See earlier post. This is my favorite librarian, in full "tasteful" mode-- gloves, hat, even earrings.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The Tasteful lady
See earlier post. This is my favorite librarian, in full "tasteful" mode-- gloves, hat, even earrings.
Flickr--surprising thoughts
I searched “librarians” and then “library cats.” Naturally there were thousands in both categories. Without going deeper than the first 4 pages of “librarians”, I found a number of interesting images. One was just the sign “Gorgeous Librarians”; a later image by a different photographer showed the top of the sign “Girls, Girls.” The sign is for a strip club in Las Vegas. Think what a library could do with that kind of marketing…..
Another image was “Nympho Librarian”, a book cover for a porn book about librarians. With it was a link to a list of “hard core porn” pbks from the several decades ago. Mostly just, the titles, but a few with links to selections from the books—with a warning that it really was explicit language. Fascinating. I’ve come across more porn, images and text, with learning 2.0 exercises than I have on the Internet since GUIs became available—just by browsing terms such as “librarians,.” Or looking through the links to web sites that received awards.
I think for this post I’ll just link a picture of my own favorite librarian, in full “lady” mode. Please note—the hat is NOT a Minnie Pearl ripoff, but one designed for a costume in local productions of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury, and worn by the “lady” in this picture.
Another image was “Nympho Librarian”, a book cover for a porn book about librarians. With it was a link to a list of “hard core porn” pbks from the several decades ago. Mostly just, the titles, but a few with links to selections from the books—with a warning that it really was explicit language. Fascinating. I’ve come across more porn, images and text, with learning 2.0 exercises than I have on the Internet since GUIs became available—just by browsing terms such as “librarians,.” Or looking through the links to web sites that received awards.
I think for this post I’ll just link a picture of my own favorite librarian, in full “lady” mode. Please note—the hat is NOT a Minnie Pearl ripoff, but one designed for a costume in local productions of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury, and worn by the “lady” in this picture.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Thing 19
I chose to look at the short list of awards sites, browsing in several categories. Many of the sites have application for libraries-- basic reference, for example. I looked at the travel sites, and discovered quick clicks to specific cities, with the usual hotel, restaurant, and other information. This is easily accessible in other ways, but tagging one of these sites might be useful. I also looked at the games sites, and will play those again on another computer! Like most free games, the instructions, or lack thereof, varied. I particularly enjoyed the simplicity of Guess the Google. I played it twice. It's a good brain exercise. Maybe an interesting recommendation for resources for seniors?
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Technorati
I'm glad there's a way to search blogs. It was interesting to view. I looked up some personal interests--chiefly Discworld, and found some interesting sites. I didn't cross check in google to see if the more valuable ones (interviews with Terry Pratchett) were indexed elsewhere. If there are unique things that can be used for research, then Technorati tagging is a great help. I'm not sure YET about blogs as a resource for citing in research. I guess if a recognized person in the field has a blog, then using their blogs is valuable. And if you're working on something that needs anecdotes about personal experience, that's worthwhile. I'd have to explore it a great deal more to be sure.
It was interesting to see how many libraries are doing some version of Learning 2.0. Some had fewer "things" and some had more. Fascinating. Also that all kinds of libraries are doing this. Too bad the originators aren't getting royalties!
Finally-- Technorati, like so many of the other fascinating resources we've learned about, could easily get out of hand for me (I have an obsessive personality)-- it would be all too easy to spend way too much time going from link to link with this. I do find it more difficult to see as an active tool for librarians to answer specific questions, although recommending it (and showing folks how to use it) is definitely in the picture.
It was interesting to see how many libraries are doing some version of Learning 2.0. Some had fewer "things" and some had more. Fascinating. Also that all kinds of libraries are doing this. Too bad the originators aren't getting royalties!
Finally-- Technorati, like so many of the other fascinating resources we've learned about, could easily get out of hand for me (I have an obsessive personality)-- it would be all too easy to spend way too much time going from link to link with this. I do find it more difficult to see as an active tool for librarians to answer specific questions, although recommending it (and showing folks how to use it) is definitely in the picture.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Tagging and Folksonomy Thoughts--General and Del.icio.us
The video showing the sisters tagging everything was perfect! It not only demonstrated tagging, but also showed the ambiguities, and POV of different folks. Granted, tagging doesn’t strive to define topics, exactly—so Blue and Door, very different concepts, on the same object make perfect sense. And both are useful tags for people looking up each of those examples.
