Friday, January 11, 2008
The final stretch
Why Kon Tiki? I hear you ask. From the confines of a 1950s Lancashire cotton mill town, this seemed like the ideal escape for an impressionable schoolgirl. Before satellites and computers, to navigate westwards across the Pacific by the stars seemed like the ultimate adventure. Besides, I thought the crew were rather dishy. I remember constructing models of the raft at school and studying the historical reason for their journey. Recently I was drawn to re-reading the book and found not a trace of machismo. Instead, it mixed pragmatism with poetry and romance."The world was simple, stars in the darkness. Whether it was 1947 B.C. or A.D. suddenly became of no significance. We lived, and that we felt with alert intensity...we were swallowed up in the absolute common measure of history, endless unbroken darkness under a swarm of stars.."
This 2.0 journey doesn't end on a Polynesian island - it continues.
As suggested in the tasks, some of this emerging social software is suitable for library application, some not. RSS, flickr and del.icio.us are the obvious choices, though we shouldn't entirely discount the trendy, cool "entertainment" ones. As long as people are interconnected via these technologies with their "great good places"*. The key is user participation and feedback; we cannot predict whether our customers will be comfortable using this new technology, but are preparing ourselves in case. Libraries will link to each other, even if the customer/library link takes longer to get off the ground. Our library skills are needed to integrate emerging technologies with existing library systems.
I think I'll be the only person looking at this blog, but it allows me to edit thoughts as the journey continues.
Have just noted in one of the articles for suggested reading, that libraries in Ohio are considering redundancy for employees who do not embrace Library 2.0, and including Library 2.0 in job specifications. Hmmm.
* see link at right - Alan Bundy
This 2.0 journey doesn't end on a Polynesian island - it continues.
As suggested in the tasks, some of this emerging social software is suitable for library application, some not. RSS, flickr and del.icio.us are the obvious choices, though we shouldn't entirely discount the trendy, cool "entertainment" ones. As long as people are interconnected via these technologies with their "great good places"*. The key is user participation and feedback; we cannot predict whether our customers will be comfortable using this new technology, but are preparing ourselves in case. Libraries will link to each other, even if the customer/library link takes longer to get off the ground. Our library skills are needed to integrate emerging technologies with existing library systems.
I think I'll be the only person looking at this blog, but it allows me to edit thoughts as the journey continues.
Have just noted in one of the articles for suggested reading, that libraries in Ohio are considering redundancy for employees who do not embrace Library 2.0, and including Library 2.0 in job specifications. Hmmm.
* see link at right - Alan Bundy
Myspace, Facebook, etc, etc.
Looking at the suggested (Hennepin, etc) sites, it would seem that this technology is aimed at teens. If it connects teens to libraries then that is positive, as they will use these sites for all sorts of nonsense anyway, so may as well make it useful play; maybe they'll be tempted to physically join a library and spend some time there? How do they find the time to do their schoolwork? Facebook seems to be extroverted banter - is this really the face of the library? Maybe it's a case of two opposing cultures here? There might also be problems if public PCs are being used by young people to access Facebook, etc, when there are queues of people waiting to use them for more important purposes e.g. preparation of CVs, banking, urgent emails, etc.
Just read an enlightening article in SMH The Guide 25/2 by Elissa Baxter called In your Facebook. It deals with Facebook and privacy. Such sites are set up to deliver customers to advertisers. Facebook launched its Beacon advertising system in November 2007, and did not give users enough time to bail out. Around 80,000 people formed a group known as "Facebook, stop invading my privacy" There was an apology and backdown from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The author of the article thinks worse scenarios could eventuate when people commit themselves and their ideas so publicly. People may give their DOB, address details, etc. and even if these are on separate accounts, they can be linked, and bank accounts could be accessed. "People think of social networking as akin to private conversations when they should be thought of as words published for all the world to see".
Just read an enlightening article in SMH The Guide 25/2 by Elissa Baxter called In your Facebook. It deals with Facebook and privacy. Such sites are set up to deliver customers to advertisers. Facebook launched its Beacon advertising system in November 2007, and did not give users enough time to bail out. Around 80,000 people formed a group known as "Facebook, stop invading my privacy" There was an apology and backdown from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The author of the article thinks worse scenarios could eventuate when people commit themselves and their ideas so publicly. People may give their DOB, address details, etc. and even if these are on separate accounts, they can be linked, and bank accounts could be accessed. "People think of social networking as akin to private conversations when they should be thought of as words published for all the world to see".
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Wiki wiki quick quick
On the positive side we can share facts and ideas. If the wiki is set up by the profession, it can be used in libraries e.g. as an alternative to our SSC library catalogue/fiction lists combo. Good examples are St Joseph's Public Library Subject Guides or, even better iread from the Iowa librarians. Their Book Guide would appeal to all readers as it is user-friendly; they could add their own comments, reviews, etc. making it interactive. We could compare this software with del.icio.us - another interconnective mesh in a different format. Again we could quote Lorcan Dempsey
http://orwblog.oclc.org/archives/000916.html "...has put the library in the user environment, rather than expecting the user to be in the library environment"
For library best practice there is Library Success which includes marketing, branding, community links, promotions, etc.
Some quick informal wikis may not be so good, as they may not be accurate. These are used for entertainment e.g. sandbox.
http://orwblog.oclc.org/archives/000916.html "...has put the library in the user environment, rather than expecting the user to be in the library environment"
For library best practice there is Library Success which includes marketing, branding, community links, promotions, etc.
Some quick informal wikis may not be so good, as they may not be accurate. These are used for entertainment e.g. sandbox.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Podcasts and Vodcasts
Podcasts enable you to listen to music/talk programmes after the event. This is much easier than the old recording method. Material can be down-loaded from anywhere in the world, and "Juice" makes it even easier. Classic books are downloadable. Youtube has some pretty ghastly content, and the bad outweighs the good, but it is worth digging around for a few gems. I enjoyed Surfcam......and the otters...
YouTube - time lapse clouds on mountains with sunset
I could have chosen a really naughty clip or a really hilarious one such as the River Dance Monkeys, but decided to be very conventional with this short video. To use something like this on a presentation would be a good mood-setter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epUk3T2Kfno
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epUk3T2Kfno
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