May 8, 2008
SLA New Jersey Chapter
Here's this week's presentation to the SLA New Jersey Chapter:
Reality 2.0: Transforming Ourselves & Our Association
Lots of fun there at Rutgers and talking to the profs and students too.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:22 PM | Comments (0)
Connecticut Library Association
Here's the session I did for the Connecticut Library Association conference this month.
Technology Watch: What's New, What's Coming, and What You Need to Know
Mystic CT, great name!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:19 PM | Comments (0)
FAME
Not that kind of fame but the Florida Association of Media Educators!
I did a presentation for them in West Palm Beach on The Ftuure Learners Will See.
Pretty place too.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:16 PM | Comments (0)
SEFLIN Presentation
I spent some nice time with the SEFLIN board in West Palm Beach.
My presentation was called The Future of Libraries.
They also had the CEO of the World Future Society there. Cool.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:12 PM | Comments (0)
May 7, 2008
Next Free SirsiDynix Institute Event
Upcoming free SirsiDynix Institute Event
Trends in e-learning: What does it mean for libraries?
Date : May 21, 2008
Start Time : 11 a.m. Eastern
Length : 1 hour
While in some sectors e-learning may seem "old hat", the world of e-learning continues to change at a rapid pace. With newer technologies such as mobile devices, technologies such as Second Life, litigation in the e-learning vendor arena, and evolving standards, e-learning remains a dynamic area that we have to keep our eye on. And while many libraries have fully developed e-learning environments, many are just getting beginning to explore the possibilities. This workshop will focus on issues related to how availability and interoperability are changing the way e-learning is being delivered as well how developments in open source and open access as well as social networking are changing the way e-learning occurs.
Frank Cervone —Professor of Education and Director of the Library, Information, and Media Studies program, Chicago State University
The author of numerous articles and four books on topics related to information technology, he writes a regular column for OCLC Systems and Services: International Digital Library Perspectives and has been an invited speaker at library conferences in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and Brazil. He was a member of the NISO working group on metasearch and is the past chair of the CARLI (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois) Learning Objects Task Force. He has a MSEd with a specialization in online teaching and learning from the California State University, an MA in Information Technology Management from DePaul University and a Ph.D. in Management and Information Systems from Northcentral University.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:10 AM | Comments (0)
May 6, 2008
Unicode
It's finally becoming normal which is great. Last December there was a new web milestone when, for the first time, Unicode was the most frequent encoding found on web pages, overtaking both ASCII and Western European encodings.
Mark Davis, Google's Senior International Software Architect posted to the Official Google blog that Unicode is now surpassing most other codes (ASCII, etc.) on the web. This is a great thing as the web becomes more multilingual.
"Web pages can use a variety of different character encodings, like ASCII, Latin-1, or Windows 1252, or Unicode. Most encodings can only represent a few languages, but Unicode will handle anything from Chinese to French to Arabic. We have long used Unicode as the internal format for all the text we search: any other encoding is first converted to Unicode for processing. So we regularly update to each new version of Unicode (and relevant related standards like CLDR and BCP 47) to make sure we are current."
Uptick in native Unicode webpages
"You can see a long-term decline in pages encoded in ASCII (unaccented letters A through Z). More recently, there's been a significant drop in the use of encodings covering only Western European letters (ASCII and a few accented letters like Ä, Ç, and Ø). We're seeing similar declines in other language-specific encodings. Unicode, on the other hand, is showing a sharp increase in usage."
Of course Unicode is a very important part of any ILS/OPAC and.user experience strategy.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:24 PM | Comments (0)
What Does Experience Actually Look Like?
The latest SirsiDynix OneSource Newsletter is out. My column is on this topic:
So What Does Experience Actually Look Like?
Hope you find it interesting.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:37 PM | Comments (0)
May 4, 2008
Microhoo
An interesting weekend on the Microhoo front. I don't think it's over yet. Jerry Yang called MS's offer a distraction. I wonder what he'll call the lawsuits and class actions when Yahoo's stock falls next week. It could take years to finish writing this story.
