I found this program very informative and helpful, and a fun way to catch up on the newest "things". I won't be staying on MySpace, but I use Bloglines daily and LibraryThing often.
From the perspective of visual resources, I think we need to explore the photo sites and consider how they might complement the content that we pay for, i.e., ARTstor, AP Accunet, Pictures of Record, etc. Would flickr be a good way for faculty to share their own slide collections?
Also, with all of this user-generated content, copyright concerns are growing. Sigh. That's a can of worms, or maybe cobras.
The session downtown with the Cabrillo librarians and the SC Public librarians was excellent, I thought.
Thanks, Learning 2.0 Team, for putting this together for us!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Thing #22: The Best of Web 2.0
"... what is life, Mira, when you come to think upon it, but a most excellent, accurately set, infinitely complicated machine for turning fat playful puppies into old mangy blind dogs, and proud war horses into skinny nags, and succulent young boys, to whom the world holds great delights and terrors, into old weak men, with running eyes, who drink ground rhino-horn?"
These sites are recognized for offering users ways to personalize, organize, and share web content. Some tools might be useful for the Library (some, like GoogleDocs, we are already using)-- I'm thinking the city guides, the communication tools, Wufoo for feedback, and the feed managers (if the Library web page will have local feeds).
Personally, I love Pandora and the Music Genome Project. TheBroth, "a virtual library of online art," is interesting; Zillow is depressing (the condo we rent could probably be ours for only $909,075).
These sites are recognized for offering users ways to personalize, organize, and share web content. Some tools might be useful for the Library (some, like GoogleDocs, we are already using)-- I'm thinking the city guides, the communication tools, Wufoo for feedback, and the feed managers (if the Library web page will have local feeds).
Personally, I love Pandora and the Music Genome Project. TheBroth, "a virtual library of online art," is interesting; Zillow is depressing (the condo we rent could probably be ours for only $909,075).
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Thing #21: Audio eBooks
"It is not a bad thing in a tale that you understand only half of it."
Audio books make a long road trip with young people go by much faster. Audio eBooks in the car would be great...
It must be frustrating for iPod users not to be able to access this material, and I wonder why the library doesn't make the audio eBooks available for the most common player. The OverDrive Media Console is Windows only. Does this have something to do with copyright protections?
Audio books make a long road trip with young people go by much faster. Audio eBooks in the car would be great...
It must be frustrating for iPod users not to be able to access this material, and I wonder why the library doesn't make the audio eBooks available for the most common player. The OverDrive Media Console is Windows only. Does this have something to do with copyright protections?
Thing #20: Podcasts
Searching "libraries" on Podcast.net brought up "The Library Channel" by Arizona State University Libraries. I found the podcasts dull... the special collections curator talking about an exhibit (which the listener can't see, of course)... announcements about library closures (useful)... lectures about improving library services... I guess some people would prefer to listen to this material, but I would prefer having it as a paper to read and annotate. (How many people subscribe to our UCSC Library's podcast feed?)
The toast needs butter and jam.
The best podcasts imho are the ones that work like radio, whether news (such as NPR's Science Friday) or entertainment (such as Old Time Radio). Also, like YackPack and video conferencing, podcasting would be useful for distance education.
I subscribed to an NPR podcast feed; it shows up in my iTunes and on Bloglines.
The toast needs butter and jam.
The best podcasts imho are the ones that work like radio, whether news (such as NPR's Science Friday) or entertainment (such as Old Time Radio). Also, like YackPack and video conferencing, podcasting would be useful for distance education.
I subscribed to an NPR podcast feed; it shows up in my iTunes and on Bloglines.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Thing #19: YouTube
Although my son considers me old and geezerish (bless his 15-year-old heart), I have watched many videos on YouTube. Perhaps the Library could create instructional videos on how to use the journal databases, or resources such as ARTstor? Some patrons would need the personalized help that only a reference librarian could give, but short videos might serve as introductions or refreshers.