The discussion tab of the wikipedia article on Folksonomy was more fun than the article itself—in many ways it demonstrates (more pedantically) the same points as the video with the sisters. Ironic, I think.
As a professional “disambiguator”, I am extremely aware of the ease with which different concepts may share the same tag, and similar concepts can share varyingly precise synonyms. A few years ago the Library of Congress subject heading folks worked hard on making vernacular terms for vegetables and fruits all plural. Apples, not Apple ; potatoes, not potato. Then, there’s broccoli. Inherently plural, I think. And Kiwifruit. The large number of words in English, and oddities of our language and usage make total consistency very difficult, even if you’re striving for it. And we are all aware of the weaknesses of LCSH. Any controlled system in English will have weaknesses—again, because of the size of number of words we have, some with very nuanced meanings. “Cat is Cat” doesn’t even hold true-- To some, cat may mean the big cats—Lions, or wild cats (i.e.—pumas); whereas to others it may mean Siamese, Persian, or “Puss.” I was well grown before I knew that “Polecat” or “Pole cat” was a skunk; from early westerns and cartoons, I knew it was a human scoundrel.
Additionally, reading is often subjective—that’s why Reader’s advisory is not an exact science. When a customer wants a book “like” Harry Potter”, do they mean fantasy? Magic? Boarding schools? England? Smart female characters? Or something else entirely. Tags added to the Rowling books could include any or all of those topics.
And they’d be correct. Time and money prevent all of those tags being added by catalogers (who can’t read every word of everything they catalog) . Nonfiction is also subjective. Each reader may find something different about any given book. Think about the Covey’s Seven Habits…; then think about the many words you could use to describe either the book as a whole, or the parts that were most significant to you. Yours may differ from mine, in both my roles as cataloger and reader. Neither is wrong.
My point? There’s a place in the online environment for both folksonomy (or uncontrolled, user supplied vocabulary) and controlled vocabulary. Both have strengths and weaknesses—some amazingly alike.
My experience with Del.icio.us at VBPL_L2 is too limited to comment on—there aren’t enough tags, etc. to see full value. Even when I looked at the “other people”, it wasn’t as helpful as I had hoped. HOWEVER- the tutorial by Kathleen Gilroy (plus the long presentation by Jason Griffey) did start me thinking about uses of Del.icio.us for general reference and personal use. Think of how great this would be for quick answers to persistent questions—or some teacher’s current homework stumper. Since it’s available to anyone with an account, then tagging for: (topic) would make it very useful. As mentioned in at least one of the resources—more accessible and useful than a personal “favorites” list, because it can travel to whichever computer you’re on.
For personal use: The same traveling advantage, plus you can build an extended list of articles and urls with topics you’re interested in. Favorites lists quickly become unmanageable, even with folders. Tagging may make it easier to organize.
This is what really grabbed me, and helped me understand the folksonomy promise/premise:
Tags and folksonomies are created from the wisdom of crowds—when a large enough people tag, a folksonomy is created.
The discussion tab of the wikipedia article on Folksonomy was more fun than the article itself—in many ways it demonstrates (more pedantically) the same points as the video with the sisters. Ironic, I think.
As a professional “disambiguator”, I am extremely aware of the ease with which different concepts may share the same tag, and similar concepts can share varyingly precise synonyms. A few years ago the Library of Congress subject heading folks worked hard on making vernacular terms for vegetables and fruits all plural. Apples, not Apple ; potatoes, not potato. Then, there’s broccoli. Inherently plural, I think. And Kiwifruit. The large number of words in English, and oddities of our language and usage make total consistency very difficult, even if you’re striving for it. And we are all aware of the weaknesses of LCSH. Any controlled system in English will have weaknesses—again, because of the size of number of words we have, some with very nuanced meanings. “Cat is Cat” doesn’t even hold true-- To some, cat may mean the big cats—Lions, or wild cats (i.e.—pumas); whereas to others it may mean Siamese, Persian, or “Puss.” I was well grown before I knew that “Polecat” or “Pole cat” was a skunk; from early westerns and cartoons, I knew it was a human scoundrel.
