#17 & #18: Library 2.0

Homework.
The whole nature of information is changing. Once it was something that could only be conveyed person to person verbally. Then the document (in its many permutations) allowed for a piece of information to be preserved from generation to generation, and information could be conveyed from one person to another over physical distance without the two ever physical meeting. Now the web allows for a multitude of user to access and create information simultaneous. Greater accessibility to massive volumes of material. The process of discovery become less one of searching and more one of refining.... less a situation of information poverty and more one of information affluenza and fast food diets. The library ceases to be a collection and becomes a portal. Librarians cease to be collection managers of limited physical collections and become porters pointing to the gates of the more reputable avenues of enquiry.

Digitizing collections is value in terms of presevationa and access and even promotion. Creating a virtual library undoubtably does assist those suffering geographic disadvantage and providing an new entrance point to our collections.
Libraries help people to educate and entertain themselves and have always provided the tools to do so. In the past most of these were physical objects and so encouraged a certain solitary intimacy... and tend to encourage a quite, almost passively linear, absorption....But now the tools are not bound by such restrictions: they are networked and they are interactive. It is only logically that the libary should adopt these new tools.

I suppose I am what they call a digital immigrant. Things like Facebook and Blogs about nothing really seem narcisstic to me. I don't embrace technology but accept it as a tool rather than a toy. If there is a problem I will look for the right tool to fix it... rather than pick up a toy, play with it, and them work out some innovative thing to do with it. I suppose thats just me. Consequently a lot of the web 2.0 program seemed more a chore than "fun" exploration.... a lot of twee exercises without much personal relevance or context. I suppose it has the value of providing me with a basic vocabularly and idea of the tools out there... but really I don't think I'm ever likely to need to do a Mash Up or record something on YouTube.
END HOMEWORK.... CAPUT.

#16: Podcasts

Homework.
Okay.... For academic libraries the podcast could provide easy access to recorded lectures etc. For other libraries podcasts could be useful for user tutorials regarding things like OPAC use, internet searching and maybe even some database tips (though we would probably need to provide the earphones.... cue hygenie police... as people seem to spend a lot of time complaining about peoples IPODs on the trains so you've got to wonder how some of the more traditional users would respond to podcasts and videos on the PC beside them). I suppose libraries could also select and provide links to certain pod casts as part of their electronic collections.
End homework.

#14: Youtube

Haven't watched this fully (it is just an exercise) but hopefully there is no offensive content... Who'd have thought that Ry'leh has plush grey carpets.

#14: Discovering more WEB 2.0 Tools

Gave the Writeboard application a go (the Google Docs and Spreadsheets didn't seem to want me hanging around today). It is kind of a stripped back Wiki (only very basic formatting when compared with ZOHO writer) to whom you invite contributers by email. Niffy, simple and useful.

Some of the other applications had me a bit perplexed.... but I suppose different people have different needs... and I suppose some people need something to occupy the time when they get sick of Tetris.

12# & 13#: Webapplications and Technology

Homework.

'kay... So doctor, lets talk about my problems with ZOHO. Even before I tried to log on this seemed a great idea... particularly as the costs of licenses are one of the reasons SLV does not provide a word processing service for users... and the number of users who need it. So I approached this with some enthusiasm but this rapidly turned to despair as my computer would not let me do anything with ZOHO writer. All I got was a NotePad type thing which I was unable to save! Thinking that this was my a manifestation of my naturally technical incapacity I checked the FAQ. I checked in Explorer and Mozilla... neither worked. I checked the FAQ to see which Browsers ZOHO requires... I fiddled with my Security Setting to make sure they allowed javascript... Still no luck. I asked a colleague to try it on their computer... Same result, a dud text pad. In frustration I read through a few of my colleagues blogs and found that one or two other had had problems.... but that I'd already tried the suggested solutions. Gave up in frustration... even tried my home PC.



Three weeks later (after an Explorer upgrade?) I log on again today and, stunned amazement, ZOHO works for me.



As a digital immigrant, and natural Luddite, this is what is so frustrating about technology. While the interfaces may be perfectly simple to navigate, and the processing seems robust, its these fiddly little things that are never properly explained... these little glitches and gremlins that run around behind the scenes where I can't see them. I suppose I really should educate myself a bit more about what goes on in the little black box.... but really life it too short. It doesn't tale a genius to use a can opener.

