a garden and a library

#12 reflections on the learning 2.0 program

2009-09-30T15:40:00.001+10:00

I've enjoyed this Learning 2.0 program. It has been good to feel encouraged to devote time to investigating all these whiz-bang web2.0 thingies that we hear so much about. While most of the Web tools investigated were ones I was already somewhat familiar with, it has been helpful to take the time to look a bit closer, and to reflect on how they could be used in a library context.

I like that the program we followed focused on just a few of the most popular and relevant trends and sites, and that the focus was on considering the potential for application within a library. The format of the program combining workshops, self-paced exploration, and blog sharing also worked well for me. I enjoyed being able to explore at my own pace, delving into more detail when the fancy took me, but also being able to refer to the other participant blogs, suggested readings or the workshops for alternative perspectives on the tools being considered. Blogging also encouraged me to think more deeply and reflectively about the program.

My biggest reservation about the program is that it focuses very heavily on building awareness of particular Web2.0 tools and sites as opposed to building the habits and skills that might support the continued use and exploration of Web2.0 tools more generally.

The knowledge that sets apart those who are "good with computers" from those who class themselves as technophobes relates less to fixed knowledge of particular programs, devices or sites than to knowledge of how to probe, how to test, how to play, and how to find out more. Computer technologies and the internet evolve so quickly that there is much more value in knowing how to find out how to use something than in just knowing how to use it.

Theoretically the learning 2.0 program fosters these skills by providing the tools to play with, and the space and encouragement to play. But I worry that anyone relatively uncomfortable with computers, with limited interest in the internet, and with a pressing workload, would be resistant to playing with Web2.0, when they have so many other things to do. Perhaps then the program could begin by outlining the real benefits of taking the time to explore and play, even when you don't know exactly what you will learn, or why it might be relevant.

Finally, if staff are to devote time to learning about Web2.0 they need to feel that they will be trusted to apply what they have learnt. There is great potential to use Web2.0 tools to promote library collections, to teach research skills and to share all kinds of library related information both with library users and with other professionals, but initiative can easily be stifled if even simple ideas must pass through several committees to gain approval. I think it would be wonderful if all staff who have completed the Learning2.0 program were granted a blanket Web2.0 license. That way we could experiment with SLV subject and collection blogs, with Flickr commons, or how-to videos, without everything needing to pass through complicated approvals processes. I think that libraries can only fully embrace the potential of web2.0 technologies if they really trust their staff and give them the freedom to experiment.

#11 my best of the rest

2009-09-28T14:53:00.018+10:00

I find the chart of winners of the SEOmoz Web 2.0 awards overwhelming. Well over 100 sites are mentioned, but I only have the name and category of each to guide me as to whether I want to investigate further. And of course when I do investigate further Inevitably I discover that many of these award winners don't offer Australian service. Annoying.

To supplement the SEOmoz list, I went searching for an Australian list. BRW provided a list of 100 Australian web 2.0 tools and sites. And I like the fact that this list provides a short but helpful description of each. But this list is limited to tools which are "significantly Australian" (whatever that means), not everything available in this country. So I'm making my own list, drawing on the two lists mentioned, and other sites I know and like.

Sites I've used and find useful or interesting:
-Google Maps and Google Earth for geographic information
-Geni for recording and sharing family history info (I set up the beginnings of a family tree on Geni last year while familiarising myself with genealogical research, and relatives from England, Scotland and the US have all continued to add to it since)
-Facebook for keeping up with friends, acquaintances, colleagues and family wherever they might be. Along with Geni, Facebook has contributed to my getting to know my extended family better, as they are all outside of Australia.
-Go2web20 a very handy index to web applications. Great for finding that web tool that you need and hope someone somewhere has created.
-Powerhouse Museum's new collection search.
-Booko an Australian online book/dvd shop meta-search site. Very handy for finding the best price.

