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August 30, 2006
The Social Life of Libraries
Check out this site for ideas on how a library site with social features could look if we worked on it.
Hmmm - socially driven and answers a clear question:
"What book should I read next?"
"What DVD should I watch next?"
extending this to:
"What magazine should I read?"
"What articles should I read?"
"What's blogs are good to follow?"
"What websites should I check out?"
"What social sites and clubs are right on fo me?"
It's a start. It shows the radical trust needed to implement this sort of service. You see the beginnings of this in 43 Things and also Library Thing. Librarians and library staff could be expert nodes while users could gain expert fame too.
Thanks to Chris at The Relevant Library for pointing to this!
It's from the folks at 43Things.com. You might remember my article, 43 Things You might want to try this year, that suggested using it to track your learning goals.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:20 AM | Comments (3)
August 29, 2006
Awkward
Seth Godin, the genius web marketer, offers this wise posting:
Seth's Blog
Seth Godin's riffs on marketing, respect, and the ways ideas spread.
"Awkward
By Seth Godin
My new favorite word is "awkward."
It's awkward to talk to your boss (who has way more experience than you do) about teaching her agile programming.
It's awkward to call a religious or political leader on their intolerant comments.
It's awkward to bring up pre-need burial services with an older person. (What a great oxymoron, by the way).
It's awkward to challenge a co-worker who has a negative attitude, or is constantly surfing MySpace.
It's awkward to ask a new lifeguard recruit at the beach to prove she can actually swim.
It's awkward to ask the owner of the restaurant to turn off the TV behind the bar.
It's awkward to create a product that changes the status quo.
It's awkward to demonstrate your amazing insights when it might threaten those that are looking for stability instead.
The reason we need to be in search of awkward is that awkward is the barrier between us and excellence, between where we are and the remarkable. If it were easy, everyone would have done it already, and it wouldn't be worth the effort."
I'd add some library spin to Seth's list:
It's awkward to talk about money for investing in library services in the public sector when times are tough and money is tight.
It's awkward to talk about the huge diversity in our communities - race, age, nationality, education, language, gender, thinking style, learning abiliities, economic opportunity, and more. In the age of political correctness, it's awkward.
It's awkward to chat across the generations and throughout our communities when we are just one small part. It's awkward to build formal alliances and partnerships with new people and institutions.
It's awkward to try new things in the face of competition and disagreements about priorities. It's awkward to stand up for new things like portals, gaming nights or IM when others try to polarize the discussion and remove any shades of grey.
It's awkward to choose to focus and prioritize effort in a public sector institution. Can't we just serve everyone, equally and never actually excel at certain programs? It's awkward to choose excellence.
It's awkward to hire for talent and attitude. It's awkward to ask those probing questions. It's awkward to choose the best and not settle.
It's awkward to really delve into a user's needs during the reference interview. It can be done and is done but it's often awkward. It's awkward to truly understand and articulate a community's needs on a community level. Can we really talk about high illiteracy levels, or poor healthcare knowledge or underperforming student test scores without feeling awkward. Can we address them without talking about these issues?
It's awkward to do our jobs on a day to day basis. Committing to organizing the world's knowledge and answering every question is setting the bar high. Every question, every user interaction, every management event, provides opportunity for awkward feelings.
It's awkward but it is necessary. Has anyone ever learned something new without feeling awkward first? It takes courage. We have it, let's do more.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:24 PM | Comments (5)
SpiralFrog
Wow - another new take on a model for content distribution!
We've watched Napster, KaZaA, Limewire, iTunes, YouTube, Yahoo Video, Google Video and the rest work up experiments in the emerging ways video and audio (formerly hard copy formats in DVD and CD) and changing user expectations about immediacy, cost and copyright.
Anyway, SpiralFrog is launching this year - probably December to take advantage of all those new Xmas iPods and laptops. It has free (yes free) music from Universal (largest music company in the world) and EMI is probably up next along with others. Its innovation is that the music is free and legal. There's DRM but you have to keep using the site to keep your listening rights. It's ad supported.
Read more here, and here and here.
I see some mashup potential here for libraries (or at least their users). Is this the beginning of user acceptable DRM? Try it for free and get used to it before we monetize it...? Is this an applicable model for digitized books? What if the four largest book publishers started playing ths way? What if they did it through Google BookSearch and offered rentals without ads and free with? Hmmmm. Not too far fetched.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:20 PM | Comments (3)
Signs Part 2
Their is a cool Library Signage Flickr group which now has a more memorable URL: http://www.flickr.com/groups/librarysignage/. It contains photos of signs both good and scary and I know this is powerful. Some libraries have changed policies or destroyed their signs after being posted here. It's interesting how things are considered from a different point of view when an external commentary occurs.
Anyway, this is similar to my thoughts in the posting on signs here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:14 PM | Comments (2)
August 28, 2006
The Google Office Suite Launch
Google has finally launched it's MS Office competitive threat today:
You can read more at Information Week.
"Google this week will launch Google Apps for Your Domain, a software bundle aimed at small and midsize companies. The free, ad-supported package combines Google's E-mail, calendar, and instant messaging with Web site creation software. It will be hosted in Google's data center, branded with customers' domain names, and packaged with management tools for IT pros. That's the first step. Later this year, Google plans to add its Writely word processor and Google Spreadsheets to the suite, build online collaboration features that work across its applications, and market the whole package to large companies for a fee. Google will include IT-friendly features such as APIs, directory-server integration, guaranteed performance levels, and telephone tech support."
So we're seeing the beginnings of the new Millennium version of the DOS/Apple wars, Beta/VHS, etc. wars. Loads of questions to ask. For instance, are small/medium sized libraries more like enterprises and institutions or small and medium-sized businesses? If Google is getting less about "search", what will it be about more?
More can be read more from the NYT here and at Techmeme here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:39 AM | Comments (0)
Academic Library 2.0
Michael Habib has updated his post on Academoc Library 2.0 here.
I think it's pretty good and simplifies some of the disussion with excellent Venn diagrams.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:15 AM | Comments (0)
Google Searches Libraries
OK, I was away when this was announced but figured it was important enough to post anyway. From the Official Google Blog:
Aug. 24: "Today, we're launching the Library Catalog Search feature in Google Book Search, designed to help casual readers and bookworms everywhere find gems in the libraries around the world. Queries on Google Book Search will automatically include results from library catalogs when appropriate. Each result includes a "Find Libraries" link to help readers find libraries that hold the book -- ideally a library nearby, or if need be, a library far away."