Either way, for libraries, there aren't many free search engine web harvests left and all suffer the influence of SEO.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:42 AM | Comments (1)
May 2, 2008
New ALA Report: Internet Connectivity in U.S. Public Libraries
ALA has released a new report, Internet Connectivity in U.S. Public Libraries. Link to the full report [8 page PDF]here. It is not just about the broadband / dial-up speed issue but talks to what libraries are doing with this connectivity.
"The Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study gathers a wide range of data related to computer and Internet access in U.S. public libraries – including the number of computers, barriers to high-speed Internet access, Internet services and trainings available, and funding for technology.
Starting in 2008, the study research team will develop and publish topical briefs related to issues affecting communities’ access to technology in our public libraries. These documents are not intended to be comprehensive but rather to share key findings from the largest and longest-running study of Internet connectivity in libraries. At least two issues briefs will be published online every year.
Library staff are encouraged to use these briefing papers as educational tools with community stakeholders, including elected officials, funders and program partners, as needed to raise awareness of the specific – and sometimes unique – concerns of libraries around technology deployment. Staff may also use this format as a template for providing local data and examples related to a given topic.
The research team also invites your feedback about future topics we should consider and additional tools that would be useful in raising awareness around your library’s technology needs. Please write Larra Clark at lclark@ala.org."
Good work,
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:53 PM | Comments (0)
Reference Interview Questions
Fellow SLA member, Michele McGinnis at the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, assembled a neat list of reference interview questions through the SLA Solo Librarians Division discussion list. I liked them so I got her permission to post them here. Hope you find them useful too. (If you have other favourites put it into the comments).
What would the ideal report contain?
How do you plan to use the information?
What do you expect to discover?
What would surprise you?
How do you want me to share my findings? (Written report, Sharepoint site, PowerPoint, links to or printed articles, etc.)
How would you like the information organized?
What do you already know that you can share with me? (Emails, letters, notes, articles, websites, etc.)
What keywords would you use in searching? Share as many variations of a concept as possible.
I always ask what is the deadline--one hour, one day, one week? If they respond one of the first two, then I let them know the possibility of that given my current work load.
How current should the information be? (x days, x months, x years)
Urgency and/or impact on the organization?
Would you like to review abstracts/ tables of contents before I purchase or borrow any items (if they are available)?
Who do you want the information delivered to?
Is the information for someone else too?
Is there some way to delvier it that will make it easier for you to use the information?
Neat, eh? It's always useful to remember those old reference interview classes and skills.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:34 PM | Comments (0)
May 1, 2008
100 eLearning Articles and White Papers
Tony Karrer's eLearning Blog presents his list of:
100 eLearning Articles and White Papers
If you're interested in that side of the information world, it's a pretty good list and it is all in one place and linked. Cool and helpful.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)
Private Video Sites
Some places still, for whatever reason, block YouTube. That doesn't mean you can't get videos up online to share and promote anyway. Create your own video sharing site (like YouTube) in 2 minutes for free.
It is called Start Your Tube.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)
Big Bang: Creating the new library universe
I am heading to visit Australia in September so maybe I am interewsted in this rpeort for other reasons. Howver, I think there's a lot to review here.
"New technologies are impacting on every aspect of libraries. We have responded by implementing an extraordinary range of continuous improvement and innovative projects, building
on the foundation of decades of collaborative technology and standards. We have created new services and made key parts of our collections available globally.
We are now in a position to explode and reshape our core services, resourcing and infrastructure; to explore radical new approaches across all parts of our work; and to fundamentally shift our libraries to the digital world. Our response to the environment is maturing and we must re-examine our collections; the services we provide to library users; our preservation and digitisation responsibilities; operational priorities; and workforce planning.
The rate of change will accelerate in our organisations during 2007–09.
The Big Bang is for everyone working in National & State Libraries Australasia libraries. It sets out the challenges for our libraries, a set of key operating principles endorsed by all
the members, and NSLA strategies and actions for 2007–09."
