Class suggestions

Overall, this class has been a totally excellent experience. It has opened my eyes to some services that I hadn't ever heard of, and let me know of some alternate uses or communities that are involved in technologies that I was already familiar. In particular, the realization that there really are uses for social media tools in the context of business and libraries has been a great boon to my education. I feel that now I will be able to effectively argue on behalf of emerging technology, as well as recognize when (and when it isn't) appropriate.

One suggestion I thought of was to have perhaps a unit on the forefront of social tools. This would, of course, change each time the class was taught, but there are services out there that come and go and push the boundaries. We have talked mostly in this course about established services that have demonstrable positive effects for the context in which we examine them. Including some questionable or unproven technologies would provide a chance to apply some critical thought as to the merits or frivolity of something new, as well as provide a perspective on the sheer amount of these things that are out there.

Overall, the main wiki delivery worked for me, as did communication over Twitter, since it is easier to "check in" on Twitter than on IM, which requires a little more synchronicity. Thank you for not including much discussion on the eCollege message boards. I can't stand those things, how they reload every time you try and look at a thread or message.

One way to potentially increase communication would be to put the Social Networking unit a little earlier in the course. Or first, even. That way we all could have established a profile, gotten to "know" each other and begun sharing resources and conversation. Besides what better introduction to Web 2.0 is there at this point than facebook?

Thanks for the great class. Continue reading...

The (mis)adventures of Dewey Lefevre

I was excited about Second Life. Hadn't ever used it, saw some potential in the way that folks in the library speak about its use and positive presence. I also think it helps people who maybe are shy, or nervous, around others to interact in a way that they feel more comfortable. But what a trying experience it is just to do anything in Second Life! My user experience was so negative, that I am having an honest moment of confusion trying to decide how anyone uses it.

I can't figure out the hang up. Essentially, Second Life just wouldn't run in an enjoyable way for me at all. Frame rates around 10fps or less, graphics taking 30 seconds to load, bugs in clicking buttons, it crashed twice for no reason...

Allow me to elaborate. My computer is new. MacBook, 2.4GHz dual core, 4GB ram and a fairly decent graphics card (according to their promotional materials, a very very good graphics card). There is just no reason for me to be getting that kind of performance from a piece of software. And I just keep thinking, if my computer won't take it, what does everyone do? Deal with horrid polygonal graphics and slow frame rates? For me, it just reminded me of trying to play new computer games on the old 486 we had when I was growing up. Frustrating.

That aside, I did take the time to craft a rather dumb "look" for myself and battled with how to actually remove some clothing that I had inexplicably worn from my inventory. For a while there I had two hairstyles and two shirts on because I couldn't find any sort of "reset" button. Then I transported to Info Island, but there was no one around to talk to so I just sort of wandered around, reading info cards and waiting for billboards proclaiming an Edgar Allan Poe reading to come into focus.

Perhaps it is better when there is something to interact with. But the idea of spending hours in a world that can't even replicate a decent brick texture on the side of a buliding in under a few seconds didn't excite me very much. I think I'll stick to instant messaging.

Continue reading...

More on Johnson

If everything "bad" is indeed good for you, what does this mean for the world of Libraries and/or Educational organizations?

I think the answer to this question is that libraries and information organizations of all kinds need to begin the agonizing process of embracing and encouraging what may be considered non-traditional behavior in their institutions. Google has long kept their employees happy by providing free food and unlimited ping pong (among other things). Even though that is not exactly the same idea, the point remains that sometimes encouraging playful and otherwise "unorthodox" behavior can be a boon to an organization instead of corrupting it as may be feared.

An obvious example of this in the library is the use of video games to drum up an audience for some programs. Recently, of course, there were some issues with librarians playing games at work, and the jury is still out on the acceptability of that situation, but the point remains that designing programs around video games for patrons does provide a certain incentive for an audience that may not normally be motivated to visit. Or, provides a new outlet for participation for active library users that are looking for something new to try.

Of course there are right ways and wrong ways to handle a situation that deals with issues like whether or not to play pool at the office, or spend a day filming a YouTube video about your library's new Rock Band setup. Perhaps their hearts and thumbs were in the right place, or maybe that was indeed a waste of resources. Either way, I think the potential within the library to transform some bad things into good ones, and maybe sign up a few new library cards in the process. Continue reading...

Sophisticated Stupidity

From what you've read, is Popular culture (games, tv, film) just a method to "sophisticatedly deliver stupidity"?

The ideas that Johnson presents in his book "Everything Bad is Good for You" are indeed interesting, and help to relieve some of the guilt that I expereince every time I get lost in yet another episode of A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila (yes, I did watch most of that show's first season, and, yes, it was entertaining to watch 15 idiots run around screaming. Made me feel like a good person, in comparison). Arguing that contemporary audiences not only tolerate but crave complicated and "textured" narratives in their popular culture consumption is a warming, if somewhat problematic, thought.

Sometimes, and this is particularly noticeable with the never ending list of "reality" television programs, it does seem like a true glut of ridiculous stupidity, and moreover their delivery hardly ever even seems to be "sophisticated." And so it is comforting to find a savior in Johnson, who argues that there is in fact a silver lining behind the reality show cloud. Or at the very least, can offer us support to spend the extra money on HBO just to get that Sunday night drama.

However, one issue that Johnson brings up is multiple threading. He argues that many threads in the story lines of television series like the Sopranos, are complicated and are a unique way of presenting content that enhances viewer engagement with the storyline and characters. I am tempted to argue, or at least mention, however, that this may also be a product of internet age's effect on how much attention focus we as a culture can muster.

There was an article last summer in the Atlantic Monthly entitled "Is Google Making Us Stupid?", the premise of which is that the quick bite- (byte-) sized information content that we are accustomed to on the internet is actually changing our brains, and affecting our ability to process long and in-depth information. We seem to be shrinking away from the lengthy newspaper article, and instead digesting many articles in quick snippets (take, for example, CNN.com's bulleted "Story Highlights" present at the top of their already brief articles).

