morningbuzz

Twitter, Oil Paintings, Google, Free Webinars, More: Christmas Eve Figgy Pudding Buzz, December 24, 2012

Twitter, now with more than 200 million active users monthly? Yeah, I think it went past “fad” status at least a year ago — which is why these shifts in openness are so disconcerting / disappointing. Dear Twitter: PLEASE CHARGE FOR YOUR API.

I just found this post-course assessment on Duke’s first MOOC. The course was Bioelectricity: A Quantitative Approach. The post itself has lots of fun facts, but I’ll start you off with this: 12,461 registered for the course, and 358 earned at least one point on the final exam.

Google rumors: it’s launching an new phone next year — the X?

Congratulations to Wikimedia Commons for reaching 15 million files.

Putting all the UK’s oil paintings online? mission accomplished. “Today the Public Catalogue Foundation (PCF) and the BBC completed their hugely ambitious project to put online the United Kingdom’s entire collection of oil paintings in public ownership. This makes the UK the first country in the world to give such access to its national collection of paintings. In total, 3,217 venues across the UK have participated in the project and 211,861 paintings are now on the Your Paintings website at bbc.co.uk/yourpaintings.”

Here’s another set of online goodies — a free online courses in collection preservation. “Tailored to meet the needs and schedules of staff and volunteers at libraries and archives, each course includes four to six 90-minute, interactive webinars presented by preservation experts. Participants are encouraged to submit specific questions about collections care to ensure that the courses are directly relevant to their needs.”

Dick Eastman has an overview of the metasearch engine Soovle.

Fold3 has added Navy muster rolls, 1939-1949 to its collection.

Genealogists, you might appreciate this thorough article looking at replicating pictures via scanner versus camera.

YouTube has a new Data API.

Delicious has announced a big redesign coming early next month. Good morning, Internet, and I wish all of you a very happy Noche de rábanos

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