Through Blinkx I found the following ad for Cambridge Public Library:
http://blip.tv/file/334707
It makes me shudder slightly to see how the kids toss things around...
And here's a discussion of the Archimedes Palimpsest:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8211813884612792878
Through Blinkx I found the following ad for Cambridge Public Library:
http://blip.tv/file/334707
It makes me shudder slightly to see how the kids toss things around...
And here's a discussion of the Archimedes Palimpsest:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8211813884612792878
Thing #18 (almost done!): Firefox
I've been using Firefox for a few years now both at home on our PC and here at work on my Mac. It's a good browser, handling most websites quickly and easily.
The ability to add CruzCat to the list of search engines is nice, but the LibX toolbar is even better. The control-click (Mac) option to highlight text and search for it using Google-- really handy. Thumbs up on this tool. :)
The ability to add CruzCat to the list of search engines is nice, but the LibX toolbar is even better. The control-click (Mac) option to highlight text and search for it using Google-- really handy. Thumbs up on this tool. :)
Count Seraphina
"Count Seraphina," said Miss Malin, "meditated much upon celestial matters. And, as you must be aware, who have read his poems, he was convinced that no woman was ever allowed to enter heaven. He disliked and mistrusted everything female; it gave him goose flesh... He liked to imagine himself the abbot of a highly exclusive monastery, whereto only fair young monks of brilliant talent and soft manners were admitted. He and his circle of young friends sat down to dinner in old sculptured oak pews, and wore cowls of purple silk. His house was an abbey upon the northern soil, a Mount Athos to which no hen or cow is allowed to come, not even the wild bees, on account of their queen bee. Aye, the Count was more zealous than the monks of Athos, for when he and his seraglio of lovely youths sometimes drank wine out of a skull, to keep present the thought of death and eternity, he took care that it should not be the skull of a lady."
Thing #17: Online applications and tools
For this exercise I chose to try Zoho Writer. This service is extremely useful, and quicker than e-mailing a copy of a document around for comments. There doesn't appear to be a downside, except that the documents reside on the Zoho servers, and access depends on those servers being up and functioning.
Publishing my imported document ("Count Seraphina"), however, was not quite so easy. Zoho added some html code that Blogger balked at, but a quick deletion of the title field seems to have resolved the issue.
Publishing my imported document ("Count Seraphina"), however, was not quite so easy. Zoho added some html code that Blogger balked at, but a quick deletion of the title field seems to have resolved the issue.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Thing #16: Library 2.0
"'God!" Monti cried, 'God! Do you not know that what God really wants to create is my Don Giovanni, and the Odysseus of Homer, and Cervantes's knight? Very likely those are the only people for whom heaven and hell have ever been made, for you cannot imagine that an Almighty God would go on forever and ever, world without end, with my mother-in-law and the Emperor of Austria? Humanity, the men and women of this earth, are only the plaster of God, and we, the artists, are his tools, and when the statue is finished in marble or bronze, he breaks us all up. When you die you will probably go out like a candle, with nothing left, but in the mansions of eternity will walk Orlando, the Misanthrope and my Donna Elvira..."
Well, this exercise steps slightly into the realm of the philosophical.
Rick Anderson, although seeming a bit panicked, makes some valid points about how libraries must change. It is more practical now for libraries to share print collections (like CDL), rather than have every library buy every monograph and serial. Libraries must also focus on teaching patrons how to use the various resources available online. I know that Reference is already heavily involved in teaching and classroom support, and the need for this will only grow.
Michael Stephens sets a very high bar for the 2.0 librarian, who is always "ahead of the curve" in implementing technological solutions for the library. However, since setting up new services always involves re-allocating money and/or staff time, I think libraries have to be careful to investigate which services might actually be used, and used frequently.