Perhaps the multiple threading that we encounter in more complex TV shows these days is not a boon to our grey matter, but rather the only way that television producers can handle presenting complex content to a nation of bite-size information eaters and so-called "horizontal" Google searchers. They can't keep us focused any other way.

I should clarify that this is just speculation, and I do agree with Johnson that modern media is providing an intellectual stimulus in many ways, and that shows like the Sopranos are head and shoulders above some trite TV of the past. But it is worth being a little more critical of the nature of that information, and how we as a culture process it. After all, somebody once thought (or still does) that those things were bad for us for a reason, and it is worth it to keep that in mind, at least until you click on the tube. Continue reading...

Which console for my library?

I think, hands down, I'd have to go with the Nintendo Wii on this one. No contest. PS3's are ridiculously expensive and have hardly any good games (except for Grand Theft Auto, which, of course, you can't exactly promote within your library) and the Xbox just sort of seems to me to be the type of gaming machine that encourages long-term single player experience. Of course, you can go online and frag your pals in Call of Duty (ahem, CoD, excuse me) but it isn't very conducive to in-person team play.

Enter Nintendo Wii. The machine is worth buying for several reasons in the library. Not only is it comparatively inexpensive, but so many of its games are designed for in-person collaborative or competitive play. Where in Xbox live you scream at people through a headset, with the Wii you interact in a way that is unusual for a video game experience. It also has an image, because of its uniqueness, that is parent friendly. When mom and dad want to go play tennis with the neighbors, how can they say no to sending the kids off to the library (of all places) to do the same?

I guess I was supposed to talk about the research aspect, and considering the pros and cons of each system a little more in this post. But it just seems to me to be a no brainer here. The cross-demographic appeal and collaborative play elements of the Wii just seem to me to trump anything else a Playstation might have to offer. And if you're looking for that more traditional, video game-y, single player experience, there's still just no match for Mario. Continue reading...

Screencast best practices

Now that we have completed a couple screencasts, I have noticed several things that I do as a computer user that don't bother me because normally, I am the only one looking at my screen. Audio in screencasts is another challenge, especially in Jing where there is no redo.

Like I said, I noticed in the last screencast I made on MySpace, that I scroll the page up and down sort of aimlessly a couple of times. This I just do I guess, when I am trying to get a sense of something, or perhaps it is just a nervous tic. Another common thing I do while reading online is highlighting text, sort of at random. The situation where I noticed these things happening in my screencast, I was explaining a point, and there was nothing specific to do visually with the screen at that moment. In this situation, it is much better to resist the urge to move the cursor aimlessly or scroll the screen. Viewers are listening, make your visual screen movements have a purpose.

Another thing I just noticed while making my screencast for Hapland, is that you have to be careful about the audio. I ran into this problem when recording a series of instructional screencasts at my last job. Because you are speaking into a microphone while doing something else, it is easy to get lost or just not describe what you are doing to the fullest effect. This leads to unnecessary "um"s and even, God forbid, me sniffling because of this cold I seem to have developed. If Jing would let me edit that audio, boy would I.

The point is, practice your lines, or write a script to follow. If you can edit audio, take out your swallows, awkward missteps, and any other oddities. Writing in mouse cues as well can help with my first point. You have to remember that you're not the only watching anymore. Continue reading...

Hapland

Hapland is a great and really hard puzzle game, where you interact with a strange cartoon world by finding and clicking on different objects. As you make certain things happen throughout the world, the things that become possible or impossible shift and change. There is a correct path, but it takes good timing and some pretty serious perseverance. It is fun, or at the very least, absorbing. I found it last term at www.onemorelevel.com. Screencast after the jump.

Hapland screencast. Continue reading...

Ning

I have always been a little curious about the rise of Ning. For me I guess I just don't see the utility in a way that is fruitful beyond just having yet another tool. I know that there are social benefits to interaction in Ning that go beyond just normal wiki collaboration and that that is something can could be desirable in some instances. However, Ning for me walks the thin line between useful innovation and a mashup of content already in use in other ways by its potential users.

In a work environment, I think it could be handled in a way that could be most fruitful. I see work users as more willing to take on another service because it is "for work." It also could be more useful to encourage a work atmosphere "away from the desk," so to speak. A place to contribute to work online, or share ideas in a way that has a little more utility than, as I mentioned above, a wiki or collaborative document.

Casual potential users like myself may have a harder time adopting because they are already using facebook, delicious, instant messaging and Twitter (or whatever else suits your fancy). I suppose my parenthetical shouldn't be. The point is that users will decide for themselves what services they find useful and fulfilling. If a Ning network is exactly what you are looking for because a facebook group just isn't enough, then by all means, don't let my grump get in the way of that experience. Continue reading...

Boyd readings

Boyd's writing was very enlightening to read, I thought. First of all, it was intersting to see the world of social networks broken down and explained in a rational and methodological way. Moreover, the social impacts of this new style of technological interaction, which are indeed present and undeniable in a colloquial sense, need to be explained in a way that is digestible by many people. It was great reading both her blog post on the social strata delinieated by Facebook and MySpace, and it was even more enlightening to read the response that she posted subsequently in which she addressed the critical (and otherwise) reponses that that blog post generated.

Understanding how social networks impact society is a fascinating topic for me, becuase it would be so easy to dismiss social media as a whole, or part by part, as a fad. In spite of the transitory nature of many individual services, it is clear that interaction mediated by social computing can no longer be viewed in that sense (even though it continues to be by some).

It is imperative now for research following Boyd's methods to be continued, if only to explain or at the very least identify how people are interacting in the new social milieu online. Because it is becoming such an essential part of life for so many (myself included) it requires study if the mandates of sociologists and psychologists and computer scientists (and philosophers and semioticians, not to mention librarians) everywhere are going to be fulfilled.

I have sensed the social boundaries surrounding the division that Boyd highlights between MySpace and Facebook. Though I guess I don't feel that I would have fit entirely into the category that she places around hegemonic teens (or would have when I was a teenager), the demarcation lines she draws are at most problematic, but at the least revealing or enlightening. Taking her post with the large grain of salt that she offers before the first paragraph, the importance and relevance of her writing can be understood.

