate from the sharing they do. Sharing seems both natural and pretty frictionless. But the only way it will truly be frictionless is if we reorganize our financial and labor practices to make it easier to share legally. This is doable without losing rigor or quality.

Open Minds, Open Access | Library Babel Fish @insidehighered

Guest Chef Elisabeth Jones offers a critical analysis of a widely-distributed statistical chart that seems to show a doubling in the unit cost of monographs since 1985.

"ARL is one of very few organizations that collect this sort of broad-scale longitudinal data on libraries’ behavior and environment – and taken in their full context and with the requisite grains of salt, these data are exceedingly valuable resources for thinking about the present and future of both academic libraries and scholarly publishing. Yet, in the case of ARL’s “Monograph and Serial Costs” graph, this necessary context seems to have fallen away: the evolving image has become increasingly entrenched as unquestioned truth, even as the trends it portrays have diverged further and further from what is logically possible. The effort to ground arguments for open access, for changes to library practice, and for new forms of scholarly publishing in empirical data is undoubtedly positive. However, as we go about assembling data for these purposes, we must continue to look upon it with a critical eye – no matter how stable and objective the source may appear."

#libraries

In the short term, it will indeed be nice to be able to share a digital book or song with a partner or family member. But don’t lose sight of the fact that you’re being allowed to do so, with the assumption that the alternative would have made you a pirate.

Apple and Amazon Take Baby Steps Toward Digital Sharing - NYTimes.com Limited digital sharing now being offered by some providers... ok. This comes down to license terms and not copyright. With digital content, many people don't realize that the click-through terms of agreement are licenses. And in clicking-through, they are signing away rights granted to them under (their country's) copyright law. And/or that they are entering into a purchase-to-use, versus purchase-to-own, agreement.

Book (via Digital Insurance: E-Book backup by Jesse England - Book Patrol: A Haven for Book Culture)

“The backup is best viewed in paper format.” (via Digital Insurance: E-Book backup by Jesse England - Book Patrol: A Haven for Book Culture)

Something to emulate: the Library Simplified - not only the project itself but also the project design (an Iterative design approach and a clear, aesthetically pleasing website for communications).

#librarians

Top Ten Tips for Data Visualization from JISC

#data visualization #data analysis

Most modern organisations use numerical data to communicate quantitative information. These numbers are fundamental to understanding of organisational performance. This information can be presented in many different ways, for example graphs, maps, and at a more advanced level – dashboards. Despite the popular wisdom, data and numbers cannot always speak for themselves. Sometimes, too much time can be spent on struggling to understand the data presented in lengthy reports and numerical tables. This time could be better spent on making evidence-based decisions.

Data visualisation - Jisc infoNet

#data #visual analysis

So here’s the thing: the only effective strategy for preserving things for the future is commitment. I don’t mean to suggest it must be the commitment of an individual — far from it. There are many examples of institutional commitment. But simply because either an individual or an organization is involved does not by itself signal the sufficient commitment for long-term preservation.

The Only Preservation Strategy is Commitment - The Digital Shift

Something to think about.

#libraries #preservation

In many ways, these are two pretty, pretty useless visuals. But that's not a bad thing. You need to dig deeper to understand more of the big picture. This is what I love about visual analytics - it isn't about creating one static visual with/for one viewpoint to show it all. It's about taking a look at every possible angle and from different data points. And sometimes it's about realizing your visual isn't working and starting all over again.

When you look at these visuals on their own - even without knowing what the data points and relationships are - you immediately get the sense that this is a network of different and like relationships. Several are relationships shared by many (the thick lines), while some are shared by significantly fewer. There is imbalance. That's something.

#prettyuseless #library data #visual analytics #gephi

One of the hardest parts of learning anything new, especially when you’re teaching it to yourself, is figuring out how to get started.

What you get when you learn how to code — Chasing Magic — Medium So. True.

It’ [sic] quite true that a lot of these problems are “pipeline” problems. Decades of subtle processes can shape the number of qualified applicants and make it hard to hire people across the spectrum. However, it’s not enough to throw up one’s hands and blame the pipeline because the issue continues to persist at every stage and something can be done at every stage. What’s necessary is to create an environment in which women can speak up, and more importantly, be heard… And diversity in newsroom or in the development team is not just a feel-good, but a functional need as well. Fiascos such as Google Buzz in which they did not realize the extend of the backlash they’d endure by making people’s email contacts visible to each other, or Grantland’s infamous story in which they could not figure out what was offensive about hounding and outing a trans individual (they didn’t have a single one to look over the story) are some recent exampes [sic] in which diversity among decision makers would have really helped bring much-needed different viewpoints to the table.

No, Nate, brogrammers may not be macho, but that’s not all there is to it — Technology and Society — Medium

This is an excellent post. I really like that Dr. Tufekci’s outlines why different viewpoints are necessary (I’d add that they are needed not just at the decision-maker-level, but throughout an organizational structure).

"Pipeline" problems are also prevalent in libraryland. Different viewpoints are needed to truly represent and service communities.

If libraries are the great equalizer, people need to be able to see themselves in the library (and not just borrowing a book and using the computers - but in the employees and the communities, histories and people that libraries try to represent).

[EDIT (03/21/2014): While looking at the readings for the LTG Summit, I came across this blog post by Chris Bourg, AUL for Public Services at Stanford University, on the pipeline problems in librarianship. Bourg wisely points out that it is important to look at efforts already in place to improve diversity in librarianship before we begin speculating on the changes that need to be brought about.]

#libraries and diversity #libraries

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Danielle W. Westbrook