Blog post: Godin on Trademark

Trademarks surround us daily. Understanding what they are, why you should get one (or not), and how to use/respect them can be important. Seth Godin in this blog posting gives his viewpoint on creating trademarks. His core question is whether you want to potentially stifle your idea/product through a trademark. Wow!

Even if you work for a digitization program, you should read this post. Why? Because maybe you have something that should be trademarked...and you should go into that process reading different points of views.

Are you getting things done?

If you're in the middle of some type of digitization-related project (or any type of project for that matter), have you kept up with everything that is on your list or are some things "sliding"? We tend to work on the things we like and push everything else to the background. Or we work on the items that seem like priorities (to someone) and forget everything else. Yet it is important to get many things done (if not everything).

So before you head home for the weekend, take 20 minutes and:

• Make a list of everything you need to be working on, then prioritize the list. (If you don't remember everything, that's okay. Listing as much as possible will still be helpful.) THEN schedule time to work on the things you have listed. If it helps, group things by category, then schedule time to work on things in that category.
  
• Clean you work area, so that the things you need to pay attention to are visible.
  
• If there are items that should be delegated, then delegate them.
  
• If you find items that you're doing because you want to (not because you are suppose to), re-think whether you really have time for them.
  
• Think about using "down time" (like when your computer is booting up or rebooting) to take care of some of those small/quick items on your list.

Now you're thinking that this is a more than 20 minute task, and it might be. But likely you'll make a huge dent in the task in 20 minutes, so it is worthwhile doing.

And do one more thing before you walk out the door. Write down one thing you want to learn next week about "whatever" (digitization, preserving digital assets, metadata, etc.). Plant that idea and plant it on paper. Once planted, I bet you'll find that the right information or opportunity to learn exactly that.

Podcasts from Access

In case you haven't found them, there are podcasts from the Access conference that was held in Ottawa in October. For example, Panel on National Digital Initiatives (MP3).

It is very cool to see conferences creating videos and podcasts, so that the content can be shared more widely. I hope more conferences -- including smaller ones -- will follow down this path.

Blog post: Google buys JotSpot, the application wiki company

This title from the Ten Thousand Year Blog says it all:

Google buys JotSpot, the application wiki company

I did an interview yesterday with a reporter from IDG, who is writing about Blogger, something Google purchased several years ago. The question people are asking about Blogger is why Google hasn't improved that service, given the resources Google has at its disposal. As Google continues to purchase established companies that create content, I think the spotlight will shine bright on what it does and doesn't do with these acquisitions. Google is obviously amassing content (or access to content), but is it doing it in a way that allows it to continue to make friends, or is annoying people who will begin to turn elsewhere for services?

I hope that those institutions that are doing massive projects with Google step back and ask hard questions of the company. What does its management of Blogger, for example, say about the company and how it operates?

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Addendum (7:30 p.m.): The InfoWorld (IDG publication) article, that I was interviewed for, is here.

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Technorati tag: Google

Report: Using Digital Images in Teaching and Learning

The report Using Digital Images in Teaching and Learning has been released to the public. The report was commissioned by Wesleyan University in collaboration with the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE). It focuses on "the pedagogical implications of the widespread use of the digital format." The information presented in the report was formed from hundreds of survey results.

The web page for the report provides access to the Full Report and Executive Summary. There are also two spaces where readers and the author can interact (Image Project Forum and the Image Project Wiki).