Additionally, reading is often subjective—that’s why Reader’s advisory is not an exact science. When a customer wants a book “like” Harry Potter”, do they mean fantasy? Magic? Boarding schools? England? Smart female characters? Or something else entirely. Tags added to the Rowling books could include any or all of those topics.
And they’d be correct. Time and money prevent all of those tags being added by catalogers (who can’t read every word of everything they catalog) . Nonfiction is also subjective. Each reader may find something different about any given book. Think about the Covey’s Seven Habits…; then think about the many words you could use to describe either the book as a whole, or the parts that were most significant to you. Yours may differ from mine, in both my roles as cataloger and reader. Neither is wrong.
My point? There’s a place in the online environment for both folksonomy (or uncontrolled, user supplied vocabulary) and controlled vocabulary. Both have strengths and weaknesses—some amazingly alike.
My experience with Del.icio.us at VBPL_L2 is too limited to comment on—there aren’t enough tags, etc. to see full value. Even when I looked at the “other people”, it wasn’t as helpful as I had hoped. HOWEVER- the tutorial by Kathleen Gilroy (plus the long presentation by Jason Griffey) did start me thinking about uses of Del.icio.us for general reference and personal use. Think of how great this would be for quick answers to persistent questions—or some teacher’s current homework stumper. Since it’s available to anyone with an account, then tagging for: (topic) would make it very useful. As mentioned in at least one of the resources—more accessible and useful than a personal “favorites” list, because it can travel to whichever computer you’re on.
For personal use: The same traveling advantage, plus you can build an extended list of articles and urls with topics you’re interested in. Favorites lists quickly become unmanageable, even with folders. Tagging may make it easier to organize.
This is what really grabbed me, and helped me understand the folksonomy promise/premise:
Tags and folksonomies are created from the wisdom of crowds—when a large enough people tag, a folksonomy is created.
Friday, January 11, 2008
MySpace exploration
It is all too easy to make a MySpace account. I took the tour (which was hardly a real tour—more of an advertisement) and then looked at some open information, including that on my brother’s site. After looking at the video “how to sign up for a MySpace account”, I was seriously tempted—it looks all too easy. But then I saw the “Tips from a Grownup Geek site”, that included information about hacking, including hacking into hidden profile information, and decided I really don’t want to sign up right now. I can understand the appeal, especially when you’re separated from friends and family by distance. This is probably my shortest blog post ever. I can't get excited about MySpace for myself.
Social Networking: a new tool, not a demon
Two preliminary observations about use and overuse of online social networks:
>>I’ve noticed a number of pop groups now have a MySpace url, which puts them right with their audience. Good marketing...
>>On NPR recently there was an essay by a 23 year old who had been an avid member of either Facebook or MySpace for 4 or so years. She decided to quit cold turkey and remove herself from the OSN because she discovered she had nothing to talk about when she met her friends face-to-face. At her high school reunion she already knew everything her classmates cared to share; what was the point of the reunion? Ordinary small talk was useless—she already knew what they’d had for breakfast, what books they were reading, and the latest episode in their love lives— all from the social network. She decided she wanted a real life, rather than a virtual one with them.
And now, the personal opinions.
The attitudes in two of the articles seem to epitomize the ends of the continuum—OSNs good or bad.
I pasted this from the back page of “Creating & Connecting//Research and guidelines on Online Social and Educational Networking” to show the POV of this group’s research.
“The National School Boards Association is a not-for-profit federation of state associations of school boards across the United States. Our mission is to foster excellence and equity in public education through school board leadership.
NSBA represents the nation’s 95,000 school board members that govern 14,890 local school districts serving more than
47 million public school students.”
In comparison with the article “Get out of my space” by National Institute on Media and the Family, the NSBA’s study makes it seem that most concerns adults have about social networking by YAs are hysteria. Their percentages of people having problems are small, even very small. The NSBA finds great and greater use of online methods in the classroom, as well as giving statistics about, and support for, teens and tweens use of OSNs.
