tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-197568142024-03-13T09:52:15.888-07:00ChrisFreeland.comChris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-60871661171854787232017-03-23T19:27:00.003-07:002017-03-24T07:16:16.742-07:00A brief history of the Crunden Branch LibraryLast summer I took an American Library History course and researched the Crunden Branch Library of the St. Louis Public Library system. I was personally interested in the library because it is located next to the abandoned site of the former Pruitt-Igoe housing projects in St. Louis, and I bike by the site all the time. I noticed the building, now abandoned, but still with the name chiseled in stone over the doorway, and wondered if the library had served Pruitt-Igoe. In doing basic research, I learned that that building was actually the second iteration of the branch, and that the first Crunden Branch Library was a Carnegie library from 1909. I found the story interesting and wrote it into a paper, which I then adapted for a presentation at the Missouri Conference on History and finally into a paper for <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/5mkn1vx5xigru5q/Freeland_Crunden%20Branch%20Library_SubmittedMCH.pdf?dl=0">publication by Missouri Historical Review</a> (forthcoming).<br />
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<strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland/from-eames-young-to-pruittigoe" target="_blank" title="From Eames & Young to Pruitt-Igoe">From Eames & Young to Pruitt-Igoe</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland" target="_blank">Chris Freeland</a></strong> </div>
Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-3065777051662156632015-08-28T11:02:00.001-07:002015-08-28T11:02:20.205-07:00Documenting Ferguson: Building a community digital repository<iframe src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/2AlfJda6YbesVV" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="border:1px solid #CCC; border-width:1px; margin-bottom:5px; max-width: 100%;" allowfullscreen> </iframe> <div style="margin-bottom:5px"> <strong> <a href="//www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland/documenting-ferguson-building-a-community-digital-repository" title="Documenting Ferguson: Building a community digital repository" target="_blank">Documenting Ferguson: Building a community digital repository</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="//www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland" target="_blank">Chris Freeland</a></strong> </div>
Presented at Washington University in St. Louis on August 13, 2015.
The August 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, along with other recent police-involved shootings around the country have inspired demonstrations, conversation, debate and calls for systemic change in our society. Soon after Brown’s shooting, Washington University Libraries and other St. Louis cultural heritage institutions established a repository to document events in or inspired by Ferguson. Appropriately named Documenting Ferguson, this community-sourced open repository now has more than 1,500 files of digital photographs, video recordings and other media contributed from all over the country. These are viewable online at <a href="http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson">http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson</a>.Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-40398257391186193482015-03-24T10:08:00.001-07:002015-03-24T10:08:16.000-07:00Overview of plans for Newman Numismatic Portal<iframe src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/46220785" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="border:1px solid #CCC; border-width:1px; margin-bottom:5px; max-width: 100%;" allowfullscreen> </iframe> <div style="margin-bottom:5px"> <strong> <a href="//www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland/newman-numismatic-portal-overview-mar-2015" title="Newman Numismatic Portal Overview - Mar 2015" target="_blank">Newman Numismatic Portal Overview - Mar 2015</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="//www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland" target="_blank">Chris Freeland</a></strong> </div>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-61038342203294994392014-11-17T06:44:00.000-08:002014-11-17T06:44:58.781-08:00Establishing the Missouri Hub: A Service Hub for DPLA<iframe src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/41654368" width="476" height="400" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<p>...or "How We Made a Cultural Heritage Community Partnership Happen in One Year and Nineteen Days"</p>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-33697478478175430982014-04-29T09:32:00.002-07:002014-04-29T09:32:33.676-07:00Organizing a DPLA Service Hub in Missouri<iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/32983633" width="427" height="356" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="border:1px solid #CCC; border-width:1px 1px 0; margin-bottom:5px; max-width: 100%;" allowfullscreen> </iframe> <div style="margin-bottom:5px"> <strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland/tues-freeland-localdpla" title="Organizing a DPLA Service Hub in Missouri" target="_blank">Organizing a DPLA Service Hub in Missouri</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland" target="_blank">Chris Freeland</a></strong> </div>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-57635608355825317522013-06-24T04:32:00.001-07:002013-06-24T04:32:54.519-07:00Suellen Eggers' retirement - Librarian loves her typewriterIn honor of Suellen Eggers' retirement from Booth Library at Eastern Illinois University, I wanted to share a silly little film we made back in the late 1990's. Enjoy!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Uzzher-mG8k" width="480"></iframe>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-21733426189895893882012-12-14T11:10:00.000-08:002012-12-14T11:10:07.436-08:00Pilots and Partnerships at WUSTL<iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/15641980" width="476" height="400" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-18705547383476406992012-05-17T13:30:00.001-07:002012-05-18T16:26:18.917-07:00The Story of Josh, the Diabetic Wonder Dog<style type="text/css">
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<span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/7217589792/">Josh, 2009</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/">chrisfreeland2002</a>.</span></div>
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We adopted Josh from the St. Louis City Pound in the fall of 2000. The Pound was a bleak place, a kill shelter, which is why we decided to adopt from there. He was in a crate with his litter mates, all cute fuzzballs from their German Shepherd/Chow mix. I initially picked up one of the tan females, but Chris noticed <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6815142114/in/set-72157629775053020">a little guy who had woken up, all black with tan spots on his eyes and legs</a>. That was it, he was ours.</div>
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We got him because our other dog, Samantha, was part Corgi and she really needed something to herd besides us. She loved having a puppy and kept him in line. Right from the start he was always just a happy dog…he didn't think he was a person trapped in a dog's body, like Sam, he was just a dog with a big goofy grin & a pretty tail (we called him "Fluffy Britches" because of how the fur on his haunches looked like fuzzy pants). Actually, I was afraid he was a little mentally challenged because one summer when I was painting our dining room I looked over and he was drinking paint out of the tray. His nose & all the fur around his mouth were buttercream yellow. It was actually pretty funny, and after a little wretching session outside he was fine.</div>
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He loved to fetch his toys, especially tennis balls when he was younger. We'd throw them from our front room into our kitchen (yep, throwing balls & dogs running in the house, all fine with us) and he'd scramble to go get it. After a couple of tosses he'd take his ball & go lay in the corner, a not-too-subtle notice that play time was over.</div>
