               Tennant: Digital Libraries
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Ode on a HackfestOctober 10, 2007Thou still uncopied bride of geekness, Thou foster-child of computers and code, Nerdly pioneer, who canst thou express A flowery program more sweetly than our rhyme: What regex-bedecked script about thy purpose Of code warriors or mortals, or of both, In Victoria or the dales of Saskatoon? What administrators or programmers are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to command-escape? What pipes and redirects? What wild XML? OK, enough is enough. This butchery of Keats' fine legacy must cease. But now I must explain. Today the Hackfest, a five-year tradition of the Canadian Access Conference, is happening at this year's conference in Victoria, BC. The 2003 Access Hackfest was even documented in a brief movie, long before YouTube.com (which may explain the small form factor). In a nutshell, the Hackfest is about a group of people spending a day together and hacking on library problems. The outcomes can be, and often are, diagrams, flowcharts, documents, as well as running code. Although the emphasis is probably on running code, one of the great things about the Hackfest is that the ability to write code is optional. Everyone is valued for what they bring to the enterprise, and even if you've never written a single program you will likely have other things you can contribute. At times during the conference the Hackfest participants report back on the problem they tackled and how they tackled it, so even people who weren't there (like me) can find out what went on. So today there is a group of librarians in Victoria BC hacking away on library problems and having a grand old time doing it. I miss it. Just believe me. Someday you have to be there. Posted by Roy Tennant on October 10, 2007 | Comments (0) Industries: News & Features
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