Good afternoon, all.
A final conundrum with RSS feeds ... when I tried to create a subscription to Bloglines from Your Tutor I was assured no feeds could be detected but an update just occurred to my errant Internet Explorer feed from Your Tutor .....??????
I have just made a minor edit on the Wikipedia entry for Grenfell, New South Wales (added 'cyclist Reggie "IronMan" McNamara' to the paragraph mentioning tennis player Jan Lehane and cricketer Stan McCabe) and made two suggestions on the related talk page - well, actually set up a related talk page and then made two suggestions.
I never did get round to loading photos onto Flickr but I feel now is the right time to consider myself as having met all the basic requirements of the course and completed a few of the Adventure options.
So, Adieu and a big thank you to all involved in the Web 2.0 course from Itnitwit.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The end of the (RSS) feed-ing frenzy .....
Good morning, all.
I enjoyed Ellen's comment that I seemed to be having a "very interesting time exploring RSS" - what a broad application that word 'interesting' can have ....
The good news is that on the third attempt I got feeds to appear in Bloglines - was easy once I included the vital step of setting up a "Sub with Bloglines" in Favourites. I set up the following feeds
ABS Blog for Librarians (10) (0)
FOLK AUSTRALIA (10) (0)
NEWS.com.au | Africa (10) (0)
Powerhouse Museum - Photo of the Day (10) (0)
Tag: Diabetes - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (10)
I tried to set up a feed to the Lonely Planet podcast and videocast but got an 'unspecified error' message so maybe this hardware could not cope with that.
RSS feeds are certainly a great timesaver at an individual level and would be very relevant in a specialist library or in professional development.
I can't see me using RSS feeds in my work unless I got a sudden urge to become more involved in the theory of the profession and needed to be au fait with professional material and posts.
I must confess I didn't really go hunting other library blogs ....
I tried very hard to set up a news feed to this post. There are items showing up but I don't know whether it will automatically update as I would have thought it should .. Anyway I tried!! (the story of my involvement in this course ..!!!)
I enjoyed Ellen's comment that I seemed to be having a "very interesting time exploring RSS" - what a broad application that word 'interesting' can have ....
The good news is that on the third attempt I got feeds to appear in Bloglines - was easy once I included the vital step of setting up a "Sub with Bloglines" in Favourites. I set up the following feeds
ABS Blog for Librarians (10) (0)
FOLK AUSTRALIA (10) (0)
NEWS.com.au | Africa (10) (0)
Powerhouse Museum - Photo of the Day (10) (0)
Tag: Diabetes - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (10)
I tried to set up a feed to the Lonely Planet podcast and videocast but got an 'unspecified error' message so maybe this hardware could not cope with that.
RSS feeds are certainly a great timesaver at an individual level and would be very relevant in a specialist library or in professional development.
I can't see me using RSS feeds in my work unless I got a sudden urge to become more involved in the theory of the profession and needed to be au fait with professional material and posts.
I must confess I didn't really go hunting other library blogs ....
I tried very hard to set up a news feed to this post. There are items showing up but I don't know whether it will automatically update as I would have thought it should .. Anyway I tried!! (the story of my involvement in this course ..!!!)
Monday, May 5, 2008
Stewing with RSS feeds
My instinct was that RSS feeds would be bad news and what do they say about trusting one's instincts?!!
I have the account in Bloglines - that was an easy entree - and have managed to get the feed from the Powerhouse Museum's picture of the day - has turned up for twenty days. But I don't really know why - I click on 'subscribe' but am not asked to put in a destination so I can't conceive how the connection occurs unless the fact that I have an open Bloglines account is enough. But I suspect it is just within the computer, not going through Bloglines because when I look at my feeds on Bloglines it says I have one feed but I can't open it from there .. and I presume I should be able to?? But on the other hand I set up the initial feed on the CTC computer but it is showing up on the library computer which suggests it isn't just within the computer ... So if what I did was right it is very easy but it just seems to be too easy .... (But I am ITnitwit!!!!!)
I still have to find four more sites from which to set up feeds. But the general comments ... I can see RSS feeds being wonderful time savers for individuals and for specialist libraries who could nominate a single figure number of really useful websites/blogs. No more having to trawl those sites at regular intervals checking for the new material. But for the generalist library RSS feeds would be most useful for staff tapping into relevant professional sites rather than as a service for clients as it would be very hard to know which sites to connect to. They would also be a useful topic for a small group instruction module, providing a real service and again positioning the library as relevant and 'techno-savvy'. (I'm not sure how much the CTC manager knows about RSS feeds ....)
As someone else commented, it was hard to find suitable sites from which to set up feeds. I tried a few way-out things like African cooking and Iceland looking at websites rather than blogs but I assume if you click on the RSS logo (on the menu bar, not within the window) and it says no feeds detected, you can't set up feeds. I found an RSS logo on the diabetes section of healthinsite.gov.au/topics but coudn't get the feed to work. Also I couldn't get a feed set up from Annabel Crabbe's blog on the Herald site. When I clicked on the RSS icon the screen went back to general news. So all in all not quite an unmitigated disaster but not a real success either ....
I have the account in Bloglines - that was an easy entree - and have managed to get the feed from the Powerhouse Museum's picture of the day - has turned up for twenty days. But I don't really know why - I click on 'subscribe' but am not asked to put in a destination so I can't conceive how the connection occurs unless the fact that I have an open Bloglines account is enough. But I suspect it is just within the computer, not going through Bloglines because when I look at my feeds on Bloglines it says I have one feed but I can't open it from there .. and I presume I should be able to?? But on the other hand I set up the initial feed on the CTC computer but it is showing up on the library computer which suggests it isn't just within the computer ... So if what I did was right it is very easy but it just seems to be too easy .... (But I am ITnitwit!!!!!)
I still have to find four more sites from which to set up feeds. But the general comments ... I can see RSS feeds being wonderful time savers for individuals and for specialist libraries who could nominate a single figure number of really useful websites/blogs. No more having to trawl those sites at regular intervals checking for the new material. But for the generalist library RSS feeds would be most useful for staff tapping into relevant professional sites rather than as a service for clients as it would be very hard to know which sites to connect to. They would also be a useful topic for a small group instruction module, providing a real service and again positioning the library as relevant and 'techno-savvy'. (I'm not sure how much the CTC manager knows about RSS feeds ....)
As someone else commented, it was hard to find suitable sites from which to set up feeds. I tried a few way-out things like African cooking and Iceland looking at websites rather than blogs but I assume if you click on the RSS logo (on the menu bar, not within the window) and it says no feeds detected, you can't set up feeds. I found an RSS logo on the diabetes section of healthinsite.gov.au/topics but coudn't get the feed to work. Also I couldn't get a feed set up from Annabel Crabbe's blog on the Herald site. When I clicked on the RSS icon the screen went back to general news. So all in all not quite an unmitigated disaster but not a real success either ....
Getting 'thingy' about LibraryThing
Good morning, all.
I doubt that anyone will follow it up but I did include the following in a recent Library Lines column in the local newspaper .....
Last week as part of THAT course I ......and discovered LibraryThing ...
LibraryThing (http://www.librarything.com/) is ideal for people who love reading books AND love doing things on their computer. I would describe it as a cross between a huge library catalogue (contains over 25 million books) and a humungous book club. LibrayThing is an online sevice to help people catalogue their books easily and because everyone catalogues together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth. There are a large number of groups you can join, and at 'Talk' contribute to various conversations on book-related themes. Not surprisingly the largest group numerically is "Librarians who Library Thing" and my favourite topic in their Group Talks is "Funny Requests from Patrons" - it's a scream!
Click on any title and you will find ecommendations of similar books, member reviews and current related conversation topics.
LibraryThing uses the profile of the books you have entered to suggest books you might like to read (and even ones you wouldn't!). Once you have entered your books you can search them, sort them and add subject 'tags' or labels, also rate them, e.g. 4 stars, and write reviews.
Why not explore LibraryThing for yourself ..."
I doubt that anyone will follow it up but I did include the following in a recent Library Lines column in the local newspaper .....
Last week as part of THAT course I ......and discovered LibraryThing ...
LibraryThing (http://www.librarything.com/) is ideal for people who love reading books AND love doing things on their computer. I would describe it as a cross between a huge library catalogue (contains over 25 million books) and a humungous book club. LibrayThing is an online sevice to help people catalogue their books easily and because everyone catalogues together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth. There are a large number of groups you can join, and at 'Talk' contribute to various conversations on book-related themes. Not surprisingly the largest group numerically is "Librarians who Library Thing" and my favourite topic in their Group Talks is "Funny Requests from Patrons" - it's a scream!