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In December 2008 Sam was diagnosed with cancer. She had surgery to remove the tumor from her colon and while she was having surgery, Josh started getting sick. We took him to the vet and he was diagnosed as diabetic. We had no idea how we were going to care for a diabetic dog. We had both started traveling between 25-50% of our time for work and it just didn't seem possible that we could manage twice daily insulin shots to keep him well. We decided, since neither one of us was traveling the rest of December, to just see how it went and decide next steps in 2009. </div>
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He responded well to the insulin and we figured out how to make it all work, mostly due to having a fantastic neighbor/friend/dog sitter, Jamie, who could give him shots when we traveled. Amazingly, we gave him more than 1,700 shots and never missed a single one. Not one. Sometimes we couldn't give him his shot if he hadn't eaten, because the insulin had to be given with food to be effective, but we were there to try.</div>
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He slowly went blind due to the diabetes. We never gave him much credit in the brains department (see the paint incident above), but he had total mastery of our house, yard, and neighborhood while almost completely blind. I was impressed at how a blind dog could get around on his own - he knew where all the furniture was, where the steps were, and would even feel his way around with a front paw if he wasn't entirely sure he was at the steps to our deck. He decided on his own one evening that he was no longer going to go up our steep stairs to the second floor, so he quite happily continued on as a first floor dog. When we'd go upstairs he took it as his opportunity to get up on the couch. </div>
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And then a wacky, amazing thing happened on New Year's Eve 2010-2011. Josh had never liked sirens or thunderstorms; he would always howl when ambulances went by, or when the tornado tests would go off the first Monday of every month. On NYE, quite unexpectedly, the tornado sirens started up and didn't stop. We watched the weather and sure enough, there were tornadoes heading in from the west (the ones that ended up doing severe damage across parts of St. Louis). I had been taking pictures of our house ahead of our annual NYE party, so I flipped the switch over to video & grabbed a clip of him howling along with the sirens. Because it was a really unusual time of year for tornadoes, I uploaded the video to YouTube and filed a CNN iReport bit with the video. Later that afternoon I got a call from a CNN producer, who wanted to use my video of Josh in an on-air segment and web reports. Sure enough, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/5317414102/in/set-72157629775053020">the next day our dog was on CNN</a>! It is really, really trippy to watch the talking heads on tv talk about your dog. Josh was unaffected by his meteoric rise to stardom, though he did start demanding only steak and red M&Ms for dinner. He continued to howl at sirens and thunderstorms even though he was never broadcast again. Here's the video from YouTube, the CNN video is <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/weather/2011/01/01/nat.missouri.damage.cnn">here</a>:</div>
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This year his health started to decline. His blood sugar was less evenly regulated, and he started to slow down. We knew we were getting close to the end, and that he would let us know when it was time. That day was today. I was at home this morning, luckily, for an inspection of our apartment building next door. After the inspection I came over to let the dogs out before going in to work. I was gathering my stuff when I heard our other dogs barking in a sharp, alarmed way, and I went outside to find Josh on his side having a seizure. He had had a bad episode about 2 months ago while we were out of town, and had spent a couple of days in the hospital, but had rebounded back. I should mention that these were not hypoglycemic incidents (the "Shelby, drink your juice!" Steel Magnolia kinds of things that all diabetics go through) but full-on seizures. I knew today was different - I could just tell. I put the other dogs away and took him to our vet. After careful consideration with our vet, the absolutely wonderful folks at Kingsbury Animal Hospital, and after a call with Chris, who was traveling, we made the decision to end his suffering. He went peacefully and without pain, just after 1pm today.</div>
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It's always sad when you lose a pet, even (especially?) when you know it's coming. I didn't expect it would be today, but I also wasn't unprepared for it. I take comfort in knowing we did an amazing job keeping him happy and healthy in the 3 1/2 years he was diabetic, and that we were able to help him reach an advanced age in spite of his ailments. He gave us nothing but love, and we did the same for him. I'm going to miss him like crazy.</div>
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And as our neighbor Sharon said, thunderstorms will never be the same.<br />
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More photos of the handsome guy at Flickr: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/sets/72157629775053020/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/sets/72157629775053020/</a></div>
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<br /></div>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-6910629741642574182012-02-10T15:53:00.001-08:002012-02-10T16:18:23.738-08:00Finnish sauna & ice hole swimming at Kuusijärvi, Vantaa<span class="Apple-style-span"><style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6853866591/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7037/6853866591_b8408cb05a.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /><span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6853866591/">Me, emerging from the freezing water at Kuusijärvi, Vantaa</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/">chrisfreeland2002</a>.</span></div> <br /><br />I never expected that my job would take me to a frozen lake in Finland, surrounded by coworkers from across Europe and the former Soviet Union, the lone American bobbing in a hole cut in the ice. Intentionally. And for fun.<br /><br />I came to Helsinki for a BHL-Europe partner meeting. It's February, and daily peak temperatures hover around -15C. We've had a 700m walk from the hotel to the (charming & hospitable) meeting room each day, and everyone has commented how brutally cold it is outside.<br /><br />The group and I were invited by <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/emeyke">Evgeniy Meyke</a>, a technology developer & collaborator for the Biodiversity Heritage Library who happens to live outside Helsinki, to experience a traditional Finnish sauna followed by quick swims in freezing water. My thought: Well, when in Finland... I'm unlikely to make this trip again, so might as well embrace the craziness of it all and do it - a once in a lifetime chance.<br /><br />Flash forward to this afternoon and we're riding on a bus headed 30 minutes north of Helsinki to Kuusijärvi, Vantaa, now officially the furthest point North I've ever been. We had 5 guys & 1 gal participating, and the wife of one of the men who wanted to come along to take pictures & fish us out if needed. We got off the bus in the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6853782601/in/photostream/">middle of a snow-encrusted country forest</a> (read: the middle of nowhere) and met Evginey at the entrance to the outdoor recreation area. It was just past 4:30pm and the sun was making a slow descent. Lovely. And cold.<br /><br />So the whole thing goes down like this: You pay your 10euro at the main house, and grab a pair of the motley assortment of waterproof shoes available. Men & women split up into separate locker rooms and change into swimsuits. In most Finnish saunas you go in without clothing, but this is a public sauna and so you wear a suit. You throw on your shoes, grab your towel, and walk out into the open air, which by this time is well below the balmy -15C we had during days in the city.