Chip Nilges' discussion of the improvements that OCLC is making to WorldCat is exciting, especially the focus on standards that help to make databases easier to search. John Riemer offers even more explicit suggestions to improve bibliographic services, including copying some of Amazon's website features (user reviews, tagging, etc.). I think these are good ideas.
Web 2.0 technology is changing the role of the library, but it only adds to, rather than replaces, the role the library currently plays. Many people will always prefer to come into a building to do research or to pick up something interesting to read, just as many people will prefer to shop in a real store rather than online.
Well, this exercise steps slightly into the realm of the philosophical.
Rick Anderson, although seeming a bit panicked, makes some valid points about how libraries must change. It is more practical now for libraries to share print collections (like CDL), rather than have every library buy every monograph and serial. Libraries must also focus on teaching patrons how to use the various resources available online. I know that Reference is already heavily involved in teaching and classroom support, and the need for this will only grow.
Michael Stephens sets a very high bar for the 2.0 librarian, who is always "ahead of the curve" in implementing technological solutions for the library. However, since setting up new services always involves re-allocating money and/or staff time, I think libraries have to be careful to investigate which services might actually be used, and used frequently.
Chip Nilges' discussion of the improvements that OCLC is making to WorldCat is exciting, especially the focus on standards that help to make databases easier to search. John Riemer offers even more explicit suggestions to improve bibliographic services, including copying some of Amazon's website features (user reviews, tagging, etc.). I think these are good ideas.
Web 2.0 technology is changing the role of the library, but it only adds to, rather than replaces, the role the library currently plays. Many people will always prefer to come into a building to do research or to pick up something interesting to read, just as many people will prefer to shop in a real store rather than online.
Thing #15: Custom Search Engines
Although Rollyo looks easy enough to use, since I already have a Google account, I'm going to go with Google. Besides, since we all will be assimilated to Google eventually (sooner rather than later, I'm guessing), resistance is futile.
My custom "Museum Collections Search Engine" comes up with mixed results. A search on "Bosch" brings up many listings, but not the one I want, from the Louvre database, here. Perhaps the search engines do not crawl around in that database?
The Met, the Cleveland Museum of Art, LACMA, the Tate, and the British Museum, among others, do show up in results.
CSEs would be most useful for searching news sites and blogs, I think, and also reference sites: the Library's subject guides could include CSEs.
Action: talk to Kathleen about adding a CSE to the VRC's Digital Image Resources webpage.
My custom "Museum Collections Search Engine" comes up with mixed results. A search on "Bosch" brings up many listings, but not the one I want, from the Louvre database, here. Perhaps the search engines do not crawl around in that database?
The Met, the Cleveland Museum of Art, LACMA, the Tate, and the British Museum, among others, do show up in results.
CSEs would be most useful for searching news sites and blogs, I think, and also reference sites: the Library's subject guides could include CSEs.
Action: talk to Kathleen about adding a CSE to the VRC's Digital Image Resources webpage.
Thing #14: IM
"How difficult it is to know the truth. I wonder if it is really possible to be absolutely truthful when you are alone. Truth, like time, is an idea arising from, and dependent upon, human intercourse."
As a communication tool that is less immediate than a phone conversation, but more immediate than e-mail, IM would serve reference services particularly well. Librarians could IM patrons and, if needed, each other, to help the patrons.
I wonder whether YackPack would be a nice application for distance education, with students logging in to chat with each other or with the professor.
VoIP is exciting, except that it means both the caller and the callee must be set up for it. If Reference and Circ want to set up computers for VoIP, then patrons would have another option for communicating-- but how many options do they need? The cost to the Library might outweigh the benefit to the patron (oh noes, is that heretical?).
I put the Meebo box on my blog, which is now looking extremely cluttered...
As a communication tool that is less immediate than a phone conversation, but more immediate than e-mail, IM would serve reference services particularly well. Librarians could IM patrons and, if needed, each other, to help the patrons.
I wonder whether YackPack would be a nice application for distance education, with students logging in to chat with each other or with the professor.