Click on any title and you will find ecommendations of similar books, member reviews and current related conversation topics.
LibraryThing uses the profile of the books you have entered to suggest books you might like to read (and even ones you wouldn't!). Once you have entered your books you can search them, sort them and add subject 'tags' or labels, also rate them, e.g. 4 stars, and write reviews.
Why not explore LibraryThing for yourself ..."
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Social networking and all that
Good evening...
I have looked at each of the examples of social networking in action and I can see that these institutions are using MySpace etc to great effect. Their sites are eye-catching, informative and provide lots of opportunities for members to interact with the site which is so much the expectation of contemporary culture, or at least youth culture.
I was particularly interested with the local Government Communities of Practice example which is much 'bigger' than libraries but could offer great potential for enhancing the social fabric. The East Renfrewshire Council example was also interesting because it was simpler and therefore more accessible to me than some of the others, impressive though they are. I could see something like it as being only just out of reach of this library.
It could be just that I have been toiling over this course for five hours today but the different applications - blogs, wikis, social networks - are starting to merge together in my mind. They all seem to involve networking in the sense of sharing ideas and inviting interaction and where does one out-perform another? I guess these social networking sites have the advantage of already having a high profile in the cyber-world - even I have heard of MySpace and FaceBook although I had never visited them before today. And the sample sites are so comprehensive with pictures, blogs, videos and podcasts, posts, links that perhaps they incorporate individual elements that we have previously looked at like wikis and blogs and videos - encompass the lot.
For libraries who have staff with the expertise and time to maintain sites like these, a page in MySpace would be great for client marketing and interaction. For one of the earlier applications - I forget which - I thought no-one would be likely to find the library's entry, but that wouldn't be such an issue on MySpace. For networking at the professional level I think you would use a wiki or a more closed environment like that.
But the course asked about possibilities for my library using social networking and they don't look good. Apart from the veracity of that user name, I can't imagine myself ever having time to manage such a site, bearing in mind that a poorly maintained and presented site is as much a 'put-off' as a well-constructed, attractive and informative site is a 'come-on'. I note that the NewsGrist article suggested that at least for that institution the maintenance of a presence in MySpace was effective in increasing interest, usage and interaction and that managing time is based on balancing competing priorities and not always doing the existing tasks because they have always been there. A modest blog might be a better spec than the current printed Newsletter. But the latter takes about five hours once every six weeks - an effective MySpace page would take a lot more than that!!
I have looked at each of the examples of social networking in action and I can see that these institutions are using MySpace etc to great effect. Their sites are eye-catching, informative and provide lots of opportunities for members to interact with the site which is so much the expectation of contemporary culture, or at least youth culture.
I was particularly interested with the local Government Communities of Practice example which is much 'bigger' than libraries but could offer great potential for enhancing the social fabric. The East Renfrewshire Council example was also interesting because it was simpler and therefore more accessible to me than some of the others, impressive though they are. I could see something like it as being only just out of reach of this library.
It could be just that I have been toiling over this course for five hours today but the different applications - blogs, wikis, social networks - are starting to merge together in my mind. They all seem to involve networking in the sense of sharing ideas and inviting interaction and where does one out-perform another? I guess these social networking sites have the advantage of already having a high profile in the cyber-world - even I have heard of MySpace and FaceBook although I had never visited them before today. And the sample sites are so comprehensive with pictures, blogs, videos and podcasts, posts, links that perhaps they incorporate individual elements that we have previously looked at like wikis and blogs and videos - encompass the lot.
For libraries who have staff with the expertise and time to maintain sites like these, a page in MySpace would be great for client marketing and interaction. For one of the earlier applications - I forget which - I thought no-one would be likely to find the library's entry, but that wouldn't be such an issue on MySpace. For networking at the professional level I think you would use a wiki or a more closed environment like that.
But the course asked about possibilities for my library using social networking and they don't look good. Apart from the veracity of that user name, I can't imagine myself ever having time to manage such a site, bearing in mind that a poorly maintained and presented site is as much a 'put-off' as a well-constructed, attractive and informative site is a 'come-on'. I note that the NewsGrist article suggested that at least for that institution the maintenance of a presence in MySpace was effective in increasing interest, usage and interaction and that managing time is based on balancing competing priorities and not always doing the existing tasks because they have always been there. A modest blog might be a better spec than the current printed Newsletter. But the latter takes about five hours once every six weeks - an effective MySpace page would take a lot more than that!!
Sharing documents. a.k.a. instant correction service...
Good afternoon.
I've created a very fictitious document and hopefully sent it to nswpln. I don't want it back (!!) but I can quite see how the exchange of versions back and forth
would be very useful. Oriana, I hope you don't collapse when you receive something entitled 'Contract between the State Library ..." - I didn't know whether I should 'Invite Collaboration" or just click 'Share' and I did try to send it under the title of "Week 11 Web 2.0 course exercise" but it rather looks like it went with the document title - sorry about that ....
Such document construction would be ideal in a regional library situation or where there are dispersed sites of a library when creating something to go over the name of the one institution. I can also see such document sharing being handy for producing strategic plans and similar policy documents at a Zone or regional level. Instead of a draft document being tabled and taken away and read for the next meeting, and then variations voted on and them taken away and written in to produce a final document to be tabled at a third meeting, a document that has been read, amended and agreed to should only need the one tabling. Even doing editing by ricocheting emails is pretty inefficient as explained in the Plain English video. Also such a method means more people can be involved in the production of such documents (not just a two/three person sub-committee) which should improve their quality on the one hand and their acceptability on the other.
This sort of document preparation or at least document drafting would be effective meeting preparation, requiring participants to really think about the issues involved and come with thoughtful reactions to share. I would see concurrent document editing and associated communication explaining why changes were made.
I've created a very fictitious document and hopefully sent it to nswpln. I don't want it back (!!) but I can quite see how the exchange of versions back and forth
would be very useful. Oriana, I hope you don't collapse when you receive something entitled 'Contract between the State Library ..." - I didn't know whether I should 'Invite Collaboration" or just click 'Share' and I did try to send it under the title of "Week 11 Web 2.0 course exercise" but it rather looks like it went with the document title - sorry about that ....
Such document construction would be ideal in a regional library situation or where there are dispersed sites of a library when creating something to go over the name of the one institution. I can also see such document sharing being handy for producing strategic plans and similar policy documents at a Zone or regional level. Instead of a draft document being tabled and taken away and read for the next meeting, and then variations voted on and them taken away and written in to produce a final document to be tabled at a third meeting, a document that has been read, amended and agreed to should only need the one tabling. Even doing editing by ricocheting emails is pretty inefficient as explained in the Plain English video. Also such a method means more people can be involved in the production of such documents (not just a two/three person sub-committee) which should improve their quality on the one hand and their acceptability on the other.
This sort of document preparation or at least document drafting would be effective meeting preparation, requiring participants to really think about the issues involved and come with thoughtful reactions to share. I would see concurrent document editing and associated communication explaining why changes were made.
(S)mash - ups!
Good morning, all.
Mashups are fun! Being more creatorati that technorati downloading the photo was an issue but using the Bighugelabs to create a poster was easy. A little more flexibility in positioning the lettering would be nice .... Now, will I be able to download it to the blog ....
This was not actually my choice of image but the image I had in mind, a group of some eighty people at a library function all waving their arms in the air, to be labelled "Locals Love their Library", was not in fact in the camera. So I decided the process was the important thing .....
Mashups would be an absolute boon for promotional and marketing activities within the library. My immediate thought was of a suite of promotional material including posters, bookmarks, calendars, postcards, letterheads using the one image as the uniting element. Quick to do, professional looking, uniquely local. They would also be useful in creating award certificates.
There is also plenty of scope for using mashups in local history. For example a series of scenes and images of primary documents tracing the route of a local explorer. The "London: a life in maps" example could be replicated in the local town or a survey of local agricultural history - the local history librarian could work with the local museum on such a project. They are being lost as the older farming families move away or die out but there would still be enough local farm families with historical farming photos that could be used for such a project.
For the techno-savvy librarian running small-group courses in something like using mash-ups would be a very popular initiative, particularly in school vacations -a useful service and also an effective marketing strategy, demonstrating the library as relevant, up-to-date and generally 'cool'. Even the CTC manager here had never heard of mashups.