<br /><br />You start off by warming up in the smoke sauna. In this particular setting there are 4 cabins. Each has a little entry room where you take off your shoes and drop off your towel, then walk into the main room of the sauna. There are two rows of wood seating in an L-shape around a brick oven heaped with coals. The room fits 8-10 people. And like in every other sauna, you sit there & stew. You throw water on the coals which produces steam and releases an intense blast of heat, and so you get all toasty & sweaty. You do that as long as you can stand (usually less than 10 minutes for the non-Finns) and then you put your shoes back on & head back out into the open air.<br /><br />Now this is what was amazing: It felt absolutely wonderful to be standing outside, drenched in sweat, in below freezing cold air. And then you walk down to the water (maybe 15m). And here's where it gets crazy.<br /><br />There's a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6853797843/in/photostream">square hole cut in the thick ice on the lake</a>. There are wooden steps leading down into the water. The top step and the hand rails are covered in ice. You kick off your shoes and start walking down the steps, while your hands and feet freeze to the ice on the steps and rails. And then you walk into the ice cold water and submerge yourself up to your neck.<br /><br />My first trip in, I stayed in for maybe 3 seconds and then hurried back up the stairs. The Finns behind me were a little annoyed that I barely even made it into the water before jumping out, because I was in their way. It's a psychological thing - your brain is yelling "Get out of the water, you stupid American!"<br /><br />In reality, the water is warmer than the air outside. But, yeah, it's COLD, and goes against everything we've ever learned about getting out on frozen lakes in the US. So then you walk up the stairs, your skin sticking to the stairs (i</span>f you'll notice on the picture with this post, I'm about to put my hand on a freezing pile of ice), j<span class="Apple-style-span">am your frozen feet into your frozen shoes, and once again <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6853913173/in/photostream">marvel that you're standing outside, dripping wet, this time from cold water, and yet you feel completely comfortable</a>. Being the manly men we were, we hooted & hollered about our achievement and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6853915079/in/photostream">stood in the snow to snap some pictures</a>. Larissa, our female partner in the polar bear plunge, seems to have intentionally dodged the camera, but she was there, hooting & hollering along with us. By this time my hair & beard had started to ice.<br /><br />And then you walk back to the sauna and do the whole bloody routine again as many times as you can tolerate. On my second attempt I cleared my mind and stayed in the water for probably 10-15 seconds, paddled a bit, and got out. 3rd time out I just walked around the outside of the cabin and didn't take a dip. 4th time out we bypassed the water & headed inside to shower and change. Normally your sauna excursion ends with warm tea or beer in the cafe the house runs, but we had a dinner back in Helsinki to attend. I felt calm, my skin felt great, and when we reached the restaurant I was starving. Luckily dinner was Nepalese - rich, warm & delicious.<br /><br />Will I do it again? Probably not, unfortunately, because I doubt I'll be back in Finland again in the winter. But WOULD I do it again? Absolutely! It's a crazy, marvelous experience that makes you feel totally invigorated - your heart's pumping, your blood's circulating, and every nasty toxin your body has been storing up has been magically wicked away from your skin by the alternating heat/cold. I'm now 6 hours from my last trip to the water and I still feel great.<br /><br />I don't know that there's any global truths to be learned here, or that I can wrap this up so that it all comes together in some meaningful way. I traveled out to the Finnish countryside with co-workers who have become great friends, sat in a hot room & swam in a frozen lake. Insane! But I enjoyed the heck out of it, and if you ever get the chance I would highly recommend it.<br /><br />Here's a video someone posted to YouTube, showing a dip in the same spot & steps...but without 6" of ice! <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcePmj3TKek">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcePmj3TKek</a></span>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-19123134383541183482012-01-28T07:22:00.001-08:002012-01-28T07:26:40.064-08:00Mark Akers' Memorial Service<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/1051154596/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1038/1051154596_fe89df2997.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /><span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/1051154596/">Mark & Lewis Reed, President of the Board of Aldermen</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/">chrisfreeland2002</a>.</span></div> <br /><p> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:documentproperties> <o:template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:revision>0</o:Revision> <o:totaltime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:pages>1</o:Pages> <o:words>1053</o:Words> <o:characters>6003</o:Characters> <o:company>Missouri Botanical Garden</o:Company> <o:lines>50</o:Lines> <o:paragraphs>12</o:Paragraphs> <o:characterswithspaces>7372</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:drawinggridhorizontalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:drawinggridverticalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:displayhorizontaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:displayverticaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:dontautofitconstrainedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="276"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:130%;">Mark Akers’ Memorial Service</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">January 28, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"> </span></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Prelude: </b>Closer Walk with Thee and other music<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"> </span></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Opening Music</b>: How Great Thou Art<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Dave Brinker, Piano & Flute, Fred Isom, Vocals<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Welcoming Remarks<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Mark Akers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My name is Chris Freeland, and I am a neighbor of Mark & Sharon’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In his final weeks Mark asked that I officiate his service, and with the agreement of his family, I do so with honor.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Mark Lyn Akers was born on March 29, 1954, in Belgrade and passed away Friday, January 20, 2012, at his home in St. Louis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Mark is survived by his wife Sharon, his father Lindell, his brother Kim and Kim’s wife Sandra, his son Sean and Sean’s wife Tara, and his grandchildren Aniya and Ezra, whom Mark liked to call EZ, and his beloved dogs Roxy and Murphy.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Eulogy<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">The obituary that ran in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described Mark as an “all-around great guy.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I think that’s fitting, and I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who disagreed that Mark was an all-around great guy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He had a strong moral compass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He knew what was right.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">That helped him in his job as a lawyer and a Prosecuting Attorney.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Lawyers don’t always get a lot of respect, but Mark approached his job with a guiding sense of honor and integrity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>For Mark being a lawyer wasn’t about ego or personal gain. He was driven by doing what was right for his clients, and helping people as best he could. