K.A.I.E.C.

Today I had some problems to create a PDF from several image files. Of course I started with a simple convert *.jpg output.pdf. The problem was that all images had different sizes and I wanted to get an A4 PDF. Here is the quick report of the (so far) final solution (using sam2p and pdfjam): Read the rest of this entry »

The last weeks were quite busy and I think it is time to summarize a little bit, what we did about linked data at the library, and why…

This article has two parts. First, I shortly describe the recently published Linked Data Service of the Mannheim University Library. Afterwards, I explain, what we mean with Linked Open Projects and why we talked about it at the library workshop of the GfKl conference last week.

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My translation of the German version of the “aeiou” mnemonic to remember the criteria for open standards was discovered by Matthias Kirschner (thanks to trackbacks, I assume). The Free Software Foundation Europe already included it in its press release.

I am quite impressed by that and I think this nicely shows how the internet meanwhile supports the collaboration of people who even do not know each other.

Today, I read an article on netzpolitik.org, stating that the German state secretary Cornelia Rogall-Grothe, IT commisioner of the German government, emphasized the importance of open standards to be independent from single vendors in an interview with the German computer magazine c’t. Only open standards should be used as mandatory standards by the authorities.

I especially liked the short mnemonic description of the criteria for an open standard, originally published here. I thought about an english version of it and came up with the following, maybe someone considers it useful:

The criteria of open standards are (based on FSFE):

• (a)pplicable (without restrictions): free from legal or technical clauses that limit its utilisation by any party or in any business model
• (e)xisting (implementations): available in multiple complete implementations by competing vendors, or as a complete implementation equally available to all parties.
• (i)ndependent (of a single vendor): managed and further developed independently of any single vendor in a process open to the equal participation of competitors and third parties
• (o)pen (specification): subject to full public assessment and use without constraints in a manner equally available to all parties
• (u)ntainted (with dependencies to closed standards): without any components or extensions that have dependencies on formats or protocols that do not meet the definition of an Open Standard themselves

Last week, I returned from my trip almost around the world – 80%, around 16,000 km – to the JCDL-ICADL conference 2010, held in Surfers Paradise, QLD, Australia. Read the rest of this entry »

Finally, after roughly three years of development, Alexander Hanschke and I  now released a version of Semtinel to the public. Read the rest of this entry »

Geertjan did an interview with me about Semtinel. You can read it here.

Geertjan, a Netbeans evangelist,  posted a short article about Semtinel on his blog. Not only because he mentioned Semtinel, I really like his blog. You can find there a lot of tipps and tricks about Netbeans development that were very valuable for me more than once.

Fortunately, a paper written by Magnus Pfeffer, Heiner Stuckenschmidt and me was accepted for the upcoming Dublin Core 2009 conference in Seoul. Read the rest of this entry »