How a Book is born (infographic)

Full story over at weldonowen

Raising money to free classic volume on Africa's oral literature

A campaign on Unglue.it is seeking to raise $7,500 to pay for a Creative Commons Attribution-only licensed edition of Oral Literature in Africa, an out-of-print classic on the subject that is widely sought by African libraries. Once the money is raised, they will produce the new edition and make it widely available.

First published in 1970 by Oxford University Press, this classic study has been hailed as 'the single most authoritative work on oral literature’. It traces the history of story-telling in Africa, and brings to life the diverse forms of creativity across the African continent. Author Ruth Finnegan is thought to have ‘almost single-handedly created the field of ethnography of language’ with this book, and it continues to be a go-to text for anyone studying African culture.

However, despite its enormous scope and popularity, Finnegan’s book is now out of print. It is particularly hard to find in Africa, where its original retail price was beyond the budget of most university libraries. The non-profit organization Open Book Publishers is endeavoring to make this definitive book freely available to African students and scholars — and indeed to any interested readers around the world. The Unglued Ebook will be particularly friendly to people in places with slow Internet connections: once a copy is downloaded, the book can be read offline.

This edition, developed in conjunction with Cambridge University’s World Oral Literature Project, will include a new introduction and extra digital material. When Finnegan’s book was first published forty years ago, the technology did not exist to include audio clips. Part of this Unglue campaign will involve the creation of a free online repository of Finnegan’s audio recordings of African story-telling, carefully collected during her fieldwork in the late 1960s. These clips, together with original photographs taken during her research, will become available for the first time to researchers everywhere — an invaluable resource to scholars of African literature and culture.

Oral Literature in Africa

(Via Boing Boing.)

Book Cave (Photo)

(Via 1001 Books To Read Before You Die.)

Animated Anatomy of Shakespearean Insults (video)

This is our universe, can you comprehend it?

Found at TYWKIWDBI.

These are your kids on books

Found at TYWKIWDBI.

British WWII propaganda movies to view and download

The British Council has posted a fabulous trove of CC-licensed, downloadable 'cultural propaganda' videos commissioned during WWII to 'refute the idea that ours was a country stuck in the past.'

During the 1940s, the British Council was an enthusiastic commissioner of documentary films. Over 120 films were produced as 'cultural propaganda' to counteract anything the Nazis might throw out and to refute the idea that ours was a country stuck in the past. These films were designed to showcase Britain to the rest of the world, at a time when Britain itself was under attack.

Seen by millions of people in over 100 countries worldwide from the 1940's to 1960's, they present a historic snapshot of Britain, portraying its industry, its landscapes, and its people. The Collection is fantastically varied, covering anything from how a bicycle is made, to how the British spend their Saturdays. They provide us with a unique insight - not necessarily into how Britain actually was, but more into how Britain once wanted to be perceived by the rest of the world.

Alongside basic credits and production information, you can find some fascinating pieces of trivia, photos, and screen grabs, as well as the original synopses that the films were distributed with. Some of the films give you the option to go even deeper, to learn a little more about how the films was made. And, perhaps most importantly, you can not only watch the films online but download them too.

British Council Film: British Council Film Collection

(Via Boing Boing.)

Founded 212 years ago today - The Library of Congress

On April 24,this day, in 1800 the United States Library of Congress was established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 USD to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress". The Library of Congress, founded in 1800 and housed in a three-building complex across from the nation's capitol in Washington, D.C., is a storehouse for knowledge and an active center for research and creativity of all kinds--the world's largest and most open library. With collections numbering close to 100 million items, it includes materials in 460 languages; the basic manuscript collections of 23 Presidents of the United States, and the papers of thousands of other figures who have shaped history; maps and atlases that have aided explorers and navigators in charting both the world and outer space; the earliest motion pictures and examples of recorded sound, as well as the latest data bases and software packages.

University of Florida Eliminates Computer Science Department

The University of Florida announced this past week that it was dropping its computer science department, which will allow it to save about $1.7 million. The school is eliminating all funding for teaching assistants in computer science, cutting the graduate and research programs entirely, and moving the tattered remnants into other departments. Let’s get this straight: in the midst of a technology revolution, with a shortage of engineers and computer scientists, UF decides to cut computer science completely? They stand to "save" $1.7 million, while their athletic budget is $99 million - up more than $2 million from last year. FTW?

Full article at Forbes.

A reader has amplified this a bit. Not as bad as the original article implied, but not good either.

Contrary to some reports, Florida is not eliminating its computer science department. Instead, it is proposing a radical restructuring that will kill the research arm of one department, scattering its faculty and leaving any left behind with an expanded teaching burden and fewer teaching assistants. Whether it would be better to simply kill it isn't clear.

The rest is at ars technica.

25 Insane Reasons Why Kids Don't Like Certain Colleges

Here are some of the ridiculous reasons that kids dismiss some excellent colleges:

1. Dislike of archways

2. No Chipotle within walking distance

3. "I don't know anyone there."

4. "I know too many people there."

5. Aversion to tour guides' footwear (five-toed multiport sneakers) or headwear (Sherpa cap)

6. Tour guide too smug ("In my spare time I'm a midwife, and since returning from Uganda, I've started an NGO that installs solar panels in orphanages.")