For librarians in particular, understanding the modes and venues for teens' and young adults' online social lives is required to plan and create effective and safe programming that encourages social behavior, while creating boundaries that can ensure safety and positive outcomes from social networking. Not "getting" what is happening for teens online may lead to a withdrawl from the generally positive nature of social netowrking, and lead to harmful or risky behavior. I believe that it is within the mandate of librarians to ensure unfettered access to information, but it is resonable and should be expected that librarians can at a minimum make known and encourage the benefits of that information that can lead its fulfilling use. Without that, the library is just a building with free internet. Continue reading...

Social Networking and "sticky" content

The key to any social network making themselves "sticky" is that they need to create a unique product. Alternatively, they need to isolate their user group so that you can only access certain people using this one specific product. A social network or Web 2.0 tool may do both of these things, and those are perhaps the most successful. Anyone can have a forum on a specific topic that wants users to come back to get the right content, but without either making it unique or trapping those users, anyone else could do it, too.

Take Facebook for example. They grew in popularity and stickiness by first creating a social network for college students. They succeeded in being the "place" to be for college kids, and, by limiting their membership created a feeling of uniqueness around their product. By college kids, for college kids. Even though that no longer holds, the unique character of the facebook brand, combined with their limited data portability (try pushing your facebook status updates to Twitter, instead of the other way around...), makes them a super sticky product. I can't think of anywhere else that I can check up on the relationships of people I knew from fourth grade.

MySpace is another good example of this. The uniqueness of MySpace lies perhaps in its catering towards musical endeavors. Facebook is a personal brand, MySpace has found its niche in presenting musical content automatically, making it a commercial brand. What other product allows an automatic music player to bombard visitors against their will? Not saying it isn't annoying, but it works. And it has stuck.

Twitter, too. Their uniqueness is in the format. "Microblogging" conforming to SMS standards so you can interact on the go. That data is portable, and you can find Twitterers elsewhere on the web: their homepages, blogs or social networks, but you can't find that unique content presented in that way without interacting with their Twitter profile. Continue reading...

MySpace Screencast

I have been embroiled in learning how to do anything in MySpace for the last half hour or so. After spending way too long searching for how to update my status (hint: small update link right where it should be, I am just stupid), I decided I would record a small screencast on customizing your profile.

This way, you don't have to feel silly trying out all the different menu options like I did. Link. Continue reading...

My favorite videos

I identified two favorite videos that were produced by our class, but given the time constraints and lack of any actual equipment (or, at least, this is the situation I am taking for granted based on my own experience) I thought everyone did a really nice job.

I found jsscils598s09's videos to be my favorites. Reading Call Numbers was a fairly well-paced and practical explanation on LC Call Numbers, that I can see actually being put to good use in a library setting.

As for Laser Bugs, well, I just thought that was a clever use of old footage, and a great idea. I struggled with coming up for a good idea for my entertainment video and enjoyed this one quite a bit better.

Reading Call Numbers


LaserBugs


Continue reading...

Nambu: the screencast

I made a little screencast about a new Twitter client for the Mac called Nambu. Even if you don't have a mac, it's nice to know about some other ways than just the web view to see and interact with your Twitter profile. Grouping and searching your incoming tweets becomes almost essential, I find, if you want to move on from just following those of us in the course.

You can check out the screencast here. Some other popular (and cross-platform) Twitter clients are TweetDeck and Twhirl./span> Continue reading...

Entertainment vs. Educational Videos

Do educational videos stand a chance vs. entertainment videos? Why/Why not?

It is difficult to say what exactly the separation between those two categories is, and therefore it is further complicated to answer this question. Take for instance, TED, a global lecture series that produces high-quality videos of most of their talks available for free online. Perhaps I am a huge nerd, but these videos are both entertaining, and in most cases, astoundingly educational. There is a special skill held by great educators that combines those two facets into all of their learning experiences.

YouTube is an incredibly popular search engine, not only for the funny things you can find, but also apparently for much more educational information. Though the two are often separate, there is no inherent reason that entertaining videos must win out over educational ones. If the educational videos are boring, well, then that seems to me to be a separate issue.

One example of a funny and educational video is the You Suck at Photoshop series. This is a very popular series of tutorials on how to use basic to advanced Photoshop features, but that are presented in such a way as to make them engaging and even have a narrative flow across the different "lessons."

Given the ease with which anyone can record and upload their own entertainment or educational video, the potential for the two to merge becomes stronger and more realistic every day. Continue reading...

The class Flickr groups

Going back over our Flickr groups (scils598s09 & scils598s09-edexperience), I'm noticing quite a few nature pictures in the more social set, and a lot of desks and quite a few laptops in the ed-experience set.

No surprise there, I suppose, though it was interesting to see the variety of pictures in the social set. Some pets, though not as many as I would have expected. You see, I live in an apartment and can't have pets, so it seems like everyone I see has at least one. Also some wall art, and one art museum. The circus was perhaps the most delightful... haven't seen elephants doing that for quite a long time. Continue reading...

My How-to video

A little video on how to tune up your bike's rear derailleur. A good thing to know, especially if you're like me and hate clicky gears. A video like this one, and many more, have been done much better at Bicycle Tutor. Check them out if you want to become a gonzo bike mechanic.

Click To Play

Spring is here! Go ride your bike!
Or, check out my blip.tv show page.
Continue reading...

My "entertaining" video

Warning: this is just weird, and probably not particularly entertaining. But I suppose that is for you to decide.


Click the video above, or go here to see it on YouTube.
Continue reading...

Advantages to podcasting

What are some advantages to an audio podcast over text-based presentation?

This post is in response to the above question, which was posed by the professor, Anselm Spoerri, in the course podcast here. My response, summarized after the jump, is available here.

What I see as the major advantages of the podcast are getting access to users who can feel overwhelmed by overly hyperlinked and visually "noisy" web presentation. These types of sites are common, and can often turn readers off. Another possible advantage (not mentioned in my response) is accessing users who are quite mobile, and like to have access to internet content while not necessarily being tethered to a device that can display web content. For example, commuters who hate morning radio would perhaps prefer this style of delivery.

