Friday, November 21, 2008

Friday afternoon humor

Have a great weekend...












...and drive carefully!

reassuring news about online socializing

The New York Times featured an article this week that has reassuring news for parents (and other adults) concerned about teens obsessive online communications, thanks to a study from the MacArthur Foundation:

Teenagers’ Internet Socializing Not a Bad Thing
By TAMAR LEWIN
Published: November 19, 2008

“It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” said Mizuko Ito, lead researcher on the study, “Living and Learning With New Media.” “But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.”

Thanks Penni for sharing this!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Morgue Files

I've just discovered Morgue Files, described as the "Public Image Reference Archive." Content is uploaded for public use - for free - and they only thing they ask is that the photographer is credited. These are usually high resolution images, something that isn't the norm on the internet - not for public use that I've found.

Seems like a useful site to know about. Goes along with the awesome Smithsonian Images and the Library of Congress' Flickr photostream (though not all of the last two are in the public domain).

(photo by Zach Carter)

Even the Canadians like teen gaming!

Ok, this is pretty much a fluff article, but it's nice to see friendly opinions about gaming in libraries.

I liked this sentiment: "Public libraries are, after all, a community's living room."

The protein of the article: "Video games are a means of drawing older children and teenagers into libraries at a time when they might be less likely to do so. Jane Venus, manager of children and teen services for the Ottawa Public Library, notes that many video games, like books, are beneficial to young minds. Older minds too. When video games were introduced to Ottawa libraries on a trial basis, they became popular with seniors during the day and with teens in the evening. When they were done playing, some teens stayed around the library and read books."

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Brilliant author in Seattle Thursday

If you haven't had a chance to hear M.T. Anderson speak and are free Thursday night, I highly recommend scooting down to Seattle to check him out. He will be talking about the second book in The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing series...a series I hesitated to check out due to daunting language, until shamed by a precocious 7th grader into reading it. Great stuff.

Thursday • November 6 • 7pm
M.T. Anderson
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume II: Kingdom on the Waves (CANDLEWICK)
Reading & Book Signing
Seattle Public Library, Central Branch, 1000 Fourth Avenue, Seattle