"The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing." -- “The Soul of Man Under Socialism” Photo by Napoleon Sarony Ballad of Reading Gaol by C.3.3. Published by London Leonard Smithers 1898, First edition, one of 800 copies printed on handmade paper. Buy. Oscar Wilde was our first literary rock star whose work continues to be widely read and his plays regularly produced. His epic 1882 tour of America has been referred to as the birth of celebrity culture in America. His witticism is legendary and his homosexuality was the cause of unfathomable persecution. We salute Oscar Wilde for blazing the way...
The challenge is on: How might we leverage libraries as a platform to build more knowledgeable communities?
The Good Food and Bookmobile This project will take a traditional bookmobile and add kitchen components to bring core community services to people in rural areas, building community, increasing community capacity, and ensuring access for all. The mission of the Knight Foundation is simple: To support "transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged." One way they do this is to pose a challenge to the community at large, sift through the responses and then fund the winners. The latest challenge is: How might...
Plot Twist, Extended Metaphor and more Yoga for Writers
Infographic by Electric Literature Text by Benjamin Samuel, Lincoln Michel, and Nadxieli Nieto. Design by Nadxieli Nieto
Ready for Some Finger Reading?
The latest gem to be concocted in MIT's Media Lab is the FingerReader. Billed as "a wearable interface for reading on the go," the device: is a tool both for visually impaired people that require help with accessing printed text, as well as an aid for language translation. Wearers scan a text line with their finger and receive an audio feedback of the words and a haptic feedback of the layout: start and end of line, new line, and other cues. The FingerReader algorithm knows to detect and give feedback when the user veers away from the baseline of the text,...
A Salute to Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh's arrival as it appeared in the December 24, 1925 issue of the London Evening News. It was on this day in 1926 that the world was first introduced in book form to everybody's favorite teddy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh. To celebrate here is a sampling of A.A. Milne's most famous creation. Here's an interesting fact about the book. We all know the character of Pooh has been a big player in the Disney Universe since the early 1960's but did you know that in 1930 a gentleman named Stephen Slesinger purchased the U.S. and Canadian merchandising, television, recording and other trade rights to the "Winnie-the-Pooh" works...