Time to check out how your library appears. Are you ready for the calls, extramual borrowers, non-cardholder requests? ILL just went on steriods.
At least one library is linking the other way to Google Book Search.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 4:00 AM | Comments (0)
Web 2.0
OK, I haven't blogged on a 2.0 theme in a while. Matt Cutts has a list of web 2.0 companies to play with and experience some new ideas to steal. You can find his posting here but be sure to read the cmments too.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:58 AM | Comments (0)
Quick Facebook Overview
Interested in Facebook? Mashable's got an in-depth profile of Facebook, written by Mashable contributor Sid Yadav and edited by Pete Cashmore.
You can read it here. It's an easy read and a good simple summary of the status this month of this transformational site.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:54 AM | Comments (0)
The Annual Beloit List
Well, the Annual Beloit College List is out.
Class of 2010 Beloit College Mindset List
NEW BELOIT COLLEGE MINDSET LIST LOOKS AT ENTERING COLLEGE STUDENTS, GROWING UP WITH NO SOVIET UNION, ONE GERMANY AND BAR CODES
Beloit, Wis. - A rite of autumn is under way with the arrival of first-year students at thousands of colleges and universities for registration. Most 18-year-old students entering the class of 2010 this fall were born in 1988. They grew up with a mouse in one hand and a computer screen as part of their worldview. They learned to surf the internet as they learned to read. While they were still in their cribs, the 20th century started to close as the Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet bloc disintegrated, and frequent traditional wars in Latin America gave way to the uncontrolled terrors of the Middle East.
Each August since 1998, as faculty prepare for the academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin has released the Beloit College Mindset List. A creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it looks at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today’s first-year students.
According to McBride, this year’s entering students form “a generation that has always been ‘connected’ and is used to things happening in ‘real time,’ like live satellite coverage of revolutions and wars, instant messaging and movies on demand. They expect solutions for every problem, from baldness to diseased organs. To the chagrin of teachers and parents, they’ve developed their own generational means of communication.”
The Beloit College Mindset List is used by educators and clergy and by the military and business in their efforts to connect with the new generation. Beloit creates the list to share with its faculty in anticipation of the first-year seminars and orientation. “It is an important reminder to faculty, some of whom are only a Ph.D. older than their students, that what we call ‘hardening of the references’ can set in quickly,” according to Nief. "It is meant to be thought-provoking and fun, yet accurate. It often provides the base for good opening seminar discussions as faculty and students address the challenges of examining important issues from differing perspectives."
BELOIT COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST® FOR THE CLASS OF 2010
Members of the class of 2010, entering college this fall, were mostly born in 1988. For them: Billy Carter, Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner, Billy Martin, Andy Gibb, and Secretariat have always been dead.
1. The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.
2. They have known only two presidents.
3. For most of their lives, major U.S. airlines have been bankrupt.
4. Manuel Noriega has always been in jail in the U.S.
5. They have grown up getting lost in "big boxes."
6. There has always been only one Germany.
7. They have never heard anyone actually "ring it up" on a cash register.
8. They are wireless, yet always connected.
9. A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents'.
10. Thanks to pervasive headphones in the back seat, parents have always been able to speak freely in the front.
11. A coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.
12. Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines.
13. Faux fur has always been a necessary element of style.
14. The Moral Majority has never needed an organization.
15. They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football teams.
16. DNA fingerprinting has always been admissible evidence in court.
17. They grew up pushing their own miniature shopping carts in the supermarket.
18. They grew up with and have outgrown faxing as a means of communication.
19. "Google" has always been a verb.
20. Text messaging is their email.
21. Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.
22. Mr. Rogers, not Walter Cronkite, has always been the most trusted man in America.
23. Bar codes have always been on everything, from library cards and snail mail to retail items.
24. Madden has always been a game, not a Superbowl-winning coach.
25. Phantom of the Opera has always been on Broadway.
26. "Boogers" candy has always been a favorite for grossing out parents.
27. There has never been a "skyhook" in the NBA.
28. Carbon copies are oddities found in their grandparents' attics.
29. Computerized player pianos have always been tinkling in the lobby.
30. Non-denominational mega-churches have always been the fastest growing religious organizations in the U.S.
31. They grew up in mini-vans.
32. Reality shows have always been on television.
33. They have no idea why we needed to ask "...can we all get along?"
34. They have always known that "In the criminal justice system the people have been represented by two separate yet equally important groups."
35. Young women's fashions have never been concerned with where the waist is.
36. They have rarely mailed anything using a stamp.
37. Brides have always worn white for a first, second, or third wedding.
38. Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.
39. "So" as in "Sooooo New York," has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn modifies something else
40. Affluent troubled teens in Southern California have always been the subjects of television series.
41. They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.
42. Ken Burns has always been producing very long documentaries on PBS.
43. They are not aware that "flock of seagulls hair" has nothing to do with birds flying into it.
44. Retin-A has always made America look less wrinkled.
45. Green tea has always been marketed for health purposes.
46. Public school officials have always had the right to censor school newspapers.
47. Small white holiday lights have always been in style.
48. Most of them never had the chance to eat bad airline food.
49. They have always been searching for "Waldo."
50. The really rich have regularly expressed exuberance with outlandish birthday parties.
51. Michael Moore has always been showing up uninvited.
52. They never played the game of state license plates in the car.
53. They have always preferred going out in groups as opposed to dating.
54. There have always been live organ donors.
55. They have always had access to their own credit cards.
56. They have never put their money in a "Savings & Loan."
57. Sara Lee has always made underwear.
58. Bad behavior has always been getting captured on amateur videos.
59. Disneyland has always been in Europe and Asia.
60. They never saw Bernard Shaw on CNN.
61. Beach volleyball has always been a recognized sport.
62. Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti have always been luxury cars of choice.
63. Television stations have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem.
64. LoJack transmitters have always been finding lost cars.
65. Diane Sawyer has always been live in Prime Time.
66. Dolphin-free canned tuna has always been on sale.
67. Disposable contact lenses have always been available.
68. "Outing" has always been a threat.
69. Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss has always been the perfect graduation gift.
70. They have always "dissed" what they don't like.
71. The U.S. has always been studying global warming to confirm its existence.
72. Richard M. Daley has always been the Mayor of Chicago.
73. They grew up with virtual pets to feed, water, and play games with, lest they die.
74. Ringo Starr has always been clean and sober.
75. Professional athletes have always competed in the Olympics.
© 2006 Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin
I'm not sure agree with them all this year. Some things like German reunification happened when these freshmen were teens, but the list's always good for a discussion.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:40 AM | Comments (2)
August 22, 2006
IFLA Seoul South Korea
OK - I am in Korea so blogging is light. The IFLA converence is very cool, and you really get a new sense of the world of information and libraies and the total diversity of it.
I got to give out three IFLA international marketing awards (sponsored by SirsiDynix) today with Christie Koontz. Great fun and wonderful role models.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:32 AM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2006
More data on changing search patterns
Steven Bell points a chain of information about changing search patterns.
Read his posting here.
"Conventional wisdom says that search engines are a fundamentally unfair technology -- favoring the most popular sites and helping them to become even more popular. This assumption, captured in the term "Googlearchy," is now being challenged by researchers at Indiana University who have used real-life data to test it. Their results show that Web-surfing behavior isn't as influenced by search-engine rankings as was previously thought."
Read the origial article , Friday, August 18, 2006 Technology Review,
Surprising Search Patterns: A new study questions the common assumption that search engines control the hierarchy of the Internet by By Kate Greene in Technology Review, here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)
Libraries and Our Passion
OK - you invest your heart and soul and a considerable amount of time in your library and your profession.
Does Google?
"Google's top executives have offloaded about $7.4 billion of stock, equal to about a third of the company's starting market value when it sold shares at $85 each in the August 2004 IPO," says Bloomberg columnist, Mark Gilbert. Not only that, he reports "not a single Google insider has bought a single share of the company in the 18 months since the IPO lock-ups expired."
Search Engine Watch commentary here.
Bloomberg story here.
"Google's Own Executives Rate the Shares `Sell'"
Hmmm - I'll show you my commitment if you'll show me yours. There's a world of difference between working for your community and working for yourself.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:02 AM | Comments (1)
Social Networking
Confused and looking for a way to understand the breadth of social networking sites and opportunities?
Search Engine Watch has a excellent series on it:
What's the Big Deal With Social Search?
A Guide to Social Search Players
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:56 AM | Comments (0)
Web 2.0
A simple TechSoup article with ten good ideas about how to use Web 2.0:
Ten Ways to Use Web 2.0 to Change the World
Or at least engage more community in good work you're already doing
By: Marnie Webb
TechSoup is the technology space for nonprofits - not just libraries.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:52 AM | Comments (1)
The Lives of 12-24 Years Olds
A very cool must read study released this week from the LA Times and Bloomberg:
Computers, Cell Phones And Multitasking
A Look Inside The Entertainment Life Of 12-24 Year Olds
It's a readable 25 page PDF. Net Family News has already highlighted some parts here.
Here's an updated link to more of the series (Thanks Alane).
"Summary
These young respondents have made multitasking an art form. About three in five teens and young adults said they prefer to multitask rather than focusing on doing one thing at a time. Multitasking relieves boredom, according to more than half of those who said they prefer to have several things going at once. More than seven in 10 teens and young adults said they are at least sometimes bored with their entertainment choices. Those living outside a major metropolitan area more so than urban dwellers, younger teens more so than older. Movies and to a lesser extent, television pulled more focus than other types of entertainment – most reported focusing on movies, rather than doing other things at the same time. Homework, however, is another matter. More than half of the teenagers in the survey reported doing at least one other thing while doing homework, and about a third said they do two or more things at the same time. Most teenagers and young adults reported listening to music many hours every day, almost all while doing other things at the same time. Most young people are not offended by being confronted by violence, gross out humor, bad language, or cigarettes and alcohol in their entertainment. Most were offended by disrespecting women and girls, even those who listen to rap music, some of which is notorious for exactly that.
Computers and cell phones play a big role in teens and young adult’s lives –almost all respondents reported having the use of or access to a computer, and most had a cell phone. Half of the young people in this survey reported spending less than two hours on their computer on an average day and half of those spent less than an hour a day. The survey found no gender difference in computer game playing among 12-14 year olds, but older teen girls stop playing games as much and start spending more time on homework, instant messaging, updating their web profiles and surfing the net. Teen girls and those surfing and playing games without parental supervision spent the most time. However, most teens, and especially the youngest teens, reported having parental limits on their computer use. Parents monitor what the teens download, what they do while they are online, and whether their homework has been done before going online.
MySpace and other social networking sites are popular, especially among older teens and those living in metro areas. Half of young adults visit those types of sites, but use drops away by those over 21. More than seven in 10 women between the ages of 18 and 20 said they visit such sites and about one in six reported spending two hours or more a day.
Unauthorized downloading and piracy is a problem for both the music and movie industries, of course. The survey found that most don’t admit to doing it themselves, but more were willing to say their friends do. Most believe that downloading music from filesharing services for free is at least a minor crime, and very few believe that copying a CD from a friend who bought it is against the law."
There's just a wealth of tables here to mine for ideas and insights. I'll keep my eyes open for the next studies in the series here (Sometimes requires free registration).
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:01 AM | Comments (0)
Tools for the Digital Divide
I know that the coming $150 computers and $49 web enabled phones will go a long way to filling the hardware gap, along with libraries providing some slightly more powerful PC solutions for those folks who can't have/afford/maintain a PC. But one of the things that's always worried me is that mainstream licensed software prices seem to not be predicted to fall at the same rate. Aha! There's a challenge on the horizon.
Check out this posting from TechCrunch. MS Office is having its levees breached.
1. Google's Writely is open for new accounts again. Free web based word processing.
2. Google Spreadsheets is web based, ummm, spreadsheets.
3. Google Calendar is out.
4. Rumours about Google Presentations and file storage abound (although Google Base is a start.
And there are loads of other productivity tools out there on the web that don't require you to download and update software.
What's the opportunity for libraries?