VoIP is exciting, except that it means both the caller and the callee must be set up for it. If Reference and Circ want to set up computers for VoIP, then patrons would have another option for communicating-- but how many options do they need? The cost to the Library might outweigh the benefit to the patron (oh noes, is that heretical?).
I put the Meebo box on my blog, which is now looking extremely cluttered...
Friday, August 31, 2007
Thing #12 and Thing #13: Wikis
Wikipedia is a powerful tool for research; I use it almost every day to find information about artists and works (and I've even edited a few entries, myself). Although it is open to misinformation and hacking, the best entries are documented with scholarly bibliographies, just like a print encyclopedia.
The visual resource collection curators of the 10 UC campuses (the "Sliders") have recently begun using a private wiki to collaborate on the shared digital image collection project. It allows us to organize discussions and upload documents for comments and editing. In the future, it will serve as place for curators to list what images they have digitized and can add to the shared collection, so that other curators won't have to duplicate their work.
Exercise: I visited the Learning 2.0 wiki and edited the listing for the VRC.
The visual resource collection curators of the 10 UC campuses (the "Sliders") have recently begun using a private wiki to collaborate on the shared digital image collection project. It allows us to organize discussions and upload documents for comments and editing. In the future, it will serve as place for curators to list what images they have digitized and can add to the shared collection, so that other curators won't have to duplicate their work.
Exercise: I visited the Learning 2.0 wiki and edited the listing for the VRC.
Thing #11: Folksonomies and LibraryThing
"When you know what things are really like, you can make no poems about them. When you have had talk with ghosts and connections with the devils you are, in the end, more afraid of your creditors than of them; and when you have been made a cuckold you are no longer nervous about cuckoldry. I have become too familiar with life; it can no longer delude me into believing that one thing is much worse than the other."
LibraryThing is wonderful; now I need someone to come to my house and enter all my books into it. The "recommendations machine" works brilliantly, the UnSuggester is amusing, and looking at other people's reading lists is fun. <3 <3 <3
LibraryThing is wonderful; now I need someone to come to my house and enter all my books into it. The "recommendations machine" works brilliantly, the UnSuggester is amusing, and looking at other people's reading lists is fun. <3 <3 <3
Thing #10: Tagging and pinging
This was easy and worked as predicted, for both Technorati and Ping-o-Matic. An hour after the pings, a search on "melancholiacs" found my blog.
Tagging (i.e., cataloging) makes information more accessible, and is a good thing. However, the amount of information available online is often overwhelming. Technorati provides search results in order of posting, with the most recent posts first. It also ranks blogs by "authority", evaluating a blog by counting how many other blogs link to it-- authority in this case having nothing to do with scholarly soundness, but rather with popularity or even notoriety...
Tagging (i.e., cataloging) makes information more accessible, and is a good thing. However, the amount of information available online is often overwhelming. Technorati provides search results in order of posting, with the most recent posts first. It also ranks blogs by "authority", evaluating a blog by counting how many other blogs link to it-- authority in this case having nothing to do with scholarly soundness, but rather with popularity or even notoriety...
Thing #9: del.icio.us
This is a great service for those who access the internet from several computers; however, I don't find it helpful. In Firefox, I've organized my bookmarks to museum catalogs into folders by continent, and then alphabetized them by city; when I imported them into del.icio.us, all of this organization disappeared. There are 22 pages of bookmarks, which must be searched to find the one museum I happen to need.
I must be missing something, but this seems to add several steps to the process of getting to a favorite site.
I must be missing something, but this seems to add several steps to the process of getting to a favorite site.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Thing #8: Second Life
"Few people, I said, could say of themselves that they were free of the belief that they could have made the world. Nay, go further, Madame: few people can say of themselves that they are free of the belief that this world which they see around them is in reality the work of their own imagination."
