What We’re Reading — Week of April 4, 2011

Irish coffee: S.F. elixir on brink of extinction

A parable, beautifully told by Warren Hinckle, about the perils of not sharing. For some reason it made me think of the Kindle and DRM. (Bruce)

A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing: JA Konrath Interviews Barry Eisler

Pretty extraordinary conversation about how professional authors can make a substantial living without publishers. A 99 cent book and you keep 39. (Jim)

University of Wisconsin-Madison Strives to Balance Public Records with Academic Freedom | Scholar as Citizen

Fascinating to read how the U. Wisconsin-Madison is responding to the Wisconsin Republic Party’s open records request for a professor’s correspondence, apparently without thinking about “false drops” either. (Karen)

‘Citizen Scientists’ Crowdsource Radiation Measurements In Japan : Shots – Health Blog : NPR

Demand has outpaced the supply of radiation detectors, and the accuracy of the data is questioned, but I thought the impulse and ability to do this were both pretty interesting. (Bruce)

Color, A Twitter For Photo And Video, Launches With $41 Million – Bruce Upbin – Tradigital – Forbes

Location and time based service could be a game changer. How do traditional information sources (like books) slot in, or do they (Merrilee)

Facebook wants your burning questions | ITworld

Look out Yahoo Answers, Answers.com (and chat reference services), Facebook is coming to town. (Merrilee)