Although this report is focused on Australia, there's a lot of good ideas and thinking here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:24 AM | Comments (0)
Norweld in Ohio
Last week I had a very pleasant visit to Bowling Green Ohio.
Here are the slides for the full day workshop.
Top 10 Strategies for Library Success
April 25, 2008
Norweld – Bowling Green Ohio
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:38 AM | Comments (0)
Ontario Public Service Presentation
I had the opportunity to present some technology forecasts to the imformation sector of the Ontario government at their annual conference. Here are the slides:
Managing Information in the Public Sector:
The Future is Now
A Tech Forecast: New Realities
Saw a lot of old friends there too!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:17 AM | Comments (0)
April 29, 2008
Meme: Passion Quilt
There is a very nice meme going through the blogosphere. It's called the Passion Quilt Meme.
The rules are simple:
3 Simple Meme Rules:
"1. Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about...and give your picture a short title.
2. Title your blog post "Meme: Passion Quilt" and link back to this blog entry.
3. Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce."
Here's mine:
I tag Steven Cohen, Jane Dysart, Rebecca Jones, Sarah Houghton-Jan and The Annoyed Librarian (grin)
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2008
Commoncraft: Explanations in Plain English
The Commoncraft videos are just the best. And you can use them internally under license through their website store.
Here's a list of what's there right now. Definitely worth subscribing to their blog and staying updated!
Social Media Six Pack
*NEW* Podcasting in Plain English
RSS in Plain English
Wikis in Plain English
Blogs in Plain English
Social Networking in Plain English
Social Bookmarking in Plain English
CFL Lightbulbs in Plain English
Photo Sharing in Plain English
Twitter in Plain English
Zombies in Plain English
Sometimes I think everyone knows about these great resources and then I find out I should have blogged it so that there's a simple link.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:24 PM | Comments (2)
Children's Book Podcasts
Given the important role of family reading and great children's books in a happy, healthy childhood, you may be happy to learn of the successful made-in-Canada Children's Book Podcast, Just One More Book ! -- a podcast about the children's books we love and why we love them, recorded in our favourite coffee shop. 345 plus podcast episodes later, it is worth checking out www.JustOneMoreBook.com
The price is right too, free.
"Just One More Book!" is a thrice-weekly podcast which promotes and celebrates literacy and great children's books. Each weekday morning, we take a few minutes out of our morning coffee ritual to discuss one of our many favourite children's books. We also feature weekly interviews with authors, illustrators and experts and enthusiasts in the areas of children's literature and literacy as well as listener-submitted book reviews.
Through this podcast and website, we are building a lively, interactive community linking children's book authors, illustrators, readers (parents, children, librarians, teachers and literacy activists) and publishers.
Busy parents and educators can now discover great read-aloud children's books while they are busy doing the many tasks that would otherwise rob them of the opportunity to research great children's books in more traditional ways.
Our guests have included celebrity authors such as Sheree Fitch, Rachna Gilmore, Jack Prelutsky, Daniel Pinkwater, Eve Bunting, Eva Ibbotson, Henry Winkler and Mary Ann Hoberman. We have also aimed the spotlight at interesting and lesser known and illustrators.
Episodes range in length from 5 to 25 minutes and can be played directly from our web page or downloaded to a portable mp3 player, such as an iPod, for listening on the go.
This podcast is powered by passion. We have no advertisers or sponsors. Our goals are to link children with great books and to help create happy memories for children and the adults that read to them…and to have fun!
The Just One More Book! Podcast has been recommended by the American Library Association as one of its 2007 American Library Association (ALA) - Great web sites for kids and has been featured in Canadian Living Magazine and such prestigious literary publications as School Library Journal, Books for Keeps and Publishers Weekly. We are also regular contributors to ChildsLife, The Edge of the Forest and Parent Source online newsletters. Watch for us this spring in Parenting and Canadian Parents magazines.
--
www.JustOneMoreBook.com
"A podcast about the children's books we love and why we love them -- recorded in our favourite coffee shop" "
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:17 PM | Comments (1)
Who blogs?
Picked up from the OCLC newsletter.
