As I don't actually use RSS it may be a little difficult to bluff my way through this week's unit .... I did set up the requuired five feeds last year and at least some of them worked.
The filtering of RSS feeds is a logical next step in the battle to survive the information explosion. RSS feeds themselves were an attempt to do this and putting in filters is the next step in sifting out what might be of use - a sieving of the sieve ...... With the emphasis on social networking which characterizes the Web these days, the sharing of RSS feeds along with everything else makes sense. If a set of sites/information is useful to you then it should be useful to others sharing your interests or professional milieu. And if you share your set with others and have the option on theirs in return, then it is more efficient all round.
I had a look at most of the suggested sites. FeedRinse (what an appropriate name!) seemed the best option in that it allowed different types of filters to be set (whereas FeedSift-filters just used keywords) and the home page had lots of information for the starting user.
I think my own computer probably send me enough reminders and Spreed made my eyes sore - I thought it verged on the gimmicky.
The flexibility of having RSS feeds sent to different destinations also makes sense. For instance Twitter seems to have largely replaced the traditional email for some users so RSS to Twitter would be more useful for them.
I checked for Google alerts today and there were another dozen, mainly to do with Weddin Shire. Somehow I need to establish "Grenfell Public Library" as a string because I got a couple of alerts with the words separated by other terms and hence not relevant.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Of slideshows, screencasting and digital storytelling.
As someone who has never put together a Powerpoint presentation it's all out of my league but it was interesting to look at the examples. I'm certainly not up to the Adventure!!
I rather liked the Culture Shock stories - a chance to be really creative rather than just dashing off a quick thought to inform someone or sell something, principally one's self , which seems to be what much of the Web is about.
I tried a couple of searches on Slideshare and feel that there is some good information out there. For example searching on "libraries" brought up such useful items as "Non Technical Introduction to CrossRef for Libraries (139 views, 18 downloads) and "Branding for Public Libraries (57 views, 9 downloads). I also experimented with "Alaska" and "Christmas". If slideshows are actually created for a presentation then they will have been put together with some care to meet the requirements of a specific audience and so the content may be of higher quality than some Web resources.
And of course being able to acess a presentation on the Web when you missed the original presentation would be very convenient - and cost-effective for funding authorities as a tempting substitute for sending delegates ...!! The animated versions are more powerful and the "Searching for Articles" from Academic Research would be a very useful piece for those requiring that information.
Slideshows are to the other elements on the Web as CDROMs or cassettes, etc are to books - another format. They become useful when they can be searched by search engines just as the alternate formats in a library are useful when they can be located by the catalogue. Can they contribute to RSS feeds or some other alerting service? - that would add to their usefulness.
By the way, there has been one Google Alert for "Weddin Shire" (the lead story in the local newspaper).
I rather liked the Culture Shock stories - a chance to be really creative rather than just dashing off a quick thought to inform someone or sell something, principally one's self , which seems to be what much of the Web is about.
I tried a couple of searches on Slideshare and feel that there is some good information out there. For example searching on "libraries" brought up such useful items as "Non Technical Introduction to CrossRef for Libraries (139 views, 18 downloads) and "Branding for Public Libraries (57 views, 9 downloads). I also experimented with "Alaska" and "Christmas". If slideshows are actually created for a presentation then they will have been put together with some care to meet the requirements of a specific audience and so the content may be of higher quality than some Web resources.
And of course being able to acess a presentation on the Web when you missed the original presentation would be very convenient - and cost-effective for funding authorities as a tempting substitute for sending delegates ...!! The animated versions are more powerful and the "Searching for Articles" from Academic Research would be a very useful piece for those requiring that information.
Slideshows are to the other elements on the Web as CDROMs or cassettes, etc are to books - another format. They become useful when they can be searched by search engines just as the alternate formats in a library are useful when they can be located by the catalogue. Can they contribute to RSS feeds or some other alerting service? - that would add to their usefulness.
By the way, there has been one Google Alert for "Weddin Shire" (the lead story in the local newspaper).
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Fascinat-ning ....
I looked at the four sample nings and were most impressed with them. The first three, directed to the public, were bright and colourful, logically laid out and offered a large amount of content. Mosman Readers was particularly impressive. The more professionally-oriented Library 2.0 ning was not as eye-catching but had the other elements of good organisation and lots of useful content. There seemed to be a degree of consistency in the way they are structured which would make the casual user feel more at home.
One of my concerns with Web 2.0/1 is how to you choose between blogs, wikis and etc and it seems to me that a ning is the answer because it has everything at the one site. And because a significant amount of the content is provided by users in the form of reviews, photos, groups and forum entries it wouldn't take as much upkeep as might first appear. (Not that Grenfell will ever consider having a ning!!!!) I would think that a large library with dedicated IT staff would find a ning a very useful means of communication with its users and professional bodies would benefit from the forums. Nice to have a range of forums emanating from the one site!
I did try to join the library 2.0 ning and as usual it is the little things that beat me - couldn't conceive of how to upload a photo and so wasn't accepted as a member. I would have joined the Rural Libraries group (even though they all looked to be US libraries) as well as the NSW public libraries group. I read through some of the posts for the rural libraries group and found myself very much in sympathy with the views expressed. It looks like small rural libraries face similar issues the world over!
One of my concerns with Web 2.0/1 is how to you choose between blogs, wikis and etc and it seems to me that a ning is the answer because it has everything at the one site. And because a significant amount of the content is provided by users in the form of reviews, photos, groups and forum entries it wouldn't take as much upkeep as might first appear. (Not that Grenfell will ever consider having a ning!!!!) I would think that a large library with dedicated IT staff would find a ning a very useful means of communication with its users and professional bodies would benefit from the forums. Nice to have a range of forums emanating from the one site!
I did try to join the library 2.0 ning and as usual it is the little things that beat me - couldn't conceive of how to upload a photo and so wasn't accepted as a member. I would have joined the Rural Libraries group (even though they all looked to be US libraries) as well as the NSW public libraries group. I read through some of the posts for the rural libraries group and found myself very much in sympathy with the views expressed. It looks like small rural libraries face similar issues the world over!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Evaluating ....
I have set up a Google Alert for "Grenfell Public Library" and "Weddin Shire" this afternoon but will not know any results for several weeks. My guess would be none for the library and a few for Weddin Shire.
I have set up the Feedburner account but don't expect it to discover any action.
And I had a look around both Surveymonkey and Zoomerang, and experimented with creating a two-question survey (but at least they were different types of questions!) on Surveymonkey but didn't send it out of course. The general structure of their surveys is very familar from various State Library surveys .....
Evaluation is the essential final step in any initiative. It is alright to put heaps of effort into maintaing a blog etc but it can only be justified if it is actually being used. Getting online responses is one test but simple objective statistics are the easiest to understand and use in reports to funding authorities and the like.
And a site like Surveymonkey sure takes the hard work out of setting out surveys although one still has to create the congnitive content.
I have set up the Feedburner account but don't expect it to discover any action.
And I had a look around both Surveymonkey and Zoomerang, and experimented with creating a two-question survey (but at least they were different types of questions!) on Surveymonkey but didn't send it out of course. The general structure of their surveys is very familar from various State Library surveys .....
Evaluation is the essential final step in any initiative. It is alright to put heaps of effort into maintaing a blog etc but it can only be justified if it is actually being used. Getting online responses is one test but simple objective statistics are the easiest to understand and use in reports to funding authorities and the like.
And a site like Surveymonkey sure takes the hard work out of setting out surveys although one still has to create the congnitive content.
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