Been a while
Saturday, 9. February 2008, 13:33:44
It's been ages since I wrote anything here. A rapid factual account of some places I have been and things I have done since then...
Posts tagged with "books"
Writing books
Friday, 12. October 2007, 08:18:20
So far this year has been about reading books. But for the second time in a year I received a package recently that had a book in it where I had written something. This one was "Knitting the Semantic Web" - a collection of papers edited by Jane Greenberg and Miel^H^H^H^H^ Eva Méndez, and Eva and I wrote one of them called "Library Cards for the 21st century".
It's a nice book - reasonable size for carrying around, hardback for hitting things, white and orange on the spine for simple recognition (and upsetting Moose's sense of æsthetics). You should all rush out and buy it - I am sure your bookshop has been stacking up advance copies in anticipation... (if you really want to buy it, drop me a message - I have some order forms).
The basic idea of our paper is that unlike normal XML, which is pretty much what library catalogues were since they started getting on computers, RDF gives you the ability to scribble more useful stuff on them or add a second or fifth card under a different category in the same way you could with an actual card catalogue. (When I started my university studies we atually had one of those - duplicated at different parts of the library. Sometimes cards from the 19th century are better than the computer records of the 21st). And the added bonus is being able to search it all electronicaly still, rather than fighting over the "PROM - PROT" box with the big guy with a bad reputation who doesn't much like you ...
Since my FileVault enryption failed and swallowed all my data, and sine it was non-critical, the book is probably the only copy I have handy of the paper, actually. Anyway, it is nice to see my name in a book even if it is only on the inside. And it was a fun artile to write - it was something I had been thinking for a while.
It's a nice book - reasonable size for carrying around, hardback for hitting things, white and orange on the spine for simple recognition (and upsetting Moose's sense of æsthetics). You should all rush out and buy it - I am sure your bookshop has been stacking up advance copies in anticipation... (if you really want to buy it, drop me a message - I have some order forms).
The basic idea of our paper is that unlike normal XML, which is pretty much what library catalogues were since they started getting on computers, RDF gives you the ability to scribble more useful stuff on them or add a second or fifth card under a different category in the same way you could with an actual card catalogue. (When I started my university studies we atually had one of those - duplicated at different parts of the library. Sometimes cards from the 19th century are better than the computer records of the 21st). And the added bonus is being able to search it all electronicaly still, rather than fighting over the "PROM - PROT" box with the big guy with a bad reputation who doesn't much like you ...
Since my FileVault enryption failed and swallowed all my data, and sine it was non-critical, the book is probably the only copy I have handy of the paper, actually. Anyway, it is nice to see my name in a book even if it is only on the inside. And it was a fun artile to write - it was something I had been thinking for a while.
The joy of Jetlag...
Sunday, 7. October 2007, 22:05:15
I am suppoesd to be asleep. I have to be up early tomorrow. But I was at two great conferences recently, and squeezed in some travel...
A destination reached...
Wednesday, 26. September 2007, 03:44:45
...but the journey continues.
I flew to Australia yesterday, and I finished my 52nd and 53rd books.
I flew to Australia yesterday, and I finished my 52nd and 53rd books.
Half a century plus one
Friday, 21. September 2007, 12:21:10
I have nearly read one book for every week of this year...
Booking them up...
Thursday, 13. September 2007, 10:15:12
It's been a while. I started reading a bunch of books that are going slowly, but in the middle I read some more...
I'm in London, Still...
Wednesday, 1. August 2007, 11:08:13
Thanks to a cancelled flight. A night on a floor, but breakfast in good company and the floods and thunder of yesterday have been changed for reading Under Milk Wood in the embankment gardens and watching the people go by...
(I wrote this ages ago and never posted it because I was offline then got distracted by work)
(I wrote this ages ago and never posted it because I was offline then got distracted by work)
Witches, warlords and words...