ME: Naturally, cases with lots of publicity or horror value, though few, will get the greatest press, and a consequent call by some for clamping down on the perceived danger (such as the recent case of cyberbullying that apparently led to a 13yo’s suicide.). The large gap that appears between some legislators and the techno-savvy people whose activities they wish to legislate creates all sorts of problems, often needless ones. OTOH, each time we have a new technology that makes it possible to communicate in a more “graphic” way, it takes a long long time for society to shake down and accept the difference. We all recall the stories of earlier movies and television, when even married couples slept in twin beds. How DID Lucy get pregnant (and wasn’t it amazing that they even let her appear pregnant on TV in the very early 50s?). Hearing steamy passages in audiobooks is very different from reading them from a page, especially when you’re listening without headphones in a public place (such as your car) with the windows open!
One telling comment near the end of the NSBA article implies that schools just have to get used to new technology before embracing it. Now expect students to use the Internet for homework. Wikis and blogs are sometimes created as part of class work and assignments. Some students who don’t shine in class perform better at the one-remove step of online communication. Currently OSNs are the way teens communicate with each other; others who communicate the same way are more likely to get their attention—be it advertisers or teachers, or libraries or someone else. OSNs have the virtue of feeling private and public at the same time. They can be somewhat like diaries.
And here’s an added bonus: Students who use OSN are likely to be practicing writing; even if they don’t use perfect grammar or spelling (who does?); they’re learning to put their thoughts into writing without the pressure of having to write “an essay”. It would be interesting to learn if there is a future or current correlation with the scores for the SAT essay section and students using OSN.
And finally—to answer the question: should VBPL use a social networking site to connect with teens? Yes. Like IM, it is another way to connect with customers in the way they’re using our locations (in this case, our virtual location). But it has to be accessible not just from the OSN site, but from the library web page, too, so current library users are more likely to find it and to share the information with their friends.
>>I’ve noticed a number of pop groups now have a MySpace url, which puts them right with their audience. Good marketing...
>>On NPR recently there was an essay by a 23 year old who had been an avid member of either Facebook or MySpace for 4 or so years. She decided to quit cold turkey and remove herself from the OSN because she discovered she had nothing to talk about when she met her friends face-to-face. At her high school reunion she already knew everything her classmates cared to share; what was the point of the reunion? Ordinary small talk was useless—she already knew what they’d had for breakfast, what books they were reading, and the latest episode in their love lives— all from the social network. She decided she wanted a real life, rather than a virtual one with them.
And now, the personal opinions.
The attitudes in two of the articles seem to epitomize the ends of the continuum—OSNs good or bad.
I pasted this from the back page of “Creating & Connecting//Research and guidelines on Online Social and Educational Networking” to show the POV of this group’s research.
“The National School Boards Association is a not-for-profit federation of state associations of school boards across the United States. Our mission is to foster excellence and equity in public education through school board leadership.
NSBA represents the nation’s 95,000 school board members that govern 14,890 local school districts serving more than
47 million public school students.”
In comparison with the article “Get out of my space” by National Institute on Media and the Family, the NSBA’s study makes it seem that most concerns adults have about social networking by YAs are hysteria. Their percentages of people having problems are small, even very small. The NSBA finds great and greater use of online methods in the classroom, as well as giving statistics about, and support for, teens and tweens use of OSNs.
ME: Naturally, cases with lots of publicity or horror value, though few, will get the greatest press, and a consequent call by some for clamping down on the perceived danger (such as the recent case of cyberbullying that apparently led to a 13yo’s suicide.). The large gap that appears between some legislators and the techno-savvy people whose activities they wish to legislate creates all sorts of problems, often needless ones. OTOH, each time we have a new technology that makes it possible to communicate in a more “graphic” way, it takes a long long time for society to shake down and accept the difference. We all recall the stories of earlier movies and television, when even married couples slept in twin beds. How DID Lucy get pregnant (and wasn’t it amazing that they even let her appear pregnant on TV in the very early 50s?). Hearing steamy passages in audiobooks is very different from reading them from a page, especially when you’re listening without headphones in a public place (such as your car) with the windows open!