Ok, I signed up for Second Life one Saturday. Spent a couple of hours working through the tutorial, changing my appearance... flying around. However, since I hate shopping and fussing with my appearance in real life (hey, don't laugh), I don't really want to do it virtually, either. I read that Suzanne Vega performed in Second Life-- maybe I'd show up for a virtual concert, but otherwise, I'd rather be killing things with my [Seth's Graphite Fishing Pole] in WoW.
On the other hand, as a distance education tool, Second Life looks promising. SJSU's virtual campus is a fantastic way for professors and students to keep in touch. Are there any statistics yet on how that program is going?
Eventually, video conferencing might be a more practical option for distance ed...
Libraries in Second Life, according to the article, offer images and links to the web. Again, I wonder whether people will log in to Second Life in order to visit a virtual library with no books. Stephen Abram writes, "Second Life Library 2.0, which has been led by our client, the Alliance Library System, regularly attracts over 5,000 visitors in an evening," but how many of these visitors are library professionals, and how many are patrons looking for information?
I will have to visit "Info Island" and find out more.
Ok, I signed up for Second Life one Saturday. Spent a couple of hours working through the tutorial, changing my appearance... flying around. However, since I hate shopping and fussing with my appearance in real life (hey, don't laugh), I don't really want to do it virtually, either. I read that Suzanne Vega performed in Second Life-- maybe I'd show up for a virtual concert, but otherwise, I'd rather be killing things with my [Seth's Graphite Fishing Pole] in WoW.
On the other hand, as a distance education tool, Second Life looks promising. SJSU's virtual campus is a fantastic way for professors and students to keep in touch. Are there any statistics yet on how that program is going?
Eventually, video conferencing might be a more practical option for distance ed...
Libraries in Second Life, according to the article, offer images and links to the web. Again, I wonder whether people will log in to Second Life in order to visit a virtual library with no books. Stephen Abram writes, "Second Life Library 2.0, which has been led by our client, the Alliance Library System, regularly attracts over 5,000 visitors in an evening," but how many of these visitors are library professionals, and how many are patrons looking for information?
I will have to visit "Info Island" and find out more.
Thing #7: MySpace
I made my page in MySpace, and I hope the Learning 2.0 Team will accept me as a friend.
I wonder whether students would be more inclined to visit the Library in MySpace, or would they just bookmark the Library's webpage? Maybe because I don't hang out in MySpace, it wouldn't be the first place I'd look to find services, but if that's where the young folks are, then that's where we can meet them.
This is a pretty boisterous Library page: Brooklyn College Library.
UPDATE (August 31): Just minutes after creating a MySpace account, "Michael" in Colorado sent me a message, asking whether I'd like to get better acquainted with him (his tattoo, I must admit, is impressive). Hmmm, time to change the privacy setting, I think. FaceBook seems less seedy; I may keep my profile there after this Library 2.0 project ends.
I wonder whether students would be more inclined to visit the Library in MySpace, or would they just bookmark the Library's webpage? Maybe because I don't hang out in MySpace, it wouldn't be the first place I'd look to find services, but if that's where the young folks are, then that's where we can meet them.
This is a pretty boisterous Library page: Brooklyn College Library.
UPDATE (August 31): Just minutes after creating a MySpace account, "Michael" in Colorado sent me a message, asking whether I'd like to get better acquainted with him (his tattoo, I must admit, is impressive). Hmmm, time to change the privacy setting, I think. FaceBook seems less seedy; I may keep my profile there after this Library 2.0 project ends.
Thing #6: Social networks
"In short, they were born melancholiacs, such as make others happy and are themselves helplessly unhappy, creatures of playfulness, charm and salt tears, of fine fun and everlasting loneliness."
Social networking... hm... These sites would be useful for keeping in touch with far-away family and friends, but for casual browsing, I find them overwhelming. There are so many people in the world, and so many people online, looking for something, looking and looking... Do you share my interest? Message me!