If you can't tell (based on this rather lengthy explanation of my response) I am a very visual person, and express myself much better and more thoroughly though writing. I also prefer to digest information through reading and exploring web content myself, rather than having it explained aurally.

I suppose I would be remiss if, after my espousal of the importance of hyperlinking to content, I did not include the appropriate links here. The Sirsi/Dynix podcast can be found here (or the direct feed), and, for a good example of visual "noise," maybe you should check out this good reason to stay away from certain blogs. Continue reading...

My first audio story

This ended up being a pretty weak story, mostly because I was testing out the software and trying out the editing. I don't want to ruin the ending, but lets just say it involves me as a child and a bicycle.

Here it is.
Continue reading...

2009 Shovers & Makers (nominate your bad self!)

Congratulations to me! I have been awarded an honorary student Shover & Maker award from the Library Society of the World.

From the About page:

No one knows what you have been doing all year as well as you do. No one knows what motivates you, what your professional passions are, why you work so hard on behalf of your patrons, clients or co-workers. So only you really know why you are a winner. Please write a quick profile of why you are a winner this year, and it will get published on this site.

So anyway, I won, but so did you. And you. Let everyone know at http://www.shoversandmakers.net/ Continue reading...

The long tail, vol. 2

How do libraries/Librarians fill roles as New Producers, New Markets, and New Tastemakers?

I think this goes back to something that I mentioned last week when we posted about the Long Tail. As we didn't exactly read up on these specific concepts, I'm just fudging here, but based on the simple names, I think I can guess well enough.

New producers? As I have mentioned, librarians have been fulfilling this role by making new content out of what already exists. They take books, provide access to and information about them and produce an environment which cherishes reading. These days, it goes much further than books, and the Long Tail becomes evident in that context. Audio, video, digital content (we all know how much librarians love wikis) all of these are beginning to be collected and disseminated through the library in ways that are beneficial to users, and expansive in terms of simply looking beyond the New York Times Bestsellers List, or even Technorati.

New markets? Libraries have long been an alternative "market" if you want to conceive of it in that way. It is less a market, and more of a marketplace. Instead of peddling wares, libraries and the people who inhabit them come together to make a space that is much greater than the sum or cash value of its parts. Free (and, yes, sometimes illegal) sharing of content and ideas is the principle upon which new markets are being founded everyday. Clay Shirky recently pointed out that we don't know exactly how things are going to shake out, but certainly the mode of information sharing and community participation is active (and completely legitimate) in the library.

New tastemakers? Readers' advisory, reference service, blogs and now Twitter are all ways that libraries have and continue to provide information to users about what is the latest and greatest, or simply unheard of as yet. I guess what I'm saying here is: grow on, Long Tail, we'll keep up. Continue reading...

Blog Analytics

I have been complaining lately via Twitter (not our class account but rather on @danhooker) about how Internet Explorer bothers me. Not only because I am a big proponent of open-source software and open access, but just in general. I have done simple web design in the past and had to battle making ridiculous changes to my CSS just to get an OK render on IE. What a pleasant surprise to me that the visitors to my blog thus far (that's you) are almost exclusively Firefox users!

The big blue you see there are Firefox users, and the tiny green speck is the Internet Explorer use. Now, I am not blaming anyone for using IE if they do... it is admittedly quite difficult to get away from when you are Windows user (though now there is word of being able to get rid of it in Windows 7, whee!). I simply think it is a positive thing if so many web readers are using Firefox.

As for connection speed, a majority were Cable internet, but I had a rather large number of "Unknown" speeds. I'm not quite sure what to make of that. Dial-up didn't even register as any visits, so I guess that's progress. Continue reading...

My ed-experience

Falling into coming to school in Vancouver for me was primarily motivated first by place, then by price, then by sheer luck I think. I came from the University of Wisconsin, where, as you may know, there is a library school and one that is looked fairly well upon (or so I hear). I had a job, I had friends there, so in many ways it would have been ideal, but I guess I was just ready to leave. Madison is a wonderful community and I secretly hope to make it back one day, but at the time of the decision, I'm sure now that it was the right thing to leave.

You can see the pictures that I uploaded to describe my "ed experience" here. The whole class project group is here. I first entertained the notion of coming to Vancouver for graduate school because I had heard such good things about living in the Pacific Northwest. Then I saw the tuition rates. A calendar year at SLAIS runs me $7,200 CAD. All UBC graduate students are required to maintain a year-round relationship with the school, so that price is for 2 normal semesters, and both summer terms regardless of whether I enroll in classes.

To compare, fall and spring semesters at UW-Madison are $5,600 USD, plus $4,100 for summer (if I chose to enroll). That is a total of $15,300 for the year. More than double! I couldn't believe it, and started working immediately on my application.

I always have to temper my enthusiasm with the fact that the cost of living in Vancouver is much higher than in the States (though perhaps not New York City, as those of you living there may attest) so that evens things out a bit. But either way, that turned my Pacific living dream into a reality.

So what else can I say about my education experience here? It is a time of political struggle at SLAIS, but that makes it a good time to be around in many ways. We are currently conducting a series of interviews for the school director positions (the candidates are currently confidential) as well as for two open faculty positions. It has been very interesting to be in on the process of selecting a new figurehead for the school... for example, I am personally very interested in technology so it was hard for me to like (though I did end up liking) one candidate whose research interests were of a more humanist bent. I have a background in the Humanities, but I'm not sure that's where the field of LIS needs to be heading.

Along those lines, I have been talking with several of my peers about desiring more technology oriented classes in the SLAIS curriculum. There are some, though none along the lines of web development and design, which I am personally interested in as it applies to our field. They are offering a social media course next fall which I am happy about, but I'll have already been in this one. I know there are options outside of SLAIS for courses such as these, but that is difficult and there has been little outreach between departments so far in my experience.

This is not to say I am unhappy here. Overall, my experience in the classes I have taken have all been very positive, and though there is some want for a larger, stable faculty, the base faculty here now is solid and they have all been very warm and welcoming of new students, and, now that I am one, of continuing students as well.