Sites I've not really used, but think deserve more exploration:
-Lulu for self publishing
-RedBubble: allows anyone to share their visual artworks or writings, and to sell them as t-shirts, mugs, calendars etc to others
-Street Advisor: tap into local knowledge, and find the streets and suburbs to choose or avoid. (I do wonder how many reviewers are in the process of selling their homes, but an interesting idea.)
-BugMeNot: allows web users to avoid compulsory registrations by sharing BugMeNot's own set of logins.
-Feedity: create RSS feeds from any webpage

YouTube

2009-09-24T16:15:00.002+10:00

Potentially YouTube could be very useful for libraries as a teaching aid. I think we could create handy little 30 second to 5 minute how-to clips on doing all sorts of library activities, (such as how to put money on your library card, print from the internet PCs, or use the catalogues and databases to find scholarly articles). I know that for a user this library is huge, complex, overwhelming and maze-like. YouTube videos scattered appropriately on our website could really help some new library users to familiarise themselves with our systems and services. They would also be tools that people could return to when they've forgotten those confusing steps that a librarian patiently took them through, but which they can't quite recall. So, the library could also have a YouTube channel of how-to videos for visitors/users to view.

I also sometimes like it when YouTube clips are added to presentations or training sessions, (as long as the material is relevant, engaging and short).

However, I don't enjoy YouTube as a site to browse. I find it clumsy to search or navigate the site, compared to Flickr for example which I enjoy exploring, and which makes excellent use of tagging and sets to aid navigation.

tricksy technology

2009-09-22T17:00:00.005+10:00

Technology is logical. Follow the steps correctly and technology will do your bidding. It cannot be temperamental or irrational, and lacks the will required to decide to be uncooperative just for fun.

Theoretically.

In reality, technology tends to be plagued by "temporary glitches" and unexplained quirks that often give the impression that technology is both moody and malicious, and certainly not logical.

For example, when I tried using the automatic blogging tool in flickr to post pictures to my blog it all seemed to go smoothly. It took a couple of attempts to get the sizing right, but after a little tinkering I had the posts just how I wanted, including that the information about the source of the images appeared below the pictures. But then, within minutes, and without my input, the captions disappeared. And I cannot get them back. I've tried editing the posts, but the captions appear in the previews, just not on the actual blog posts. I just cannot figure it out. Grrrr.

I understand (but I could be completely wrong) that this happens because Web technologies rely on complex code. A little mistake in the code here or there means that unexpected mistakes happen, and this is to be expected. Users need to be understanding and patient. But it will help users to be understanding and patient if we are not fed the line that technology is always logical. Technology is tricksy and complicated. It offers some great benefits, but it can also be unreliable, incomprehensible and sometimes unworkable. If you tell people too often to expect that technologies are easy to use, logical and reliable, they will naturally assume that if they can't make them work it must be because they are "not technically minded". And then they may well avoid using them at all.

So, I retract my opening statements. Technology is not logical. Learn to love the "temporary glitches".

Embedding a video

2009-09-21T15:01:00.002+10:00

This is my attempt at embedding a clip from YouTube onto this blog. Will this work?

Yes, it did work!

Sleeping cat with soldier, 1915

2009-09-21T14:45:00.007+10:00

Sleeping cat with soldier, 1915, originally uploaded by Australian War Memorial collection.

This photograph is from the wonderful "animals and war" set created by the Australian War Memorial, within the Commons on flickr.

I'm on flickr

2009-09-19T11:46:00.002+10:00

Corner of Vincent St, Daylesford, originally uploaded by marshalljulia21.

I decided to upload some photos to Flickr myself, partly as a way of backing up some of my favourite pictures in case of hard-drive failure. So, I now have a Flickr photostream.

And I'm using the automatic "Blog this photo" process from flickr to add this to my blog.

