Some reflections upon the completeion of PLCMC's 23 Things program. First, I really enjoyed creating this blog and walking through each step has been a learning experience. I tried out some Web 2.0 applications I knew about but would not have otherwise tried and learned about a few new ones as well along the way. I will continue to use some of these applications regularly. LibraryThing and Delicious in particular have become favorites. Applications such as wikis remain on my to do list to explore further and develop a level of comfort and familiarity.
Most important I'll now be able to count some of the things from the list of 23 as skills that I can market in the future.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
NetLibrary
I don't have access to NetLibrary so I can't really complete this step. Let me say that I think offering eAudiobooks via a service such as NetLibrary is a really good idea. I think the concept can be expanded upon to include MP3's for music and video as well. There should be sufficient technology in place to protect from copyright infringement. For example, Zune MP3 player allows its users to share songs by "squirting" them wirelessly to another users player. The transferred song is able to be played for a set period of time before it disappears from the player. Similar principles should be able to be employed in libraries to allow users to borrow such content electronically.
Podcasts/iTunes/iTunesU
I explored some podcasts through Podcastalley.com. While they had a lot of podcasts in a variety of categories, I didn't find the design interface to be very user friendly. In comparison iTunes has an excellent interface and a lots of options. I didn't feel like I had to go searching for much as many excellent options where presented right up front. I found public radio podcasts, Barack Obama's weekly address, a podcast from Al Jazeera and was able to search for podcasts among a variety of specialized categories. This is a much more pleasant experience and I can manage it all through my iTunes without having to subscribe to podcasts via Bloglines or another RSS reader.
One of the features of iTunes that I think is really great is iTunesU which offers lectures on a variety of topics from some of the best Universities in the country. I think that this is a fantastic idea. I think this really gets at the core of the power of 2.0 applications making expertise and learning available far beyond the walls of a classroom.
I personally don't use podcasts much. Mostly due to time constraints, one can only follow so much! However, I see many uses for them. Specifically, in libraries podcasts could be used to offer bibliographic instruction, do book reviews or book talks, and internally they can be used to relay information from conference presentations to staff unable to attend.
I do want to learn how to create and post podcasts. I'm going to save this to tackle in the near future.
One of the features of iTunes that I think is really great is iTunesU which offers lectures on a variety of topics from some of the best Universities in the country. I think that this is a fantastic idea. I think this really gets at the core of the power of 2.0 applications making expertise and learning available far beyond the walls of a classroom.
I personally don't use podcasts much. Mostly due to time constraints, one can only follow so much! However, I see many uses for them. Specifically, in libraries podcasts could be used to offer bibliographic instruction, do book reviews or book talks, and internally they can be used to relay information from conference presentations to staff unable to attend.
I do want to learn how to create and post podcasts. I'm going to save this to tackle in the near future.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Discovering Web 2.0 Tools/Twitter
From seomoz's list of award winning web 2.0 applications I chose to explore Twitter. I chose Twitter primarily because my brother won't shut up about it. I also chose Twitter because I've seen it pop up in more and more places and I still didn't really understand the concept. Twitter is basically a micro-blogging/social networking site. Users' posts are limited to 140 words or less and are generally just brief updates about what you are doing. Twitter is an easy way to keep up quickly with your network of friends, family or relatives. It has other uses as well, as during the primaries and general election, slate.com, gave up on live blogging debates and switched to a Twitter account. This allowed the writer for Slate and Slate readers to comment on presidential debates live. Since the posts are much shorter than most blog entries it is possible to keep much more current especially in something as fast paced and fluid as a debate.
In comparison to other social networking sites such as Myspace or Facebook, Twitter has relatively few users. Despite this they form a powerful community. This story from American Public Media's Marketplace radio show details some of the profound effects Twitter has had in the area of customer service. You can listen here.
In comparison to other social networking sites such as Myspace or Facebook, Twitter has relatively few users. Despite this they form a powerful community. This story from American Public Media's Marketplace radio show details some of the profound effects Twitter has had in the area of customer service. You can listen here.