I know of some libraries that don't offer word processing, printing, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. (I even saw one that had no printing but did have MS Word. Users were told to e-mail the document to yourself to print it at home. Hmmmm. I have no PC and use the library's technology but I have to print at home...) Many also still claimed to bridge the digital divide! All library PCs are not created equal. Sometimes this was because of software costs, hardware limitations, or virus fears. Sometimes it's becaus the exteral IT department had been ceded control of the library PCs.
These web based 'office style' tools offer the opportunity to have the tools without the cost. So, your library can jump on the train with training, bookmarks. promotion of these services so that folks can do resumes, letters, articles, and more. It's just the same as the kids avoiding IM restrictions by using Meebo, web based IM.
Heck, it works for me too. I can be much more mobile and the day when I might be able to travel without a laptop or USB drive is nigh.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:37 AM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2006
Are undergrad theses getting better?
Apparently the answer is yes. Despite the cross generational prejudices... here's some research that bucks the uninformed opinion trend.
BTW, I found out about this on Steven Bell's excellent blog "The Kept-Up Academic Librarian":
"College Pres Says Student Theses From 60 Years Ago Show How Students' Research Has Improved
John Strassburger, president of Ursinus College in Collegeville, writes in this commentary that his comparison of student honors thesis papers from 60 years ago with those of students' today indicates that contemporary students are showing far more sophisticated research, analysis, and critical thinking in their research papers. This is but one indicator, he states, that higher education is not failing today's students. Read more at: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/15290823.htm"
Cool.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2006
What's happening on your website?
Search Engine Watch points out that Google announced on that the popular Google Analytics is now freely available to everyone. As SEW notes:
"Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. You'll be able to focus your marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver ROI, and improve your site to convert more visitors."
Libraries can convert visitors to licensed database searches, library card campaign sign-us, book club signups, etc. So, get past the advertisingspeak and use the free tool.
"Anyone with a website can now install the website tracking tool by directly signing up at the Google Analytics homepage, or by clicking through the "Analytics" tab in any Google AdWords account. It is not required to have a Google Adwords account to run Google Analytics."
"More information can be found on the official Google Analytics blog. Additional educational and support materials are also available at Conversion University."
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:16 AM | Comments (2)
15 websites that changed the world
Here's the Guardian's list of 15 webstes that changed the world. The whole article is here.
1. eBay
2. Wikipedia
3. Napster
4. YouTube
5. Blogger
6. Friends Reunited
7. Drudge Report
8. MySpace
9. Amazon
10. Slashdot
11. Salon
12. Craigslist
13. Google
14. Yahoo!
15. EasyJet
What do these do that makes them world changing? For beginnings, they do one thing very well. It doesn't matter what that thing is, but they do it well. Then tey add other things.
What do libraries do really well? What's our one thing? (Hint: It's not search)
Not setting the bar too high, but libraries do change lives! Would your website be listed as one that changed your community? Why? If not, what would you do to make it so.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:58 AM | Comments (0)
MySpace and Safety
Thanks to Webblogg-ed for pointing out this article.
Some highlights:
"According to a new national poll commissioned by Cable in the Classroom and conducted by Harris Interactive, 94 percent of parents are taking steps to ensure their children's safe use of the Internet."
"The Harris poll shows only 34 percent of parents consider themselves "very knowledgeable" about to how use the Internet in a safe and responsible way."
"More than 80 percent of parents monitor their children's use of the Internet, limiting home use to the living room, den or other open space."
"More than 70 percent of parents set time limits for Internet use, and more than half are using software and filters to limit or block where the kids go online."
"More than 70 percent of parents ... expect a substantial chunk of responsibility for their children's Internet safety falls to schools."
"Only about half of parents (49 percent) think that government and law enforcement agencies should have a lot of responsibility in ensuring that children have safe experiences on the Internet," the survey summary states.
"And now for the second report out this week: The number of youths sexually solicited online is actually declining."
"Moreover, most solicitation incidents -- almost 80 percent -- happen on home computers. And fewer than 10 percent happen on a school or library computer."
"Funded by the federal government and researched and written by the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center, the Online Victimization of Children report states that in 2001, 19 percent of children reported unwanted sexual solicitations over the Internet. Five years later, the number fell to 13 percent."
Anyway, there's some new sources of data. I am sure it can be construed to support any position but it is what it is. I'll be relieved when the election year is over and the grandstanding winds down.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:45 AM | Comments (0)
Cell Phone Booth
Under the ideas to steal mantra - surely a decent carpenter could build of these for your library. Look like a way to allow cels and improve the user rleationship without having to police. It appears that library cel phone rules could have the potential to become the new shushing.
"Here’s a smart idea that could be turned into a global cottage industry: sound resistant cell phone booths. The Cell Zone, produced by Salemi Industries, can be placed in nightclubs, restaurants, libraries, on airports, train stations, at concerts, and all other places where a bit of peace and quiet is often hard to get. Booths cost USD 2,400 to 3,500.
It’s a win-win: with two billion people owning cell phones, the related yapping and other noise pollution produced on a global scale already drives millions nuts, while many callers would actually prefer to have a bit of privacy, or just to be able to hear the person on the other side of the line. When placed in a commercial setting, the Cell Zone will also help keep patrons from leaving the establishment, Cell Zone’s website helpfully adds.
The revenue model? Good old advertising, as the whole thing can be branded, by the owner or through a third party. The latter hasn’t been pursued… another opportunity. We bet loads of telcos would love to sponsor them, too (check out the non-permanent Nokia Silence Booth as covered in trendwatching.com's briefing on being & brand spaces). Time to make some noise!"
Website: http://www.salemiindustries.com
Contact: sales@thecellzone.net
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:33 AM | Comments (0)
Idea Sand Box
A favourite e-newsletters (Not a blog but a free monthly e-mail newsletter) is Idea Sandbox. You can subscribe and see the archived issues too.
This month's issue is great. I am attracted to the idea since I love the idea that play is learning.
The main point is contained in the title: Take Your Inner Child to Work Day.
In this article you can discover the process to reaching your Inner Child in three simple steps...
- Step 1: Determine the age of your Inner Child.
- Step 2: Behave like that Inner Child.
- Step 3: Don’t let Them out of your sight.
What is the age of your inner child?
"The scientific method is to take the first and second digits of your calendar age and add them together… I’m 37, 3+7=10."
