tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209766122011-08-20T08:49:53.103+01:00EduLib - Commenting on Information Technology in Education & LibrariesThis is an occasional blog on libraries, library automation, e-learning and e-publsihing. Mainly it covers strategic, conceptual and commercial issues, but with a little ill-informed stuff about librarianship and technology too.
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The rules that I try to follow when writing this blog are: <br>
1. Try not to waste the time of the reader (hence the long Subject headings).
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2. Be informative.
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3. If not informative, be provocative & controversial.Mark Cardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199341799034130160noreply@blogger.comBlogger81100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20976612.post-42135487226884209332011-08-09T11:13:00.003+01:002011-08-09T11:24:33.017+01:00The Burning Platform, the Boiled Frog and the Rusting Platform
(Sorry about the cryptic title, but it seemed worth it.)The ‘burning platform’ idea hit the news in February 2011 when a memo written by the Nokia CEO Stephen Elop used the metaphor as an ‘inspiration’ to his staff to be decisive about necessary changes. He wrote about a man standing on a burning oil rig who was faced with choosing between a fiery death and a jump into the freezing sea. Mark Cardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199341799034130160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20976612.post-46299825906176176412011-08-09T11:06:00.005+01:002011-08-09T11:24:50.921+01:00ASA Conference Presentation on the Role of the Intermediary<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-GB JA X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>Mark Cardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199341799034130160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20976612.post-1151128274688897952006-06-24T06:43:00.000+01:002007-02-05T07:58:25.110ZFuturologists Speak Out At ALAI'm back and blogging live from ALA ! (Well, I'm excited, even if you aren’t)I attended the OCLC Symposium at ALA today (24 June 2006) with really interesting and invigorating presentations by futurists Derek Woodgate, and Wendy Schultz.(I should at this point declare an interest, as I now work for OCLC PICA.)Woodgate talked about his very structured and business-like process for working on Mark Cardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199341799034130160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20976612.post-1139834019813926662006-02-13T12:25:00.000Z2007-02-03T17:28:13.766ZI Want To Discover Information, Not Search CollectionsMany librarians continue to be very focussed on providing readers with the ability to search collections in the most sophisticated ways, but surely many researchers want to be able to discover any potentially interesting materials from all possible sources.It is true that if I am in my local public library branch, or I am an undergraduate with a deadline, I go into the library and say "What have Mark Cardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199341799034130160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20976612.post-1137874046376663932006-01-21T19:59:00.000Z2007-02-04T23:52:42.886ZShould my stuff be on the Web, or on my PC ?Two short stories (there is a point to this):I read yesterday that an online RSS reader, SearchFox, is suddenly closing down. On their website/blog they say "Please export all of your links and an OPML file with your RSS sources" (whatever that means). As it turns out Yahoo! may be buying the smoking wreckage.Also yesterday, the accounting software I use on my PC blew up, and apparently I Mark Cardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199341799034130160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20976612.post-1137682338146937272006-01-19T14:44:00.000Z2006-01-19T20:57:19.060ZWhy Campus Management Systems Cost Ten Times More Than Library Management SystemsRob Abel made some interesting comments in his Higher Education Insight blog a while ago (October 2005), on the question "Why Won't We Pay for Learning Technology ?". He asked "Why are institutions willing to spend $300K to $500K or more on student information systems when it is like pulling teeth to invest $25K-$50K in a course management system? " He had some interesting thoughts on whether Mark Cardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199341799034130160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20976612.post-1137340762919239012006-01-15T15:40:00.000Z2006-01-27T15:16:19.176ZThe Cost of Selling Software - US$250,000 per dealJim Farmer has prepared a very interesting analysis of what it costs to sell an Enterprise Learning System, concluding that the sales and marketing costs of each Blackboard signing are around US$250,000.Now open source advocates can sometimes over-emphasise the costs and failings of commercial software, but Jim's comments in the paper are very fair, reminding readers that "The high cost ... is Mark Cardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199341799034130160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20976612.post-1137259603561622032006-01-14T16:59:00.000Z2007-01-11T01:43:30.903ZBlogging is self-indulgent but I'm doing it anyway.My first item in this blog needs to be an apology for all that I have ever said in the past criticizing blogs. I have spent much of 2005 telling people (you know who you are) that:- Blogging is not a replacement for journalism.- Blogging about code is not the same as writing code.- Blogging about products is not the same as selling products.- Blogging is self-indulgent.- No-one has time to read Mark Cardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199341799034130160noreply@blogger.com