May 20, 2013

Goodreads Acquisition Presents Opportunity for LibraryThing

LibraryThing

Amazon’s recent acquisition of Goodreads will likely have a ripple effect on other social media sites targeted at book lovers, with LibraryThing and Bookish potentially drawing membership from any defectors unhappy with the sale. Meanwhile, many Kindle owners will be introduced to Goodreads for the first time, as the site’s social media functions are integrated with Kindle devices. “Goodreads was fully independent…. it made them the natural allies of people who wanted to avoid the consolidation of the industry, in particular publishers,” LibraryThing founder Tim Spalding told LJ.

Giving Up Your Friends

bing

Recently I’ve noticed a very disturbing trend of social networking sites that require you to throw your friends under the bus to get whatever goodness the given site is offering you. The latest entry in this social networking arms race is Bing, which recently presented me with this very scary dialog box:   So not [...]

The Coming Book Social Network Shakeout

Today’s news of Amazon acquiring the popular book social networking site GoodReads gives one pause. That is because Amazon already owns Shelfari, and also has a 40% stake in LibraryThing — arguably three sites that offer the same basic value proposition. Allow me to speculate. And let’s be clear, that’s all this is — speculation. Why [...]

NYPL Launches National Poetry Contest on Twitter

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As part the library’s efforts to raise awareness about poetry leading up to National Poetry Month in April, NYPL is encouraging aspiring poets to “follow @NYPL on Twitter, and submit three poetic Tweets in English as public posts on your Twitter stream between March 1 and 10, 2013.”

Get to Know Goodreads: Share this primer to the social reading site and help teachers and kids connect with great books

Illustration by Mark Tuchman

That’s the first thing you do when you finish reading a book? Pass it along to a friend? Return it to the library? Place it on the unruly pile of titles that you charitably call your “office”? Scores of dedicated readers log on to Goodreads and share their opinions with the world. Imagine Facebook and your [...]

Scientists Seek New Credibility Outside of Established Journals

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Open Access is only one part of a larger shift taking place in the academic world—particularly the sciences—says Richard Price, founder and CEO of academia.edu. Price argues that academia is moving toward a system where the credibility of research, publications, and ultimately researchers themselves, is gauged not by the prestige of the journal in which works are published, but by the usage, citations, and professional feedback that the works generate online.

“Kids Online” Report: Young Children’s Social Networking Habits Harder to Track than Teens’

SocialNetworkingKids

A report issued by The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop concluded that though children under 13 are involved in social media, there isn’t enough data on their social networking habits.

Discovery Game for Libraries Kickstarted by Booklamp.org

Game of Books

The developers behind the Book Genome Project and Booklamp.org have launched a Kickstarter campaign for “The Game of Books,” a new digital card and role-playing game designed to reward young adults for reading. Funding raised by the campaign would be used to design, produce, and distribute 4,000 Game of Books starter kits to U.S. libraries. Founded in 2003, the Book Genome Project works with publishers to solve challenges in book discovery by using computer analysis of the language, theme, and characters in books.

EDUCAUSE, Internet2 Expand Etextbook Pilot

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EDUCAUSE and Internet2 are implementing a series of etextbook pilots, the latest of which just launched for the fall 2012 term at more than two dozen U.S. universities. Along with the nonprofit that aims to advance higher ed through information technology and the massive not-for-profit advanced networking consortium, the pilot is conducted in partnership with McGraw Hill Education and digital textbook distributor Courseload.

Now with Apps, Curation Board Learnist May One-up Pinterest for Education

Learnist on the iPhone

Learnist, a new curation tool that’s been gaining traction among educators, including librarians, has expanded its social learning platform to mobile, with apps for the iPhone and iPad released today.