This is an interesting piece. I don't think I would go so far as to advocate
all librarians become programmers anymore than to advocate that all chefs
should become forgers of their own cutlery. Awareness though, of how these
things are made, and the user of such tools having input into their design
should be sufficient.
Everything is an API, really. The handle of a knife is an interface just as
much a programming language is to a computer. He makes good points about APIs,
but it's a little too web-centric.
Layers of abstraction may be a better term than API.
Only now, after over 20 years of watching this thing grow up, am I becoming
convinced that this Web stuff may be here to stay for awhile. Not because it's
particularly good (it's pretty awful by design) but because the approach has
gained so much momentum. APIs do really affect how we look at things. They
are the containers into which we pour content.
Peter Schlumpf
www.avantilibrarysystems.com
-Original Message-
From: Glen Newton glen.new...@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Sent: Dec 23, 2009 12:10 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: [CODE4LIB] Alert! Programming skills could transform librarians'
roles
Dude doesn't mention code4lib.
Dude should do better research.
Programming skills could transform librarians' roles
To keep pace with information changes and the needs of users,
librarians need some programming skills, argues David Stuart
http://www.researchinformation.info/features/feature.php?feature_id=245
--
Glen Newton | glen.new...@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Researcher, Information Science, CISTI Research
NRC W3C Advisory Committee Representative
http://tinyurl.com/yvchmu
tel/t l: 613-990-9163 | facsimile/t l copieur 613-952-8246
Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI)
National Research Council Canada (NRC)| M-55, 1200 Montreal Road
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/
Institut canadien de l'information scientifique et technique (ICIST)
Conseil national de recherches Canada | M-55, 1200 chemin Montr al
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6
Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada
--
