I dutifully searched "Learning 2.0" in Technorati and found a post from Helene Blowers asking libraries that have done the 23 Things Challenge to share the number of participants and the completion rate. A library planning to do the 23 things this fall is wondering how many prizes to order. So I tagged the post in my del.icio.us account and added a tickler in my Outlook to email her with the OCL numbers after Staff Development Day. Then I added Ms. Blowers's blog to my Bloglines account. Technorati to del.icio.us to Bloglines....How's that for a Web 2.0 triple play?
Finding that post was a lovely bit of luck but when I started searching blogs for "Learning 2.0", I was by turns overwhelmed by the amount of content and underwhelmed by some of the writing. I was taught that good reading is hard writing and many of the blogs are full of easy writing. I probably will drop by boingboing.net now and then.
I'm not going to claim my blog. I've made it so Google can't search my blog already. I don't think my thoughts are well written enough to inflict them on a wide audience. Maybe with more practice...
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
Thing #13
I created a Del.icio.us account. It only has a few links so far while I have hundreds on links on my favorites even if you don't count the TR Information Department links. I was distracted a bit by Del.icio.us's web address. It is a domain hack which I used to think was a fun trick but now I tend to think of as annoying.
Anyway, I think that some users are always going to be more comfortable with the organizational structure of folders and others are going to be more comfortable with the visual cues presented by tag clouds. So I think I'll be using both for a long time.
I admit it is fun to see how many other people have tagged a particular webpage. I was surprised that some of the first few I tagged that I was the first to do so. Not many people interested in having a .pdf family tree of the Windsors updated to include Viscount Severn, I suppose.
Googling or any fulltext searching has its limitations and tags bring in the combined human (albeit inconsistent) element that addresses the overall subject of a page.
I'm glad to say that the Toms River Information favorites are being converted to a Del.icio.us account. It will be happily shared with the rest of the staff when it is a little farther along. It will be useful to see what other branches have in their links. I've already heard of several working on making their own branch del.icio.us accounts.
Anyway, I think that some users are always going to be more comfortable with the organizational structure of folders and others are going to be more comfortable with the visual cues presented by tag clouds. So I think I'll be using both for a long time.
I admit it is fun to see how many other people have tagged a particular webpage. I was surprised that some of the first few I tagged that I was the first to do so. Not many people interested in having a .pdf family tree of the Windsors updated to include Viscount Severn, I suppose.
Googling or any fulltext searching has its limitations and tags bring in the combined human (albeit inconsistent) element that addresses the overall subject of a page.
I'm glad to say that the Toms River Information favorites are being converted to a Del.icio.us account. It will be happily shared with the rest of the staff when it is a little farther along. It will be useful to see what other branches have in their links. I've already heard of several working on making their own branch del.icio.us accounts.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Thing #12
NetLibrary
I have a love/hate relationship with NetLibrary. I like it better than I used to since it easier to navigate now but I wish our subscription (State paid for) included downloadable audiobooks and more titles we picked out. There is only a tiny bit of money spent on new titles every year and I'd like to get many more.
I do find it useful for those very specific business titles that probably won't circulate much but are just the thing for a particular customer. I really like some of the older out of copyright titles that I used to read mostly on Project Gutenberg's site. I don't know if anyone else in OCL is a big Gene Stratton-Porter fan but if you want to go beyond Freckles and Girl of the Limberlost, NetLibrary has many titles.
I wrote the optional advanced exercises that deal with Project Gutenberg and Bartleby.com. They are two sites I use at work and for my own enjoyment. I really like that Project Gutenberg takes such care in converting the texts with so many checks and doublechecks for accuracy. I also like that the texts are in plain text ASCII so they are compatible with just about everything. That's planning for legacy formats! I'd like to volunteer for Project Gutenberg some day as one of their proofreaders. What they are doing is such important support for scholarship.
WorldCat
I like to play on WorldCat. I use it all the time when I'm working on the reference desk but sometimes it is just fun to see who owns a book. I'm writing a recommendation now about keeping our collection linked on WorldCat. That costs money but except for that, I don't see a downside. As a full participant in WorldCat, our collection is Google-able and that is going to bring us users we not reaching the old ways. A clearer explanation of the advantages of our participation in WorldCat than I'm giving can be found here on the OCLC website.
Have you found the links for FirstSearch within WorldCat and the extra information FirstSearch gives including the link directly to that title's record in our IPAC?
I have a love/hate relationship with NetLibrary. I like it better than I used to since it easier to navigate now but I wish our subscription (State paid for) included downloadable audiobooks and more titles we picked out. There is only a tiny bit of money spent on new titles every year and I'd like to get many more.