Well. I think I've said enough. There is more of course, but I will spare you. If you're interested in talking more just let me know. I could go on, I am sure. Continue reading...

pbwiki v. wetpaint

The battle of the free wiki programs. The first thing to notice about Wetpaint as opposed to PBWiki is the coding. Wetpaint's design is filled to the brim with cutting edge web stuff like floating toolbars for page editing, collapsible everything and transparency a-go-go. PBWiki keeps it a little simpler in this regard, and I can't quite decide which I prefer. Being a web design fan myself, I can appreciate the effort which it must have required to develop Wetpaint's functionality, but it seems perhaps that the money spent on design has to be made up by advertisements or membership fees.

This is, of course, not exactly an unfamiliar model for web applications, but coming from using PBWiki which has run both membership-free and ad-free since I have used it, it does take a little getting used to. I find that I use wikis the most for group planning or project development. In that context, having ads run on the sidebar is pretty unappetizing.

That being said, watching the CommonCraft video on WetPaint provides a different perspective on how Wetpaint is trying to develop its user base. These are not supposed to be wikis for a group of students planning out a project. Wetpaint is catering toward the book and fan club users, seeking to find a home on the web. This sense is heightened by the easy addition of page "modules" and "widgets" that connect your Wetpaint wiki to other web services like YouTube or iMeem. It also breaks some of the contextual barriers around the presence of ads. I am more comfortable seeing ads on Amazon Recommends, than I am on Google Docs.

In this course, we are already used to PBWiki, and it seems to serve the purpose of planning out the course quite well. The traditional WYSIWYG editor of the PBWiki pages is familiar, and with no ads lurking around it feels more like a learning space than Wetpaint.

Given my usual desires for a wiki, I think I'll stick by PBWiki (as long as they keep it free, anyway). But, given the enhanced functionality of Wetpaint, it certainly would be something to consider for other users. Continue reading...

The long tail

Is the library world as a whole set to benefit from the Long Tail?

The long tail is a concept that makes a lot of sense in my mind, but it also seems to me that libraries have been invested in the concept of the long tail forever. Though there are indeed the constraints of "physical space" on a public library's collection (collection development is necessarily driven by local interest), the core service of readers' advisory is, as I see it, the same thing as Amazon's "Customers also bought these..."

Though we as consumers have a traditional "hit-based" economic model ingrained into our conception of the market, I see the library as already enacting a long tail model in that it strives to provide free services, both "hit-based" (popular fiction, perhaps?) and marginal (manga, maybe?), in order to achieve the kind of model that Anderson is so adamant about supporting.

Parts of Anderson's article are indeed prescient in ways that can, however, have an additional effect on the library. He paraphrases Danny Stein at one point who argues music may move away from an ownership model completely. "With ubiquitous broadband, both wired and wireless, more consumers will turn to the celestial jukebox of music services that offer every track ever made, playable on demand." We can see this happening already with services like Pandora and, even more customizable, Spotify. Where Pandora chooses music for you based on things you say you like, Spotify lets you choose exactly what you want, when you want it.

Imagine a public library service that could offer the same thing? Or something like Netflix's "Watch Instantly"? Or an academic library that could produce articles or chapters of books "on-demand" for students and faculty, if the market dictated to academic publishers in the same way that the music market has to its own powers that be.

As the market changes for consumers, so the advantages for libraries will increase. Loosening up the requirements on republishing or making music or print material available to the public is where I see the long tail's continued advantage for libraries. And while we wait for the market to catch up, we can all still checkout our favorite DVDs at the local public branch. Continue reading...

Productivity through Google Docs

I had hardly any experience with Google Docs until about a month ago when I was working on a project with a partner as part of a course. Aside from having convienient online storage, there isn't much to be noted about cloud applications until you need to work collaboratively across a group.

Once you have that need, however, it is incredible the ease with which you can collaborate and produce a cohesive project among more than one person. Emailing a .doc file, tracking changes, and getting headaches are things that spawn a disjointed and often noticeably splintered project. Given the ability to look at the same document at the same time is something that greatly improves this process, but it doesn't seem to be something that we are used to doing, and that makes it difficult to explain.

In my mind, it takes a good experience with a Google Doc project in order to add it to the list of things that actually increase your productivity, instead of staying on the other popular list: those things that seem like they might help but really just aren't worth it in the end (cheap shot, sorry).

Can I foresee any issues between Google Docs and faculty on a campus? I guess I could, though once it was explained, I can't come up with a valid reason against it. Obviously it increases the availability of student assignments on the web, though if the assignment was designed to be completed by a group, I don't see any ethical issues with that at all. An individual who was misusing the online availability of the document by sharing it inappropriately with other peers may present a problem, but I don't see this as a large enough issue to reduce adoption of Google Docs (or any online office suite) on campus. Continue reading...

the great class tag

Putting our whole class together and having us tag 10 websites that best described what we were like as individuals turned out to be an interesting sport. First of all, I found it difficult to express who "I am" through a series of websites. I think, however, that once I caught onto isolating particular things about myself, I was able to find resources that adequetly expressed those certain facets. If you are curious, here is my list (Turns out there's twelve on there, so pick your own top ten, I guess).

Scanning over the class list, I can see that now the list contains things other than what may have been chosen as personal description. Gmail, perhaps, is not particularly illuminating. However, looking a bit more closely reveals gems such as KOHLER faucets and Trendy Togs. I find that bookmarks like these really can speak on someone's behalf.

There didn't turn out to be much overlap, unfortunately, between how class members defined themselves in bookmarks. But this I suppose has less to do with the fact that we have nothing in common than with the fact that the internet is a large and wild place. There are of course many different web sites out there with similar content. What is revealing about this process, I thought, was the amount of introspection it takes to figure out which one you choose.

I would like this exercise as a sort of icebreaker. Even though now it seems that most members of this particular course have a certain rapport, given the opportunity again, I think it would be a great way to begin a course like this, or any social media project for that matter.

To butcher Aldous Huxley: there is only one corner of the internet you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self. Continue reading...