My Inner Child is 7 years old! Therre - that actually feels better today than 52. How old is yours?
Now you're ready to play!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:18 AM | Comments (3)
August 15, 2006
Stephen's Lighthouse URL Change
We've migrated my blog to a new server so the primary address has changed. The new address is http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/
I am assured that it shouldn't make any difference to your feeds and Bloglines and such. Let me know if anything is messed up.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:58 PM | Comments (0)
What makes a website cool?
I don't know but the answer would help us to understand how to drive traffic to library websites. TIME has it's list of the 50 Coolest Web Sites in 2006 here.
Links are available in the article but here's the list:
Entertainment, Arts and Media
Drawn!
Jumpcut
Sundance Splinks
Wolfgang's Vault
Photo Muse
Podcast Pickle
Pandora
The 9
YouTube
Shopping, Lifestyles and Hobbies
Phone Scoop
Delicious Days
Not Martha
Shop Intuition
Kids-In-Mind
Mighty Goods
Zunafish
News and InformationThe Morning News
Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone
Charity Navigator
Footnoted
Tailrank
Deadspin
Digg
The Human Clock
Staying Connected
MySpace
Google Spreadsheets
SingShot
Meebo
Dodgeball
Timewasters
TMZ
Shockwave
Yu-Gi-Oh Groove
Cute Overload
Jackson Pollock by Miltos Manetas
Number Logic
Travel and Real Estate
Zipcar
Farecast
Kayak
Zillow
Hop Stop
CentralPark
Yelp
Web Search and Services
Accoona
Kosmix
Snap
Pixsy
Argali White & Yellow
Blurb
Seamless Web
McAfee SiteAdvisor
Happy surfing.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:52 AM | Comments (0)
25 Years of the IBM PC
I forgot to blog this on time but my son's birthday (August 12th) coincides with the 25th aniversary of the original announcement of the IBM PC. Hard to believe it's only been 25 years since I replaced my Apple classic and Osborne and entered the world of 5 1/4 inch diskettes. It was only 21 years for Zachary so he's really never lived in a world without PC's.
Read Gary Price's posting for more. That's $3.1 Billion worth of PC's!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:46 AM | Comments (0)
Google Juggernaut
This week's Hitwise results show Google gaining its predominance of the U.S. search space:
Google 60.2%
Yahoo 22.5%
MSN 11.8%
other 5.5%
This was for the period ending July 29, 2006. By Hitwise's count, there are 57 search engines in this universe.
Add to this the recent agreements to have Google power search at AOL and MySpace and pay billions of dollars for the privilege, and you have a technosphere dominance unseen since the days of Big Blue or the beast from Redmond. I wonder when the backlash will hit? When will folks be as skeptical of Google's dominance and motives as they were of IBM and Microsoft? Or is critical thinking dead?
I've been predicting for a while that the merger of Google Maps and Google Local was a precurser to a huge incursion into the local space. What will libraries do when Google can sense that the search is coming from your town or your campus? Will they default the page to their Google College page or a locally aware ad page server? We see the beginning of this with the introduction of local coupons in Gogle Maps. Read about that here. Google needs to serve its clients - advertisers. They pay most of the bills. Google needs to keep growing its revenue. Combined that means making a huge play in local ads - newspaper, yellow pages, classified, etc. How it does this and in partnership with whom is up for evolution and revolution.
For libraries, whose strength is our local community and learning presence, we better be watching and adapting. Have you looked at how your locations display in Google Maps? I find a lot of libraries are invisible in this space. Not good. If Google chooses to default to a local presence for search (vs. the national modality now), will you be upfront or buried? Ask how many ads you buy to get the answer.
Then again, libraries aren't about search. We're about community, learning and interaction. We don't need to compete head to head and point by point with search engines. We do have to get better at promotion and positioning ourselves in the minds of the user as being about more than books.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:24 AM | Comments (0)
Top Technologies to Watch from Gartner
Gartner has released its latest identification of the top technologies it believes will have the greatest impact on businesses over the next 10 years. You can read more here.
In its 2006 Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle report, Gartner assessed dozens of technologies. There are three main themes: Web 2.0, Real World Web and Application Architecture.
Here's a list of some:
Web 2.0
Social-network analysis
Ajax
Collective intelligence
Real World Web location-aware technologies and applications
Applications Architecture
event-driven architecture, RFID.
semantic markup languages
There is a little more in this other article too.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:11 AM | Comments (0)
Social Networking
Dave Pollard at How to Save the World blog has an excellent summary of the landscape of social networking environments. Read it here.
One interesting part is his list of the taxonomy of social networking tools and how they differ:
Weblogs
Wikis
Del.icio.us
Flickr
DodgeBall
BaseCamp
MySpace
FaceBook
Insider Pages
Mind-Mapping
Memediggers
Mashups
SNA/Hardware Interfaces
I find this helpful to have a lens to look at the evolution and potential evolution of this major trend in 2.0.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:03 AM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2006
The Web is 15
I missed blogging the web's actual birthday. It's offically a difficult teen.
BBC News has a series on its first 15 years.
There is an interactive timeline
There are several articles:
The web goes worldwide
The web and global business
Web's inventor knighted Tim Berners-Lee on the web
Evangelising the internet [with Vint Cerf]
Where does the web go now?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:08 PM | Comments (0)
Graduate students’ information seeking behavior
This 21 page PDF is undated (hmmmm, Must be an oversight!) but since the references include ones in 2005 I assume it's a fairly recent publication. I particularly liked the open-ended questions that were asked.
Scholarly use of information: Graduate students’ information seeking behavior
by Carole George, Alice Bright, Terry Hurlbert, Erika C. Linke, Gloriana St. Clair, and Joan Stein
Carnegie Mellon University Libraries
Abstract
Introduction. This study explored the graduate students’ information behavior as it informs their process of inquiry and scholarly activities.
Method. In depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with one hundred graduate students representing all disciplines and departments from Carnegie Mellon University.
Analysis. Working in pairs, we coded transcripts of interviews into meaningful categories using ATLAS.ti software. A combined use ofquantitative and qualitative analysis reduced subjectivity.