I do find it useful for those very specific business titles that probably won't circulate much but are just the thing for a particular customer. I really like some of the older out of copyright titles that I used to read mostly on Project Gutenberg's site. I don't know if anyone else in OCL is a big Gene Stratton-Porter fan but if you want to go beyond Freckles and Girl of the Limberlost, NetLibrary has many titles.
I wrote the optional advanced exercises that deal with Project Gutenberg and Bartleby.com. They are two sites I use at work and for my own enjoyment. I really like that Project Gutenberg takes such care in converting the texts with so many checks and doublechecks for accuracy. I also like that the texts are in plain text ASCII so they are compatible with just about everything. That's planning for legacy formats! I'd like to volunteer for Project Gutenberg some day as one of their proofreaders. What they are doing is such important support for scholarship.
WorldCat
I like to play on WorldCat. I use it all the time when I'm working on the reference desk but sometimes it is just fun to see who owns a book. I'm writing a recommendation now about keeping our collection linked on WorldCat. That costs money but except for that, I don't see a downside. As a full participant in WorldCat, our collection is Google-able and that is going to bring us users we not reaching the old ways. A clearer explanation of the advantages of our participation in WorldCat than I'm giving can be found here on the OCLC website.
Have you found the links for FirstSearch within WorldCat and the extra information FirstSearch gives including the link directly to that title's record in our IPAC?
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Thing #11
I was one of the co-editor/revisers of Thing #11 for the Web Challenge as a member of the committee. I am also a big Librarything fan with a paid membership and own one of the hand held barcode scanners they sell to make adding books easier. The scanner looks like a female lion, a cat scanner, get it? well, don't blame me, it wasn't my joke.
I like to add books that I mean to read and tag them "read later." I also tag books "gift ideas."
What I really use librarything for most often is for Tagmashing. I've found book titles for my collection of literary and popular culture cookbooks (Little House on the Prairie Cookbook, Are you Hungry Tonight, an Elvis Presley cookbook, the Nero Wolfe Cookbook, several different Jane Austen cookbooks, Mary Poppins cookbook, Red Wall cookbook and a truly awful Shrek cookbook are some of my collection).
I've found books over and over again for customers who remembered things about books that Library of Congress subject headings just don't cover. The tags Librarything users create are messy, unorganized, use inconsistent tenses and plurals but somehow with so many tags, you have a really good chance of finding books with the smallest hints from customers. "Mystery, New Jersey" is a tagmash that helped me out just the other day.
Here is the link to my first account on Librarything. I forgot the password and had to start over when I bought a paid membership. It has 19 books.
I like to add books that I mean to read and tag them "read later." I also tag books "gift ideas."
What I really use librarything for most often is for Tagmashing. I've found book titles for my collection of literary and popular culture cookbooks (Little House on the Prairie Cookbook, Are you Hungry Tonight, an Elvis Presley cookbook, the Nero Wolfe Cookbook, several different Jane Austen cookbooks, Mary Poppins cookbook, Red Wall cookbook and a truly awful Shrek cookbook are some of my collection).
I've found books over and over again for customers who remembered things about books that Library of Congress subject headings just don't cover. The tags Librarything users create are messy, unorganized, use inconsistent tenses and plurals but somehow with so many tags, you have a really good chance of finding books with the smallest hints from customers. "Mystery, New Jersey" is a tagmash that helped me out just the other day.
Here is the link to my first account on Librarything. I forgot the password and had to start over when I bought a paid membership. It has 19 books.
Thing #10
Technology Blogging
I love new gadgets and playing with technology but I also enjoy stepping back and looking at the unintended impacts caused by changing technologies.
On issue that fascinates me is the issue of legacy formats in digital preservation. Have you tried to open any file you saved on a disc 5 years or more ago on a different computer than you have now and created with a different version of the software you have or created with different software all together? Not easy, is it? Did you even get it open? That is a legacy format problem.
This is a basic article explaining the problem from the BBC: Warning of Data Ticking Time Bomb
This problem has affected me. I have some great stuff locked on discs created with an old version of Microsoft Works that I still hope some day to get out. Now that is not as important as NASA and other government agencies not being able to read data on old paper tapes or those large computer tape decks but think about what it means for all digital information.
There is some great work being done with software than emulates (or pretends) to be the old software and hardware so the data can be unlocked and migrated to a new format. Still with every format change the chance that material will be lost is very real. There is a lot of information stored on CD-ROMs that might never get converted just like there are movies on VHS, that haven't made it to DVD and might not get to Blu-Ray. For more than almost anyone wants to know about the legacy conversion problems with government information on CD-Roms, try :Government Information in Legacy Formats: Scaling a Pilot Project to Enable Long-Term Access.