BIGresearch’s SIMM 11 Profiles Bloggers: They are Younger and
Higher Percentages are Hispanic & African American Than the General Population
More Democrats Than Republicans are Blogging, but Libertarians are #1 and Bloggers More Likely to Give Advice
COLUMBUS, OH – (MARKET WIRE) – 2/12/08 – The art of blogging is no longer reserved for the college student with too much to say or the unemployed, self proclaimed “computer-nerd,” according to BIGresearch’s (http://www.bigresearch.com) most recent Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM 11) of 15,727 participants. 26% of all adults say they regularly or occasionally blog. Of those, 53.7% are male and almost half (44.7%) are married. 28.4% hold a professional or managerial position, while only one in 10 (10.4%) are students.
Bloggers tend to be younger, averaging 37.6 years old, compared to 44.8 for adults 18+. Ethnically, 69.7% of Bloggers are White/Caucasian (vs. 76.1%), 12.2% are African American/Black (vs. 11.4%) and 3.7% are Asian (vs. 2.0%). 20% of Bloggers are Hispanic, compared to 14.8% of adults 18+. In addition, Bloggers report a lower income ($55,819 vs. $56,811) and are better educated (14.3 years of education vs. 14.2).
In the blogosphere, political blogs are becoming increasingly common, especially in an election year. 24.6% of registered voters say they regularly or occasionally blog. 37.6% of Libertarians regularly/occasionally blog, followed by Democrats (26.9%), Independents (25.7%) and Republicans (22.9%).
“Bloggers are a diverse group and not who you would expect,” said Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch. “This diversity provides political Bloggers with a forum to discuss issues or maybe be influenced by others, while Candidates have an opportunity to reach interested voters.”
Another point of interest from the analysis of the Blogger shows that they are using most forms of new media significantly more than the average market.
Regular/Occasional New Media Usage (Top 5)
Regular/Occasional Bloggers Adults18+
Cell Phone 93.0% 87.5%
Instant Messaging 75.3% 49.3%
Download/Access Video/TV Content 72.2% 45.0%
Video Gaming 66.9% 47.5%
Text Messaging 65.5% 45.2%
Source: BIGresearch SIMM 11, Jan 08, N=15,727
More Bloggers regularly seek advice from others before purchasing products or services (21.3% vs. 16.8% of adults 18+). They are also more likely to give advice with 38.3% saying they regularly give advice about products / services they have purchased (compared to 29.4% of adults 18+).
Although Bloggers are more likely to use new media, the analysis finds that more conventional forms of media trigger their Internet searches. Magazines, at 51.6%, rank highest; followed by reading an article (48.8%), broadcast TV (46.1%), cable TV (44.5%), face-to-face communication (42.5%) and the newspaper (39.7%).
To receive a recap of the key findings, click http://info.bigresearch.com/.
About BIGresearch
BIGresearch is a consumer intelligence firm providing solution-based insights of consumer behavior, present and future, in areas of products and services, retail, financial services, automotive and media. BIGresearch conducts the Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM) bi-annually and the Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey (CIA) monthly. More information is available at http://www.bigresearch.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
Chrissy Wissinger
BIGresearch
450 West Wilson Bridge Road
Suite 370
Worthington, Ohio 43085
(614) 846-0146
chrissy@bigresearch.com
Posted by stephen at 2:11 PM | Comments (0)
The Top 100 Lamest Excuses for Not Innovating
This post from Mitch Ditkoff at the Heart of innovation blog posts his list of The Top 100 Lamest Excuses for Not Innovating.
You might recognize a few if you review the list! I often talk in my speeches about the difference between an excuse and a reason. Mitch's process for moving beyond excuses is at the end of the post and here:
"1. Make a list of your three most bothersome excuses.
2. Turn each excuse into a powerful question, starting with the words "How can I?" or "How can we?" (For example, if your excuse is "That's R&D's job," you might ask "How can I make innovation my job?" or "How can I help my team take more responsibility for innovating?"
3. Brainstorm each question -- alone and with your team."
It was a cathartic process for me to review the list!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:23 PM | Comments (0)