Library Thing is too much fun

If you don't know about Library Thing, and you are currently in library school, then you need to (as I did) get with the program and start it up. Or if you are just nerdy and like books a lot, well, you can come too. It's way too fun for those of us who have slightly compulsive needs to organize (or "catalog") things and, along the way, brag about how well read you are.

I'm not saying everyone feels that particular need. But be honest: you probably do.

Essentially Library Thing is a place to catalog your personal bookshelf by searching for books and adding them into your collection. (See also: Delicious Library) You can search via Amazon or the LOC, or a long list of other search engines. I found the best results for mine on the Amazon search, though I suppose if you were going for a more textbook or rare book collection, a library catalog would be more your speed.

Inevitably, the edition of the book may matter to some, so there is also the option to manually enter books into your library. You can even scan your own cover and attach it to the record. The best part about this feature is that the scanned covers are shared with the community, which enables anyone to select the cover of their choice. I like buying used books, and I find that the old covers for things are often better than the newer post-2000 reprints of books. It also helps to mimic your actual bookshelf at home, if you're into that sort of thing.

As any good Web 2.0 tool does, Library Thing allows you to tag your books, which enters them into the collective consciousness. You can also recommend books to other Library Thing members. I entered "The Loved One" by Evelyn Waugh, and it turns out that MichaelPNaughton has recommended that I read a book called "Deathryde: Rebel without a Corpse." Maybe next time, Mike, but thanks for the offer anyway.

Bottom line: Library Thing is a lot of fun for nerds. I expect that this summer much of my time will be spent adding and "browsing" books. I had a so-so reaction to GoodReads, because I tend not to dig on internet people's recommendations of books, but the ability to make your own bookshelf online? Sign me up. Continue reading...

Who puts the L in Library?

In response to the recent phenomenon of removing the "L" from many former library school names... I can't say what I think is right. I can understand both sides of the story, I suppose. The pro-L folks say that the library must be validated by retaining the name in the school title. The anti-L folks seem to think that antiquates the skill set learned in an "information school"--it should be broader than just libraries these days.

I tend to agree with that sentiment, though I can't say I am particularly anti-L. I am a pretty techno-savvy person (though I'm pretty sure using the term "techno-savvy" means I am not, or it is 1997). But this doesn't mean just because I could work outside of a library that I will. On the contrary, I went to library school in order to be able to work in a library. Now that I'm here and know more about the training I am getting, I may decide that I can use some "transferable skills" to get out somewhere, maybe work "on the outside," but the idea of being a librarian of some kind is still my and many of my classmates' primary motivator.

I do like the idea that we in library school gain a broader knowledge base than that required to do collection development. And removing the "L" certainly does position a school on that side of the line, but to me it just seems like marketing. If removing the L is what it takes to get and retain quality faculty with an interest in applying technology and information organization to a more traditional library curriculum, then by all means take it out. Faculty retention is a big issue, and library schools have to fight to stay competitive in that way.

Rutgers has cited the need to stay "competitive" as part of the reason for axing the L--and if that is what the powers that be consider to be more marketable, then, I personally don't see the big problem. Maybe now we can all be web designers, OK, but the traditional library model is not going away. Library schools in Michigan and Washington (and Texas and Toronto) continue to produce successful librarians, without an L in sight. Perhaps broadening (and modernizing?) the image of library schools will be the shot in the arm that is necessary.

Perhaps what it comes down to is that the concept of the library is still caught in the transition from card catalogs and sepia-tone women in pencil skirts into a picture that is in 16 million colors and has patrons sliding their books across an RFID scanner to check them out. What I am saying here is that I believe library studies should be now be focused on increasing technological literacy in faculty and students, and that the shared conception of the library has to shift before the marketers controlling university programs worldwide will accept it as forward-looking. "Information" is sexy now, the "library" is not.

As soon as a common, shared image of the modern library exists, then the L will not be considered a detriment to competitiveness. But until that time, if the L word continues to carry a stigma, then maybe it is time to change. Continue reading...

delicious v. furl

I've been using Delicious for a couple months now, ever since I needed a good way of keeping track of articles that I was researching for the precursor to the paper I discussed below. I had been using my Firefox bookmarks, but every time I didn't have my laptop on me I kicked myself for not having them online anywhere.

At first I tried both Delicious and the now-defunct(?) Magnolia, looking for a way to bookmark online that mimicked the folder structure of Windows Explorer, Finder, or even the Firefox bookmarking tool. Because I, and everyone ever, is used to organizing files into folders, I really wanted a system that would allow me to organize that way.

I understand, of course, that by tagging (the dominant mode of social bookmarking's organization) you can achieve the same effect of a folder, as long as you are consistent with applying the same tag to each bookmark that you want to keep together. It just takes a little getting used to not seeing actual tiny folder icons that you click on to open up a list of related files. You (or I do anyway) have to remember that online bookmarking is about more than personal organization--it also enables you to share that information when the time comes, and see what other people have tagged. Personal "folder" organization looks inward and hides your files within. Tagging looks outward, organizing your files in a way that is larger than just you.

What ended up selling me on Delicious was their high-powered Firefox extension. It completely takes over for the bookmarking tool in Firefox, shuffling all your existing bookmarks online, and overwriting the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl- or Cmd-D). Additionally, you can manage your "favorite" tags to appear in an expandable toolbar. This means that you can get rid of your Firefox "Bookmarks Toolbar" in favor of Delicious's toolbar. You don't lose any functionality as long as you take the time to set it up, and you don't lose any browsing area to yet another extension. Thank god I didn't choose ma.gnolia.

And, so, I happily converted to all online bookmarking, said goodbye to my wish for online folders and went on my way. Until, for this course, I looked at Furl and found that they have those darn folders! Well not exactly, but it's closer than Delicious.

I'm not about to switch now, I'm in too deep. But it was sort of what I was looking for a while ago. They allow you to not only tag your bookmarks but assign them a more general "topic," which they adorn with a picture of a little folder. Your bookmarks still display in a long list, but it's one step closer to a real folder than Delicious or Ma.gnolia had.