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">But there was much more to Mark than just his job. Spend an afternoon around Mark and you quickly experienced his passion for sports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He loved to be outside, playing tennis or golf, just as much as he loved watching Mizzou football or the Cards win the World Series on his enormous TV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We liked to joke with Mark that his TV was bigger than he was. You knew that if his team was on, he could be reliably found basking in its soft glow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Mark was an especially enthusiastic viewer, providing more colorful commentary than the pros on TV, and he certainly knew more than the umpires and referees who could have benefitted from Mark’s counsel. And, if the dogs were hiding, you knew Mark was sharing his opinion, loudly, with the television.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Mark’s true passion was his well-honed art of conversation. He especially liked to talk about history, politics, movies, or whatever headline was making news that day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Mark never turned down an opportunity to give you his opinion or his view on any topic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He’d start with:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Well, guys, I’ll tell you…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Or<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Ok, you see, it’s like this…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">And he’d be off.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">What you might not know about Mark was that he was a terrific dancer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He could really move.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>One of our favorite nights, one he mentioned often, was at a friend’s wedding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They had a great reception with a really good band, playing everything from Motown to disco to country.<a name="_GoBack"></a> Mark and Sharon barely took a break from the dancefloor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We all had a wonderful time that night, and Mark said he danced so much his knees hurt for the next two days.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Mark had many great qualities, but the two that I most admired were his sense of humor and his courage, both of which Mark put to good use throughout the years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I met Mark after his kidney transplant, a gift of life from his brother, Kim, and I never once heard him complain about his health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>His sense of humor and his courage got him through the tough times, and made everyone around him assured that it was all going to be okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Even these past few months, when he was suffering from the effects of chemo, we’d call over to the house and ask how he was doing and he’d say “Well, I’m doing okay today.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Mark did okay because he had a large community of people behind him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>His family and friends here and abroad, his neighbors in the city who all supported him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>His son Sean and daughter-in-law Tara, and his friend Charlie Williams, a true “angel of mercy” who stayed with Mark during his last weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And of course, his wife, Sharon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In one of our last talks Mark described their relationship as “probably unusual-looking from the outside,” but it worked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Mark was loved, and he knew it.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">In Mark’s final days, he said he was ready.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>On Thursday, he told his family, “One day more.” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Mark was on heavy medication throughout his last day, Friday, but according to Sharon around 6pm he became alert and talkative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He said clearly, “I don’t know how to get there.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>His brother Kim told him, “You get into your big Lincoln, turn on the heated seats, put on Martina McBride, and tool on down the highway.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And Mark said “Yes, that’s the way.” And that’s how he went, later that night.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Mark passed the way he wanted: at home, peacefully, without pain, surrounded by his family, with his dogs at his side, in a house that he loved in an extended community that loved him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We should all be so lucky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And we were lucky, for knowing Mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We are all the better for having had him in our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Remembrance of Mark</b>: Clay Loomis<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Moment of Reflection</b>: Amazing Grace<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Closing Reading</b>:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">In his final weeks Mark and I talked about the readings he wanted presented at this service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We talked about traditional biblical passages, but none of those felt right to Mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There was one poem he wanted read during the service here, as it was one of his personal favorites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Invictus</i>, by William Ernest Henley.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Out of the night that covers me,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Black as the Pit from pole to pole,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>I thank whatever gods may be<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>For my unconquerable soul.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"> </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>In the fell clutch of circumstance<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>I have not winced nor cried aloud.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Under the bludgeonings of chance<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>My head is bloody, but unbowed.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"> </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Beyond this place of wrath and tears<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Looms but the Horror of the shade,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>And yet the menace of the years<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"> </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>It matters not how strait the gate,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>How charged with punishments the scroll.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>I am the master of my fate:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>I am the captain of my soul.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Closing Prayer</b>: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we’ve gathered together to celebrate Mark Akers and we now give him to your eternal keeping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Help his family find comfort in the days and weeks ahead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Let them know that Mark is at peace and has rejoined the family who went before him. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">As a closing to this ceremony, let us now recite the words that you taught us to pray so long ago:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Our Father who art in heaven,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">hallowed be thy name.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Thy kingdom come.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Thy will be done<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">on earth as it is in heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Give us this day our daily bread,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">and forgive us our trespasses,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">as we forgive those who trespass against us,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">and lead us not into temptation,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">but deliver us from evil.