PolyThinkers Pad » Staff Picks http://www.poly.edu/library/blog fueling polythinking with library news, tips and more Tue, 13 May 2008 21:02:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 en Another kind of visualization http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2008/04/02/190/ http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2008/04/02/190/#comments Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:03:01 +0000 Jana civil engonline resources http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2008/03/27/190/ Curious about How Well Your State’s Bridges are Doing? or about the Condition of U.S. Highway Bridges? Have a look and see the data in a visual format. The folks at IBM’s Collaborative User Experience research group use visualization “as an efficient way of transferring a large amount of information from a database into an individual’s head.” They believe that visualizations become even more powerful when multiple people access them for collaborative sense making. They developed Many Eyes, a public web site that allows users to gather data, visualize it, and discuss their visualizations. They use the site as an experimental platform to test our hypotheses about the ability of visualizations to spur communication and social interaction, and how that activity may yield new insights into data. Many Eyes is a bet on the power of human visual intelligence to find patterns. The goal is to “democratize” visualization and to enable a new social kind of data analysis. Have a look how it works, and tell us what you think.

]]> http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2008/04/02/190/feed/ Take a break with fiction anthologies http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2008/03/20/take-a-break-with-fiction-anthologies/ http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2008/03/20/take-a-break-with-fiction-anthologies/#comments Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:38:07 +0000 Gavin http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2008/03/20/take-a-break-with-fiction-anthologies/ Although the library focuses on science and technology resources, it has much more to offer eager readers: a selection of international literature, notable biographies, core classics of literature, works of genre fiction, and even contemporary international fiction. If you are in the mood to dabble in some short works of genre fiction, you may be interested in some recent additions to the library’s anthology collection.

Sleuths of the Century is a collection of short stories featuring some of the greatest fictional sleuths of the 20th century. Older names like Perry Mason and Hercule Poirot are found alongside more recent figures like Easy Rawlins and V.I. Warshawski. Call number: PN6071.D45 S64 2000

Oxford University Press is known for producing some of the finest anthologies in many different genres. The Oxford book of Detective stories “brings together some of the best short fiction from around the world,” ranging in date from the 19th century to contemporary times. Call number: PN6120.95.D45 O95 2002

The American Fantasy Tradition pulls together authors ranging in date from Washington Irving in the early 19th century, to contemporary masters. It is divided into three parts, covering a wide range of materials: “Part I: Folk, Tall and Weird Tales,” “Part II: Fantastic Americana,” “Part III: Lands of Enchantment and Everyday Life.” Call number: PS648.F3 A64 2002

None of the stories in “Subway Chronicles: Scenes of life in New York,” were written as far back as some of the stories in the other anthologies, but there are some older reminiscences, as well as contemporary stories. The volume features notable writers, and is “[e]qual parts hilarious, poignant, and heartbreaking … a journey into New York’s underground with some of today’s most loved writers.” Call number: PS648.S5 S79 2006

]]> http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2008/03/20/take-a-break-with-fiction-anthologies/feed/ Read bestsellers online for free http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2008/03/05/read-bestsellers-online/ http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2008/03/05/read-bestsellers-online/#comments Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:31:57 +0000 Gavin http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2008/03/05/read-bestsellers-online/ You might be aware that there are thousands of copyright free books available online for reading. (If not, see this recent post.) There are even many open source journal sites (as mentioned in an earlier post) and open courseware pages  (mentioned in yet another another post). But did you know that there are some sites that allow you to read the full text of relatively recent, popular fiction that is still under copyright and currently on sale? Some publishers view this as the equivalent of removing the shrink wrap in bookstores and allowing the user to leaf through the contents. The hope is that this will actually increase sales, because reading a book on a computer monitor is still an unsatisfactory experience for most people. Harper Collins makes available a small selection of books for online reading every month, including immensely popular works by Neil Gaiman, and Paul Coelho.

Another site, Baen Books , offers full access to a much larger collection, but in a more limited category – they specialize in Sci-Fi /Fantasy. The Baen library includes such luminaries of the genre as Larry Niven and Lois McMaster Bujold.

]]> http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2008/03/05/read-bestsellers-online/feed/ Stay warm this winter - cozy up with a good book http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2007/12/21/stay-warm-this-winter-cozy-up-with-a-good-book/ http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2007/12/21/stay-warm-this-winter-cozy-up-with-a-good-book/#comments Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:17:17 +0000 Ingrid http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2007/12/21/stay-warm-this-winter-cozy-up-with-a-good-book/ reading guide imageWhen exams are over and your last paper is turned in, indulge in some reading that doesn’t involve highlighting or taking notes. This year’s Winter Break Reading Guide explores information technology and its role in our everyday lives. The collection includes five books from Amazon’s Best of 2007 list and covers everything from programming to advanced web surfing to technology’s effect on our social, political and cultural future.

The library will be closed from 10 pm December 21 until January 2, 2008.

Happy Holidays from everyone here at the Dibner Library!

]]> http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2007/12/21/stay-warm-this-winter-cozy-up-with-a-good-book/feed/ Conversation Network http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2007/10/11/conversation-network/ http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2007/10/11/conversation-network/#comments Thu, 11 Oct 2007 20:22:43 +0000 Jana multimedia http://www.poly.edu/library/blog/2007/10/11/conversation-network/ Need to get inspired? Check out the Conversation Network, a listener-supported non-profit podcast network. Currently the network offers three channels IT Conversations, Social Innovation Conversations (from the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford Business School) and Media Conversations. The idea behind the Conversation Network is to offer full recording of presentations or interviews by inspiring minds of our times which are “educational, inspirational and entertaining conference sessions, lectures, debates and other spoken-word presentations.

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