Zoho
I'm using Zoho to compose this post. It has lots of features and is perhaps even easier to use in some respects than Microsoft Office. While I can see the utility of web based applications, such as Zoho, I wouldn't see myself using Zoho or other online word processing applications much. I think perhaps the best use for Zoho or other web based applications is with collaborative projects. Using a web based application would eliminate the need for having to e-mail work back and forth and having a person appointed to compile that work and then run it by everyone involved again for approval. And with Zoho's many project templates (even one for a wiki) there are quite a variety of projects for which it could be useful.
I published this post straight from Zoho. Very simple.
I published this post straight from Zoho. Very simple.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
PB Wiki Sandbox
Since you need an invite in order to play in the PLCMC's PB Wiki sandbox, I just created an account at Wikipedia instead. I had noticed a couple of weeks ago, while doing an assignment for another class, that there was an omission in the article about noted Science Fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin. So I decided that in place of playing in the PB Wiki sandbox I would go and edit the Ursula K. Le Guin page on Wikipedia.
I made a minor edit adding that she had won the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in Young Adult literature in 2004. I found the process to be relatively simple and was able to make this edit within 10 minutes of creating my account and reading up a little on making edits/additions on Wikipedia's help page. What I hadn't imagined was that Wikipedia would have its own style guide and that some of the considerations could get quite complex i.e. how to represent complicated mathematical formulas.
I use Wikipedia a fair amount. Mostly, for preliminary explorations of subjects or topics with which I am unfamiliar and occasionally for pop cultural trivia. I find that it is often a good starting point and I've rarely encountered instances of any outright bias. The problem I frequently encounter however, is that many articles lack citations. This is an annoying problem especially if you are merely using the Wikipedia article as a jumping off point.
I made a minor edit adding that she had won the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in Young Adult literature in 2004. I found the process to be relatively simple and was able to make this edit within 10 minutes of creating my account and reading up a little on making edits/additions on Wikipedia's help page. What I hadn't imagined was that Wikipedia would have its own style guide and that some of the considerations could get quite complex i.e. how to represent complicated mathematical formulas.
I use Wikipedia a fair amount. Mostly, for preliminary explorations of subjects or topics with which I am unfamiliar and occasionally for pop cultural trivia. I find that it is often a good starting point and I've rarely encountered instances of any outright bias. The problem I frequently encounter however, is that many articles lack citations. This is an annoying problem especially if you are merely using the Wikipedia article as a jumping off point.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Wikiocracy
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/trailhead/archive/2008/09/12/wikiocracy.aspx
Above is an interesting link from Slate.com's, Trailhead blog. It accentuates some of the positives and negatives of Wikipedia by taking a look at the flurry of editing that occurred on the "Bush Doctrine" entry following Sarah Palin's interview with Charlie Gibson in September. For those with short memories, Palin was viewed to have flubbed her response to Gibson's question asking if she agreed with the Bush Doctrine.
Above is an interesting link from Slate.com's, Trailhead blog. It accentuates some of the positives and negatives of Wikipedia by taking a look at the flurry of editing that occurred on the "Bush Doctrine" entry following Sarah Palin's interview with Charlie Gibson in September. For those with short memories, Palin was viewed to have flubbed her response to Gibson's question asking if she agreed with the Bush Doctrine.
Wiki, Wiki, Wiki
My previous experience with wikis had been through Wikipedia and I hadn't really imagined all of the possible applications for them. My favorite feature of wikis is their collaborative nature. Allowing a particular community to work collectively on projects of common interest, and often doing so effectively, demonstrates that hierarchical, top-down direction is not always required to achieve results.
I thought that the St. Joseph's County Library subject guide was a particularly fruitful use of a wiki. This points people to a number of resources on hobbies, genealogy, links for areas of local interest and genre reads to name just a few. I think wikis could be used like this within any library system to cultivate good resourceful links. the features of easy editing and decentralized community involvement would make it very easy to keep links current.