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">For thine is the kingdom,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">and the power, and the glory, for ever.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Amen.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Closing Music</b>: I’ll Fly Away<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Gravesite Service<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Mark asked that I close here with the final passage from another of his favorite poems, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Song of Myself</i>, from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is non-traditional, like Mark, and perfectly fitting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Let’s bow our heads for a moment of personal prayer, and a reading of the passage Mark chose.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I bequeth myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"> </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>And filter and fibre your blood.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"> </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Missing me one place search another,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I stop some where waiting for you.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Amen.</span><span style="font-size:16.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--><p></p>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-61608636923759918272012-01-20T21:53:00.000-08:002012-01-20T21:54:20.510-08:00BHL: Assigning DOIs & Other Identifiers to Legacy Literature<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_11185603"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland/bhl-assigning-dois-other-identifiers-to-legacy-literature" title="BHL: Assigning DOIs & Other Identifiers to Legacy Literature">BHL: Assigning DOIs & Other Identifiers to Legacy Literature</a></strong><object id="__sse11185603" width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=201201freelanddoisala-120120234639-phpapp01&stripped_title=bhl-assigning-dois-other-identifiers-to-legacy-literature&userName=chrisfreeland" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"/><embed name="__sse11185603" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=201201freelanddoisala-120120234639-phpapp01&stripped_title=bhl-assigning-dois-other-identifiers-to-legacy-literature&userName=chrisfreeland" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland">Chris Freeland</a>.</div></div>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-25674415013814314672012-01-19T16:48:00.000-08:002012-01-21T12:59:27.044-08:00BHL and Linked Data at ALA MidwinterAt the next-to-last minute I was invited on a panel at the American Library Association Midwinter meeting this weekend in Dallas, TX. Awesome, gives me an opportunity to talk about BHL's experience assigning DOIs to legacy literature, and I want to demonstrate CrossRef's Linked Data integration for DOIs:<br /><br />Press Release:<br /><a href="http://www.crossref.org/crweblog/2011/04/crossref_and_international_doi.html">http://www.crossref.org/crweblog/2011/04/crossref_and_international_doi.html</a><br /><br />Tech info:<br /><a href="http://www.crossref.org/CrossTech/2011/04/content_negotiation_for_crossr.html">http://www.crossref.org/CrossTech/2011/04/content_negotiation_for_crossr.html</a><br /><br />The DOI I'm demo'ing is associated with "The amoebae living in man; a zoological monograph" because that's a great title!<br />It's online at BHL at: <a href="http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/10172">http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/10172</a><br />And its DOI is: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.10172">10.5962/bhl.title.10172</a><br /><br />I've used <a href="http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/rdf_browser/">Disco</a> & <a href="http://www5.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/marbles/">Marbles</a> and am getting nowhere fast.<br /><br />The irony that I'm giving a talk on Linked Data & am a Tech Director and am asking this is not lost on me. I'm also not too proud to admit gaps in my knowledge and to reach out for assistance when needed. Basically just interested in retrieving some RDF for the DOI, grab a screenshot of the response. Anyone interested in helping out and getting mad props at ALA, on Twitter, on <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland/bhl-assigning-dois-other-identifiers-to-legacy-literature">Slideshare</a>, and everywhere else I blab on about?<br /><br />***UPDATE 20 Jan 2012***<br />I found it surprising that everyone (4ppl) err'd out, so I send a support question to CrossRef. Turns out their API had a bug! They weren't returning results for DOIs assigned to books that don't have an ISBN, and much of BHL is ISBN-less. Bowker is the ISBN registration agency in the US and we pose too much of a weird case for them, have never been able to move further on assigning ISBN's to legacy content, and probably won't. Anyway, they were glad we pointed out this anomaly and they'll have a fix out early next week. Glad I asked, rather than assuming it was me & giving up. Thanks to all who provided input & assistance: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/asaletourneau">@asaletourneau</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/cajunjoel">@cajunjoel</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/rdmpage">@rdmpage</a>. And my talk is online at: <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland/bhl-assigning-dois-other-identifiers-to-legacy-literature">http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland/bhl-assigning-dois-other-identifiers-to-legacy-literature</a>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-44506119664164980022011-12-02T09:18:00.001-08:002013-09-26T10:12:24.817-07:00BOINCing Angry Birds for BHL: Purposeful Gaming in Digital LibrariesWe've been talking about the subject of crowdsourcing and gaming for the <a href="http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/">Biodiversity Heritage Library</a> for several months now, but as it is outside any BHL project funding, no one has taken on the challenge. During last month's <a href="http://www.lifeandliterature.org/">Life & Literature Conference</a> I led the Technology breakout session, and the subject of gaming came up again, but this time with the caveat that it should have a purpose - as in, creating a game out of BHL content that works to enhance the data contained within BHL, like defining article boundaries, setting page types (e.g., map, illustration, text, blank), rekeying scientific names, etc.<br />
<br />
I think the <span style="font-style: italic;">purposeful gamification of BHL</span> would be a huge opportunity to make BHL an even richer resource. Other digital libraries are taking this approach. The National Library of Finland leads the pack with its "<a href="http://www.digitalkoot.fi/">DigitalKoot</a>" project, which features different Facebook apps that have players rekey suspect text in OCR via games that, in one example, builds bridges for moles to find love. I've played them. They're kind of fun. I've ended up killing a lot of lonely moles because I don't have the right characters on my US keyboard.<br />
<br />
You could imagine BHL putting its OCR into the same games for improvement. But I actually want something else - I want offline games. DigitalKoot runs through Facebook, so I have to be connected to play. I travel internationally, so I spend a lot of down time on planes and I turn off data roaming on my iPhone whenever I reach my destination because it's incredibly expensive. Who the heck wants to spend hundreds of euros rekeying Finnish OCR? But if I had an offline game, one that didn't require me to always be connected to the Internet, I could spend LOTS of time doing this kind of purposeful gaming.<br />
<br />
I was asked to expand on this idea a bit today while in Brussels for a BHL-Europe meeting. I was finally able to put it together in a way that made sense for people - I want a game like Angry Birds that I can play while I'm standing in a long grocery store line, or flying, or on a train...basically any time that I have some spare cycles.<br />