By the way, to anyone monitoring this, I did answer a question on Yahoo!7Answers a couple of weeks ago - a very basic question about what states made up Great Britain in the cold war period. I also wrote up LibraryThing in last week's Library Lines column in the local newspaper.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Podcasts
As I looked at a few podcasts I thought of Stephen Fry and his concern that he miss a favourite programme .... Quite a few of them seemed to me to be the equivalent of the VCR recording-the-movie-for-later-viewing for radio.
On my library website you can't even upload a photo so using things like podcasts are but a dream... However, in a dream world .... I wondered whether podcasts would be easier to produce than videos as they are sound only. In which case they might be better than video broadcasts for some of the 'talking head' events like author visits or interviews, and could be incorporated in any news section on a library's web site/blog/wiki.
The ABC podcasts are just selected programmes from the last week - more useful for individuals who miss a programme or specalist libraries who can keep an eye on casts from a narrow subject area and would have clients looking within that subject area.
It seemed to me that apart from a general resource in reference work (equal in value to any other information source) and library news/marketing contexts, podcasts have two main uses:
- summary information on resources (inhouse and other)produced for single/narrow-interest users by a specialist library on a regular basis - weekly? monthly?. The podcasts provided by the National Library of Medicine in the U.S. are akin to this - a weekly update by the Director highlighting health issues and accompanying information from Medline Plus, lasting c.5 minutes.
- book reviews and reader assistance. The example I liked best was "Bookstacks Quick and Simple" from the Library Success Wiki. Very colourful site, well set-out with short book reviews (c.3 minutes), a new one posted each day but all indexed and accessible by genre. There are also book talks written by students which should appeal to the younger brigade. It would not take too much time to podcast such a review regularly within a library website, say three times a week, and although not being able to see the book cover is a disadvantage, it would require less input than a video (and once you've seen the cover what else is there to show on a videoed book review anyway!).
Pierce Country Library has podcast five book reviews, and that seems to be the use most libraries are choosing.
Orange County Library has a considerable library of podcasts under three general headings - Children's Podcasts, Teen Podcasts and Events Podcasts. Under the latter were a number of "Meet the Author" talks which were basically ads for forthcoming author visits with information and a brief comment on the author and their work - like a radio ad/notice. Included in the Children's Podcasts were read short stories, and notices about upcoming programmes, e.g. "Gross Out Fun" is a one minute long podcast including an introduction to "How to Eat Fried Worms" and an invitation to 'Grossology", a children's library event.
Dryden Middle School has thirteen podcasts available consisting of addresses and musical performances presented at the school. These could be of interest to members and the community and are a way of the institution selling itself to its community as a happening place, something libraries strive for as well.
I was struck by the range of library produced podcasts, from the short and simple "Bookstacks Quick and Simple" to the very learned podcasts of the National Library of Medicine. (Obviously in terms of the different target audiences of course.)
The Online Education Database suggests that podcasts could have a role in professional development and ongoing study for librarians.
Alas, as far as this library is concerned the best I could do would be to mention the existence of podcasts and a couple of web sites with high interest items (like the ABC site) in the Library Lines. I could set up a link from our web site to something like the ABC site but too many links become cumbersome, and I don't think I'm up to having hierarchical links like Cleveland or Sutherland!!
On my library website you can't even upload a photo so using things like podcasts are but a dream... However, in a dream world .... I wondered whether podcasts would be easier to produce than videos as they are sound only. In which case they might be better than video broadcasts for some of the 'talking head' events like author visits or interviews, and could be incorporated in any news section on a library's web site/blog/wiki.
The ABC podcasts are just selected programmes from the last week - more useful for individuals who miss a programme or specalist libraries who can keep an eye on casts from a narrow subject area and would have clients looking within that subject area.
It seemed to me that apart from a general resource in reference work (equal in value to any other information source) and library news/marketing contexts, podcasts have two main uses:
- summary information on resources (inhouse and other)produced for single/narrow-interest users by a specialist library on a regular basis - weekly? monthly?. The podcasts provided by the National Library of Medicine in the U.S. are akin to this - a weekly update by the Director highlighting health issues and accompanying information from Medline Plus, lasting c.5 minutes.
- book reviews and reader assistance. The example I liked best was "Bookstacks Quick and Simple" from the Library Success Wiki. Very colourful site, well set-out with short book reviews (c.3 minutes), a new one posted each day but all indexed and accessible by genre. There are also book talks written by students which should appeal to the younger brigade. It would not take too much time to podcast such a review regularly within a library website, say three times a week, and although not being able to see the book cover is a disadvantage, it would require less input than a video (and once you've seen the cover what else is there to show on a videoed book review anyway!).
Pierce Country Library has podcast five book reviews, and that seems to be the use most libraries are choosing.
Orange County Library has a considerable library of podcasts under three general headings - Children's Podcasts, Teen Podcasts and Events Podcasts. Under the latter were a number of "Meet the Author" talks which were basically ads for forthcoming author visits with information and a brief comment on the author and their work - like a radio ad/notice. Included in the Children's Podcasts were read short stories, and notices about upcoming programmes, e.g. "Gross Out Fun" is a one minute long podcast including an introduction to "How to Eat Fried Worms" and an invitation to 'Grossology", a children's library event.
Dryden Middle School has thirteen podcasts available consisting of addresses and musical performances presented at the school. These could be of interest to members and the community and are a way of the institution selling itself to its community as a happening place, something libraries strive for as well.
I was struck by the range of library produced podcasts, from the short and simple "Bookstacks Quick and Simple" to the very learned podcasts of the National Library of Medicine. (Obviously in terms of the different target audiences of course.)
The Online Education Database suggests that podcasts could have a role in professional development and ongoing study for librarians.
Alas, as far as this library is concerned the best I could do would be to mention the existence of podcasts and a couple of web sites with high interest items (like the ABC site) in the Library Lines. I could set up a link from our web site to something like the ABC site but too many links become cumbersome, and I don't think I'm up to having hierarchical links like Cleveland or Sutherland!!
Monday, April 14, 2008
To 'slam' or not to 'slam' .....
On the basis of a fairly brief look in Yahoo!7 Answers much of the material is rubbish - the questions are insincere and the answers aren't much better. Perhaps the fact that I looked under the Environment and Health categories skewed the results. Most questions in Environment were more platforms for expressing an opinion.
WikiAnswers had a much higher standard of questions and answers.
"Slamming the boards" certainly showcases the quality of library reference services - the quality of the answers stood out like a beacon and no wonder they regularly received 'best answer' accolades - much more detailed, referenced, with referrals to further information sources whereas many of the other answers were only a sentence based on the respondent's 'knowledge'. The little asides like "your library is a great resource for all" and (my favourite) "we {i.e. librarians} eat questions for breakfast" are a good marketing ploy in reminding viewers of the existence and relevance to them of libraries.
However I won't be out 'slamming the boards' because I simply don't have time - need to answer local reference questions first. Reference librarians in bigger libraries might like to do the odd one as time permits - the 'whatever you can do on one day per month' is a good idea - as a professional activity, for personal satisfaction or even just in case some Australians might have questions out there and so be accessible for the message. I can't imgine any of my locals using an answer board to hear the pro-library messages/see the evidence of library relevance and quality and the 'serve for the general good' theory fails to convince in the face of other pressures
Local ratings ... I guess clients vote with their feet (which is damning when one's circulation and visitor statistics are heading south ....) I haven't had much success in getting members to rate returned fiction books with a 'smiley' or 'frown' face label and that's a pretty basic collection evaluation measure. As far as reference answers go I just rely on the 'Now does that answer your question?" feedback request. The annual plea for feedback on "How could the library more effectively meet your needs?" service has garnered responses ranging rom six to nil in the five years it has been conducted. So .. are they happy? apathetic? resigned? Search me !!!
WikiAnswers had a much higher standard of questions and answers.
"Slamming the boards" certainly showcases the quality of library reference services - the quality of the answers stood out like a beacon and no wonder they regularly received 'best answer' accolades - much more detailed, referenced, with referrals to further information sources whereas many of the other answers were only a sentence based on the respondent's 'knowledge'. The little asides like "your library is a great resource for all" and (my favourite) "we {i.e. librarians} eat questions for breakfast" are a good marketing ploy in reminding viewers of the existence and relevance to them of libraries.
