My Ideal Library

I have been ordered to write about the changes I would make to my school's library, but I have a problem - I like my library. Sure, I've never borrowed a book from it, all I've ever done their is get distracted by issues of T3 while trying to do homework and read magazines about video games and cars, but I like it. I like it even though the librarians enforce the silence policy too strictly, there aren't enough computers,  and there are too many books. Come to think of it, maybe it could use some changes, so here are the three changes I'd make to the library (which could be extended to any library, I suppose):

Get rid of the silence rule. Sure, silence still has a place in libraries and it is sensible to have a room or part of a room dedicated to quiet study, but reading can also be a social experience. Why do you think they but cafés in bookshops now? Okay, maybe that's to sell coffee, but my point still stands.

Have fewer books on display. Do we really need all those shelves in the actual reading section of the library? No, of course not. Why don't we keep the books in some kind of book room (admittedly, we already have one of those but its purpose is slightly different), where they could be stored more efficiently, and take up less study/reading space? If someone wanted it book, admittedly, it would take longer to get, but on the other hand there could be more books on offer, while computers could be used to find and reserve books.

Have more DVDs on offer. This really speaks for itself, I think they should have the classics of cinema to rent, or even view in the library (using headphones, of course), as well as documentaries on multiple subjects.

This changes are hardly sweeping, but they would make libraries much more enjoyable to be in, for me, at least. I have avoided anything involving eBooks, because I prefer real books myself.

Getting Permission on the Web

It's always ideal to get permission from someone before using their content somewhere else, but sometimes that's not possible. Take this Tim Minchin song (chosen partially for its lack of profanity):

I do happen to know Tim Minchin's address and telephone number, but I would imagine most people don't (08 9380 4224, if you must know; and to be honest, it's his father's work number). So, if you can't contact him, how do you get permission? Well, you can't. That's where Creative Commons comes in.

So what is Tim doesn't care if I post this video? If it's copyrighted, then I still can't post it. If it has the Creative Commons logo on it instead of the Copyright one, then I can. Instead of all rights being reserved, some rights are reserved; essentially meaning that I can use content as long as I do not profit from it.

Copyright

Copyright is a way of preserving intellectual property, by registering a piece of original work and giving its owner a period of time during which it cannot be copied.

So what does that mean, in practice? Basically, if I were to copyright my definition of copyright...

'Copyright is a way of preserving intellectual property, by registering a piece of original work and giving its creator a period of time during which it cannot be copied.'

© Paul Norris 2012

...And someone were to copy it a  year later without my permission, changing minor aspects but leaving it roughly the same, then I would have my copyright statement to back me up if I were to go to court.

'Copyright is a method of keeping intellectual property safe, by registering a piece of work and giving its original author a period of time during which it cannot be taken by someone else.'

I have exclusive rights to this statement's . Seven years after I die, the content enters the public domain, meaning that anyone can use it without permission,

But what if a student were to cite my definition in an essay?

According to acclaimed excellence spokesperson Paul Norris: 'Copyright is a way of preserving intellectual property, by registering a piece of original work and giving its creator a period of time during which it cannot be copied.'

By Saul Porrin

They have cited me as being a source, and if they are using my work for educational purposes then I cannot take legal action, under the law of Fair Use.

If I were to record a song about copyright...

Copyright by Paul Norris:

If you steal my work,

Then you're a bit of a jerk

Unless I'm dead, then it's mine

So you'd better wait 'till I'm past my time

This is a song because the words rhyme

Although it has no tune

And by putting in the that line before last I ruined the rhythm

And now it doesn't rhyme anymore

So I'd better stop before I... store, gore, floor, door... whatever.

© Paul Norris 2012

...And a student were to use this in a video about copyright, then that's fine as long as the sample they use lasts less than thirty seconds. Both the lyrics and tune are my intellectual property are mine, so people cannot sing the song or use the tune without my permission.

Bear in mind that anything has the potential to be copyrighted, even if it does not bear the copyright logo. Only specific pieces of data, such as numbers, cannot be copyrighted.

So are there any problems with this? Well, yes. Firstly, it's often difficult to know whether you are in violation of copyright law. You might cite an author, only to realize that what you are writing does not qualify as fair use. Secondly, people can be prevented from using content by copyright laws when really they should be in the public domain.

DuckDuckGo

It's an odd name, yes, but DuckDuckGo has a lot going for it in terms of privacy. Quite frankly, it's like Google used to be (that is, a simple search bar, without any extras). The main thing now the search engine has going for it now is that it does not record searches. Useful, as many people seem to value privacy very highly. In terms of its interface, it's simple without any adverts (that I could see), meaning that it loads quickly (I measured it as 0.2 seconds faster than Google). It also carries out searches reasonably fast, although I must say that it seems to value the size of a site over how relevant it is (no matter how specifically I searched, it would not come up with my other blog).

Personally, I don't really mind personalized adverts or anything like that, and the idea that my search history could affect my future is rather distant. I am glad, however, that Google has a bit of competition to keep it on its toes, as Bing and Yahoo always felt somewhat too similar, while DuckDuckGo does have a real difference. I'd better explain a bit about DuckDuckGo's history. DuckDuckGo was created in 2010 by Gabriel Weinburg. The idea from the beginning was to make a simple search engine that had an equally simple privacy policy - no tracking, full privacy. The actual search engine is basically a combination of Yahoo and several other search engines. As I said before, it isn't as good as Google for my purposes, so fortunately there is an alternative. Startpage also provides absolute privacy  it is basically the same as Google. Despite this, it failed to find my blog. Therefore, perhaps simply due to laziness, I'm sticking with Google. If you're really worried about privacy, then just change your Google settings.

For a better look at DuckDuckGo, have a look at this.

Learning to Code

I've tried to learn three different types of coding: some kind of BASIC (in a Technology lesson); Pascal and HTML (although that wasn't all that hard) with various levels of success. So why would I want to learn to code an entirely different language? I've already forgotten Pascal and I have no idea what I'm supposed to use BASIC for. As for HTML, writing my blog posts in pure HTML is an unwanted hassle.

However, a website advertises that it is teaching people to learn JavaScript. JavaScript is not the same as Java! This is a mistake I'm sure I have made many times, calling Java 'JavaScript' because it's a longer, clever-sounding word, when in fact Java is far harder to code. Anyway, back to this website. At the time of writing, 334,897 people have signed up to learn to write JavaScript, including my coding teacher. However, is there any point in learning this coding language? Well... unless you want to program 'dynamic tasks' (no, I'm not quite sure what that means either) then it's pretty useless.

And to be honest, all I'm going to code anytime soon is HTML and CSS, so I didn't go that far with it.