<br />
And when I described this as "spare cycles" it brought me full circle to a project we did in 2005 called <a href="http://www.botanicus.org/Scilinc.aspx">SciLINC</a> ("Scientific Literature Indexing on Networked Computers", my best acronym ever, thank you very much). SciLINC was a project that used the BOINC framework, which is <a href="http://boinc.berkeley.edu/">open-source software for volunteer computing and grid computing</a>, to find scientific names in literature, preceeding our work with TaxonFinder. The BOINC platform grew out of the SETI@Home project, where users downloaded software that ran as a screensaver and used the spare cycles of an unused computer to crunch through radio waves looking for signs of extraterrestrial life, and then reported the results back to a main server when the computing job was done and when it had a live network connection. <br />
<br />
In the SciLINC project we packaged up OCR text and sent it to volunteer computers along with an algorithm for finding scientific names. It was a wonderful demonstration, but we ran out of jobs in about 2 days because text indexing isn't processor intensive; the best BOINC projects take small inputs that require lots of computing resources. Lessons learned (final report <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/695158/SciLINC_FinalReport.pdf">here</a>, & <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/695158/SciLINC_FinalReport_Appendix.pdf">appendix</a>). In doing the project I gained an understanding of how jobs are packaged for distribution to volunteers and the kinds of inputs and outputs that are successful in an asynchronous computing environment. <br />
<br />
So to bring this all together, I want a gaming system that improves the metadata in BHL. I want it to be asynchronous and offline so that I can play the game using my own spare cycles (time & brainpower) whenever & wherever and then upload my results to the "game master" when I'm next connected. To do that requires that the system sends me packages of data that don't wreak havoc on a mobile data plan (small inputs), but that give me enough tasks to work on with all of my spare cycles on planes. The tasks have to result in improvements in BHL, not just throwing birds at pigs. And it has to be fun. And it should probably have a killer soundtrack (Tetris, anyone?).<br />
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Who's with me?<br />
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***<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Update Feb 24, 2012</span>*** This post has generated a fair amount of interest since its original posting date, leading BHL to develop a public wiki page that has some example tasks/data challenges we think are candidates for gamification. That page is online at <a href="http://biodivlib.wikispaces.com/BHL+and+Gaming">http://biodivlib.wikispaces.com/BHL+and+Gaming</a> <br />
<br />
***<span style="color: red;">Update Sep 26, 2013</span>*** <a href="http://www.imls.gov/news/2013_ols_grant_announcement.aspx#MO">It was announced today</a> that BHL, through Missouri Botanical Garden, received a National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for a project to develop & evaluate purposeful gaming techniques for crowdsourced metadata enhancement. Kudos to the team for operationalizing these ideas!! </div>
Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-63011272024968284972011-11-15T18:30:00.000-08:002011-11-15T18:31:58.852-08:00Report from Life & Literature Breakouts<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_10176850"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland/life-literature-future-framing-for-bhl" title="Life & Literature Future Framing for BHL" target="_blank">Life & Literature Future Framing for BHL</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/10176850" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland" target="_blank">Chris Freeland</a> </div> </div><br /><br /><p>14-15 November, 2011, Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA. <a href="http://www.lifeandliterature.org">http://www.lifeandliterature.org</a>.Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-83186798504586003192011-11-04T07:43:00.000-07:002011-11-04T07:46:28.417-07:00Good coverage of my project(s) in Popular Science article "Bringing Biodiversity Data Online, One Leaf At A Time":<br /><a href="http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-10/pressed-plants-are-data-too">http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-10/pressed-plants-are-data-too</a><br /><br />I especially like "Freeland is a self-described open-access evangelist, encouraging other herbaria and museums to share their collections as openly as possible." Open Data #FTW!Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-40057781591563638452011-10-18T06:18:00.000-07:002011-10-18T06:19:47.175-07:00Scribbles & Scraps: Darwin’s Library & the Online Display of Annotated Biodiversity Literature<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_9748097"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland/scribbles-scraps-darwins-library-the-online-display-of" title="Scribbles & Scraps: Darwin’s Library & Annotated Literature" target="_blank">Scribbles & Scraps: Darwin’s Library & Annotated Literature</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/9748097" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland" target="_blank">Chris Freeland</a> </div> </div>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-81818812747796190072011-10-16T00:29:00.001-07:002011-10-16T00:34:17.426-07:00The intersection where I didn't die in 1998<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6249050678/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6099/6249050678_7eb15e7824.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /><span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6249050678/">The intersection where I didn't die in 1998</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/">chrisfreeland2002</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I should not be here, writing this. In 1998, at 23 years old, I was hit by a car at this intersection in New Orleans and but for the grace of God I did not die. I jumped. At the last second. And I don't know why. In the middle of the day my partner (just "boyfriend" at the time, having dated less than 6 months; it's now been more than 13 years) and I were crossing the street. We had been on vacation at his family's place in Pensacola Beach, Florida, and then finished up the week with a crazy weekend in New Orleans. I've had crazy weekends in Nola before-one in 1996 that gave me freedom in ways that aren't appropriate for mention here, one in 1997 that confirmed the relationship I was in at the time was doomed, and then this trip. </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">We were coming back from a day trip to the Garden District. We were walking up Peters Street to find a place for lunch, and decided to cross the street at Decatur/St. Louis to go to the Hard Rock Cafe. As we crossed the street, a drunk driver hit me. I saw it all happen in slow motion. She was driving a green Beretta (ironic, given that was what my ex from 1997 drove) and as I crossed the street, with my partner a few paces ahead, she took a left turn and hit me full on. At the very last second, I jumped. She was drunk, and she didn't stop. She drove on for more than 10 feet. If I hadn't jumped, she would have run me over and I would not be alive today. That fact was almost instantly imprinted on my mind. If I hadn't jumped, I would be dead. </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">But I jumped. And so I ended up on the hood of her car instead of under her tires. What I will never forget, as long as I am lucky to live, is the expression on her face when she hit me. She was not remorseful, she was not surprised-she laughed. She and her drunk friend in the passenger seat laughed as I landed on the hood of her car. How do I know she was drunk? Because it was obvious, to me. Because I saw her runny eyes through the windshield. In the instant that took an eternity, as I fell onto her car, I made eye contact and saw that there was no comprehension behind her gaze. </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">And since this was the middle of the day, there were dozens of people watching this all play out, including my partner, whose reaction I can only imagine with horror. I rolled off the hood of her car and limped over to the curb. By the time I made it to the sidewalk she had driven off, she sped away, she left the scene. Bystanders got her license plate, and made sure that I was ok, which unbelievably I was. We walked up a block to the Hard Rock Cafe, the first available open business (this was all before cell phones), and called the cops. The rest of the day is an adrenaline blur. At some point I remember my partner and I in our hotel room, laying on our rented bed, crying. Not out of sorrow, but out of joy. I was alive. I had a nasty bruise on my right shin, AND THAT WAS ALL! I was alive.