Recently, I took a great free online course to learn more about blockchain, decentralization, and how it affects libraries and museums. The course is available on Canvas Network, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about this technology. Below are some of the things and resources I learned from the course. About Blockchain "Blockchain: how mining … [Read more...] about Blockchain and Libraries and Museums
technology
Machine Learning Projects (And Some Are For Writers!)
I recently finished my first machine learning project! I was able to follow along with Robin Sloan's writing with the machine project, and I trained a different dataset, to some hilarious results. It was a lot of fun, and now I'm trying to dive more into neural networks and figure out more projects I can try. If you're interested, here are some resources and tools to learn more … [Read more...] about Machine Learning Projects (And Some Are For Writers!)
Cool Tech-Related Projects and News
These were all too good not to share. Awesome Projects "The Lab Discovering DNA in Old Books" on The Atlantic: "Studying the DNA in artifacts is still a relatively new field, with many prospects that remain unexplored. But in our own modern world, we’ve already started to change the biological record, and future archaeologists will not find the same trove of hidden … [Read more...] about Cool Tech-Related Projects and News
Technology and Publishing
Tech, including tools and developments in machine learning, have become more prevalent, leading to a lot of interesting experiments and projects. One that caught my eye recently is a neural network that wrote a novel about its own cross-country road trip. Ross Goodwin took a road trip from Brooklyn to New Orleans, and hooked up a GPS, microphone, laptop, and printer to the … [Read more...] about Technology and Publishing
What Inspires You? Here’s a List of 26 Awesome Projects and Stories
![By Cmglee (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://i2.wp.com/digitalpubbing.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/1024px-Suicide_Sunday_2011_cardboard_boat_race.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
The world is full of fun, creative people. Every day, I hear about awesome projects. They're so cool, I want to share them here. Though they're not all book-related, they are media related, and since technology is bringing all kinds of different media together, it's good to know what kinds of things different kinds of creators are making. (Also including some stories that are … [Read more...] about What Inspires You? Here’s a List of 26 Awesome Projects and Stories
209 Examples and Trends Impacting the Future of Storytelling
Storytelling comes in a variety of formats: as books, articles, podcasts, films, and more. It seems every week there's something new and cool coming out of the works, so I thought I'd highlight some of them here (in no particular order). Also, there's a lot that can be learned from other people's stories! New Tech / Tools / Platforms Book Marketing Book Title Generator … [Read more...] about 209 Examples and Trends Impacting the Future of Storytelling
Guest Post: A Brief History of ASR, Automatic Speech Recognition
By Jason Kincaid This moment has been a long time coming. The technology behind speech recognition has been in development for over half a century, going through several periods of intense promise — and disappointment. So what changed to make ASR viable in commercial applications? And what exactly could these systems accomplish, long before any of us had heard of … [Read more...] about Guest Post: A Brief History of ASR, Automatic Speech Recognition
Looking for Innovative Stories? Here’s a List of Ebooks, Apps, Websites, Games, and More
Ebooks, or maybe I should say stories, come in all shapes and sizes: EPUB, apps, virtual reality, games, and more. If you want to see some exciting, innovative new forms of storytelling, check out this list (sure devices have some limitations and enhanced ebooks haven't exactly taken off yet, but there are ways to make ebooks great): Ebooks "A Digital Mozart Book That … [Read more...] about Looking for Innovative Stories? Here’s a List of Ebooks, Apps, Websites, Games, and More
New Ways to Read
You've heard it all before. Startups, new websites, and even big powerhouses are all developing technology to disrupt how we collaborate, publish, and read. Today I want to focus on all the new ways we can read and absorb content. Sure, there are e-books, and there are even enhanced e-books with videos, but I've compiled a list of sources that have created either new ways to … [Read more...] about New Ways to Read
Living in a Sci-Fi World
CES (Consumer Electronics Association) was last week, and companies demoed a lot of really cool gadgets. One I think is worth sharing is a product by Tactus, a company in California. Tactus developed a screen that can turn into a flat tablet into something with actual bumpy buttons, to make it easier to type. When you're not using the typepad, the buttons just disappear back … [Read more...] about Living in a Sci-Fi World
The Coming of Age of E-Textbooks?
![By Phoebe (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://i1.wp.com/digitalpubbing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Example_of_copyedited_manuscript.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
I'm not as familiar with what's going on with e-textbooks, but there seems to have been a lot of exciting developments recently. One thing I often hear about e-textbooks is that, despite the expectation that young people, particularly college students, would be the first to eagerly adopt all things digital, most students don't like e-textbooks as much as physical books. The … [Read more...] about The Coming of Age of E-Textbooks?
New Ways of Storytelling
Technology is exciting, and it makes it possible to find innovative ways to tell stories. I've found a few companies/sites that are experimenting with the way people share their stories. Cowbird: lets you tell stories that fit in to one word categories via pictures of videos. FacebookStories: shows off interesting ways people use Facebook. Javascript book review: … [Read more...] about New Ways of Storytelling
An Overview of Digital Book World 2012
Digital Book World (DBW) is an annual conference that, according to its website, "offers trade publishers hard data on the state of the book business as well as actionable, proven strategies for taking immediate advantage of opportunities as they develop in today’s publishing industry." I was able to attend one day for free, in exchange for helping my entrepreneur friend run … [Read more...] about An Overview of Digital Book World 2012
Tracking Twitter at the New York Times
When I think of The New York Times, I do not think of technology. Yet, the newspaper has a sophisticated Research and Development Lab, which has been finding new ways for the company to make money in the digital age. I had the opportunity to tour the R&D Lab a few weeks ago, and now I can share one of the things I learned. NYT tracks the life of all their stories on … [Read more...] about Tracking Twitter at the New York Times
Finally, an Optimistic Look at the Media
That's basically how the mandatory The Case for Media Optimism panel was described to us NYU publishing kids. I was skeptical about how the panel last night would go. After all, for the past five years of so all I've heard is about the death of print, the death of journalism, the death of media, etc. But I was pleasantly surprised. The panel was moderated by David Carr, the … [Read more...] about Finally, an Optimistic Look at the Media