7. Annoying bell tower

8. Too many Harry Potter references during info session

9. Not enough/too many vegan options in dining hall

10. Aversion to architecture: too Georgian, too Gothic, too Taco Bell

11. Too many mentions of how Oceanography course changed tour guide's life

12. Tour guide's resemblance to Justin Bieber

13. Too many homeless people

14. Professors look like homeless people

15. Aversion to upstate NY ("Upstate NY is for camp, not college")

16. Tour guide's repeated mention of a cappella groups and/or squirrel clubs

17. Rain

18. Woodland creatures: deer, raccoons, skunks

19. Aversion to school colors

20. Townies reminiscent of characters in "Deliverance," "Big Love," or "Jersey Shore"

21. Mean parking attendant

22. Long line for the ellipticals at the gym

23. Lame Latin words in school motto

24. Emma Watson transferred out

25. School is parents' first choice

More at The Huffingyon Post.

The top ten fast growing and most quickly dying industries

The bad news:

1. Photofinishing
2. Newspaper publishing
3. Appliance repair
4. DVD, game, and video rental
5. Money market and other banking
6. Recordable media manufacturing
7. Hardware manufacturing
8. Shoe and footwear manufacturing
9. Costume and team uniform manufacturing
10. Women’s and girls’ apparel manufacturing

The good news:

1. Generic pharmaceuticals
2. Solar panel manufacturing
3. For-profit universities
4. Pilates and yoga studios
5. Self-tanning product manufacturing
6. 3-D printer manufacturing
7. Social network game development
8. Hot sauce production
9. Green and sustainable building construction
10. Online eyeglasses sales

Details on both lists at The New Statesman, here and here.

The Art of Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea in Four Minutes

Press play and watch Marcel Schindler artfully sketch out Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea in 4 minutes. Awesome!



Found at booklicious.

The public librarian

From The Costumed Librarian, via Librarianista.

and (Via TYWKIWDBI.)

Leonardo: Anatomist - by Nature Video

Nature Video was invited to Windsor Castle to see some of Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings. The drawings show that Leonardo did more than dabble in the sciences; he carried out experiments and made staggering medical discoveries which could have transformed the study of anatomy in Europe -- had they not languished unpublished for centuries. In this video, Senior Curator Martin Clayton shows us three of Leonardo's most intriguing anatomical studies.

Introducing LiLi - A Library Cruiser

Right on the heels of National Bookmobile Day comes the launch of the newest library liaison.

Meet LiLi – Library Live and On Tour - a new initiative by the Fraser Valley Regional Library in British Columbia. Touted as the first of its kind in the world:

Library Live and On Tour will shatter preconceptions about libraries, library services and librarians. Library Live and On Tour will deliver services to people in our communities who do not know about our libraries or have some obstacle to visiting them. Unlike ‘bookmobiles’, Library Live & On Tour will stress service, access to information and awareness rather than being exclusively about library materials.

The centerpiece of LiLi is a transformed 2012 Nissan Cube, completely revamped to include:

an undercarriage glow
the back opens to reveal a mounted 40″ plasma digital display screen
external sound system, with wireless mic
built-in bookshelf with giveaway books
2 laptop computers with 3G connectivity
2 Kobos &; a Sony eReader
an iPad2 &; a Blackberry Playbook
an Xbox Kinect
and, of course, the car horn that plays OOOGA!

At least there is still a bookshelf in it!

Post at Dysart &Jones, Now THAT'S a Mobile Library!

(Via Book Patrol.)

Bookmobile, 1928 (photo)

This bookmobile for the sick was wheeled around Los Angeles hospitals in 1928, a service of the LA public library.

(Via Boing Boing.)

One-in-five American Adults Do Not Use the Internet

From the Pew Internet and American Life Project post today titled Digital Differences:

“One-in-five adults do not use the internet. The difference between that group and the majority of Americans who do go online remains strongly correlated with age, education, and household income, which are the strongest positive predictors of internet use.

Certain aspects of the current internet population still strongly resemble the state of internet adoption in 2000, when one of Pew Internet’s first reports found that minorities, adults living in households with lower incomes, and seniors were less likely than others to be online…”

Read the full report

(Via The Proverbial Lone Wolf Librarian's Weblog.)

Rotting food as art

Austrian photographer Klaus Pichler, pictures of rotting food stuffs are ravishing and repugnant at the same time.

The project is intended to be a comment on global food waste. On Pichler's website, each image is paired with a caption containing details about the origination and transportation of each item. Check out the full gallery there. And be sure to pass this along to any friends who might still be eating lunch.

IKEA reinvents the television - and very well.

From IKEA:

IKEA introduces UPPLEVA, a completely new range that integrates smart TV and sound system with furniture. UPPLEVA brings beauty and functionality to the living room, solving the problem of cable clutter and miss-match between TV and furniture.

You will find UPPLEVA in Stockholm, Milan, Paris, Gdansk and Berlin in June 2012. During autumn 2012 UPPLEVA is available in all of the stores in Sweden, Italy, France, Poland, Denmark, Spain, Norway and Portugal , and during spring 2013 in even more countries.

Please come to America soon!

Muscle Cars as Vector Art

Many more delightful examples here.