That said, I found Furl's interface to be a bit unwieldy... they use a lot of vocabulary that is unfamiliar in a social software context: "keywords" (instead of tags) "topics" (instead of folders) "clipping" (???). They enable a lot of good collaboration just like Delicious, but there's just too much going on at once for me. Also, those ads above my bookmarks are just obnoxious. It is a nice alternative for those looking for a service that isn't owned by Yahoo! But until they come out with a full-service Firefox plugin, I just can't consider it.
Continue reading...

New: twistori

There's not much to say about twistori, except that it is a wonderful use of the Twitter developer API. They import tweets from different Twitter Searches, and have a scrolling list of the tweets that come up.

The searches are sort of primal emotions: love, hate, wish, believe. This makes a rather intriguing list of tweets, all of which contain the chosen phrase. Reading many of them in a row interrupts your expectation of what you think people may be wishing for or believing in.

It is a little frustrating as the list moves quickly, and there is no way to scroll. It is a self-described experiment, and for what it is, it does it well. Really it's just for fun at this point, but the creators say it is the "first stage of an ongoing social experiment." I wonder what the experiment could be? Defining a more fleeting notion of love and hate? An attempt to expose the folly of the tweeter who writes "I love wendys even though it clogs my arteries"?

Perhaps we will never know, but that doesn't mean we can't sit back and enjoy the ride. There's even a screensaver for Mac OS X. Continue reading...

Information (over)load

The question: Do RSS and XML feeds worsen or help with the woozy side-effects of information overload?

Answer: I think it helps, but I am sympathetic to those that disagree.

I remember having a conversation about two years ago with a friend who was saying he liked the experience of actually navigating to the blogs that he liked to read and finding new posts, as opposed to using a feed reader. Part of the reason why he liked reading blogs was that each one presented itself in a different manner (see my post below for more on that particular issue) and that visiting each one to find the content was all part of why he read blogs in the first place.

Sometimes I wonder if he still sticks to this fundamentalist strategy, but I mostly figure that it simply cannot be true anymore. There is simply too much. He went on to be an editor somewhere, and I believe is now a writer, and that just can't be practical any longer.

Does this mean that all is lost, and we are slowly developing tunnel vision, peering at the information through our Google Reader "All Items (1000+)" page? Certainly not everyone, but often I fantasize of paring my list of 50 blogs down to a more manageable 10, eliminating those pesky Boing Boings and Gizmodos for something that posts a more reasonable 1-2 times a day. But what will I miss? What will I mention is funny and interesting at class tomorrow if I have eliminated Gawker from my reader? There they sit, 20 or 30 posts each day, racking up pale white lines of unread posts that stay unread, while I remain subscribed, mired in my own indecision.

And yet, without the option to embed information streams in such a reader, or on a web page, or on this blog, the Internet as we know it would provide so much less utility, fun, excitment and efficiency. So much of the exciting developments of the Web in the past 5 years has centered around the ease with which people can share information, instead of just finding it. This, I believe, helps ease the burden of information overload. The ability to quickly see and evaluate information that is shared or syndicated by others provides such a boon to those who want to find it. Before, we may have known something was out there, but we would be at the mercy of the entire sprawl of the World Wide Web. At least with a feed reader full of 50 blogs, I know that what I want is inside; now I just have that list to grapple with. Continue reading...

Aesthetic passion

OK it's not that I am what you may call "passionate" about this topic, but I have been embroiled in a research paper over the past couple of weeks with a friend of mine here at UBC. I find it quite interesting, and have written on it before, so I thought for our "free-for-all" post this week, I would share a little bit about what we have been up to here in Vancouver.

Essentially what we are doing is writing a literature review for a study that we are never going to complete. All grads at SLAIS have to complete a course in social research methods (yee haw, I know) and our term project is a literature review and research design for a "study" which we won't do (because of time constraints, and the small fact that really this should be a thesis). The saving grace is that you can work with a partner. This may be a curse depending on who you know. I got lucky.

What we are studying is the visual aesthetic elements of blogs and how they affect users' perception of the "purpose" of the blog. This entails researching not only the effects of aesthetic design elements on user perception, but also how those perceptions are influenced by the context of the interaction (i.e. reading a blog). Aesthetic elements of interface design are something I find very interesting, and was surprised to find that until fairly recently, around the year 2000, the study of interface design in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) had not included many subjective elements like aesthetics, and was instead focused mainly on the more objective design, such as usability (i.e. efficiency, measurable ease-of-use, etc.).

The other aspect of our research is a bit more related to this class, in that we have had to investigate a proper definition of blogs as a "genre" on the Web. Aside from that, we will endeavor to break that genre down into visual parts: a blogroll here, a heading there. This is really the forte of my partner, but it has been very interesting to try and classify such a broad area of the Web--blogs--into a single, visual entity. This is going to be a challenge moving forward as we set out to design a study that tackles these issues.

I find this topic particularly intriguing because I have always been interested in art and artists; that personal interest translates professionally into the world of visual information design and interaction. Likewise, I have an interest in the Web, and how people use it to accomplish so many varied tasks. Understanding what dictates someone's perception of a certain blog is a very tricky thing to figure out, but we are hoping it comes down to visual design.

If you're still reading, do you have any insights for us as we move forward in this endeavor? Can you identify what visually separates a personal blog different than a news blog? How about a Canadian blog from one based in Dubai? (All of those were weblog award winners, if you're curious.) If anyone is super motivated, I can point you to about 8 million articles on the topic, most of which will be available through your local library database collection. Continue reading...

Good Reads

As I was stumbling through a big list of social media and web 2.0 sites today, I came across Good Reads. I had heard my friend here at school mention this once before (she had previously completed a degree in Children's Literature, so you can imagine, she likes to read) but I'd never checked it out before.

Essentially Good Reads is like a social networking site, but with just a dash of Amazon.com thrown in. It runs on reviews: you tell Good Reads what you've been reading lately, provide a rating and a review, and then it broadcasts your information across the network. You can have friends, whose recent activities (reviews, books they claim they're reading, books they have marked as "favorites) you will see when you log in. You can search for reviews of books that you want to read (to get a sense of if it's worth it) or of books you love (so you can scoff at and insult those who have given it a bad review).

