Archive for the ‘Open Source’ Category

Sam Dean at OStatic reviews 9 Free, Open Source Tools for Video and Media Playback and Encoding. Each application on the list has a screenshot and a brief summary of its best features.

Vivek Gite at NixCraft has put together a list of the 10 Greatest Open Source Software Of 2009. Here are his top five:

1. Inkscape ( Vector Graphics Editor )
2. 7-Zip ( Archiver )
3. VLC ( Media Player )
4. VirtualBox ( Virtualization )
5. Miro ( Internet TV )

Karen Coombs writes for Library Journal about libraries using the open source Drupal content management system in Drupal Done Right. In her article Coombs covers the SOPAC extension, the eXtensible Catalog, and initiatives at McMaster and Simon Fraser universities.

“From Arizona State University to Connecticut’s Darien Library, institutions of all shapes, sizes, and types use Drupal to manage their library web sites. However, some librarians have looked to Drupal as more than a tool for creating web sites. Some have attempted to bring more library systems and content to Drupal as a way to integrate library content in a single place. Others have seen Drupal as a flexible framework that can be used to integrate with other systems or create interactive tools for users. These organizations are stretching the bounds of what is possible with this open source tool.”

Sebastian Anthony at Download Squad provides a guide to Ten must-have Google Chrome extensions. If you’re using the open-source Google browser, you may want to check out this article. Here are his top five:

1. WOT (Web Of Trust)
2. Evernote Web Clipper
3. Feedly
4. Google Wave Notifier
5. Shareaholic

Today I presented a talk on Next-Generation Libraries at the Online Information Conference in London, England. Here’s a slidecast of my talk if you’d like to check it out.

If you’re using Chrome, the open source Web browser by Google, you may want to check out the latest article from Josh Catone at Mashable. 6 Killer Google Chrome Extensions for Social Media Addicts lists popuar and useful plugins for using social media sites as well as lists some of the best places to find other extensions. Here are his recommended six extensions:

1. Gmail Checker
2. Chromed Bird
3. Twitter Ticker
4. Micro Last.fm
5. TPGoogleReader
6. Facebook Notification Checker

This week I have assigned students in my Open Movements course the task of self-archiving their final papers in either E-LIS or DList, both disciplinary repositories for the LIS field. So in the spirit of that assignment, I archived a recent article which I wrote for The CyberSkeptic’s Guide to Internet Research in May, 2009. It’s titled 6 Steps to Publishing a Scholarly Online Journal (for free!) and it details how to create your own open access scholarly journal online.

Google has announced that it is making 1 million public domain books from Google Books available for free download in the EPUB format. “EPUB is a free, open standard supported by a growing ecosystem of digital reading devices”, so users will be able to view these books on their mobile devices. According to ReadWriteWeb, Google had previously made this massive EPUB collection available to partners Barnes & Noble and Sony, but never to users before last week’s announcement.

Sam Dean at OStatic gathers up 8 Resources for the Mighty Drupal Content Management System. His list includes resources for getting started with Drupal, interviews with Drupal insiders and educational podcasts and videos.

Marc Beja at The Chronicle of Higher Ed’s Wired Campus reports on a new social tagging initiative at Dartmouth College which challenges players to beat the clock as they add metadata to library images for free.

“Ms. Flanagan, a digital-humanities professor at Dartmouth College, is creating an Internet-based game in which users create descriptive tags for library images to improve searching through the library’s database. Although the program will be tested at the college’s library, Ms. Flanagan says the game will be open source and available for others to download and build upon.”

Lisa Hoover at OStatic puts together a list of open source applications and resources “for everything from note-taking to scheduling classes projects”. Here are a few of the applications listed in A Toolkit of Back to School Open Source Apps, be sure and check out the full post for the rest:

• Lyx
• Task Coach
• Luminotes

Sam Dean at OStatic rounds up five free online books to help newbies get up to speed with OSS with 5 Free Online Open Source Books for Beginners. “They introduce basic concepts for getting started with Linux, Firefox, Blender (3D graphics and animation), GIMP (graphics), and the OpenOffice suite of productivity applications.”

Thomas Trappler, Director of UCLA Software Licensing writes for Educause Quarterly about Is There Such a Thing as Free Software? The Pros and Cons of Open-Source Software. This excellent article discusses key issues such as when it makes sense to use OSS, managing OSS effectively, and making contributions to OSS projects. It’s a must-read for organizations thinking about choosing an open source solution.

“Today’s higher education environment is marked by heightened accountability and decreased budgets. In such an environment, no higher education institution can afford to ignore alternative approaches that could result in more effective and less costly solutions. Open-source software (OSS) can serve as a viable alternative to traditional proprietary software (PS), but to ensure that OSS is selected and deployed effectively requires:

* Understanding the OSS licensing model
* Knowing how to determine when it makes sense to use OSS
* Managing your OSS use effectively”

ReadWriteWeb puts together a guide to 7 Free Alternatives to Photoshop With All the Bells, Whistles, Filters, & Layers. This helpful post provides test photos comparing what can be accomplished with each of these tools as well as a quick run-down of what each application includes and lacks.

Lisa Hoover at OStatic blogs about Five Open Source Apps For Writers and Authors. These programs help authors do everything from manage multiple storylines, develop scripts, format academic papers, and create newsletters.

via What I Learned Today