However I won't be out 'slamming the boards' because I simply don't have time - need to answer local reference questions first. Reference librarians in bigger libraries might like to do the odd one as time permits - the 'whatever you can do on one day per month' is a good idea - as a professional activity, for personal satisfaction or even just in case some Australians might have questions out there and so be accessible for the message. I can't imgine any of my locals using an answer board to hear the pro-library messages/see the evidence of library relevance and quality and the 'serve for the general good' theory fails to convince in the face of other pressures
Local ratings ... I guess clients vote with their feet (which is damning when one's circulation and visitor statistics are heading south ....) I haven't had much success in getting members to rate returned fiction books with a 'smiley' or 'frown' face label and that's a pretty basic collection evaluation measure. As far as reference answers go I just rely on the 'Now does that answer your question?" feedback request. The annual plea for feedback on "How could the library more effectively meet your needs?" service has garnered responses ranging rom six to nil in the five years it has been conducted. So .. are they happy? apathetic? resigned? Search me !!!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Shorter but sweeter..
I won't worry about the Adventure of setting up an account on LibraryThing - I haven't got time to read let alone keep track of it - but can I recommend you click on Groups, locate "Librarians who Library Thing" and select the talk topic "Funny Requests from Patrons"? Guaranteed to lift your mood!!!
My reaction to LibraryThing is that it is amazing, a cross between Libraries Australia and an infinitely large reading club. But I get this picture of people sitting in front of a computer screen typing away instead of actually reading books -surely you would need a lot of time to do both .... On the other hand, the reader assistance potential is huge. I think I will alert library patrons to its existence through the Library Lines column and leave them to to pursue it if they wish.
My reaction to LibraryThing is that it is amazing, a cross between Libraries Australia and an infinitely large reading club. But I get this picture of people sitting in front of a computer screen typing away instead of actually reading books -surely you would need a lot of time to do both .... On the other hand, the reader assistance potential is huge. I think I will alert library patrons to its existence through the Library Lines column and leave them to to pursue it if they wish.
I'm Literati, not Technorati ...
..and I'll prose on at length to prove it!
To start with "bookmobile" brought up the same number of hits on both Simple and Advanced Search, and "nswpln2008" brought up nothing on either, so I checked the comments back on the home webpage for hints.
And logic kicked in - of course a keyword search was going to bring up the same results at both. Using the tag search option, "bookmobile" at Advanced Search brought up 33 compared with 534 at Basic Search. The first hit at Advanced Search was posted 17 days ago and has an Authority rating (an index of popularity) of 36 and the second most recent 46 days ago with 0 Authority. Which compares with 2 days ago with an Authority of 46 and 5 days ago with an Authority of 147 for the first two hits at Simple Search. Which would seem to indicate that many people do not bother with tagging. The first hit at Advanced Seach was 17th at Simple Search and the second not in the top 20 so if you only looked at the first page or so of results they would likely be missed.
"nswpln2008" would be used as a tag only for the images loaded on Flickr as part of this course so logical that it was only relevant when searching for photos and hence at Simple Search. I tried the course URL at the second Advanced Search option and just got an error message, but I would have expected hits there.
I tried "library manag*" at both Simple and Advanced Search and got 29 hits at Simple Search and nothing at Advanced Search until I got rid of the truncation and used "library manager" - got 2 then.
Advanced Search is most useful when you are looking for things relating to a URL. Tag searching is not nearly as efficient as keyword searching and you can narrow your search to posts/blogs/photos/videos there as well.
To start with "bookmobile" brought up the same number of hits on both Simple and Advanced Search, and "nswpln2008" brought up nothing on either, so I checked the comments back on the home webpage for hints.
And logic kicked in - of course a keyword search was going to bring up the same results at both. Using the tag search option, "bookmobile" at Advanced Search brought up 33 compared with 534 at Basic Search. The first hit at Advanced Search was posted 17 days ago and has an Authority rating (an index of popularity) of 36 and the second most recent 46 days ago with 0 Authority. Which compares with 2 days ago with an Authority of 46 and 5 days ago with an Authority of 147 for the first two hits at Simple Search. Which would seem to indicate that many people do not bother with tagging. The first hit at Advanced Seach was 17th at Simple Search and the second not in the top 20 so if you only looked at the first page or so of results they would likely be missed.
"nswpln2008" would be used as a tag only for the images loaded on Flickr as part of this course so logical that it was only relevant when searching for photos and hence at Simple Search. I tried the course URL at the second Advanced Search option and just got an error message, but I would have expected hits there.
I tried "library manag*" at both Simple and Advanced Search and got 29 hits at Simple Search and nothing at Advanced Search until I got rid of the truncation and used "library manager" - got 2 then.
Advanced Search is most useful when you are looking for things relating to a URL. Tag searching is not nearly as efficient as keyword searching and you can narrow your search to posts/blogs/photos/videos there as well.
Del.icio.us?? well. maybe ...
Good morning, all...
I have set up an account on del.icio.us - - and didn't find it hard except are the buttons on the register screen the same as the extensions referred to in the course notes as optional? I hope so because I didn't include them. Achieving a link proved impossible, particularly when the CTC manager couldn't do it either - maybe you have to have a few items bookmarked?
I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to actually bookmark something .. maybe if I get time... I think that social bookmarking such as del.icio.us offers could be a great resource for libraries and their clients. As the "Social Bookmarking in Plain English" video says adding to a Favourites list soon makes that so large as to be unusable whereas the grouping/bundling of the tags is a logical and easy way of managing links to multiple sites.
The fact that the bookmarks are public means that a del.icio.us account becomes an online virtual-world equivalent to the old subject card catalogue. Library members can access a range of sites which come with the library's implicit recommendation as a reliable site sorted according to broad subject labels.
In a regional/joint library situation different libraries/individuals could be assigned to different subject areas so that the burden of setting up what is akin to a subject index was shared. Or maybe something like the old Subject Specialization Scheme but instead of collecting and managing books in a subject area libraries collect and 'manage' sites in a subject area, making access to them available through social bookmarking. I guess even now smaller libraries can 'piggyback' on the published tags of larger libraries e.g. the Sutherland Shire Libraries tag cloud.
There is also the marketing aspect of using something like del.icio.us as far as the YA sector is concerned. It is attuned to how they think and operate.
Lists v. tag clouds. The tag cloud is more attractive somehow, even if the list is more precise with its numerical basis. I will immediately be labelled as sexist but I wondered whether there was a relationship with the masculine/feminine thought style thing - analytical v. creative ..... recognising that these are thought styles rather than gender specific..... (does that get me off the hook???)
I found a really good article on Libraries and del.icio.us setting out some of the advtantages of social bookmarking and tagging - http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA476.403.html - (if I was really on top of this course this would be showing up as a link!!!)and it suggested three key things:
A. improves accessibility of library materials. (Although you would need to define library materials as including entry points to online information). Using the tags as links one could do all one's research from one's own home computer. As well having publicly-defined tags means that local terminology can be incorporated, terms that have been used in locally-set assignments, also terms from other languages. The drawback of using publicly-generated tags is the same as with wikis - potential vandalism and substandard as opposed to nonstandard terms - but when they are entered with sincerity they would make searching much more efficient,easy and welcoming, particularly for the educationally-challenged and minority groups. A compromise would be to have both - tags that broadly conform with the Library of Congress subject headings and would be entered by the library, tags that are judged by library staff to be of local relevance and tags generated by users.
Library staff can use del.icio.us to add links to items of particular local relevance and resources for local students' assignment topics.
B. introduces patrons to new tools. Not so sure about this one, but it means patrons can use the new tools they already enjoy in a library context. And this is going to help maintain the relevance of libraries as an information source. Otherwise libraries may fall out of the information loop for many people.
C. makes creating subject guides easier for staff. Looking at what other people have bookmarked facilitates the task. No-one can find even a percentage of the useful sites in a subject area but sharing discoveries is to the benefit of all, libray staff as well as users. Bookmarking and 'bundling' also provides reference staff with a set of useful sites they can turn to immediately just as they would have looked to the index of an encyclopedia set in an earlier age. I have heard of librarians who had card indexes of good sites but with the number of sites ballooning exponentially this is no longer a viable option. For example the cited National Library of Australia AskNow Librarians example. It is likely that users will also advise of sites they have found useful that can be incorporated after checking to the benefit of all.
P.S. I have taken advice and the link is article ... I hope!!
I have set up an account on del.icio.us - - and didn't find it hard except are the buttons on the register screen the same as the extensions referred to in the course notes as optional? I hope so because I didn't include them. Achieving a link proved impossible, particularly when the CTC manager couldn't do it either - maybe you have to have a few items bookmarked?
