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OK, Jeff wanted me to actually say something about Image Generators rather than just post a funny picture (spoilsport :P ).As I mentioned in Thing #4 one of the problems I had with this assignment was that my campus IT department blocked almost all of the listed sites. Many librarians who have had similar problems have usually railed against the computer folks and have cried Censorship! However it's important to see their point of view as well.Yes it is nice for the library and library patrons to be able to utilize the new technologies available to use. However it's also nice to have a computer network that doesn't constantly crash or not have a virus that eats your homework. The main job of the IT department is keep the patron computer user happy and secure and we, librarians, often forget that point.In the long run it's about communication and comprise. Too often I see fellow librarian merely sit and stew over some computer policy that adversely effects them rather than ask for help. Often the IT departments CAN accommodate the libraries needs or at least illuminate on why such policies are in place. Also once the library staff is aware of the IT department's position, they can be more proactive and go out and find solutions themselves that will make all parties happy.
Well, that's done with.It might seem like I did a ton of work today. The truth is however that I actually looked at everything on the list weeks ago, I just never blocked out enough time to actually post about it.Reflections -What was your favorite Thing?This part, where I finished everything.What was your least favorite Thing?Everything before this part.What was challenging for you?Getting to this part.What did you learn?That I need to schedule my time better in order to do the parts.What new technologies will you use in your library?Thesaurus.com to come up with a different term besides "Part"OK OK OK Serious answers this time.What was your favorite Thing?LibWorm was bookmarked almost immeadiately. It's a great resource for the kind of information I need. Setting up this Blog was also a great deal of fun.What was your least favorite Thing?Ning: I have little use for social networking especially on a network which didn't seem to have much on my hobbies and interests.What was challenging for you?Well I spent a hour trying to delete or move around my entries on Wetpaint or find FAQs tutorials or Help pages that would tell how to. Eventually I read the comments on the NT23 page and found out that only Jesse could delete or move entries. Not really the Wetpaint's fault but it was challenging. Also some of the setup and login pages were extremely frustrating for me.What did you learn?OK this one is the same. That I need to schedule my time better in order to do the parts. Some of these tools could actually help me in that regard.What new technologies will you use in your library?I pretty much listed these in my last post.
This is a list of Things that Midwestern State has implemented or will be implemented by the end of the year.- Transferred the library newsletter to an online library blog
- A Facebook page for the Moffett Library
- An instant messaging service for reference questions
- Campus calendar RSS feed
- A Reference Desk wiki for professional staff
- Podcast tutorials for the general public
Not bad. I surprised myself with the number of things we've had in place for a while now.
I'm posting on these two topics at the same time since I think that they are closely related.Youtube has it's uses (beyond the leaked footage of Ironman 2 from the San Diego Comic Con that showed up today... well I thought it was the most useful thing I've seen lately on youtube :) ). Youtube is a great resource of free and public use library tutorials that everyone can get a hold of. That being said I think podcasts are the better way to go. Our library has just purchased Camtasia and will have a series of online tutorials in place by the end of the semester. Podcasts have the advantage in the fact that they can be individually costumized for the specific needs of your institution. Also even if you can't not aford to make your own podcasts there are numerous institions, companies and sites that provide free podcasts and often will allow others to link or even repost their work.
Well as a North Texas 23 Coordinator I've been using this since I began this project. (It's how the main coordinator keeps tabs on who has done what). However I have seen a practical aplication used at out library this week. The reference desk has started suggesting google docs as an option for our students given that the libary computers don't have any word processiong and the campus lab computers (which do have word processing) are all closed this week.
I haven't seen anyone actually use it yet, but at least the professional staff here was impressed by it.
Well I have put together a Reference Desk wiki by the end of this semester. So unfortunately what I really need to see is all the backdoor administrator options that the casual user doesn't have access to.However my time with Wetpaint spawned this subtopic in my Wiki -Stuff that frustrates me about Wetpaint
- No free tutorials (or if they exist no easily found tutorials) on how to use this site
- Can create but not move or delete (I sort of understand this one, but you should at least be able to delete or move content the is user created).
OK this was very useful.AS I stated earlier I've been trying to put together a bunch of online tutorials before school starts. So I tried a search on "online tutorials". The first result was Blog post. The post reminded us librarians that just because we put up an online tutorial doesn't mean that everyone will know how to use it. The blogger recommend that one also have a tutorial on how to use online tutorials.At first I thought it was one of stupidest things I've ever read. But then I realized it was absolute genius.