WOW... that 312 words.

End homework


Incidently, ZOHO is great once you can get it to work... though I can work out how to get it to post to my blog (hence the primitive cut and paste).

#10 Flickr (copyright!!!... who cares)

Jellyfish is pretty....

Tagging and Technorati

Homework.
I actually quite like the idea of tagging.... but I've never really mastered Library of Congress subject headings. Undoubtedly there is an advantage to consistantly apply a limited range of headings but it takes some time for new headings to be introduced and they do often seem to be based on a linear-discrete view of information which does not really seem to describe some types of content. I suppose the economy in using subject headings is in part a heritage from the old card catalogue and cataloguing resources.... Libraries have been using notes in computer records to provide additional access points and most patrons do use keyword search rather than subject search. Conventional rules limit the number and nature of subject headings assigned to an item making it easy for someone familiar with the particular taxonomy to locate the item in a linear collection. There is no limit to the number or types of tags that can be assigned to an item providing many intuitive access points but at a possible exprense to relevance. Somewhere there is a healthy mean that both libaries and bloggers can share?

Del.icio.us does seem more useful for more than just creating remotely accessable bookmark. In a sense it is providing an online catalogue with the advantage of direct links from one record to another. Information can be clustered as is relevant to the user rather than arranged in a particular, conventional hierachy. The best catalogues and indexes are structured to reflect the cognition and interests of their users. Haven't really had time to investigate Technorati (a search engine for tags rather than text?).

End homework.

#6 & #7: RSS

Homework.
#6: Internet feed magic? I think I must be missing the point of these but I really don't see how these "value add" other than leaving your with one bookmark (to the feed) rather than a series of bookmarks to the pages (doing the feeding?). I also don't like the way these seem to strip the information of context and just dumps it into a bucket. I know there are people who love these kinds of things (the same people whose mobile phones have become multimedia entertainment experiences) but I really don't see the point.... if you don't have time to scan a few pages you're not going to have time to really read much anyway. One of the reading said something to the effect that RSS feeds allow you to access the information you want, when you want it. Perhaps if I could get the RSS feed to be a bit more selective (to only feed you articles about giant squids from a variety of sources) it might be useful... might infact be as useful as a search engine or database!

#7: I have had a quick search for feeds that might be of interest to me. Topix does seem to allow for a reasonable range of specific feeds related to topic which is a bit more interesting. However the feeds from Topix still seems a bit hit and miss in terms of relevance.

End homework.

#5 Wikis

Keeping Godzilla and Oscar company on PLMCLearning.

#4:Wikis

Homework... A wiki allows the non-technically specialised to present information content more immediately, and it can be access and edited remotely. While some are largely unmoderated and depend upon some vague sort of "peer review", restrictions can be arranged to control who edits content.

There seems to be an idealistic thread of philosophy that the wiki assists in the democracising of information and the speed at which information can be delivered. Lori Reed :

"This means that when new information is discovered about a subject, it is quickly added to the collective knowledge base. Unlike a conventional encyclopedia, where editors have to find experts for different subject areas, and nothing gets published without their say-so, anybody can write a wikipedia entry. If you have knowledge about a given subject area, you can write an entry about it. If there is already an entry but it doesn't cover something, you can edit it to add your information".

Everything has a price: the content is immediate but not necessarily authorative, accurate or stable. Libraries have traditionally selected documents based on the reputations of authors and publishers, and depend upon stable content, and the uncontrolled wiki presents a quite different vision of knowledge. Looking at the sample of the library related wikis on the 2.0 list, most have highly controlled content: the medium is different, but the philosophy of selection is pretty much the same.

I can see the value of wikis as procedural documents across divisions or oganisations (in so far as any one really refers to procedural documents!). The wiki would allow all relevent areas to update information and all the information could be centrally located but easy to reference anywhere. The ides of subject guides could be quite good for the beginner but are obviously never going to replace subject headings as a search tool. I'm a bit sceptical that wikis are really community building even if they may be helpful in communicating information to a community.

End homework.

Shhhhh

... Just another person with nothing much to say, doing my little bit to add to the clutter on the WWW.