I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to actually bookmark something .. maybe if I get time... I think that social bookmarking such as del.icio.us offers could be a great resource for libraries and their clients. As the "Social Bookmarking in Plain English" video says adding to a Favourites list soon makes that so large as to be unusable whereas the grouping/bundling of the tags is a logical and easy way of managing links to multiple sites.
The fact that the bookmarks are public means that a del.icio.us account becomes an online virtual-world equivalent to the old subject card catalogue. Library members can access a range of sites which come with the library's implicit recommendation as a reliable site sorted according to broad subject labels.
In a regional/joint library situation different libraries/individuals could be assigned to different subject areas so that the burden of setting up what is akin to a subject index was shared. Or maybe something like the old Subject Specialization Scheme but instead of collecting and managing books in a subject area libraries collect and 'manage' sites in a subject area, making access to them available through social bookmarking. I guess even now smaller libraries can 'piggyback' on the published tags of larger libraries e.g. the Sutherland Shire Libraries tag cloud.
There is also the marketing aspect of using something like del.icio.us as far as the YA sector is concerned. It is attuned to how they think and operate.
Lists v. tag clouds. The tag cloud is more attractive somehow, even if the list is more precise with its numerical basis. I will immediately be labelled as sexist but I wondered whether there was a relationship with the masculine/feminine thought style thing - analytical v. creative ..... recognising that these are thought styles rather than gender specific..... (does that get me off the hook???)
I found a really good article on Libraries and del.icio.us setting out some of the advtantages of social bookmarking and tagging - http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA476.403.html - (if I was really on top of this course this would be showing up as a link!!!)and it suggested three key things:
A. improves accessibility of library materials. (Although you would need to define library materials as including entry points to online information). Using the tags as links one could do all one's research from one's own home computer. As well having publicly-defined tags means that local terminology can be incorporated, terms that have been used in locally-set assignments, also terms from other languages. The drawback of using publicly-generated tags is the same as with wikis - potential vandalism and substandard as opposed to nonstandard terms - but when they are entered with sincerity they would make searching much more efficient,easy and welcoming, particularly for the educationally-challenged and minority groups. A compromise would be to have both - tags that broadly conform with the Library of Congress subject headings and would be entered by the library, tags that are judged by library staff to be of local relevance and tags generated by users.
Library staff can use del.icio.us to add links to items of particular local relevance and resources for local students' assignment topics.
B. introduces patrons to new tools. Not so sure about this one, but it means patrons can use the new tools they already enjoy in a library context. And this is going to help maintain the relevance of libraries as an information source. Otherwise libraries may fall out of the information loop for many people.
C. makes creating subject guides easier for staff. Looking at what other people have bookmarked facilitates the task. No-one can find even a percentage of the useful sites in a subject area but sharing discoveries is to the benefit of all, libray staff as well as users. Bookmarking and 'bundling' also provides reference staff with a set of useful sites they can turn to immediately just as they would have looked to the index of an encyclopedia set in an earlier age. I have heard of librarians who had card indexes of good sites but with the number of sites ballooning exponentially this is no longer a viable option. For example the cited National Library of Australia AskNow Librarians example. It is likely that users will also advise of sites they have found useful that can be incorporated after checking to the benefit of all.
P.S. I have taken advice and the link is article ... I hope!!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
(More than) a few thoughts on videos ...
I've just noticed the last post was on 1st April .. now why do I see that as significant ...
Those online videos:
"lego" - considerable overlap between YouTube and Google
"Liverpool plains" - the first video on both YouTube and Google was the same, of grain harvesting on the Liverpool Plains in NSW. YouTube pointed to the challenges of effective tagging - there followed about twenty videos featuring a singer at the barfly Liverpool. In contrast Google followed with a lot of Mormom Church videos that didn't appear on YouTube. Maybe there is an option for Google searching of tags? Otherwise you would bring up a lot of irrelavnt items .....
"Kogarah" - considerable overlap of content. YouTube had a video of a Kogarah High music recital in the library which is good local advertisement for both the library and the local high school. There were also several videos on the Kogarah bed races which would be a good local history resource in future years and also useful for Council/tourist promotion.
Putting in "Mosman Library" brought up nothing on YouTube and a series of "{Media personality or author} at Mosman Library" videos of 40 mins to 1 hour duration on Google. (Too long for YouTube.) In theory these videos would be a very attractve addition to a blogged Library Newsletter. However at that length only the really keen are going to watch them right through (and they would have attended the real thing at the library!) and while individually they are useful archive/library history items, in aggregate they are too much the same thing (unless one of the speakers was really controversial) and I can't see a lot of longterm usefulness. So you would be back to editing a 'teaser' and that really seems to equal a lot of work relative to the value .....
"We love our NJ libraries". This video is a reaching out to minority groups who might not otherwise hear the library gospel. It is short, well put-together and the backing soundtrack would attract a particular age demographic. It obeys the imperative of going out to meet with your target market where they are but I wonder how many YouTube browsers would search under 'library/ies'. That said, a worthy endeavour ...
"QandANJ: Now your library is open late night too!" The parallels with Maccas should strike a chord, particularly with American viewers, but the same reservation applies. It would be a good video to have shown on local TV or in cinemas or somewhere where people would be watching already.
I looked at few other videos recoverable under the term 'libraries' .... (time prevented further exploration ...)
(YouTube)"Tasty Choices @ Your Library": compares the range of services at the McCracken County Public Library with the appetising menu at a high-class diner (something very appealing to Americans with their culture of dining out)- 'succulent videos', 'flavoursome Internet usage', 'a fine selection of books' .. you get the idea. Meanwhile waitresses/library staff pile up goodies in front of the diners and the final shot shows a Guest check with 'FREE' in big letters. A genuinely witty video, well-produced and making one good point. I think it would work IF people found and viewed it.
(Google)"About get it loud in libraries" (what the people say about live music in libraries). This chronicles a live music event in a U.S. library. A cross-section of members give their opinion on such events (all favourable of course) interspersed or paralleled with views of the setting up process and ending with a sample of the performance. This is an attempt to break down stereotypes. It would be an excellent discussion starter at a seminar, staff meeting or similar professional event as well as a useful contribuition to a wiki.
"Secondary Libraries: becoming integral to school life". I can't imagine it being viewed by the general public but perhaps a useful professional tool.
As mentioned above tagging can be a problem. So can using 'Related Videos' as a location aid! Two supposedly related videos I found were "Marian the Librarian", a romantic spoof with lots of obligatiory stereotypical allusions, and "Amul Butter - Library - Advertisement" which as the title suggests is a straight advertisement for a brand of butter set in a library, very poorly shot and feeding every library stereotype there is.
Exploring:
A. "Olive Riley returns to Broken Hill". A teaser for a longer 56 min video presumably focussing on Olive Riley's memories of Broken Hill. It is only an advertisement/alerting product as Olive says very little and the main content is Olive reliving past events by dancing around an empty hall. Human interest but hardly informative.
B. "State Library of Queensland time lapse construction video 3". Speeded up sequence of shots showing contruction progress going for 2 minutes. It was hard to see, there was no voice-over offering any information and I can see why it has rating of 0.
C. "PLCMC new employee orientation". Videos are useful for training purposes as seeing something done is always a better instruction method than describing how something is done. And I guess the cosy scenes of employees doing things for people is more appealing than a written handout and would help a new employee feel and see themselves as a participant. However this video is for the most part a talking head setting out a vision statement about the goals and standards of the institution and if I was a new employee I would feel the 'boss' could say that to me personally rather than just sitting me down to a video .... Videos as instructional agents work best with specific tasks, either task sequencing or method skills rather than the vision thing.
D. "Reference and research assistance". Useful as part of an orientation programme for new members, particularly younger members for whom visual as opposed to written communication is more familiar. It is well done but even here the head of a major speaker is cut in half for a long sequence - quality of production is often an issue. But taking suffcient time/using professionals is expensive and is the cost outweighed by the benefits?....
E."William Allen White Awards Book Review: anonymous book reviews". Two children wearing masks talk about a book in turn. Gimmicky, but children would like it if only because of the masks and the reviewers being of their age. And it would be very easy to shoot - potential for library viewing and for advertising in local schools, maybe prior to Summer Reading Club?
F. "Art Express 2007". Videos really shine where the content relates to visual material. The sort of information contained here could not be communicated as well in written or even sequential pictorial form. So short videos relating to exhibitions housed in a library are a really good idea, and really multiply the usefulness and validity of such exhibitions.