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">And so every trip back to New Orleans is a crazy mix of anticipation (because fun is just around the corner) and excitement (because fun is just around the corner) and anxiety (because sometimes that corner is dangerous). I was given a gift of unusual perspective on life at 23, and as unbelievable as it sounds, I'm glad it happened. I said this happened by the grace of God and that's truly what I believe. I did not die that day. I was spared for some reason that is unknown to me, and every moment since has been a gift. I know it sounds trite, I know it sounds simple, but it's what I believe. I try to make the most of every day because I nearly didn't have another one. I hope you can do the same.</p><p></p>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-16595996580786272112011-10-05T16:46:00.001-07:002011-10-05T17:00:02.014-07:00QR Code from BHL Illustration<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6215019639/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6174/6215019639_e8cbb90e27.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6215019639/">QR Code from BHL Illustration</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/">chrisfreeland2002</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> Trying out <a href="http://blog.chrisfreeland.com/2011/05/qr-poster-for-engelmann-project.html">more ideas with QR codes & BHL</a> imagery, inspired by <a href="http://www.w3sh.com/2011/08/30/creatif-cinema-une-utilisation-intelligente-du-qr-code/">http://www.w3sh.com/2011/08/30/creatif-cinema-une-utilisation-intelligente-du-qr-code/</a></p>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-78450887879206214242011-09-11T12:00:00.001-07:002012-12-13T07:04:27.783-08:00Remembering a victim of 9/11: My personal memorial<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6136099297/" title="photo sharing"><img alt="" class="flickr-photo" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6064/6136099297_7a2bdbe484.jpg" /></a><br />
<span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6136099297/">9/11 Memorial</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/">chrisfreeland2002</a>.</span></div>
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My partner & I traveled to NYC in January 2002, less than 4 months after 9/11. People were still covering fences, trees, buildings and any other available space with memorials and fliers for those who had gone missing in the WTC attacks. The Port Authority had built a viewing platform over a section of Ground Zero that winter, and we went to view the site. It was somber, standing on the street beside Trinity Church and then walking past the hundreds of signs and posters and shrines as we approached the platform. What I remember about Ground Zero that night was that it looked like a regular construction site - bulldozers, bare earth, building materials stacked around. Nothing unusual, except for the giant American flag hanging from a neighboring building and hundreds of people walking around as if at a wake, which it was.<br /><br />We left the platform and walked more than a block before crossing the street to return to our hotel, passing more memorial signs, and were stopped by a traffic light. I pushed the "Walk" button on the post and stopped to look at the sign taped above it. Staring back was a smiling woman and her sister, or maybe close friend. They very clearly had a bond because of the way they were standing together. The sign was weathered and torn, as if it had been posted for a long time. Many of the other homemade signs and color printouts we had seen on display were newer and labeled "In Memoriam" but this was clearly older and posted with "MISSING" in big, black letters along the top. I knew that woman's family, maybe the other woman in the picture, had made this in hopes of finding their wife/sister/mother/daughter in the days after 9/11. Because the sign was weathered it was starting to tear away from the tape on the post, and I could see the ripped edges fluttering in the winter breeze. When we were standing in line we had overheard two women talking about how every few weeks some municipal authority (Streets or Port Authority, maybe even Refuse) gathered the signs and trinkets left at the site; some were kept for archival purposes but the vast majority were taken off-site and burned.<br /><br />Without thinking, I reached out and tore off the piece of the sign that was freed from the tape, about to blow away on its own in the wind. A woman standing behind me gasped, as if by tearing the sign I was somehow interfering with the woman's rescue, or desecrating her memory. I stuffed the piece of paper in my pocket in spite of the disapproving looks from the woman behind me, and from my partner as well.<br /><br />For months, years, afterwards I couldn't explain why I felt the need to take that piece of paper that night. What I knew from the start was that I didn't take it as a memento or a souvenir. What became clear to me over time was that freed section had the image of her face, smiling and full of joy, and I couldn't bear the thought of her picture becoming lost along the gutter and swept up like trash. I could only imagine that she herself, her being and her soul, had suffered far worse on 9/11, and I knew she deserved more respect than to be cast aside in body and image. I keep that piece of paper in a special place, and I think about her every 9/11, her family, and the other Americans who lost their lives that day. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); color: #ba0030;">I don't know her name. I hope to one day, somehow. But I know I'll never forget her face.</span></div>
Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-67700587609159567872011-08-01T12:56:00.000-07:002011-08-01T12:57:18.510-07:00Plant Name Services Using Tropicos.org<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_8748280"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland/plant-name-services-using-tropicos" title="Plant Name Services Using Tropicos" target="_blank">Plant Name Services Using Tropicos</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/8748280" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland" target="_blank">Chris Freeland</a> </div> </div>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-43399964090168823692011-07-24T16:30:00.001-07:002011-07-24T16:30:50.961-07:00BHL at IBC18 in Melbourne<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_8678721"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland/biodiversity-heritage-library-bhl-a-global-resource-for-open-access-scientific-literature" title="Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL): A Global Resource for Open Access Scientific Literature">Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL): A Global Resource for Open Access Scientific Literature</a></strong><object id="__sse8678721" width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=20117globalbhlibc-110724182513-phpapp01&stripped_title=biodiversity-heritage-library-bhl-a-global-resource-for-open-access-scientific-literature&userName=chrisfreeland" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed name="__sse8678721" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=20117globalbhlibc-110724182513-phpapp01&stripped_title=biodiversity-heritage-library-bhl-a-global-resource-for-open-access-scientific-literature&userName=chrisfreeland" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland">Chris Freeland</a>.</div></div>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-51118335342525523952011-06-14T18:29:00.001-07:002011-06-15T04:55:01.932-07:00DPLA Summary from Jun mtg<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"><br /></div><div class="flickr-frame"><br /></div><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/5834782766/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2638/5834782766_98ccaf6fcd.