I find that with social software tools I feel a little spread out if I have to sign up for a new one. I like to integrate them as much as possible... or at least make it so I don't have to a visit yet another web page when I start up my browser. I run Twitterific in the background all day and import my Delicious bookmarks into Firefox's menubar. Good Reads, it turns out, you can import into your facebook account (if you have one), and you can access and edit your life there all through the facebook interface, which is nice. I tried it out, and found a couple friends already using it (turns out a friend from high school likes The Great Gatsby.)

I was an English lit major in college, so I tend not to rely on online reviews when selecting my next book. I also tend to go to used book stores instead of ordering them. In spite of the greyish yellow color scheme of the site, Good Reads will never smell delightfully musty like Bridgid's Books. That being said, I am still intrigued because if I had an active community of friends on Good Reads, I wouldn't argue with participating. I, like any other person who likes reading, like talking about the books I read and enjoy bullying people into liking what I like. Then again, being a librarian, perhaps I would rather be a part of Library Thing... Continue reading...

bloglines v google reader

I am not going to pretend neutrality on this issue. I started reading feeds a few years ago to get through the workday in a library office without windows. My first feed reader was a desktop client (had to download and install it) called BottomFeeder. My supervisor used Bloglines so I set it up, too, but quickly found it too clunky to use. Then I found Google Reader and my life hasn't been the same since.

• Google Reader has collapsible windows for each post. This makes it easy to see what you have and have not read, and what you are reading and what you are not reading.
• Bloglines does not have this.
• Google Reader has a clean interface. Bloglines does not have this.

• When I subscribed to Boing Boing in Bloglines, it said I had 200 unread posts. After clicking on it once, they were all marked as read! When I came back, nothing appeared.
• A positive thing: the "playlist" function, where you can customize groups of feeds to read together, is something that, to my knowledge, you can't do in Google. If you organize by folders, however, it is easy to achieve this effect.

Anyway, I suppose it's always good to have options. It also seems as though there are many librarians on Bloglines: a techie librarian blog, the Shifted Librarian, was listed as one of the 50 most popular!

Regardless, I won't be switching back anytime soon. Continue reading...

Duke University's "Library Hacks"

Found this blog on the Blogging Libraries Wiki: Duke University's Library Hacks. Basically this is a blog dedicated to hints and tips about library use, and productivity in general. From their about page:

Library Hacks is a place to find out about tools, resources, services, and ideas that can help make your research and the library more efficient for you. It’s written mostly by Duke Libraries staff, but we’ll also have occasional student and faculty guest bloggers. (Want to be one? Let us know!)

Our inspirations are blogs like LifeHacker, LifeHack, AcademHack, and ParentHacks, and book series like O’Reilly’s Hacks Series.

I think this is a great way to draw in users that may not already be a part of the library's normal audience. I am a believer in "bridging" the gap between non-users and the library using social software because of its low commitment level. The readers of this blog may already know about the library. But, they may have simply done a search on audiobooks, or multiple-computer productivity, and found that there is someone at the library writing about how to deal those sorts of problems.

And it may stop there. Read the post, move on. But some may read it, see that it is from the library and then come back for more information, or look at some of the other library resources that are linked to on the blog's home page.

The problem with this model is that this is most likely not going to be the first blog a library produces. That may need to be modeled more around news and library programming. In that instance, however, posts along these lines could be sprinkled in, just to add a little spice to the normal fodder. Continue reading...

blogger v wordpress

It seems to me that commercial blog software these days is pretty standard. Some features you get on both Blogger and Wordpress.com:

• Templates for blog layout
• Widgets or gadgets to display archives, blogroll, rss, etc.
• Certain level of control as to commenting, trackBacks
  
• Either WYSIWYG (What-you-see-is-what-you-get) editor or HTML.

The first ever blog I wrote was on Blogger. It chronicles the road trip that I took while driving from Minnesota to British Columbia. We did this in the car, connecting to the internet via a cell phone. I did the posts quickly, and didn't fuss with many settings and found it very easy to use.

The second blog I wrote was on WordPress.com, which I found at first somewhat unsettlingly complicated. This blog was written on how libraries are using Flickr to enhance their collections, and was done for a class last term. This meant it was to my advantage to tweak the settings and make everything look as nice as possible. I found that once I got used to the more advanced "dashboard" that things were very customizable.

After just looking back over my accounts I've identified a few differences:

• There are many, many more templates to choose from on WordPress.
• However, you cannot edit the HTML/CSS of your template for free like you can on Blogger. This is so cool and something I really wanted to be able to do last semester.
  
• WordPress.com blogs allow "Pages"--a separate area for information like, About the Author, or Additional Resources. Nice for separating that information from the side columns on your main page.
• WordPress.com settings take a long time to save, and it takes a while to move between pages in your dashboard. This may be due to the site traffic, who knows, but it's annoying.
• Blogger makes it hard to have an abbreviated post on the main page. This is when you see a little "More..." link on the main list of posts. I think those are nice, and keeps many posts visible at one time on the home page. In WordPress you can insert this by clicking a button. In Blogger you need to edit the HTML of your post with specific code found on a help page somewhere.

As for data portability, it is hard to say. Can you get your data elsewhere after you have put in so much work? WordPress imported my old Blogger blog just fine, and I didn't even have to export it first, it was all done automatically through the web.

However, Blogger couldn't import my WordPress blog, to my dismay. It apparently only supports importing from other Blogger blogs. I'm not sure if that is the fault of the WordPress export file (i.e. they export in a proprietary XML format), or if Blogger simply hasn't written the software that can do the import. Either way, it seems once you are on WordPress it may be hard to get off.

This may not be an issue, however, because WordPress.com also supports a stand-alone server version of its software called WordPress.org. This is fairly robust, I think, and if you have the know-how and staff for it, could be a good option. There is an active community of WordPress users, as well, so tech support is probably often free. Perhaps you would never want to leave.

I think, overall, Blogger is the way to go for ease of use (and that CSS template editing). And, if it turns out I'm wrong, I can always get my data out. The page loading time issue on WordPress is enough for me to stay away, unless I was going to be running my own server. Continue reading...