In summary .... short, well-produced (or as far as possible when economics are taken into account) videos have a real and growing use in Library News blogs.
professional level videos are very useful as discussion starters at professional events and for staff training when they set out specific methodologies to which return visits may be needed. I think that viewing a short video about the State Library could be very useful preparation for staff coming to that one-day Orientation to the State Library programme for new public library staff (the name of which escapes me at the moment) because it would give them some familiarity with the layout of the building and the expectations they can bring with them so that not everything is new to be absorbed on the day.
a direction to a video (or even embedding a video link in your reply) is as legitimate a response to a reference enquiry as a bibliography or data from a book or even database. (Although how a reference librarian could ever have time to search through and evaluate videos is beyond me ...!)
videos are a very useful addition to local history collections as seeing something is always more meaningful than reading about something, and also you can see the interviewee relating to an object and being stimulated by it.
a video might be a good way of reporting for State Library Development grants or even Local Priority Projects expenditure - particularly building projects.
Those online videos:
"lego" - considerable overlap between YouTube and Google
"Liverpool plains" - the first video on both YouTube and Google was the same, of grain harvesting on the Liverpool Plains in NSW. YouTube pointed to the challenges of effective tagging - there followed about twenty videos featuring a singer at the barfly Liverpool. In contrast Google followed with a lot of Mormom Church videos that didn't appear on YouTube. Maybe there is an option for Google searching of tags? Otherwise you would bring up a lot of irrelavnt items .....
"Kogarah" - considerable overlap of content. YouTube had a video of a Kogarah High music recital in the library which is good local advertisement for both the library and the local high school. There were also several videos on the Kogarah bed races which would be a good local history resource in future years and also useful for Council/tourist promotion.
Putting in "Mosman Library" brought up nothing on YouTube and a series of "{Media personality or author} at Mosman Library" videos of 40 mins to 1 hour duration on Google. (Too long for YouTube.) In theory these videos would be a very attractve addition to a blogged Library Newsletter. However at that length only the really keen are going to watch them right through (and they would have attended the real thing at the library!) and while individually they are useful archive/library history items, in aggregate they are too much the same thing (unless one of the speakers was really controversial) and I can't see a lot of longterm usefulness. So you would be back to editing a 'teaser' and that really seems to equal a lot of work relative to the value .....
"We love our NJ libraries". This video is a reaching out to minority groups who might not otherwise hear the library gospel. It is short, well put-together and the backing soundtrack would attract a particular age demographic. It obeys the imperative of going out to meet with your target market where they are but I wonder how many YouTube browsers would search under 'library/ies'. That said, a worthy endeavour ...
"QandANJ: Now your library is open late night too!" The parallels with Maccas should strike a chord, particularly with American viewers, but the same reservation applies. It would be a good video to have shown on local TV or in cinemas or somewhere where people would be watching already.
I looked at few other videos recoverable under the term 'libraries' .... (time prevented further exploration ...)
(YouTube)"Tasty Choices @ Your Library": compares the range of services at the McCracken County Public Library with the appetising menu at a high-class diner (something very appealing to Americans with their culture of dining out)- 'succulent videos', 'flavoursome Internet usage', 'a fine selection of books' .. you get the idea. Meanwhile waitresses/library staff pile up goodies in front of the diners and the final shot shows a Guest check with 'FREE' in big letters. A genuinely witty video, well-produced and making one good point. I think it would work IF people found and viewed it.
(Google)"About get it loud in libraries" (what the people say about live music in libraries). This chronicles a live music event in a U.S. library. A cross-section of members give their opinion on such events (all favourable of course) interspersed or paralleled with views of the setting up process and ending with a sample of the performance. This is an attempt to break down stereotypes. It would be an excellent discussion starter at a seminar, staff meeting or similar professional event as well as a useful contribuition to a wiki.
"Secondary Libraries: becoming integral to school life". I can't imagine it being viewed by the general public but perhaps a useful professional tool.
As mentioned above tagging can be a problem. So can using 'Related Videos' as a location aid! Two supposedly related videos I found were "Marian the Librarian", a romantic spoof with lots of obligatiory stereotypical allusions, and "Amul Butter - Library - Advertisement" which as the title suggests is a straight advertisement for a brand of butter set in a library, very poorly shot and feeding every library stereotype there is.
Exploring:
A. "Olive Riley returns to Broken Hill". A teaser for a longer 56 min video presumably focussing on Olive Riley's memories of Broken Hill. It is only an advertisement/alerting product as Olive says very little and the main content is Olive reliving past events by dancing around an empty hall. Human interest but hardly informative.
B. "State Library of Queensland time lapse construction video 3". Speeded up sequence of shots showing contruction progress going for 2 minutes. It was hard to see, there was no voice-over offering any information and I can see why it has rating of 0.
C. "PLCMC new employee orientation". Videos are useful for training purposes as seeing something done is always a better instruction method than describing how something is done. And I guess the cosy scenes of employees doing things for people is more appealing than a written handout and would help a new employee feel and see themselves as a participant. However this video is for the most part a talking head setting out a vision statement about the goals and standards of the institution and if I was a new employee I would feel the 'boss' could say that to me personally rather than just sitting me down to a video .... Videos as instructional agents work best with specific tasks, either task sequencing or method skills rather than the vision thing.
D. "Reference and research assistance". Useful as part of an orientation programme for new members, particularly younger members for whom visual as opposed to written communication is more familiar. It is well done but even here the head of a major speaker is cut in half for a long sequence - quality of production is often an issue. But taking suffcient time/using professionals is expensive and is the cost outweighed by the benefits?....
E."William Allen White Awards Book Review: anonymous book reviews". Two children wearing masks talk about a book in turn. Gimmicky, but children would like it if only because of the masks and the reviewers being of their age. And it would be very easy to shoot - potential for library viewing and for advertising in local schools, maybe prior to Summer Reading Club?
F. "Art Express 2007". Videos really shine where the content relates to visual material. The sort of information contained here could not be communicated as well in written or even sequential pictorial form. So short videos relating to exhibitions housed in a library are a really good idea, and really multiply the usefulness and validity of such exhibitions.
In summary .... short, well-produced (or as far as possible when economics are taken into account) videos have a real and growing use in Library News blogs.
professional level videos are very useful as discussion starters at professional events and for staff training when they set out specific methodologies to which return visits may be needed. I think that viewing a short video about the State Library could be very useful preparation for staff coming to that one-day Orientation to the State Library programme for new public library staff (the name of which escapes me at the moment) because it would give them some familiarity with the layout of the building and the expectations they can bring with them so that not everything is new to be absorbed on the day.
a direction to a video (or even embedding a video link in your reply) is as legitimate a response to a reference enquiry as a bibliography or data from a book or even database. (Although how a reference librarian could ever have time to search through and evaluate videos is beyond me ...!)
videos are a very useful addition to local history collections as seeing something is always more meaningful than reading about something, and also you can see the interviewee relating to an object and being stimulated by it.
a video might be a good way of reporting for State Library Development grants or even Local Priority Projects expenditure - particularly building projects.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
My very first 'Adventure' .......
My, my, an IT Nitwit pasting a YouTube video in a blog!!!!!!!!
Thank goodness for a helpful CTC assistant who said Don't click on Insert Video but Do click on Edit HTML. Which seems Irish to me but it worked!
Just Image-in (I hope)
It's an image showing the potential role of 'library dogs'. I mentioned them before in the 'From a Flickr to a Flame ... out' post - the usefuness of such animals to encourage reluctant readers to actually read to a non-critical, always appreciative auidence. And the magnetic appeal of an animal to get children into a library in the first place ...
I fumbled around trying to do this and it was easy this time to transfer the image so maybe I mis-wrote down the address last time - this time I 'copied' and 'pasted' withn the Blogger's phot upload too. Alas, I don't really know what I did so the acid test now will be to try and retrace my steps....
Good luck to anyone still tryng to upload from Flickr.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Those Wicked Wikis.....
Greetings.
I must confess that when I read of some of the problems people had with RSS feeds I put Week 4 in the 'too hard' basket and moved on to Week 5 and wikis. I hope to come back to Week 4 later ...
I found the most amazing thing about wikis to be that the German equivalent of wikipedia is regarded as superior to the 'proper' encyclopedia in terms of the quality of its content. I would have worried about the content of wikis being open to vandalism or at best inaccurate input, particularly when one reflects on the level of vandalism in the real world, unless access with editing rights is very closely controlled. I can see that wikis are a very democratic form of information sharing and in line with current social attitudes of equality of rights, freedom of expression, etc, etc. And I must confess that despite my reservations as to the quality of the information I do use Wikipedia as an information source to answer client enquiries. I am reassured by hearing that Wikipedia employs a small army of people to vet entries .....
