“So Newport Beach is weighing a Netflix-like system in which readers could order books and then pick them up from lockers at an ‘electronic library,’ a 2,200-square-foot room with a central fireplace and a kiosk where patrons could select titles online.”
Via outsidermag:
DÉMOCRATIE CRÉATIVE en REBEL ART.
Via OUTSIDERmag.
Via smarterplanet:
Awesome Augmented Reality App Could Save Librarians Hours
If you’ve ever worked in a library, you’re familiar with the drudgery of shelf reading. That’s the process of verifying that all the books on a shelf are in the right order, based on their call numbers. Books get out of order fairly easily, when they’re taken off the shelf and examined, for example, or when they’re just stuck in the wrong place.
Miami University’s Augmented Reality Research Group (MU ARRG! - that exclamation point, I confess, is my addition), led by Professor Bo Brinkman, has developed an Android app that could save librarians a lot of time and hassle. Using the Android’s camera, the app “reads” a bookshelf, and with an AR overlay, quickly flags those books that are misplaced. It will also point to the correct place on the bookshelf so the book can easily be re-shelved correctly.
Source: ReadWriteWeb
![In arts matters:
SSO [Syracuse Symphony Orchestra] board votes to suspend operations; season canceled, no refunds planned – syracuse.com
The Syracuse Symphony Orchestra’s board of trustees voted Tuesday to suspend operations as of Sunday beca…](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55a74557e4b0b80ded0421f1/1437979152305-PRSJBTSU2IHDHZNUFRQC/image-asset.jpeg)
In arts matters:
The Syracuse Symphony Orchestra’s board of trustees voted Tuesday to suspend operations as of Sunday because of a shortage of funds.
The decision will bring the 50th anniversary season of the orchestra to an unceremonious end. There were more than 20 Syracuse and regional concerts remaining in the 2010-11 season.
The orchestra’s 18 full- and part-time staffers and 61 core and 14 contract musicians will be laid off Monday. However, eight employees will remain to help in the transition, Interim Executive Director Paul Brooks said, although he added that the organization has very little cash to carry out an orderly transition.
Brooks said no refunds would be issued to ticket holders, and he said any donations received during the SSO’s public fundraising campaign, “Keep the Music Playing” will not be returned.
Its April 27 concert by renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma also is canceled. But despite suspension of operations, Brooks said, the Syracuse Opera has been assured that the orchestra will play for its two performances of “The Pearl Fishers” April 8 and 10, said Brooks.
He said the SSO was without funds to continue operations because it fell short of its March fundraising goal of $445,000, failed to receive $1.3 million in concessions from the musicians for the 2011-12 season and had $5.5 million debt as the major reasons for the suspension. The SSO has a budget of $6.9 million for 2010-11 [down from $7.4 million for last season].
During the past eight months, the board has struggled to put its finances in order. In July, it was on the verge of being broke and being forced to close. An “angel investor” came to the rescue with operating funds.
Last summer, the SSO and musicians agreed to a shorter season, from 40 weeks to 34 weeks, but the same number of performances.
I expect additional information about next steps will be available on the Symphony’s Web site; however, at present there is no information about the suspension on it (or on the SSO’s Facebook or Twitter pages).
Related: The Detroit Symphony Orchestra remains on strike. Musicians there walked off the job last fall; last month, DSO management canceled the remainder of the season. The musicians and board reportedly are still trying to reach a (contract agreement) settlement.
Challenging times.
Via bookshelfporn:
Awesome story on Wired about a 360-degree panorama photograph that takes you inside Prague’s off-limits Baroque Library.
(via Sara Blask)
By the numbers:
868-year-old Strahov monastery library + 42,000 rare 18th century books + one fresco (45 feet above you, completed in 1794) + 2,947 photos + at least 111 hours’ worth of color correcting and digital stitching time = one stunning, 40-gigapixel, 360-degree image
On leaving his camera overnight in the hall, photographer Jeffrey Martin said: “That’s one advantage of shooting in an 18th-century library – my camera is the least valuable thing in the room.”
So cool.
Via the20newyork:
Bronx Zoo Cobra Turns Up—On Twitter. On Friday afternoon, zookeepers at the Bronx Zoo’s reptile house noticed a poisonous Egyptian cobra was missing. By Monday the “snake” (or, rather, a clever person with a bit of time on their hands) joined Twitter to document their adventures in the big city. Also signing up for the site? The Bronx Zoo keeper, who is hot on the cobra’s tail trail. Follow both funny accounts as they play a modern game of cat and mouse in the big city. It’s sure to be a good laugh, at least until the snake does something dangerous in real life.
-KH
Awesome.
Via contained:
Via unconsumption:
A collaboration exploring the use of shipping containers as affordable, sustainable, energy-independent housing receives federal grant
It may not be a McMansion, but the Rhode Island School of Design, Brown’s Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship [RI-CIE], and two state-based architects have partnered in a first-time collaboration to design and potentially commercialize an off-the-grid, sustainable and energy-efficient home from [used] shipping containers. A class of RISD students this spring is researching and developing design plans for the sustainable home, and if the idea is judged viable, experts from RI-CIE will assist in finding the best avenues to take the homes to market.
“This collaboration between RISD and Brown has great potential to create jobs and provide affordable, sustainable housing … ,” said U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Full story: Live in a Shipping Container, Say RISD, Brown | GoLocalProv.
The two participating architects, Brown grad Peter Gill Case and RISD alum Joe Haskett, whose company is collaborating on the project, were involved with a multi-story shipping container office project in Providence, described in this earlier Unconsumption post.
I am a proponent of using rehabbed shipping containers for residential and commercial purposes, and look forward to following the RISD-Brown project’s progress.
Related: Find other shipping container-oriented Unconsumption posts here.
The fact that the project received a federal grant (akin to a Good Housekeeping stamp of approval!) gives it much credibility. If a viable design results from this project, it could provide an attractive option in the housing mix of the future. Hope there’s one or more successful outcomes from this initiative.
Reblogging myself so this post shows up here, in addition to appearing on the Contained and Unconsumption sites. :)