The Library Success wiki, is also a really good idea. A place where libraries can share a variety of success stories and strategies for everything from programming, marketing, readers advisory, management and more. This can be a powerful tool in allowing libraries of all sizes to share their experiences of what works and what doesn't for a variety of
I also think wikis are a good idea for policy/procedure manuals. Easy to update on the fly and no need to print out new sections for every employee's personal manual. This offers built in redundancy for any organization. For example, if "X" employee who normally handles a particular aspect of business is out sick, that information can be easily looked up on a wiki and things can run just as they normally would.
Lastly, a personal favorite to pass along to my fellow Star Wars nerds, Wookieepedia.
I thought that the St. Joseph's County Library subject guide was a particularly fruitful use of a wiki. This points people to a number of resources on hobbies, genealogy, links for areas of local interest and genre reads to name just a few. I think wikis could be used like this within any library system to cultivate good resourceful links. the features of easy editing and decentralized community involvement would make it very easy to keep links current.
The Library Success wiki, is also a really good idea. A place where libraries can share a variety of success stories and strategies for everything from programming, marketing, readers advisory, management and more. This can be a powerful tool in allowing libraries of all sizes to share their experiences of what works and what doesn't for a variety of
I also think wikis are a good idea for policy/procedure manuals. Easy to update on the fly and no need to print out new sections for every employee's personal manual. This offers built in redundancy for any organization. For example, if "X" employee who normally handles a particular aspect of business is out sick, that information can be easily looked up on a wiki and things can run just as they normally would.
Lastly, a personal favorite to pass along to my fellow Star Wars nerds, Wookieepedia.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Web 2.0/Library 2.0
Let me begin by saying I'm somewhat skeptical of extending metaphors beyond their originally intended meanings. I believe such is the case with the Library 2.0, Learning 2.0, Business 2.0 memes. While these memes as concepts do not lack meaning entirely, there are certainly enough dissimilarities between the aforementioned memes and what is meant by Web 2.0, to make a wholesale grafting of 2.0 onto any other institution, concept or verb (in the odd case of Learning 2.0) not entirely successful.
After reading the five perspectives from the OCLC Next Space newsletter, linked to from the PLCMC 23 Things site and some of the cited readings from the Wikipedia Library 2.o article I agree with Walt Crawford that Library 2.o's definition is somewhat nebulous. See Library 2.0 and 'Library 2.0'" Cites and Insights 6, 2. This doesn't mean that some of the stated goals of advocates of Library 2.0 aren't good goals. In fact, according to Crawford's argument many of them have been central tenets of librarianship for some time. (Same old wine, new bottles) I simply feel that a little caution and some healthy skepticism are in order as a counterweight to unabashed and unexamined enthusiasm for new technologies and gadgets.
Despite these stated reservations, I do think that the integration of Web 2.0 technologies into the library does and will offer expanded services and a greater degree of participation in the library for patrons. Does this constitute Library 2.o though, a new generation or new version of the library. Of this, I am less convinced. Looked at from an evolutionary perspective organisms and institutions sometimes change gradually and other times the changes are more radical more abrupt. But, they are never a complete break from the past.
Many of the 2.0 applications we have familiarized ourselves with thus far I believe have great utility and can improve library services and the patrons experience. Delicious and Rollyo are great tools for reference and can improve the efficiency of reference transactions with little effort behind the scenes. I think the crown jewel for Library 2.0 would be an improved OPAC catalog. Rather than having the OPAC catalog be a primarily one way transaction i.e content and metadata created by librarians and and then accessed by patrons. 2.0 technologies offer the possibility of a two way conversation with user generated metadata. LibraryThing I think offers a great model for what a participatory library catalog could be. Offering users the ability to tag books, write reviews, engage in on-line book discussions and get reading recommendations from other patrons adds value not only to the catalog but to the users' experience as well. Tagging and tag clouds would be especially great Reader's Advisory tools when a patron doesn't specifically know what they are looking for but has an idea of what they would like to read.
I believe that 2.0 applications can be used to strengthen core values of librarianship and enhance library services. But I don't believe that they are replacing an older outmoded version of the library.