With reference to any three of the cited wikis ....
A. The Book Lovers Wiki. This is essentially a collection of submitted reviews indexed by genre. I see it was operated in 2006 but not 2007 - it would be interesting to know what prompted the library to change tack. Maybe it was recognised that having the review attached to the item record is more useful to patrons than in a separate wiki. So the wiki is now more a piece of local literary history or as the front page puts it, "'a snap shot in time' of what our club members read during the summer [of 2006]". Reading between the lines, the desire to experiment with a new technology seemed to be at least partly the motivation to etablish the wiki.
Such a wiki is useful as a gimmick and as a way of getting together a number of tagged reviews without a lot of labour on the part of library staff. However if the defining quality of a wiki is interaction and ease of editing existing material, one wonders how a wiki is better than an ordinary website that allows postings as there isn't - or shouldn't be - the need to edit reviews, i,e, opinions, posted by others.
Wikis shine where the knowledge to be communicated keeps changing, is refined through mutiple inputs and is cumulative - the value of the sum of the content is more than of the individual components, not I would have thought the case with collected independent reviews.
B. Mint Museums Wiki. The initiators define a wiki as 'a type of website that allows you, the user, to add or edit the content of the website' - a collaborative information resource. So the wiki both provides information from the Museum about particular collections and exhibitions and enables others - "curators, educators, docents and other users" - to add their expertise and knowledge to those bones. Thus those contributing to the wiki would be a community of interest and people with genuine knowledge to share and likely to 'spark off' one another. So the sum of the content is more than the individual components as it includes reactions to earlier posts. The wiki is password-protected and such a subject area is likely to attract only genuine contributors anyway. I noted there were 503 revisions of one page so the wiki is obviously valued (used by a large number of people!) and active .....
C. The Full Library Success. This is described as "a one-stop shop for great ideas and information for all types of librarians" and as such should be a great professional resource for librarians. Editing now requires submission of an email address because of vandalism but that is not an onerous control on content - though pointing to one of the issues with wikis. Having a parallel discussion page where people can post opinions and reactions about a topic seems like a good idea, and likely to reduce unnecessary editing without stifling input. Warnings that "personal attacks" and copyright infringements will be deleted may be pre-emptive strikes or may point to problems that have occurred. The warning against using the wiki for advertising points to another potential issue that I haven't seen raised elsewhere. A quick look at a sample revisions page showed that a considerable number of edits were reversed by the wiki manager suggesting either that freedom of expression can be abused or a conflict between the democratic ideals of a wiki and the vision of the wiki manager ......
I looked at the WikiNorthia site and while this is obviously at an embryonic stage has great potential. However it might need a full-time manager and hence lie outside the library sphere .. unless a Local History Librarian was able to assume responsibility. I thought about how it compared with a blog like Southern Tablelands History Matters and felt the wiki would have more uneven content in terms of quality but cover a much wider cross-section of information inviting as it does content under the broadest of headings as opposed to comment/reaction to posted material. So the wiki has greater potential to attract and store information.
Also the sample intranet procedures manual would be great for a really big library or one operating from multiple sites like some university libraries - templates or standards for input would be easy to manage, input would be accurate because by the on-the-ground practitioners, and the manual would always be up-to-date.
I always was stronger on theory than practice .... the required input to the NSW learning 2.0 wiki has been made. Not without problems - like the window warning me that if I left the site no-one would be able to use it for a time (I envisaged crashing the whole thing) and putting my name instead of "Guest" - I didn't expect that bit to appear onscreen. But once I realised that you just typed on despite what was already there being in html language it was quite easy. I commend the two video tutorials too - particularly the Wikis in Plain English may be very basic but that is just what an IT Nitwit needs!
I must confess that when I read of some of the problems people had with RSS feeds I put Week 4 in the 'too hard' basket and moved on to Week 5 and wikis. I hope to come back to Week 4 later ...
I found the most amazing thing about wikis to be that the German equivalent of wikipedia is regarded as superior to the 'proper' encyclopedia in terms of the quality of its content. I would have worried about the content of wikis being open to vandalism or at best inaccurate input, particularly when one reflects on the level of vandalism in the real world, unless access with editing rights is very closely controlled. I can see that wikis are a very democratic form of information sharing and in line with current social attitudes of equality of rights, freedom of expression, etc, etc. And I must confess that despite my reservations as to the quality of the information I do use Wikipedia as an information source to answer client enquiries. I am reassured by hearing that Wikipedia employs a small army of people to vet entries .....
With reference to any three of the cited wikis ....
A. The Book Lovers Wiki. This is essentially a collection of submitted reviews indexed by genre. I see it was operated in 2006 but not 2007 - it would be interesting to know what prompted the library to change tack. Maybe it was recognised that having the review attached to the item record is more useful to patrons than in a separate wiki. So the wiki is now more a piece of local literary history or as the front page puts it, "'a snap shot in time' of what our club members read during the summer [of 2006]". Reading between the lines, the desire to experiment with a new technology seemed to be at least partly the motivation to etablish the wiki.
Such a wiki is useful as a gimmick and as a way of getting together a number of tagged reviews without a lot of labour on the part of library staff. However if the defining quality of a wiki is interaction and ease of editing existing material, one wonders how a wiki is better than an ordinary website that allows postings as there isn't - or shouldn't be - the need to edit reviews, i,e, opinions, posted by others.
Wikis shine where the knowledge to be communicated keeps changing, is refined through mutiple inputs and is cumulative - the value of the sum of the content is more than of the individual components, not I would have thought the case with collected independent reviews.
B. Mint Museums Wiki. The initiators define a wiki as 'a type of website that allows you, the user, to add or edit the content of the website' - a collaborative information resource. So the wiki both provides information from the Museum about particular collections and exhibitions and enables others - "curators, educators, docents and other users" - to add their expertise and knowledge to those bones. Thus those contributing to the wiki would be a community of interest and people with genuine knowledge to share and likely to 'spark off' one another. So the sum of the content is more than the individual components as it includes reactions to earlier posts. The wiki is password-protected and such a subject area is likely to attract only genuine contributors anyway. I noted there were 503 revisions of one page so the wiki is obviously valued (used by a large number of people!) and active .....
C. The Full Library Success. This is described as "a one-stop shop for great ideas and information for all types of librarians" and as such should be a great professional resource for librarians. Editing now requires submission of an email address because of vandalism but that is not an onerous control on content - though pointing to one of the issues with wikis. Having a parallel discussion page where people can post opinions and reactions about a topic seems like a good idea, and likely to reduce unnecessary editing without stifling input. Warnings that "personal attacks" and copyright infringements will be deleted may be pre-emptive strikes or may point to problems that have occurred. The warning against using the wiki for advertising points to another potential issue that I haven't seen raised elsewhere. A quick look at a sample revisions page showed that a considerable number of edits were reversed by the wiki manager suggesting either that freedom of expression can be abused or a conflict between the democratic ideals of a wiki and the vision of the wiki manager ......
I looked at the WikiNorthia site and while this is obviously at an embryonic stage has great potential. However it might need a full-time manager and hence lie outside the library sphere .. unless a Local History Librarian was able to assume responsibility. I thought about how it compared with a blog like Southern Tablelands History Matters and felt the wiki would have more uneven content in terms of quality but cover a much wider cross-section of information inviting as it does content under the broadest of headings as opposed to comment/reaction to posted material. So the wiki has greater potential to attract and store information.
Also the sample intranet procedures manual would be great for a really big library or one operating from multiple sites like some university libraries - templates or standards for input would be easy to manage, input would be accurate because by the on-the-ground practitioners, and the manual would always be up-to-date.
I always was stronger on theory than practice .... the required input to the NSW learning 2.0 wiki has been made. Not without problems - like the window warning me that if I left the site no-one would be able to use it for a time (I envisaged crashing the whole thing) and putting my name instead of "Guest" - I didn't expect that bit to appear onscreen. But once I realised that you just typed on despite what was already there being in html language it was quite easy. I commend the two video tutorials too - particularly the Wikis in Plain English may be very basic but that is just what an IT Nitwit needs!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
From a Flickr to a Flame ...out
I provide this as evidence that I spent about an hour trying to upload an image from Flickr ... Hence the reference to 'flameout ....'!!
It was of a child reading to an adult with a dog listening in - useful example of the value of a pet/therapy animal as a target audience for a non-confident reader. And another argument in favour of a library 'pet' .. I once knew a library dog which rejoiced in the name of Gumbles and was probably the most petted dog in town!