One telling comment near the end of the NSBA article implies that schools just have to get used to new technology before embracing it. Now expect students to use the Internet for homework. Wikis and blogs are sometimes created as part of class work and assignments. Some students who don’t shine in class perform better at the one-remove step of online communication. Currently OSNs are the way teens communicate with each other; others who communicate the same way are more likely to get their attention—be it advertisers or teachers, or libraries or someone else. OSNs have the virtue of feeling private and public at the same time. They can be somewhat like diaries.
And here’s an added bonus: Students who use OSN are likely to be practicing writing; even if they don’t use perfect grammar or spelling (who does?); they’re learning to put their thoughts into writing without the pressure of having to write “an essay”. It would be interesting to learn if there is a future or current correlation with the scores for the SAT essay section and students using OSN.
And finally—to answer the question: should VBPL use a social networking site to connect with teens? Yes. Like IM, it is another way to connect with customers in the way they’re using our locations (in this case, our virtual location). But it has to be accessible not just from the OSN site, but from the library web page, too, so current library users are more likely to find it and to share the information with their friends.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
RA WIKI--Thing 14
The huge “staff picks” page on the RA wiki was very easy to add to. But the wiki as a whole was not very friendly. I found, and then lost, nonfiction books. I thought I found (and then lost) a section of science fiction books. Does someone periodically go through the additions by keyword and organize them (as in the section for teens for “boys”).
I couldn’t find the wiki on our web site. Is it somewhere available to the public? Granted, it’s small yet, but customers do enjoy reading about what library staff enjoy—and possibly looking for the materials themselves.
I couldn’t find the wiki on our web site. Is it somewhere available to the public? Granted, it’s small yet, but customers do enjoy reading about what library staff enjoy—and possibly looking for the materials themselves.
Wikis-- Thing 13
Can you imagine an open wiki for vbgov for citizens or visitors? Rochester has the optimism/pessimism pages that appear open, plus various other obviously interactive sites—the “find cheap gas” one was interesting—the price a lot higher than VB today.
University of Calgary’s Sandbox (where users can check out their entry without “breaking” anything) is cool.
SJCPL subject guide is fascinating. If customers can add to it, then it is a great tool for browsing for nonfiction books.
Finding government information on SJ PL (the link to Indiana govt) seems so much easier than on our web site. This could be an entirely new way for us to organize the web links resources on our web site. It could also be a way for folks to talk about their experiences using a particular link, or to give tips for searching a particular link, or to add a link for an additional related resource.
Downside—to what degree would our info folks need to vet these? Would a disclaimer be necessary?
What a concept—putting the policy and procedure manuals in a wiki—while not self-indexing, it could still be a better, easier way to update and find materials than the old-fashioned (?!) online format. Limiting editors would take care of any inappropriate additions or editing.
Clearly, like so many other ideas new to me in Learning 2.0, wikis have lots of potential uses in libraries. The trick is going to be figuring out what is the best “2.0” way of providing specific types of information. I’ve noticed that several different traditional library services (for example, Reader’s advisory) have been presented using various Web 2.0 tools—wikis, of course, but also library thing, blogs, and other additions of subject headings and reviews.
University of Calgary’s Sandbox (where users can check out their entry without “breaking” anything) is cool.
SJCPL subject guide is fascinating. If customers can add to it, then it is a great tool for browsing for nonfiction books.
Finding government information on SJ PL (the link to Indiana govt) seems so much easier than on our web site. This could be an entirely new way for us to organize the web links resources on our web site. It could also be a way for folks to talk about their experiences using a particular link, or to give tips for searching a particular link, or to add a link for an additional related resource.
Downside—to what degree would our info folks need to vet these? Would a disclaimer be necessary?
What a concept—putting the policy and procedure manuals in a wiki—while not self-indexing, it could still be a better, easier way to update and find materials than the old-fashioned (?!) online format. Limiting editors would take care of any inappropriate additions or editing.
Clearly, like so many other ideas new to me in Learning 2.0, wikis have lots of potential uses in libraries. The trick is going to be figuring out what is the best “2.0” way of providing specific types of information. I’ve noticed that several different traditional library services (for example, Reader’s advisory) have been presented using various Web 2.0 tools—wikis, of course, but also library thing, blogs, and other additions of subject headings and reviews.
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