Here at OCL, we have started an archive project on our own history. It is very early days yet. The old paperscrapbooks are getting into proper archival boxes, etc. We're going to have to deal with the digital legacy formats of our history sooner or later. We have some slides but even if the slide projector still worked, how useful is that? We going to have to get a slide scanner attachment and hope .jpeg files will be useful for a very long time.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I've often thought that if books were a new technology they'd get more respect as a format.
Complete forward and reverse compatibility: you can read books published hundreds of years ago. No worries about incompatible file formats for a specific reading device.
Ease of reproduction.
Low cost.
No batteries required or wireless Internet access.
You can write your own marginalia.
Lending them and not getting them back is less painful than losing a Kindle. (doesn't mean I don't want a Kindle, I do, I do, I do!)
Used book stores.
A book with an inscription can be a treasure for a very long time. I have books my grandmother inscribed to my mother when Mom was 10.
They can prop up an uneven table.
You can cut out the center and hide things inside. (I did this to the extra copy of Black Beauty my great aunt gave me when I was 9. I even lined the hole with white felt.)
Altered books make great art including a candy dish.
I love new gadgets and playing with technology but I also enjoy stepping back and looking at the unintended impacts caused by changing technologies.
On issue that fascinates me is the issue of legacy formats in digital preservation. Have you tried to open any file you saved on a disc 5 years or more ago on a different computer than you have now and created with a different version of the software you have or created with different software all together? Not easy, is it? Did you even get it open? That is a legacy format problem.
This is a basic article explaining the problem from the BBC: Warning of Data Ticking Time Bomb
This problem has affected me. I have some great stuff locked on discs created with an old version of Microsoft Works that I still hope some day to get out. Now that is not as important as NASA and other government agencies not being able to read data on old paper tapes or those large computer tape decks but think about what it means for all digital information.
There is some great work being done with software than emulates (or pretends) to be the old software and hardware so the data can be unlocked and migrated to a new format. Still with every format change the chance that material will be lost is very real. There is a lot of information stored on CD-ROMs that might never get converted just like there are movies on VHS, that haven't made it to DVD and might not get to Blu-Ray. For more than almost anyone wants to know about the legacy conversion problems with government information on CD-Roms, try :Government Information in Legacy Formats: Scaling a Pilot Project to Enable Long-Term Access.
Here at OCL, we have started an archive project on our own history. It is very early days yet. The old paperscrapbooks are getting into proper archival boxes, etc. We're going to have to deal with the digital legacy formats of our history sooner or later. We have some slides but even if the slide projector still worked, how useful is that? We going to have to get a slide scanner attachment and hope .jpeg files will be useful for a very long time.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I've often thought that if books were a new technology they'd get more respect as a format.
Complete forward and reverse compatibility: you can read books published hundreds of years ago. No worries about incompatible file formats for a specific reading device.
Ease of reproduction.
Low cost.
No batteries required or wireless Internet access.
You can write your own marginalia.
Lending them and not getting them back is less painful than losing a Kindle. (doesn't mean I don't want a Kindle, I do, I do, I do!)
Used book stores.
A book with an inscription can be a treasure for a very long time. I have books my grandmother inscribed to my mother when Mom was 10.
They can prop up an uneven table.
You can cut out the center and hide things inside. (I did this to the extra copy of Black Beauty my great aunt gave me when I was 9. I even lined the hole with white felt.)
Altered books make great art including a candy dish.
Thing #9
As I wrote in my last post, I signed up for some of the feeds that Bloglines listed as popular and arranged in categories. I found Popgadget that way which so far is very interesting about personal technologies. I tried Topix and the Bloglines search function for several of my interests with little success. On the other hand, I happily subscribed to several RSS feeds from the NY Times and another site or two that I already visit (Hi, Unshelved!). So I might browse the feeds listed in Bloglines Top 1000 once in awhile but I think I'll subscribe to feeds that I find during my regular online time rather than searching them out. Or I'll just read the one's Jill has on her blogroll!
Thing #8 RSS
I like the idea of RSS feeds and I had a reader several years ago. RSS feeds sometimes remind me of the Netflix movies I have on my queue because they are movies I think I should watch and when they arrive they linger very long until I get around to watch them. I always find something interesting when I remember to check my Google Reader and I found a great post on Tom Lehrer in Google's blog of all places when I signed up for bloglines, but fitting checking an RSS Reader into my regular online habits isn't happening. I did like the suggested blogs offered by topic in Bloglines so I'm not giving up.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Thing #7
I'm pretty good at using scanners. I have scanned and cropped and helped customers do it, too. The most challenging was scanning pictures for a couple entering the Green Card Lottery. The pictures had to be exactly the right size to the pixel before the government website would accept it. Figuring that out was tricky. I've used Optical Character Recognition software before, too. Years ago it was almost not worth it because you had to do so much editing. Now if the page is in a standard font without tables or fancy formatting or scribbles in pen or pencil, it works quite well.