Actually the first challenge in this exercise was to find a Flickr photo with the magic 'blog this' button - this was not my first choice by a long way!
Good luck to anyone else who is finding this exercise 'sticky' - the local CTC manager had never uploaded from Flickr so there wasn't much help available!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Some more thoughts on those sample blogs .....
On reflection perhaps I was meant to say a little more about the sample blogs so ....
A. Southern Tableslands History Matters: A very attractively presented and informative blog, although it challenged my concept of what a blog is - I would have described this as an active and growing information website rather than a blog which to me is a more personal document (but one aim of this course is probably to sweep away misconceptions ....). If interactivity is characteristic of blogs the authors may be disappointed by the small number of comments posted. The entries show a lot of care and research in contrast with the informal (verging on slapdash ) presentation of some blogs. It is certainly a quality information source, and the clear authorship allows for verification of any issues.
B. Sutherland Shire Library News: an online library newsletter with a huge number of links. As there is a near total lack of reactions posted it would be interesting to know the number of hits, particularly in view of the amount of time maintaining the blog must take. But it is a very good way of keeping members up-to-date with library events and presenting a professional and vibrant face to the community. I noted the use of FlickR to host additional photos.
C. Alternative Teen Services: a professsional discussion forum, with a huge amount of resource material for professionals - the 'main despatch' sums it up. That comments are being posted indicates the service is being used. A very useful way of enabling professionals to interact - I suspect blogs achieve most interaction in the horizontal plain if you see what I mean - between equals rather than informer/informees.
D. ACT Public Library Blog: like the second example, an online library newsletter with more frequent postings (daily?) but less ambitious in content - shorter entries and minimal pictures. Contains local library news and a few quirky items from the wider library world, with the option to email the posting to a friend but not to post comments. The many labels make locating related articles very easy. I presume the hope is that members might check the blog daily as they would open their daily newspaper or look at their favourite news site. This is probably less labour-intensive than Sutherland Shire's blog but still represents a big commitment in time and labour. But like any web-located information service it is ,much more immediate than any print offering can ever be!
I don't know whether this much content was necessary but at least it has given me the chance to practice adding to a log. I have done the preliminary reading/viewing on FlickR - the next challenge is to find and upload that photo/s! (and to successfully publish this .....)
A. Southern Tableslands History Matters: A very attractively presented and informative blog, although it challenged my concept of what a blog is - I would have described this as an active and growing information website rather than a blog which to me is a more personal document (but one aim of this course is probably to sweep away misconceptions ....). If interactivity is characteristic of blogs the authors may be disappointed by the small number of comments posted. The entries show a lot of care and research in contrast with the informal (verging on slapdash ) presentation of some blogs. It is certainly a quality information source, and the clear authorship allows for verification of any issues.
B. Sutherland Shire Library News: an online library newsletter with a huge number of links. As there is a near total lack of reactions posted it would be interesting to know the number of hits, particularly in view of the amount of time maintaining the blog must take. But it is a very good way of keeping members up-to-date with library events and presenting a professional and vibrant face to the community. I noted the use of FlickR to host additional photos.
C. Alternative Teen Services: a professsional discussion forum, with a huge amount of resource material for professionals - the 'main despatch' sums it up. That comments are being posted indicates the service is being used. A very useful way of enabling professionals to interact - I suspect blogs achieve most interaction in the horizontal plain if you see what I mean - between equals rather than informer/informees.
D. ACT Public Library Blog: like the second example, an online library newsletter with more frequent postings (daily?) but less ambitious in content - shorter entries and minimal pictures. Contains local library news and a few quirky items from the wider library world, with the option to email the posting to a friend but not to post comments. The many labels make locating related articles very easy. I presume the hope is that members might check the blog daily as they would open their daily newspaper or look at their favourite news site. This is probably less labour-intensive than Sutherland Shire's blog but still represents a big commitment in time and labour. But like any web-located information service it is ,much more immediate than any print offering can ever be!
I don't know whether this much content was necessary but at least it has given me the chance to practice adding to a log. I have done the preliminary reading/viewing on FlickR - the next challenge is to find and upload that photo/s! (and to successfully publish this .....)
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The first 'toe in the water' .....
Good morning, all ...
I feel that this is an historic moment - the very first blog posting of an IT nitwit. I'm not sure whether to thank the State Library's Web.2 training programme or not .... No, seriously, thank you (or should that be thanx?) for clear instructions that even I could follow.
Progress to date. I listened to Stephen Fry and thought his presentaton gave a whole new dimension to the term NOW generation. I watched the set short video on Web 2.0 - in fact I had to watch it three times because of the speed with which the key ideas were delivered, very much in keeping with an audience accustomed to the 30 second grab. To me the content was a case of style over substance, relying on technology to communicate but superficial, consisting of a set of bold statements wthout analysis or assessment.
However looking at the sample blogs this week was a pleasant surprise. Without ever having actually seen a blog before I had a preconceived attitude based on the personal blog concept which to me is narcissism gone mad. But now I recognize that a blog as an online forum or discussion zone like the Alternative Teen Services example or regular information service like the Southern Tablelands History Matters site has considerable professional potential. My immediate reaction to the Alternative Teen Services blog was how useful something similar would be in the Regional or Co-operative Library setup where it would be akin to an ongoing staff meeting allowing the immedate exchange of information, insights and concerns without the constraints of travel (both time and expense), time and the old 'brightest-idea-on-the-way-home' phenomena. However involvement in multile blogs would be impractical due to the time factor, risking the substitution of professional development, even personal enjoyment, for provision of service.
Some thoughts on Learning 2.0 .... At last I have an understanding of 2.0 as a context - a second stage in the IT information revolution. At my age and stage (approaching retirement) and in my work context (a small rural library) I may never use it but at least I'll have a basic understanding of key aspects of it and familiarity with the terminology, some appreciation of its applications, and can be happy to know I 'dipped my toe in the information revolution water' to the extent of posting a blog! But I suspect first and foremost doing (attempting?) the course involves for me satisfying personal curisoty and confronting a challenge - after all I'm someone who doesn't own a mobile phone and has never played a CD!!!
Lifelong learning meets personal needs but has most practical value where the work context, both in terms of expectations, task parameters and available technologies/tools is changing. And this is very true of librarianship!
Good luck to anyone else doing the course who may read this .....
I feel that this is an historic moment - the very first blog posting of an IT nitwit. I'm not sure whether to thank the State Library's Web.2 training programme or not .... No, seriously, thank you (or should that be thanx?) for clear instructions that even I could follow.
Progress to date. I listened to Stephen Fry and thought his presentaton gave a whole new dimension to the term NOW generation. I watched the set short video on Web 2.0 - in fact I had to watch it three times because of the speed with which the key ideas were delivered, very much in keeping with an audience accustomed to the 30 second grab. To me the content was a case of style over substance, relying on technology to communicate but superficial, consisting of a set of bold statements wthout analysis or assessment.
However looking at the sample blogs this week was a pleasant surprise. Without ever having actually seen a blog before I had a preconceived attitude based on the personal blog concept which to me is narcissism gone mad. But now I recognize that a blog as an online forum or discussion zone like the Alternative Teen Services example or regular information service like the Southern Tablelands History Matters site has considerable professional potential. My immediate reaction to the Alternative Teen Services blog was how useful something similar would be in the Regional or Co-operative Library setup where it would be akin to an ongoing staff meeting allowing the immedate exchange of information, insights and concerns without the constraints of travel (both time and expense), time and the old 'brightest-idea-on-the-way-home' phenomena. However involvement in multile blogs would be impractical due to the time factor, risking the substitution of professional development, even personal enjoyment, for provision of service.
Some thoughts on Learning 2.0 .... At last I have an understanding of 2.0 as a context - a second stage in the IT information revolution. At my age and stage (approaching retirement) and in my work context (a small rural library) I may never use it but at least I'll have a basic understanding of key aspects of it and familiarity with the terminology, some appreciation of its applications, and can be happy to know I 'dipped my toe in the information revolution water' to the extent of posting a blog! But I suspect first and foremost doing (attempting?) the course involves for me satisfying personal curisoty and confronting a challenge - after all I'm someone who doesn't own a mobile phone and has never played a CD!!!
Lifelong learning meets personal needs but has most practical value where the work context, both in terms of expectations, task parameters and available technologies/tools is changing. And this is very true of librarianship!
Good luck to anyone else doing the course who may read this .....
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