After reading the five perspectives from the OCLC Next Space newsletter, linked to from the PLCMC 23 Things site and some of the cited readings from the Wikipedia Library 2.o article I agree with Walt Crawford that Library 2.o's definition is somewhat nebulous. See Library 2.0 and 'Library 2.0'" Cites and Insights 6, 2. This doesn't mean that some of the stated goals of advocates of Library 2.0 aren't good goals. In fact, according to Crawford's argument many of them have been central tenets of librarianship for some time. (Same old wine, new bottles) I simply feel that a little caution and some healthy skepticism are in order as a counterweight to unabashed and unexamined enthusiasm for new technologies and gadgets.
Despite these stated reservations, I do think that the integration of Web 2.0 technologies into the library does and will offer expanded services and a greater degree of participation in the library for patrons. Does this constitute Library 2.o though, a new generation or new version of the library. Of this, I am less convinced. Looked at from an evolutionary perspective organisms and institutions sometimes change gradually and other times the changes are more radical more abrupt. But, they are never a complete break from the past.
Many of the 2.0 applications we have familiarized ourselves with thus far I believe have great utility and can improve library services and the patrons experience. Delicious and Rollyo are great tools for reference and can improve the efficiency of reference transactions with little effort behind the scenes. I think the crown jewel for Library 2.0 would be an improved OPAC catalog. Rather than having the OPAC catalog be a primarily one way transaction i.e content and metadata created by librarians and and then accessed by patrons. 2.0 technologies offer the possibility of a two way conversation with user generated metadata. LibraryThing I think offers a great model for what a participatory library catalog could be. Offering users the ability to tag books, write reviews, engage in on-line book discussions and get reading recommendations from other patrons adds value not only to the catalog but to the users' experience as well. Tagging and tag clouds would be especially great Reader's Advisory tools when a patron doesn't specifically know what they are looking for but has an idea of what they would like to read.
I believe that 2.0 applications can be used to strengthen core values of librarianship and enhance library services. But I don't believe that they are replacing an older outmoded version of the library.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Technorati
I played around with Technorati for a while. As far as I can tell the search function for blog posts and tags have been collapsed into one search box so there really is no difference now in doing a keyword search in tags or blogposts. One of the design features of the site that I really like is their "front page" which is divided up into sections much like you would find in any daily paper. This makes finding posts of popular stories for the day very intuitive. Same for the blog directory, a kind of Yellow Pages for blogs.
Not surprisingly, searching recent top tags and blogposts many have to do with the election. Barack Obama was the second most popular tag, second to the not so helpful "news". The most surprising thing perhaps was when I looked at the most popular searches they didn't match up at all. The most popular tags as detailed above had to do with the election and politics. Many of the most popular searches were related to pop culture, which is somewhat discouraging.
The number of blogs being tracked by Technorati is overwhelming. With all its handy features though, especially with the ever increasing speed of information on the Internet, Technorati makes it easy for you to get a kind of snapshot of the zeitgeist of the blogosphere.
While like the spirit of blogs and having a more democratic form of journalism, blogging as a whole is certainly not without its negatives i.e. the role many blogs have recently played in whisper campaigns spreading unsourced rumors and innuendo in our recent election. It goes to show that information literacy and being able to recognize credible sources is perhaps more important than ever. Unfortunately, this is a skill that seems to be in short supply.
Not surprisingly, searching recent top tags and blogposts many have to do with the election. Barack Obama was the second most popular tag, second to the not so helpful "news". The most surprising thing perhaps was when I looked at the most popular searches they didn't match up at all. The most popular tags as detailed above had to do with the election and politics. Many of the most popular searches were related to pop culture, which is somewhat discouraging.
The number of blogs being tracked by Technorati is overwhelming. With all its handy features though, especially with the ever increasing speed of information on the Internet, Technorati makes it easy for you to get a kind of snapshot of the zeitgeist of the blogosphere.
While like the spirit of blogs and having a more democratic form of journalism, blogging as a whole is certainly not without its negatives i.e. the role many blogs have recently played in whisper campaigns spreading unsourced rumors and innuendo in our recent election. It goes to show that information literacy and being able to recognize credible sources is perhaps more important than ever. Unfortunately, this is a skill that seems to be in short supply.
Monday, November 3, 2008
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