I scanned an old postcard of the Nathaniel Holmes Bishop Memorial Library that I bought on Ebay several years ago. When I bought it my office was temporarily in the Bishop basement during the renovation of the Main Library. You can just see the two little windows that brought a little sunlight down by my chair. Actually, the basement was fixed up very nicely for us as a work area. Except for the running back and forth to be on time to the reference desk, there were many advantages to not being in the Main building during construction.
Thing # 6 - Princess Ann and the white thing
The "Veil of History" is growing on me. I still wish that the Barnegat Lighthouse was the proper color. This panel with Princess Ann is special as what I now know about it just tickles my sense of humor. We have information on all the images used in the panels from the Attack on the Toms River Blockhouse to the Hindenburg explosion at Lakehurst. The problem was the information didn't include that white squiggly thing in the panel next to Princess Ann. Staff looked hard, (especially Ann G.) trying to find what seemed to be some sort of Native American maybe Lenni Lenape symbol. No luck. Then on the evening of the dedication, a staff member asked the artist for the symbol's meaning or history. Well, he made it up. He needed something white in that panel and he thought this looked good. We wrote down what he said and we're keeping it in our files. No librarian 5, 10 or even 20 years from now will have to spend time tracking down the mystery of Princess Ann and that white squiggly thing!
Thing #5
This is actually not the first digital picture I ever took but very close. I think people have handed me cameras before and said press this but today was the first time I set out to take a digital picture.
I have a special fondness for local history and the Bishop Collection in the Wheeler Room so when I spotted Ann working away on a file, I had to take her picture.
Oops, I think I just did Thing #6. For Thing #5, here's a link to a picture on Flickr of a beautiful theatre in NYC. http://www.flickr.com/photos/doubletee/166293261/
Thing #3 and Thing #4
Since you're reading the blog and it is happily linked on the OCLWebthings list, I have completed Things 3 and 4. I first created a blog on another blog hosting site (LiveJournal). It has some nice features but doesn't work as well with some of the other sites the challenge requires like Google Docs. I really liked the look of my LiveJournal and I may go back to using it personally.
Thing #1 and Thing #2
Okay, it is a little embarassing to be so far behind in my blog posts. I'm chairing the committee, Things #18 and #19 are posted in the committee blog, and I'm only writing my second post. Well, I have actually done a lot of the things and actually rewritten and edited some of them without posting about them.
I first became excited by Library 2.0 and the Public Library of Charlotte-Meckenberg County nearly two years ago when I read an online article about the 43 Things I want to do this year. This is an article about a website where you can set and track your goals. This article about 43 Web 2.0 things to learn served as an inspiration for Helene Blowers at PLCMC and the 23 things. Then I had a chance along with quite a few others to hear Ms. Blowers speak at NJLA. Everyone who heard her wanted to bring 23 things to OCL.
As for the 7 1/2 Habits, beginning with the end in mind is not something I always do. Sometimes I just enjoy learning something new so much that I dive in immediately without thinking about what happens next. I love to learn what each button or tab does in a program. I'm one of those odd people who like to read manuals and instructions. I've even read the instructions for my toaster -- which honestly wasn't necessary.
I think my favorite habit is teaching and mentoring. I love to share a tip or a hint or a shortcut. I must admit I also love to show off something new I've learned and sometimes must be annoying about it. I must try harder to understand that not everyone is as excited as me in the discovery and use of TinyURL. I'll just have to be satisfied posting the TinyUrl hint on the wiki Tips Page.
I first became excited by Library 2.0 and the Public Library of Charlotte-Meckenberg County nearly two years ago when I read an online article about the 43 Things I want to do this year. This is an article about a website where you can set and track your goals. This article about 43 Web 2.0 things to learn served as an inspiration for Helene Blowers at PLCMC and the 23 things. Then I had a chance along with quite a few others to hear Ms. Blowers speak at NJLA. Everyone who heard her wanted to bring 23 things to OCL.
As for the 7 1/2 Habits, beginning with the end in mind is not something I always do. Sometimes I just enjoy learning something new so much that I dive in immediately without thinking about what happens next. I love to learn what each button or tab does in a program. I'm one of those odd people who like to read manuals and instructions. I've even read the instructions for my toaster -- which honestly wasn't necessary.
I think my favorite habit is teaching and mentoring. I love to share a tip or a hint or a shortcut. I must admit I also love to show off something new I've learned and sometimes must be annoying about it. I must try harder to understand that not everyone is as excited as me in the discovery and use of TinyURL. I'll just have to be satisfied posting the TinyUrl hint on the wiki Tips Page.
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