National Archives (U.S) & British Library: Online Versions of Two New Exhibits
New archive/library exhibits in DC and London.
While it would be wonderful to see both of exhibits in person (we hope that many of you can this Summer), each exhibits website offers a look at some of what the actual exhibit offers. Both opened on Friday, April 30, 2010.
++ Beginnings: April 30 - September 6, 2010
++ Consequences: November 10, 2010 - April 17, 2011
The Exhibit Web Site Includes:
+ Previews (Including the Ability to Enlarge and Read a Selecton of Documents Online)
+ Background About the Exhibit and Its Visit to Dearborn, MI; Houston, TX; and Omaha, NE in the next three years
+ Related Programs and Other Materials from NARA Available Online
+ Resources for Educators Including Material on Teaching with Primary Documents
+ Supporting the Archives
Maps can be works of art, propaganda pieces, expressions of local pride, tools of indoctrination… Magnificent Maps brings together 80 of the largest, most impressive and beautiful maps ever made, from 200 AD to the present day.
The web site contains links to view and interact with four maps. You can enlarge the image; "explore themes" as you move around the map pop-up boxes appear with relevant info about that part of the map. Another nice feature is the ability to click once and have the map and related materials appear on your entire computer screen (just like if you were watching a movie). Finally, each map page includes a 3-5 minute overview by the curator.
This is a must have site and if you enjoy maps, history, art, and many other topics this site will keep you very busy for a very long time. The most current number provided on the Rumsey Collection homepage says it contains over 22,000 maps, all digitized, all online. Here's a blog post from about one month ago with a brief to a few of the 764 maps that had recently added to the collection. Finally, there are several software programs (all free, accessible on the web site, and with nothing to download (except if you want to use Google Earth) and don't already have it on your computer.
A family of resources to help information workers be more effective, raise the value of information in their organisations and contribute to success. Read more »
Recently I have found myself cooing over visualisation maps (and heat maps) of health and well being resources. The content rich data is overlayed with mapping technologies, and some interesting themes and patterns are emerging.
A lot of the talk around social media in the last year has been around information overload. Social media has provided us with new and exciting ways to create content. But it has also meant learning new ways to manage and engage with social media tools. Are we teetering on the edge of an information overload precipice?
Information overload is a figment of your imagination. Or a failure of your filter. Or a symptom of your technological submissiveness. Depends on who you ask.
What if you had to sort through 3.5 million articles and social media posts a day and try to pull out the most relevant items for your organisation? What if you then had to cobble it all together into something readable for your top groups and executives in your organisation?
Alacra Compliance saves time by aggregating information from both free and fee-based sources and enabling users to conduct an accurate federated search across these sources (coined “simultaneous search” by Alacra).
FreePint Family
Quilting big data threads
The fallacy of information overload
Information overload: fact, fantasy or filter failure? 