#9 Flickr

2009-09-18T16:40:00.004+10:00

I love this Lego public library by Teddy (Johan), and found on Flickr. It makes me want to try to build a Lego version of SLV.

on productivity

2009-09-18T10:32:00.002+10:00

I enjoyed this short post by Google's Matt Cutts on how to boost productivity levels.

not the thing for me #8

2009-09-11T13:43:00.003+10:00

I've had another look at Library Thing, having first set up an account a couple of years ago, and then ignored it. I just don't really get much out of it, despite the fact that I enjoy reading, discussing what I've read, and hearing about good reads discovered by others. Again, it is a case of one more thing to log in and out of, for relatively little benefit, when (as the badges say) I'd rather be reading.

But if other people enjoy using it, I don't see any harm in adding Library Thing reviews to catalogue records, as many libraries are now doing. And it is potentially very useful for very small libraries as a cataloguing tool.

the future of museums (and perhaps libraries)

2009-09-11T12:14:00.004+10:00

A couple of interesting podcasts (part 1, part 2) from Radio National about the future of museums (and libraries) are currently available online. They look at the impact of Web2.0 and digitization projects, amongst other topics.

Store Wars

2009-09-11T11:15:00.003+10:00

If you are either an organics fan or a Star Wars fan, (or perhaps both), you might enjoy this little video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVrIyEu6h_E

A great example of using Web2.0 as a fun way to get across an important message.

tapping into tagging

2009-08-25T11:59:00.009+10:00

I'm a bit lazy when it comes to tagging. I enjoy the benefits of tapping into the communal tag clouds of sites such as del.icio.us and diigo to find out what is particularly new and interesting, (and I should remember to use the slvchat bookmarks on del.icio.us more often), but I can rarely be bothered to tag things myself. This is largely due to the perennial password problem - I have so many different password/login combos for various online products that I struggle to remember which combo goes with each site. Thus either I have to always carry my cheatsheet of logins, or it takes me too long to login, so I don't generally bother.

That said, when I do use social bookmarking I tend to use diigo. Unlike del.icio.us, diigo allows users to highlight text and add sticky notes to pages that they mark. It also allows users to form groups around topics of common interest, and to share their bookmarks with diigo friends.

podcasts (#6)

2009-08-21T15:22:00.002+10:00

I love the idea of listening to talks on interesting subjects on the tram. But the hassle of searching them out, downloading them and then transfering them to my mp3 player puts me off. Perhaps it is unsurprising then that I found Podcast.com highly unappealing!

That said, I actually do listen to podcasts occassionally:

When a particular podcast on a topic of interest to me has been highly recommended, (usually by a friend, colleague or a blogger I respect)
When I'm stuck at a computer terminal doing highly repetitive work requiring very little concentration and need something to keep my mind in gear

I usually choose my podcasts from Radio National because they have podcasts on all sorts of eclectic subjects, but there isn't so much on offer that I become overwhelmed and confused.

windows to the world (#5 rss)

2009-08-13T13:09:00.005+10:00

Ever since library school I've been a fan of both rss feeds and other feedreaders, and I use them on an almost daily basis, for work and pleasure. As I stumble across interesting blogs I try to remember to add the feed to my iGoogle account, so that I can easily keep track of new posts.

Most of the feeds I subscribe to are from blogs, usually about libraries, reading, technology, environmentalism, craft, gardening, cooking or some combination of these topics. I really enjoy reading blogs because they are a way to learn about what other people with similar interests and concerns are thinking, reading and doing. We live a world that is fast-paced, but often overwhelming, full of stimulation, but isolating, and frankly this can be downright depressing! But blogs, and web2.0 technologies generally, are actually quite a good antidote to this, as they allow like-minded people to connect. Each time I discover the blog of yet another cat-loving, organic gardening, craft-enthusiast, avid-reader, environmentalist librarian not only do I feel a little bit less alone, I usually learn new things about my areas of interest.

Blogs also tap into the power of serendipity. Reading them you learn about things that you never knew you needed to know, but which turn out to be invaluable.

online applications (#4)

2009-08-13T11:18:00.006+10:00

Today's learning 2.0 challenge is to publish from Zoho writer to my blog.

And it worked! Hazzaaaah!

