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information management, knowledge, knowledge people, librarians

Librarians and Engineers on Information, Knowledge

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An older Open Source episode on Google Print

Seems to me, a large part of the discussion had to about two distinct and fairly incompatible “worldviews,” or more precisely in this case, two ways to see the realities of information and knowledge. Both are certainly legitimate, accurate, understandable, and logical. But they do clash. Pretty much a culture clash. And both are typical of the United States, in this very case, with frequent mentions of U.S. symbols and themes.

Not criticism but observations. Continue reading Librarians and Engineers on Information, Knowledge →

Ethnography, fieldwork, iPod, technology

Recording at 44.1 kHz, 16b with iPod 5G?

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[UPDATE: These devices are now available in different places. Haven’t tried any of them myself.]

[UPDATE: Purchased an iRiver H120 jukebox/recorder.]
We’ve known for a while that the Fifth Generation iPod (with Video) could do “CD-quality” audio recording but there hasn’t been a compatible microphone for it. Actually, the Apple Store online still doesn’t seem to list a microphone compatible with the iPod 5G’s dock connector but the instruction on Recording voice memos from Apple do talk about such a microphone:

1. Connect a microphone to your iPod. On the Fifth Generation iPod, connect the microphone to the dock connector. For older iPod models that support recording voice memos, connect the microphone to the Headphones port on your iPod.
2. The Voice Memo screen appears.
3. On the Fifth Generation iPod, you can choose the recording quality by setting Quality to either Mono or Stereo. Select “Mono” quality (22 kHz, mono) to save space, or “Stereo” quality (44.1 kHz, stereo) for a better sound.
4. To begin recording, select Record.
5. Hold the microphone a few inches from your mouth and speak. To pause recording, select Pause.
6. When you finish, select Stop and Save. Your saved recording is listed by date and time.

The page has allegedly been created and changed in January. Been waiting for this…

Beer, taste

Beer Flavour Science

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An article about research in beer flavours and, especially, off-flavours.

A Skunk Walks into a Bar . . .: Science News Online, Dec. 3, 2005

Rather simplistic and generalizing, typical of the perspective of “mega-breweries” (taking flavours out of beer instead of making sure the beer is flavourful in the first place). But somewhat effective at conveying the idea that beer is a complex thing.

musique, playfulness

Musique facile

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Pour poursuivre dans l’idée de musique et expérimentation par des non-musiciens (et pour accumuler des liens). Il y avait, bien sûr, Music Mouse de Laurie Spiegel. Comme Electroplankton, tel que décrit dans l’article de Wired sur le bricolage musical, Music Mouse ne produisait que des combinaisons sonores «acceptables» (dans une certaine écoute musicale). Évidemment, c’était un instrument très limité, mais c’était amusant comme jeu musical. Il y a des exemples d’Electroplanton en action. Malheureusement, une recherche Google pour «electroplankton music-mouse» ne donne aucun résultat donc on dirait qu’il n’y a pas pour le moment un répertoire de jeux musicaux qui incluerait les deux. Il y a d’autres jeux musicaux intéressants?
Évidemment, l’un comme l’autre ne propose qu’une expérimentation individuelle de la musique, contrairement aux idées d’improvisation libre en groupe basée sur l’écoute profonde. Mais, bon…

blogue

Blogue-soupape

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Au départ,  en décrivant mes motivations pour bloguer, c’était un peu pour répondre à Sylvain Carle par rapport à une discussion débutée l’année dernière suite, me semble-t-il, à une balado-diffusion dudit Sylvain Carle.
Justement, le genre d’idée que j’avais en tête en parlant de blogue dont le but n’est pas de chercher des lecteurs, c’était ce que Sylvain appelle «Écrire pour écrire…».

Donc, de quoi je me sauve? De moi-même, j’imagine… 😉