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /><span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/5834782766/">DPLA Summary from Jun mtg</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/">chrisfreeland2002</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment">Summary:</p><p class="flickr-yourcomment"></p><ul><li>DPLA should "enable, provide, facilitate"</li><li>Want to aggregate existing data & create new</li><li>Need less emphasis on the front door, more on services & multiple entry points</li><li>Openness: Code (+), Metadata (+), Content (?)</li><li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- </span>"No New Gatekeepers!"</li><li>Identify gaps/needs in current systems</li><li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- </span>Change management service, trackback, metadata versioning</li><li>Sprint: Call for data providers, usability testing, future iterations</li><li>GeekSquad for Public Libraries</li><li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- </span>Digitization services, shared experiences & support</li><li>A DPLA vision: contextualization, curated multimedia playlist, social interactions around objects</li><li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Need: Unified framework & disambiguation services</li></ul><p></p>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-35494463912610323212011-05-06T12:34:00.001-07:002011-08-29T03:50:10.248-07:00QR Poster for Engelmann Project<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/5694222770/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3075/5694222770_bb40b0a1df.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/5694222770/">QR Poster for Engelmann Project</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/">chrisfreeland2002</a>.</span></div>
<br />
<br />Well, I've been at it again. I had a poster to prepare for the upcoming Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) meeting in San Francisco, and got this idea of using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code">QR codes</a> absolutely stuck in my head, to the point where I went a little crazy trying to figure out the best way of integrating an actionable barcode into a poster that describes our work on the IMLS-funded "<a href="http://tropicos.org/project/engelmann">Digitizing Engelmann's Legacy</a>" project. I was in New York a couple of weeks ago when the lightbulb figuratively and just a little bit literally went on after viewing two publicly displayed works:
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<br /><ul><li>A <a href="http://paperpc.blogspot.com/2010/11/worlds-largest-qr-code-maybe-not-but.html">giant QR code in Times Square</a>, and</li><li><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/5629828412/in/photostream">Urs Fischer's giant bronze teddy bear / lamp</a> sculpture featured in an upcoming sale at Christie's</li></ul>
<br />Seeing the giant QR code started me thinking of what I could do with an oversized one in my poster, and Fischer's sculpture made me consider scale and the spatial relationship between viewer and object, and viewer and others around. At first I was annoyed at how people kept getting in my way when I tried to take a picture of the sculpture, but then I realized that I needed those people in the frame to give a sense of the true size of the object; <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/5629825356/in/photostream">without people</a> it's just a lovable bear, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/5629828412/in/photostream/">with people</a> it's a giant metal sculpture that could happily fall over and crush you.
<br />
<br />I decided I wanted to do a large QR code that links to the <a href="http://tropicos.org/project/engelmann">Engelmann web site </a>as the main graphical element of the poster so that people needed to stand back a few feet to scan it with their smartphones. But there's also text that you have to be close to the poster to read, so a viewer needs to look at it up close as well as back a bit, which means that (hopefully) people will be interacting around the poster - getting in each others way, maybe apologizing for doing so, maybe talking, maybe not.
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<br />But then I decided I didn't want *just* a QR code - that would be boring. So, I went back to a <a href="http://blog.chrisfreeland.com/2010/04/bhl-poster-for-aetfat2010.html">poster I made last year</a> and borrowed the same photomosaic technique to construct a graphical element that's a QR code from afar and a thousand tiny images up close. 2,025 images to be exact (45x45), taken from books we scanned as part of the project. So to pull it all together, I:
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<br /><ol><li>Used <a href="http://qrcode.good-survey.com/">this web site to create a QR code</a> that when scanned, takes the viewer to the <a href="http://tropicos.org/project/engelmann">Engelmann web site</a>. I chose this site for creating the code because it output the code as a vector image in EPS format, which I needed to scale it up poster-size.</li><li>Used Photoshop to rasterize the QR code at 45"x45" at 300dpi in GIF format as input to the photomosaic program.</li><li>Assembled the 1"x1" square page images with MOBOT Imaging Lab superstar Mike Blomberg's help to crop & resize the images, and corrected colors to get a set of white images and a set of black images.</li><li>Used MacOSaiX to generate the QR mosaic. I used the GIF image from step 2 as the source and the 2,000+ images from step 3 as each tile. MacOSaiX did all the hard work of setting tiles in place & exporting out the results as a JPG.</li><li>I then took that JPG & dropped it into a PowerPoint document sized 36"x48" I was planning to print the poster at 48" wide, and would have then used the 45" wide mosaic without scaling, but my friendly FedEx Office outpost was running a sale on 36" posters, so I scaled the QR mosaic to fit & saved more than $50!</li></ol><div>This took me weeks to mull over & brainstorm & figure out, and only about 4-6 hours of people effort to actually complete. Here's a link to the finished poster:</div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/5693579593">http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/5693579593</a></div><div>
<br /></div><div>I'm pleased with it, and hope you think it's cool, too! Stop by & see the poster (and me!) if you're at <a href="http://research.calacademy.org/spnhc">SPNHC in San Francisco 23-28 May</a>.</div>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-90030061615288030892011-02-28T19:54:00.000-08:002011-02-28T19:55:44.732-08:00<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_7097695"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland/digitized-public-domain-literature" title="Digitized Public Domain Literature">Digitized Public Domain Literature / Digital Public Library of America Workshop</a></strong> <object id="__sse7097695" width="425" height="355"> <param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=20110301dpla-110228214211-phpapp02&stripped_title=digitized-public-domain-literature&userName=chrisfreeland" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/> <embed name="__sse7097695" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=20110301dpla-110228214211-phpapp02&stripped_title=digitized-public-domain-literature&userName=chrisfreeland" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed> </object> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/chrisfreeland">Chris Freeland</a> </div> </div>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19756814.post-92205686143467119202011-02-13T00:26:00.001-08:002011-02-13T00:26:38.959-08:00Real Life Angry Birds of St. Louis<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/5440668412/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/5440668412_f67757542b.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/5440668412/">Damn pigs looking on, making me an angry bird</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/chrisfreeland/">chrisfreeland2002</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> Damn pigs looking on, making me an angry bird</p>Chris Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04291470081749543282noreply@blogger.com1