And now I will probably never use that function again. But I am generally a fan of online applications. They are handy to suggest to patrons and I like the convenience of accessing my documents from any internet enabled computer. The biggest drawback is ending up with an enormous list of usernames and passwords.

wishful wiki thinking (#3)

2009-08-12T14:27:00.010+10:00

This morning I attended a presentation on the pressing problem of "knowledge transfer". This afternoon, working away on the learning 2.0 program, I was asked to ponder how libraries might usefully employ wikis. And so I've come to ponder whether wikis might in any way be useful as a way to capture at least some of the knowledge of our many more experienced librarians before they retire.

As a relatively inexperienced librarian this idea has great appeal. Faced with a baffling reference inquiry I could tap into the "wiki of wisdom" for instant, easy access to information my colleagues have toiled for years to accumulate. If only!

In reality, I know I will have to toil long and hard to accumulate my own wealth of experience, knowledge and library-know-how. This is not just because I realise that although wikis can be great for sharing all kinds of information, there is no substitute for experience. It is also because I realise that although newbie librarians like myself would have much to gain from a "wiki of wisdom", the very librarians who we would want to put the most work into adding valuable information to the wiki would likely be the ones who would gain the least from its creation, are often least comfortable with Web2.0 computing, and have the largest, most pressing workloads.

Despite this, I think wikis have great potential for application in libraries. As the NLA has shown, they are an easy way to share information across a large organization, with many advantages over shared drives and intranets. They lend themselves to the sharing of resources and references, tips and tricks, policies and procedures, facts and figures, and even (perhaps) accounts of projects past. So, potentially, wikis could play some small part in knowledge transfer, particularly if more experienced staff are given the time and encouragement to do so.

On a completely different note, a wiki could also be a great way to allow staff from across the library to contribute new ideas for continually improving the library. This would allow conversations about what staff think could be changed and improved, where anyone from any team, and from any level within the library could have a place to put their bright ideas, some of which just might be gems. Wikis would generally be great tools for getting conversations happening across the divisions, between staff that might otherwise rarely interact, and that would be fantastic.

by librarians, for librarians: the way of the future

2009-07-29T11:03:00.004+10:00

I've just come back from a presentation about Archivists' Toolkit, and I am feeling optimistic.

Archivists' Toolkit sounds like a fantastic application with the potential to make life much simpler for archivists, but as I am not an archivist it is likely to have little direct impact upon me. But I'm hopeful because it is a product created using open source for librarians and archivists which has been created by librarians and archivists working within libraries and archival institutions.

I believe that using open source to create applications that are tailored to the needs of libraries by staff from within the institutions that will be using them is the best way to create applications that truly meet our needs. And as our needs and the expectations of our users rapidly evolve, this approach is the best way of adapting our applications as quickly as possible. So I am always pleased to see libraries creating, adapting and implementing new open source library-apps.

victorian climate change green paper

2009-07-28T14:09:00.004+10:00

The Victorian state government has just released a green paper on climate change, which is available online and, of course, at the State Library of Victoria.

The closing date for comments on the green paper is 30 September 2009. So if you are a Victorian who is worried about climate change, get reading and responding ASAP.

think before you blog

2009-07-27T13:55:00.001+10:00

Here is a link to a blog post with some tips and guidelines about being careful what you say when you are library blogging. Yes, it is all pretty common-sense stuff - but worth thinking about.

It comes from my favourite library blogger, the Swiss Army Librarian.

a garden and a library

2009-07-23T14:46:00.013+10:00

This blog takes it name from one of my favourite quotes.

"If you have a garden and a library then you have everything you need", Cicero.

I can't claim to have actually read Cicero - I have a greeting card with this quote on it stuck above my desk. My mum gave me the card just before I began my very first library job.

The quote reminds me that I have all the things I really need. This includes a garden of sorts, (well a teensy little concrete courtyard really, but I've crammed a lot of pots into it), a library to work at and several local libraries to borrow from, (not exactly what Cicero was thinking of, I know), and all the important things that Cicero didn't mention: good friends and family, clothing and shelter, and of the utmost importance, a cat.