Ditto... Eh,Who has time to read any more?I have a vast, vast personal library of books I've been collecting for 30 years. I have bought perhaps 20 new books this year to add to the collection.I haven't read a single one all the way though. Several have been sitting on my night stand for months now, never opened. I have checked perhaps a half dozen books from work over the last year. I think I got to chapter three in one of them, the rest were returned to the library unread.I used to be a voracious reader. My first week of college I found out that UT had the complete collection of Frank L. Baum books that I had enjoyed as a child. many of the books I had never seen before. I read the complete collection (20 or so books) in 4 days. This was quickly followed by every Nebula and Hugo award winner.Sadly now-a-days I just have other things that take priority. Maybe it's just a phase and I'll my excitement in books will return. But right now LibraryThing just isn't my thing.
Eh,I've seen a overview of Digg before.I still like my news related Bulletin Boards better. I can see how this sort of thing would be widely popular. However it's TOO MUCH in many ways. There's TOO MUCH information to plow through. I prefer to draw from a much smaller pool of people. I prefer to find Blogs or Bulletin Boards used by folks who have the same tastes as myself. If they find something through Digg that they feel is interesting, they'll post about it. In other words I prefer to have my information filtered by folks I trust their judgment on rather than what is most popular to the unwashed masses.
Wow time got away from me. What happened to the summer? I got a ton of work currently in my "in box." Since the North Texas 23 is due this week (boy that snuck up on me). I guess I'll try and finish all my duties here first.
OK I'm going to kill 2 birds with one stone. Since I need to have bunch of online video tutorials scripted by next week, I'll use Delicious to bookmark some of the online tutorials examples I found.
See I'm actually getting use out of stuff.
http://delicious.com/ryan.samuelson
Is it wrong of me that this is the first thing that comes to mind when I see "tagging"
One problem I have with tagging is the same problem I have with much of the internet - the disturbing rise of cultural enclaves. One of the advantages of authority records and cataloging subject headings is that they are standardized and constitute a universal language. By allowing users to define metatags, you will to some extent get a type of balkanization of internet users and internet information. People more and more use their own unique language to communicate with unique individuals and access information through their own unique channels.
I'm tempted to let this be the entire content of my post. However I will go on to say that I did have a lengthy conversation about Twitter with my friends a couple of months back. I believe the general consensus was summed up by the statement, "I really don't care to know what you are doing on a daily basis. You're not that interesting."
The library I work at has used instant messaging for some time now via an online reference chatline. For the most part the service is great but I do have a few reservations about using online messaging in the library environment. 1 - The lack of follow up. Several times when I've responded to reference questions though instant messages, the patron on the other end has left the program while I was in the midst of an explanation and I have no idea why. Did I already fix the problem? Did something else come up? Did they just give up? The sad thing is that I'll never know if I was helpful at all.2 - textual communication sucksAs I librarian I rely upon body language, voice tone, facial expressions, etc. to fill me in on what the patron is often unable to express in words. I often find that a 10 second conversation can do what it would take me several e-mails over a week or dozens of instant messages to accomplish.Still instant messaging is the communication of choice for today's college student. Several librarians here at work have commented on the fact that often times they will find patrons using the chat line even though they are physically sitting less than 10 feet from the librarian on the other end.
OK while Facebook creeped me out, I was able to find dozens of different groups based on my hobbies, my favorite shows, things my friends were interested in, etc. However Ning searches were coming up completely empty. Either the search engine was crap (a distinct possibility) or there just isn't that much content. It's good to know that somethinng like this is out there though. I can see an application like Ning being useful for a smaller dedicated group to social network.
OK I've been out on vacation and otherwise occupied lately so I've fallen behind on my postings. So this is me catching up.Facebook creeps the hell out of me. No seriously.The first thing, facebook asked me was if I wanted to be friends with my old gaming buddy, I guy I worked with for several years and my gradschool roommate. How did it know?!? I swear I almost looked behind me. Of course it took a few seconds more before my brain synapses began firing I figured out that it was my e-mail address.Still it is scarry to think about how much information is out there as public information. It is easy to see why facebook is so popular. It does all of the hard lifting for you.I'm not really impressed with the facebook groups though. I'm already a member of a yahoo group where I'm able to share information with a tight group of friends. I also am a member of several web boards where I can go to ask or answer questions. I also subscribe to a few RSS feeds to keep up to date on topics I'm interested in. Those types of site seem to me to have far more practical use for my interests. The Facebook groups on the otherhand seem to me to have have a much higher "noise to signal" ratio to me. I guess I'm just not a online social networking kind of guy. If I want to hang out and talk I'll go see my friends in the flesh.
TAKE THAT IT department!
