Renaissance Geek
Posted On Jun 23 2009Last week, I addressed a group of librarians about cloud computing trends, web-scale, and how OCLC plans to apply them to library management systems and services. One of the thematic questions before I took the podium was whether libraries are entering a renaissance period. That discussion might have been more interesting had the previous topic not been the very sorry state of library funding. As I am always inclined, I tried to mix the topics all together. A few folks asked me to reproduce my brief remarks, so I will attempt that here. Technology applications makes for a boring topic …
Working Furiously and Happily
Posted On Jun 4 2009Six weeks goes by fast. Yes, it’s been six weeks since OCLC announced WorldCat Local “quick start” as the first step toward a web-scale, cooperative library management service. Not only does that six weeks represent two full iterations of agile development for the three main web-scale components–circulation, print and licensed acquisitions, and license management–it’s also been several interviews, speaking engagements, and lots of pressing product management work. One of the things I’m asked repeatedly is to explain the distinctions of OCLC’s effort in this space. Here they are, taken directly from my powerpoints, listed as succinctly as possible, but with …
Web-scale Blogging
Posted On May 8 2009This week I had the good fortune to participate in a Talk with Talis with Richard Wallis. I can’t quite tolerate listening to the sound of my own voice, but I hope others will give it a listen. One of the questions he asked me was about OCLC’s use of the term ‘web-scale’ (often hyphenated as a compound adjective, and not hyphenated otherwise, but I am now erring toward hyphen consistency). Some have referred to it as synonymous with ‘the web’, however, I think there is a distinction that those more familiar with the history and state of library automation …