Posts by Melody Smith
Cloudy with a chance of crab cakes
(Note: Back in November of 2013, TaxoDiary published the post “A Cloud Drifting Toward a Classification“, about the cloud formation tentatively labeled as Asperatus undulatus and the quest to achieve an official classification for it. The article below, which first appeared in the Apalachicola Times on April 8, 2015, focuses on matters of terminology concerning…
Read MoreWebinar on Digital Preservation
The PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata is the international standard for metadata to support the preservation of digital objects and ensure their long-term usability. This is developed by an international team of experts and implemented in digital preservation projects around the world. Dublin Core is sponsoring a webinar to give a brief overview over why…
Read MoreForward Thinking Technology
Tom Simonite recently shared this in the MIT Technology Review: “Many of the devices around us may soon acquire powerful new abilities to understand images and video, thanks to hardware designed for the machine-learning technique called deep learning. Companies like Google have made breakthroughs in image and face recognition through deep learning, using giant data…
Read MoreSemantic Service
Service oriented architecture (SOA) is a design approach based on distinct pieces of software providing application functionality as services to other applications via a protocol. It operates independently of any vendor, product, or technology. This interesting topic came from DATAVERSITY in their blog post, “Semantic SOA makes Sense!” Service catalogs strive to make management easier, but how do application…
Read MoreProviding Access to Those Who Need It Most
INASP is a registered UK charity that works to support global research communication through innovation, networking and capacity strengthening, focusing on the needs of developing and emerging countries. They work with publishers to enable affordable and sustainable access to online resources to developing countries and with national library consortia or equivalent to help them meet the information…
Read MorePlatform Considerations
Mark your calendars for another educational opportunity brought to you by the National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS). The Platforms that Perform: Taking Your Content to the Next Level educational workshop is scheduled for June 18, 2015 in Washington D.C. It will feature a distinguished group of speakers who will discuss their experiences and lessons learned in evaluating…
Read MoreThe Darker Side of Words
I am a word person. I think you know that about me already. I like origins of words, different meanings, and especially the emotions that are tied with particular words. Some interesting information along those lines recently came from Quartz in their article, “Dictionary.com’s newest words reveal our fascination with the internet’s dark side.” Dictionary.com…
Read MoreGoverning and Finding Data
Information governance is a term becoming more familiar and frequent with each passing day. Few will argue the point that new sources of information and methods of disseminating that information are growing exponentially. The need to manage that ballooning information flow grows on a parallel track, whether we like it or not. This is where…
Read MoreTo Cap or Not to Cap?
Every once in a while, the issue of capitalization in taxonomies and thesauri pops up. Some of us in taxonomy land believe that it does make a difference what capitalization (versus lower case) style you use. We just don’t necessarily agree what that style should be.
Read MoreA Color By Any Other Name
I consider myself a creative person, and not just with words. I like to design graphically, decorate my home, make homemade gifts and cards, and then there is the whole culinary arts thing. I am a total foodie. I used to say the perfect job would be to assign the name of paint colors, i.e. smoked salmon, sandy beach, sky crystal, etc. Just like words, there is a thesaurus for many different shapes and colors. If you need assistance in naming those colors, know that there is a thesaurus for that. Ingrid Sundberg, a writer and children’s book illustrator, created a unique infographic chart for anyone struggling with color names or for writers who are looking for a variety to choose from.
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