Wednesday, 18. July 2007, 17:12:17
I was once likened to Genghis Khan. According to the book of that name, by John Man, this was definitely a great compliment. Part biography of the man who made an empire bigger than anyone had before him, and part historiographical journalism, I greatly enjoyed it, and learned some stuff about Mongolia as well as about Genghis Khan. (Sorry Mielina, this is where I got your cards for Kaja's game).
Book 42 was my third (and least complex) book in Norwegian. "Heksene" by Roald Dahl, is written for kids - kids under 10. Illustrated by Quentin Blake, it is about witches. Although it purports to be autobiographical, I am a little suspicious that it is not the entire truth...
Now I am re-reading a book about books. Although I only read it in english before. I am not about a quarter of the way through "Il Nome della Rosa", by Umberto Eco. And some easier books alongside, since I got to Jim's and found a pile of easy reading (I have had the Eco book for years, but never dared to try reading it before. I only backed myself into the corner by running out of books at a moment I was packing in a hurry).
Book 42 was my third (and least complex) book in Norwegian. "Heksene" by Roald Dahl, is written for kids - kids under 10. Illustrated by Quentin Blake, it is about witches. Although it purports to be autobiographical, I am a little suspicious that it is not the entire truth...
Now I am re-reading a book about books. Although I only read it in english before. I am not about a quarter of the way through "Il Nome della Rosa", by Umberto Eco. And some easier books alongside, since I got to Jim's and found a pile of easy reading (I have had the Eco book for years, but never dared to try reading it before. I only backed myself into the corner by running out of books at a moment I was packing in a hurry).
Crossing oceans, faiths and languages
Wednesday, 20. June 2007, 23:51:18
Yet more books. And admitting that I had a week where I didn't read a book at all.
Is thirty such a scary number?
Thursday, 19. April 2007, 11:29:27
I was a bit shy about having a birthday party when I had completed thirty years in my lifetime. So I went to a different party for something else.
Now I have completed thirty books in this year. No party, but here are reviews of the latest two...
Now I have completed thirty books in this year. No party, but here are reviews of the latest two...
Unwound or undone
Monday, 9. April 2007, 15:59:50
I had a holiday, with no connection at all to the internet. That happens rarely, in part because I am concerned about what happens when I do get connected again. But it is important to relax. (And to spend time with Miel when I can 
).
And I got to add a new country (Number 46. The Dominican Republic is the bigger of the two places I have been in the Caribbean)
).And I got to add a new country
(Number 46. The Dominican Republic is the bigger of the two places I have been in the Caribbean)Flip sides...
Monday, 9. April 2007, 07:56:16
More books - half a dozen of them, taking me past the halfway mark. Religion, history, politics, fiction, psychology. Some of them I bought on purpose, some of them I would never have bought, and read because "they were there".
The good, the bad, and the really rather ugly (one of these books I would not buy on the prnciple that such authors should not be encouraged), some of the reviews are stretching out. Having accused an author of writing repetitive drivel, maybe I should spend more time editing these reviews - but here they are...
The good, the bad, and the really rather ugly (one of these books I would not buy on the prnciple that such authors should not be encouraged), some of the reviews are stretching out. Having accused an author of writing repetitive drivel, maybe I should spend more time editing these reviews - but here they are...
Almost halfway there...
Monday, 26. March 2007, 01:59:59
The plan is to read 52 books (at least) this year. And I am in the 20s. Quick reviews of the latest...
Reading of desire
Sunday, 18. March 2007, 08:34:18
I read some more books. So a few brief notes about them...
First quarter in a canter
Sunday, 25. February 2007, 19:47:38
Wel, sort of. I am ahead of my target reading rate, if nothing else...
So more instant reviews.
So more instant reviews.
Build, Borrow or Buy?
Tuesday, 20. February 2007, 07:28:59
I have finished my books. And I am on the road. Maybe I will go buy a new one or two....
Book 'em...
Thursday, 8. February 2007, 05:37:26
I have got ahead on the book front, so here are some thoughts on my reading for the last and next couple of weeks...
Showing posts 1 - 20 of 25.
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