Results. Graduate students often begin with a meeting with professors who provide direction, recommend and provide resources. Other students help to shape graduate students’ research activities, and university library personnel provide guidance in finding resources. The Internet plays a heavy role; though students continue to use print resources. Convenience, lack of sophistication in finding and using resources, and course requirements affect their information behavior. Findings vary across disciplines and between programmes.
Conclusion. Libraries can influence students’ information behavior by reevaluating their instructional programmes and provision of resources and services. They can take a lead by working with academic personnel to guide students.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:18 AM | Comments (0)
The Onion does Dewey
Pretty funny article in the Onion today. View it here.
Dewey Decimal System Helpless To Categorize New Jim Belushi Book
August 14, 2006
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 6:52 AM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2006
Local Authors
I've always admired the folks at the Wyoming State Library for their courage in trying innovative things. As one of the least populous states they still manage to do really neat stuff. (Their 2006 ad campaign is a keeper.)
I've recently been alerted to their new Wyoming Authors Wiki at http://wiki.wyomingauthors.org. All it took was a college intern, Jill Armetta, working on it this summer and verifying and entering data from their existing Wyoming Authors Database.
They're trying to build a wiki community of readers and writers who will be able to provide more current and dynamic content about Wyoming literature and book events. They've e-mailed their existing list of authors they already have them joining up and editing their own pages.
Seriously cool. It's local and respects the role of a state initiative. It's global - available for everyone. Now all libraries in Wyoming can just link to this. Regional and national literatures are so difficut to read, discover, study and collect. This is a big step forward in the social act of reading.
49 states and 10 provinces to go...
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:49 AM | Comments (0)
August 8, 2006
Back to School
OK - it's back to school time. Every retailer - online and offline - is running back to school PC/Mac sales, iPods, furniture like desks and bookcases, clothing sales, three-ring paper and pens promos,... heck, even cel phone calling plans.
What's your library promotion for this major user group? Time to bridge from your summer reading programs while you've still got the kids. How are you targeting them? Got your school principals and teacher-librarians mailing/e-mail lists updated? Got a cool tagline? Launching a webpage or MySpace presence? Setting up your PSA's on MTV? Research skills training with a cool new and edgy hook? Trickin 'em by luring them in with your new DDR? It's the new New Year! Sick.
Share in the comments.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)
August 7, 2006
Worldcat.org has gone live
OpenWorldCat from OCLC enters it's next phase. Worldcat.org beta is live. 1.3 billion items in approximately 18,000 libraries worldwide and a downloadable searchbox for your webpage.
Read more here on Lorcan Dempsey's blog.
It's useful to compare this to RedLightGreen and Gale's Access My Library.
Library collection discovery searches are emerging. What will happen with things like collaborative collection devleopment, ILL, resource sharing, etc. With OpenWorldCat loaded into Google, MSN, Yahoo!, Ask, Amazon, Google Scholar, MS Live Academic, ... there's some interesting opportunities here.
Let the mashups begin. Are we ready?
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:06 AM | Comments (1)
August 6, 2006
SirsiDynix TechTalk
Another expansion of our communication, training and education programs. "SirsiDynix TechTalk is a convenient, engaging program that enables you to keep pace with the latest library technology topics. TechTalk offers a variety of resources, such as webinars, presentations, whitepapers, and product demonstrations that assist you in discovering how today's leading technologies can best meet your technology needs, both now and into the future. By bringing together the expertise of SirsiDynix and our technology partners, you'll gain a well-rounded view on each topic addressed."
And of course, there's still the SirsiDynix Institute.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:23 PM | Comments (3)
The Library as the User Sees It
Mary Lee Kennedy is following up on her work with SirsiDynix and our personas project by writing a series of articles on Personas. Part one is here and it's called "The Library as the User sees It".
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)
Latest OneSource article - Part Two
Here's the latest issue of SirsiDynix OneSource. My contribution was the article entitled, "Piloting Your Future Library: The Lucky 7 (Part 2)" Part One was in the July issue.
The concept behind this two-parter is that there are cheap and cheerful ways to pilot new ideas before you decide to professionalize them or "grow up" into software that is more sustainable and rugged. I think there are some good ideas here. And, you don't actually have to grow up all the time. (grin)
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)
August 4, 2006
My first trip to Wisconsin
I had a great trip to keynote WiLSWorld in Madison Wisconsin. A very interesting conference and lots of good stuff happening there. I even got to visit with a few SLA WI Chapter members too!
Anyway, here's a link to the PPT. This speech was called "Growing Up in a Google and 2.0 World".
I especially liked the Hawai'ian Shirt theme. Beats a tie and suit jacket any day! Congratulations to Barbara Arnold for winning the ugliest shirt award. Rochelle of Tinfoil and Racoon has built a little Flickr meme on it.
It's nice to see a conference where the fun is built in. Sometimes we're just too serious.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)
Idaho Vision 2020
Wow!! What a conference!
The Idaho Commission for Libraries (State Library) hosted a conference on Digital Natives for two days in Boise in July. Speakers included Sarah Houghton, Aaron Schmidt, Alane Wilson and me.
They videotaped most of the conference so I'll provide a link when that goes up.
Until then, here's a link to my keynote PPT entitled "The Information Tornado: Taming the Information Surge".
I am also looking forward to seeing the streaming video of the panel interviews I did with a great crew of millennials. Very interesting. It was blogged here, here , here, here, and here.
Also, if you get a chance, the Idaho Vision 2020 document is good and they're actually making it live instead of gathering dust. Cool.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)
Markham Public Library
In July, I got to spend a whole day (Thanks Moe) with the staff at Markham Public Library north of Toronto. It was great fun. Here's link to the PPT entitled "The Future for Libraries".
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:19 PM | Comments (0)
Latest Educause Quarterly
The latest Educause Quarterly is an excellent issue. You can access it here.
Hot topics include:
- Serious Games: Incorporating Video Games in the Classroom
- Podcasting Lectures
- Establishing a Quality Review for Online Courses
- Helping Students Adapt to Computer-Based Encrypted Examinations
- Professional Development for Aspiring CIOs
- Educational Technology on Demand: It’s About Time!
- Do-It-Yourself Metrics
- Online Education in a Traditional University
- Reducing the Online Instructor’s Workload
All stuff we need to be addressing in the learnng world.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)
Texting doesn't hurt grammar: Study
OK, here's a University of Toronto study that shows that texting and IM don't hurt grammar. It's reported in yesterday's Toronto Star (I don't know how long this link will last on this site so go there quickly and print.
