Category Archives: Public Access

Recently at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, Eason Jordan of CNN made some remarks while on a panel. There is no consensus on what he said. Seemingly this whole issue could be potentially resolved by releasing the videotape, which the WEF is refusing to do. Eason Jordan should be out in front asking for the tape to be released. The longer this drags on, the only result will be more damage to both him and his employer. Update: Apparently, it was already too late.

bq.The cliché of Web-savvy teenagers clicking circles around their parents is simply not a reality, according to a new study by the Nielsen Norman Group that challenges Internet stereotypes of teen “technowizards.” The study showed that teens quickly succumb to Internet ennui and, unlike their parents, give up quickly on sites that are difficult to navigate. – CNN/Money This doesn’t suprise me at all. I have yet to meet one of these technologically adept teens that the media always portrays.

bq.Do trains encourage reading habit which is sliding worldwide? Yes, says a highcourt lawyer who has approached Railway Minister to introduce lending library in long-distance trains. – P. K. Surendran It certainly isn’t your typical bookmobile, but it could make a lot of sense in areas where people rely on mass transit.

Hello from the Adam’s Mark in Downtown Jacksonville. The hotel does not have wireless access, but it does have a red cable in every room marked “Free High Speed Internet.” Of course, I just did a speed test at Cnet and it measure a blazing 16.8 kbps. Still, it works well enough for what I want it for.

So far this week I have had the opportunity speak with librarians from Montana and Broward County, Florida. And you know what we spoke about both times: how we manage the use of Internet stations. That is so depressing to me that that is where the overwhelming concern of the profession is right now.

I hadn’t looked at the Public Access Computer Security Tool that the Gates Foundation created in a while. It looks like there are capabilities worth investigating. And I found a link to WebJunction, which I don’t recall visiting before.

I have completed the latest version of the instructions (clarified a few things) and it now includes a .zip file with everything you need. The new web page should alleviate the problem I have been having of people trying to use web2mail to check their one of their web-based accounts. But we shall see. I also turned off the address bar on the browser to see if that will help. I am hoping this one solves all the issues, but that is probably wishful thinking on my part.

bq.Despite the potential of turning every Internet user into a publisher, relatively few have created Web journals called blogs and even fewer do so with regularity, a new study finds. Some bloggers indeed update their journals often, in some cases several times a day. But it’s clearly a minority who are taking advantage of the blog and its potential to steer the online discourse with personal musings about news events and daily life. – Anick Jesdadun
bq.44% of Internet users have created content for the online world through building or posting to Web sites, creating blogs, and sharing files – Pew Internet & American Life Project While it is true that not everyone has taken advantage of the opportunities afforded, it is true is the percentage is on the order of several magnitudes higher than traditional communication mediums like publishing or television.

I complained a few months ago about sites requiring things like Flash that can limit accessability to those who do not have it available Today, I was working on a project and was trying to find some consumer information at the Florida Division of Consumer Services and ended up at this introduction to Service Point.
bq.�Service Point� requires Internet Explorer 6.0, Service Pack 1. A link for downloading the upgrade is available here. To continue to the consumer eService site, without installing IE 6, you may click here, but you may experience a few problems while navigating through the site. When I clicked to continue to ServicePoint in Firebird, I ended up with a page of what appears to be XML. Now, as a Windows user, I can either launch IE or take a try at spoofing IE in Firebird. But I guess Mac/Linux/etc. users are just out of luck.

If you were looking for a silly solution to a serious problem, you can find it here.