Author Archives: laura

Data Doesn’t Captivate Audiences, Storytellers Do

Posted on February 14, 2013 by laura

After the launch of the first eReaders, it didn’t take long for people to realize that the ability to track reading habits could provide useful information for publishers and authors interested in understanding how readers react to their work. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, eBooks, Reading | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Aaron Swartz Freed Over 900,000 Public Domain Books From Google’s Restrictions

Posted on February 7, 2013 by laura

Today, via Lionel Maurel’s S.I. Lex blog, I learned that in addition to having downloaded over 5 million articles from JSTOR at MIT and releasing them into the public domain, Aaron Swartz also downloaded over 900,000 books from Google Books … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Copyright, Google, Transformation | Tagged | 1 Comment

Is Facebook Planning To Screen Identities?

Posted on February 3, 2013 by laura

It was on one of the overhead monitors at the gym last week. I didn’t see the whole thing. I don’t remember which channel it was on. Probably CNN International or Bloomberg TV. I thought it was a Facebook commercial, … Continue reading →

Posted in Facebook, Privacy, Social Media | Tagged | 2 Comments

Saving History: Lessons From The People Of Timbuktu

Posted on February 2, 2013 by laura

The destruction of thousands of valuable Islamic manuscripts held in the Ahmed Baba Institute in Timbuktu was one of the top stories on French TV on Monday and Tuesday, including video from reporters inside the library. According to the reports, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Digital Books, Libraries, Technology | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

I Am Glowing

Posted on January 23, 2013 by laura

Playing around with a thermal imaging camera yesterday:

Posted in Science | 2 Comments

Now You Are Free

Posted on January 15, 2013 by laura

It’s been several weeks since the mad rush to Christmas. I managed to finish writing up some thoughts about Amazon and alternate publishing models in the last hours before the holidays. The article had been waiting for about three weeks … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Why Amazon May End Up Unglued

Posted on December 24, 2012 by laura

I was surprised by the number of people interested in my short post about Amazon’s treatment of the unglued book Oral Literature in Africa. Last weekend I was in France and decided to check the price of the book on … Continue reading →

Posted in Amazon, eBooks | Tagged , | 3 Comments

An Aspiring Writer’s Thanksgiving

Posted on November 23, 2012 by laura

For some reason Americans are often surprised to learn that Thanksgiving isn’t observed in Switzerland. I’m always amazed by that, since I wasn’t taught in school that the Pilgrims also sailed to Switzerland, established a colony and celebrated their first … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal Interest | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Can Remembering Be Programmed?

Posted on November 20, 2012 by laura

Something peculiar happened today; I forgot to put clean socks in my gym bag again. While that may not seem odd in and of itself, what I found peculiar was rather my reaction upon discovering this. As I unpacked my … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal Interest | Tagged | 2 Comments

Amazon Really Doesn’t Like Free eBooks

Posted on November 14, 2012 by laura

I’m on the Unglue.it mailing list. There was a message from founder Eric Hellman in my inbox today letting me know that the world’s first unglued eBook, Oral Literature in Africa, is available in the iBookstore. I took a few … Continue reading →

Posted in Amazon, Copyright, eBooks | Tagged | 10 Comments