Texting doesn't hurt grammar: Study
Instant messaging could actually be strengthening teenagers' English, study finds
Aug. 2, 2006. 02:14 PM
DANIEL GIRARD, STAFF REPORTER
"Hmm. Omg. Only a tiny fraction of teenage text messaging includes short forms, according to a new University of Toronto study, dispelling the myth their grammar is deteriorating.
A two-year study of more than one million words of text messaging between 71 Toronto teens found their unique shorthand not only forms just 2.4 per cent of their online dialogue, it also shows a versatility and adaptability that may actually strengthen their command of the language."
Follow the link for the full page article.
Finally some research to tell adults to chill out. Please excuse any grammar errors in this posting. ;-)
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)
Marketing Tips
By happenstance today, I got 3 or 4 marketing tips in the mail so I'll share them with you.
1. New ACRL advocacy toolkit (Thanks Bill)
A new advocacy toolkit from ACRL is now available online. The toolkit will help librarians and library workers to develop their personal powers of persuasion to advance the agenda of the academic library. This publication provides basic content on persuasion, techniques for persuading others, applications of persuasion techniques for libraries, and recommended processes and examples for persuading others within higher education environments.... It updates the 2003 kit and it's called "The Power of Personal Persuasion: Advancing the Academic Library Agenda from the Front Lines". There is so little out there on academic sector advocacy and this one's a useful contribution.
2. The Publicity Hound (Tips, tricks and tools for free publicity) offers "Nonprofit Publicity Tips Online and Offline" here. Cheap and Cheerful.
3. You can get 89 tips for to writing great press releases. Read about it here.
4. Chris Olson just started issuing her great (and free) Marketing Treasures newsletter after a short hiatus. Subscribe here or see the latest issue here.
Get the word out about libraries any way you can.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)
Very Cool Library Learning 2.0
The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County is doing the coolest summer staff learning program.
Check out their Learning 2.0 blog Learning 2.0.
Check out the 23 Things they're trying to learn:
http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/
And their cool incentive for staff? Everyone who completes the program gets a USB MP3 player and entered into a draw for a laptop!
I'm thrilled and excited that they've acknowledged the small role my column 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year from SLA's Information Outlook about using the website 43 Things to track personal professional development. I've seen a lot of excitement about my idea that libraries can vastly increase their capacity for adopting new technology and implementing new, creative or innovative stuff if the staff invests 15 minutes a day (or every second day) in learning. If all staff participate you don't end up with isolated sole contributors. You have an army of people who understand Flickr, Blogs, Squidoo, etc. The capacity of the library system for innovation and change is exponentially increased. It also sends a positive message from the library leadership team about the value they place on staff, interaction, learning and relating to their communities and learning.
PLCMC is already a major innovative and award winning library. I predict they'll reach a new plateau with this initiative. Learning is more than degrees, certificates, courses, seminars, conferences and workshops. It doesn't stop being a daily activity when we leave school. Investing in learning new things very day for 15 minutes, and having management visibly support it, increases the overall capacity of the library system and our profession as a whole.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 6:59 AM | Comments (1)
AOL
OK, so on August 2, AOL dumps broadband subscriber fees in a shift in revenue strategies designed to stop sending customers to MSN, Google and Yahoo.
Then yesterday, August 3, AOL lays off 5,000 folks.
We can look at MSN, Yahoo, AOL, Google, Ask, et al and admire their market presence but it's a brutal world out there.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:31 AM | Comments (0)
Canadian Internet Weirdness
Here's the newly released Statistics Canada study on how Canadians differ in their Internet use.
The Internet: Is It Changing the Way Canadians Spend Their Time?
Abstract
"This study aims to develop a better understanding of the social impacts associated with Internet use in Canada. Although much work has been accomplished on the penetration and use of the Internet, this study uses data from the General Social Survey (GSS), Cycle 19: Time Use to better understand how personal use of the Internet fits in the day-to-day lives of Canadians. The survey provides a time-diary
account of respondent activities over a 24-hour period, enabling detailed comparisons among heavy Internet users, moderate users, and non-Internet users and their time allocation decisions.
Heavy Internet users - defined as those spending more than one hour on the Internetfor personal use during the diary day - lead lifestyles that are considerably different from non-Internet users and even moderate Internet users. The greatest difference is that they spend significantly less time at paid work. They also spend less time on domestic work and on personal care activities such as sleep and relaxation. Students and the unemployed are most likely to be heavy Internet users. In addition, they are typically young and a considerable proportion are male (59%).
Heavy Internet users spent more time alone during the diary day than non-Internetusers, even when compared to people of the same social and demographic background. Although they spent less time with family and friends, many heavy Internet users participated in online activities involving social interaction, such as email or chatting with others."
Feeling alone, geeky, and male,
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:23 AM | Comments (0)
Local Newspapers and Local Libraries
Newspapers are an interesting metaphor to use when we look at relating to our community's interests through our web presence.
The Bivings Report has a blog posting about what technologies are in evidence on the top 100 local newspaper web sites.
I wonder how the top 100 libraries would do. Hmmmmm? It would be an interesting comparison.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)
August 2, 2006
Firefox Extensions
I've been meaning to blog about this trend forever.
As so many folks are running Firefox, often alongside their MSIE browser, there is a huge open source community developing extensions and bookmarklets for Firefox. Anyway, if something frustrates you or you think there must be a better way to do this repetitive task or regular thingee, doodad or mashup, try some of these sites to look for little extensions and bookmarklets:
13 Great Firefox Extensions for Web Professionals
Trick if the day: If yo use a particular piece of software or website just search Google for Firefox and the software name or Bookmarklets and the website. You might be surprised what what shows up.
Examples; Firefox Flickr; firefox delicious; boomarklets bloglines, librarything mashup, etc. etc.
It's an old trick but some folks are still hopping on the bus.
Have a happy summer canoeing through the web.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 3:09 PM | Comments (0)
Jakob Nielsen and Usability
I am always quoting Jakob Nielsen from the Nielsen Norman Group, and saying to web develoers to follow Jakob's rules. I guess I just thought everyone knew Jakob Nielsen in the web world. Apparently not because I got a few questions asking me about him. Soooo, here's some links:
Jakob Nielsen's main page is Useit.com.
