Stephen Abram's Posts About Library Land
http://mentalfloss.com/article/61780/10-crazy-things-your-smartphone-could-do
Stephen
More than just a toy for engineers, 3D printing is beginning to move from experimental tech to multi-disciplinary learning too
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/02/26/3d-printing-heats-up-on-campus.aspx
Stephen
Critical Thinking
URL: http://ucetnews.blogspot.ca/2012/07/infographic-critical-thinking-skills.html
URL: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/265571709249158450/
URL: http://www.teachthought.com/learning/25-critical-thinking-strategies-for-the-modern-learner/
URL: http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/learn-the-elements-and-standards/861
Stephen
“Textbook makers, bookstore owners and college student surveys all say millennials still strongly prefer print for pleasure and learning, a bias that surprises reading experts given the same group’s proclivity to consume most other content digitally. A University of Washington pilot study of digital textbooks found that a quarter of students still bought print versions of e-textbooks that they were given for free.”
Study after study shows that digital books are more strongly preferred by older folks. Interesting.
Stephen
Information Today’s Featured Book of the Month is by my friend Mike Gruenberg. It’s a good read and a balanced approach to all sides of the negotiation and relationship table by an experienced and talented expert.
Buying and Selling Information
A Guide for Information Professionals and Salespeople to Build Mutual Success
by Michael L. Gruenberg
Both sides of the negotiating table are represented in this practical and much-needed guide by Michael Gruenberg, a veteran of the electronic information field. With over 30 years selling information to a wide variety of libraries, Gruenberg’s time-tested tips, techniques, and strategies will be welcomed by both information professionals and sales professionals. The author’s personal stories are geared to helping librarians and salespeople understand what the “other guy” is grappling with in order to achieve the best possible outcome for everyone.
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Stephen
Artificial Intelligence is held up as a potential replacement for librarians. In the past the measurement was the Turing Test (Yes, that Turing – the one portrayed in the Oscar nominated film this year). The Turing Test is that the AI has to convince a panel of judges that it is a person (famously a 13-year-old boy named Eugene who speaks English as as second language). An AI or two has passed that test.
Other AI systems are quite specific – like Watson (here and here) which does well in certain domains (Jeopardy, lung cancer treatment) and might not be able to pass the 13 year old Turing Test (but not many people could work passably in librarianship at 13).
Here’s the list of questions that Facebook proposes to test AI. I think it’s interesting as we see innovations in interfaces that focus on questions versus retrieval of lists and potential answer candidates. The Holy Grail, is, of course, a service that provides (actual) answers and not just candidates for answers.
“Developed by a team in Facebook’s AI lab in New York, the questions test whether a system is “able to answer questions via chaining facts, simple induction, deduction and […] more,”according to a research paper published on arXiv. The researchers believe that “many existing learning systems can currently not solve them.”
All told, the team has put together a series of 20 questions that test different types of reasoning and the ability to process language. Some are simple questions that require the recall of facts, while others require the answerer to count objects through the use of language, manipulate timelines or reason about the qualities of objects.”
Stephen
A peek into the mind of the CEO:
https://hbr.org/2015/02/what-ceos-are-afraid-of
Stephen
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