Social networking... hm... These sites would be useful for keeping in touch with far-away family and friends, but for casual browsing, I find them overwhelming. There are so many people in the world, and so many people online, looking for something, looking and looking... Do you share my interest? Message me!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Things 5a and 5b: Update!
"On a full-moon night of 1863 a dhow was on its way from Lamu to Zanzibar, following the coast about a mile out..."
Time passes... and I still check my bloglines each morning to catch up with the world. Only on Monday mornings do I hesitate to log in.... 155 new items! Perhaps I subscribe to too many feeds. :P
I wonder whether the Library could use RSS feeds to inform people about new books-- like the new books list, only narrowed by field of interest.
Time passes... and I still check my bloglines each morning to catch up with the world. Only on Monday mornings do I hesitate to log in.... 155 new items! Perhaps I subscribe to too many feeds. :P
I wonder whether the Library could use RSS feeds to inform people about new books-- like the new books list, only narrowed by field of interest.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Wow, the Library Learning 2.0 Team...
is quick. Someone (Ann, Danielle, Ken, Kerry, or Sue) already fixed the instructions for Bloglines.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Things #5a and 5b: RSS and news feeds
Bloglines is fairly straightforward to use, although I did hit two snags:
1, the picture on the Library Learning 2.0 blog no longer matches Bloglines' layout, so it took me a few moments to find the "Share" option.
2, the "Blogroll Wizard" asked for my username. I assumed this was the e-mail address I registered under, but no, it's not. Go to "Account" (upper right corner), then choose "Blog Settings" and create a user name. Since "Belinda" was already taken, I chose my nickname, "Xanthippe".
Also installed a subscribe button on my Firefox bookmarks toolbar... and the Dashboard widget to notify me when there is news...
And I added that short-story blog, A Curious Singularity, to my list of feeds. This week they are discussing Isak Dinesen's story, "The Blank Page."
1, the picture on the Library Learning 2.0 blog no longer matches Bloglines' layout, so it took me a few moments to find the "Share" option.
2, the "Blogroll Wizard" asked for my username. I assumed this was the e-mail address I registered under, but no, it's not. Go to "Account" (upper right corner), then choose "Blog Settings" and create a user name. Since "Belinda" was already taken, I chose my nickname, "Xanthippe".
Also installed a subscribe button on my Firefox bookmarks toolbar... and the Dashboard widget to notify me when there is news...
And I added that short-story blog, A Curious Singularity, to my list of feeds. This week they are discussing Isak Dinesen's story, "The Blank Page."
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Thing #4: Discover flickr
"I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills..."
flickr and other photo sites complement the Library's licensed image databases, ARTstor, AP/Accunet, etc., by offering many, many travel photos and documentary photos.
(Friday update: After listening to Angelika's concerns, I wrote the photographer, Pablo Sanchez, to ask his permission to put this photo on my blog. Thank you very much, Pablo!)
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Thing #3 notes
Tried searching phrases, "art news", "damien hirst", etc. on the search engines...
Technorati's advanced search, "slide library", brought up ArLiSNAP, a blog by/for "Art Library Students & New ARLIS Professionals." Nice.
blog.ask.com yielded a link to the mysterious "Red Library Entity".
http://paranormal.about.com/od/ghostphotos/ig/2005-
Photo-Hoax-Contest-Slide/Red-Library-Entity.htm
Searching "Isak Dinesen", I found a short story discussion group, "A Curious Singularity". This might be an interesting blog to track.
Technorati's advanced search, "slide library", brought up ArLiSNAP, a blog by/for "Art Library Students & New ARLIS Professionals." Nice.
blog.ask.com yielded a link to the mysterious "Red Library Entity".
http://paranormal.about.com/od/ghostphotos/ig/2005-
Photo-Hoax-Contest-Slide/Red-Library-Entity.htm
Searching "Isak Dinesen", I found a short story discussion group, "A Curious Singularity". This might be an interesting blog to track.
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