Since 1995 he has been publishing Alertbox, Jakob's column on Web usability. For example, this week he made confident recommendations abot Screen Resolution and Page Layout (July 31) [Optimize Web pages for 1024x768, but use a liquid layout that stretches well for any resolution, from 800x600 to 1280x1024. According to Nielsen, "60% of all monitors are set at 1024x768 pixels," and "only about 17% use 800x600." "Fewer than half a percent of users still have 640x480."] In past columns he has talked about Traffic Log Patterns (July 10). How Many Users to Test? (June 26), Email Newsletters (June 12) and raged about Flash animations and blinking text. He is always on the side of the user in usability debates. His whole arhcive of AlertBox columns is on the site.
Here's more about him, Bio, and his Wikipedia entry to meet him.
Here are his Books:
"Prioritizing Web Usability, 2006
Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed, 2001 (113 guidelines for homepage design)
Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity, 2000: a quarter million copies in print; 22 languages
Usability Engineering, 1994: textbook on the methods needed to make interfaces easier to use
Multimedia and Hypertext: The Internet and Beyond, 1995: second edition of textbook on linked online information
Usability Inspection Methods, 1994 (co-editor with Robert L. Mack): with chapters by each of the inventors of these methods
International User Interfaces, 1996 (co-editor with with Elisa del Galdo)
Advances in Human-Computer Interaction Vol. 5, 1995 (editor)
Hypertext and Hypermedia, 1990: the first edition of classic textbook (no longer in print)
Designing User Interfaces for International Use, 1990 (editor)
Coordinating User Interfaces for Consistency, 1989 (editor): still the best book on how to get a standard look-and-feel (reprint edition published 2002)"
If you're serious about usability you read and debate Nielsen.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:52 PM | Comments (2)
Hot Book
If you've had the pleasure of seeing Michael Stephens of Tame the Web fame speak or reading his articles you know he's always using the word "hot" (almost as many times as Paris Hilton). This time I will. His book is 'hot'. Here's your back to work Autumn reading:
Web 2.0 and Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software
by Michael Stephens
Find out more and order it here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:40 PM | Comments (0)
Cool Video for a Library MySpace Site
Haven't found the right video for your library's MySpace presence this week? Try this one:
What the public library is not...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-rNDimEU74
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:36 PM | Comments (0)
Kids and Reading
Scholastic, the publishers of Harry Potter in the US, have released a couple of interesting studies. Since Harry seems to provoke strong opinions (sometimes in folks who don't read the books or see the movies), maybe these reports add a little balance:
See the main page here.
Yankelovich, a leader in consumer research and trends, and Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, unveil for the first time, the results of The Kids and Family Reading Report™. While studies have investigated how kids spend their time outside of school, this is the first to reveal some surprising insights about why kids and their parents do or don’t read, and how the power of one book, Harry Potter, can impact kids' reading and school work. This is a national survey of kids 5-17 years old and one parent or primary guardian.
Click here to download the Harry Potter data (PPT)
Click here to download the Harry Potter press release
Click here to download The Kids and Family Reading Report™ (PDF)
Click here to download The Kids and Family Reading Report™ press release(PDF)
This report is a gift and worth reviewing. Yes, it comes from a publisher with a vested interest in Harry and kids' reading habits, nut what's wrog with wanting kids to read? And Yankelovich is a respected and independent research house and some of these data are bound to spark conversations and discussions. That's a good thing. I found the data on kids and PC's and their reading habits interesting as well as the data on summer reading. There's too much opinion in this space and not enough hard research. This is a start. Don't be a a Muggle! Read.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:22 PM | Comments (0)
Australia and Broadband
I am visiting Australia for a short time in October. Therefore this Sydney Morning Herald article , Plotting the Future of Broadband, forecasting that by 2010 most Australians will have broadband was interesting. Smartly they tied this infrastructure trend to the real trend to bandwidth hungry experiences like video, MySpace, YouTube, etc.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:17 PM | Comments (0)
Choosing Your Future
I just watched the following Flash video and thought that it embodied some of the values we aspire to in library management.
My Declaration of Independence
http://ganas.com/mydeclarationofindependence/
Also: The Escape from Cubicle Nation blog is good to:
http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/get_a_life_blog/
I am not advocating a single path, just making sure you choose the path you’re on. Can we be intrapreneurial in libraries, entrepreneurial, creative and innovative? Yes.
Stephen
(Happy but melting in Toronto)
Posted by stephen at 2:12 PM | Comments (0)
August 1, 2006
Web 2.0 Implications for Libraries
Here's another thought provoking read.
Library 2.0 Theory: Web 2.0 and Its Implications for Libraries
by Jack M. Manes, MLS, University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries
in June 2006 issue of the online review Webology
Received June 19, 2006; Accepted June 29, 2006
Abstract
This article posits a definition and theory for "Library 2.0". It suggests that recent thinking describing the changing Web as "Web 2.0" will have substantial implications for libraries, and recognizes that while these implications keep very close to the history and mission of libraries, they still necessitate a new paradigm for librarianship. The paper applies the theory and definition to the practice of librarianship, specifically addressing how Web 2.0 technologies such as synchronous messaging and streaming media, blogs, wikis, social networks, tagging, RSS feeds, and mashups might intimate changes in how libraries provide access to their collections and user support for that access.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:40 PM | Comments (2)
Day of the Long Tail
Another great professional video uploaded to YouTube that is usually only seen at expensive conferences. (Thanks Chris Anderson via Michael)
Anyway, have a look here.
It asks but barely suggests answers to the statement - The audience is up to something ... Can't we just blog back at them?
The universe of audience created and shared content is an interesting one for our library sector. A totally empowered user shakes the foundation of everything - publishers, libraries, authors, creators, rights, learning and community. That might be good.
I even heard someone recently decry, in reference to LibraryElf and LibraryThing and blogs, how dare users share their own private information and personal content! Imagine!? We must protect them. How can we stop them? [Talk about not getting it!]
Anyway, it's a useful video to ignite a discussion. A big discussion about libraries' roles in the world of massive content creation through non-traditional channels.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:13 PM | Comments (0)