I Ravelrise too

*A note on the headline – I like to verbify nouns, but I am not the first to do it for using Ravelry. That distinction, Google answered, might go to Sof Frankenstein .

Other neologisms or niche lingo might pop up herein.  Answers and amusement might be found in Ravelry wiki’s Glossary.

Soon after mum was diagnosed and I started spending my off-work days with her, I picked up knitting. 

A scarf,

a few rectangle—>beanies,

…

and I wanted to try some more appealing and more challenging projects.

A circle scarf with more complex stitch-sets,

reducing for a shaped beanie crown,

its spring so a lacy sunhat….

So naturally, I bet you can guess where I started learning the myriad refinements (once I had exhausted my mum’s knowledge and that on her shelf)?  _______ , _____ and _______ _____ 

Very soon I wanted to blog what I was learning, but it is just not easy enough.  Perhaps if I find a mobile app that could substitute for OpenLiveWriter (Don’t tell me about any apps that use Bloggers’ own html-disrespecting post-editor).

Much of what I learned was either from, or linked in some way to, Ravelry.  So why not give it a go?

Oh my, what a bounty!

At the time I had not a thought for its potential contribution to my professional development as a librarian. But of course now that I start a post about “my knitting” in this blog, and think about the blogs usual themes, the connections pour out.

• It is a niche social network (tag:web 2.0 tools) and I expect to spend some time evaluating its features and usability.
• Some of our library’s Yak&Yarners are already Ravelry members, if not avid users, and I’m wondering whether there might be Ravelers in the area who might enjoy meetups at the library.
• Learning journeys through thrills and spills
• Transferability of problem recognition, analysis and recovery, (aargh that can’t be right, why?, what if?, tinking)
• I’m even using Googlesheets to chart & calculate patterns
• …

Tell me about your hobby-learning?

Questions about Second Life experience engineering

+
? What makes a great Second Life experience?
? Which answers to that could be applied by SL Libraries to enhance their/our projects?
? For that matter, how might LIS courses apply it to improve their classes about LISinSL?

-- no answers here --

please help me find answers

Small details made a recent Hunt an entertaining experience for me. Significant little event management strategies and differences I found between merchants' strategies made me wonder whether some might improve SL library services. Of course, many librarians* work innovatively in Second Life and some may already be demonstrating answers to these questions--if so I look forward to hearing (or googling up) about them.

In case serendipity does not favour me with answers I plan to continue:

Direct Observations

Does that sound like a great excuse to participate in more hunts; and visit featured Destinations?

I will keep using Flickr for noting positive and negative details of my experiences, although I suspect my detachment might make me too fussy?  However observing, noting and analysing observations takes time, particularly as I battle distractions (new clothes; editing; wanting to build; chatting).

Others have been around longer, participated more deeply, and will have actually tried and tested ideas, so:

Web searches

The answers are bound to be out there, however this method has its own distractions:
..

Dwell On It: The Comic - Comic #110; Freedom and Safety via kwout

to which I was led by Pooky Amsterdam's defense** of Second Life against ignorant (inadequately investigative) journalism, to which I was led by:

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi … the Dresden Art Museum closes in Second Life « Prim Perfect via kwout

Nevertheless, such distractions demonstrate that there is a great diversity of types of experience in Second Life. Will what counts as great, differ if the information comes from:

• shopping experiences - Torley and his sources refer to some of the details I have witnessed: navigation, interesting and relevant decor, and even packaging (although disappointingly all the links there are deadends [found Suella's tips that he acknowledges; oh and the forum thread) [interestingly there has also been some academic research on positive influencers of SL shopping experiences - particularly spokes-avatar presence]
• role play or game experiences?
• exploration - (I've enjoyed sims' beauty travelling alone, but I've noticed guided tours available at times I wasn't - would anyone say they'd had a great SL guided tour experience--what made it so?)
• interpersonal experiences?
• artistic experiences - does the work of artists producing delightful art sims, photography, machinima and webcomics from and within Second Life suggest ideas? Could a visit to SL libraries become a more photogenic experience?

Second Life of My Dreams via kwout

For thoroughness (but without sacrificing the excuse of value in my personal observations) I will look for more published views on Hunts***; however I will rely even more on others' views about what makes great in RP/gaming and social events - and how those might be applied to SL libraries.

Mundanely, I've frequently observed that maintenance is a massive issue for any set-up that expects their sim to support self-service.  In what ways are great experiences set up to minimise failures of maintenance?  Does the lack of Creation and modification dates in objects (and lack of distinction between creation and spawn in landmarks) bother anyone else?

The personal touch seems to be revealed as significant (Jin & Bolebruch, 2009), but people can't be there all the time - and I've found some avatars' profiles enhance my experience while others grate - do you agree? I haven't analysed the source of the difference yet - are there details for using profiles to help make a great experience? [Wow, Treacle Darlandes shared a great story which included the contribution of a profile to a great experience]

Is all this pondering - at least for the perspective of libraries in SL - a waste of time? Sometimes, like this moment, I lose sight (did I ever have one, I thought I did the other day) of what point a library really serves in Second Life (except as point of connection for librarians) -- tell me?

* * *

footnotes
*librarian = person who runs a library (YMMV)
**while the arguments on investigative negligence, and contribution of the importance of customer service to my own question, may be valid, the motivation for defense is naturally biased by Pooky's investment in Second Life as a medium for her services.
***For example, but not linked above for unreliability (the author (unnamed) claims three years SL business (unnamed) success (unevidenced)) though the information on optimising business with hunts sounds sane.

+Photo Credit:
Nevery Lorakeet *LpD*'s Futura artistic outfit for Second Life Birthday 8! CC2.0:BY-NC-ND

Reference (I'll be interested to see how this appears, as dragged from Zotero):

Jin, S.-A. A., & Bolebruch, J. (2009). Avatar-based advertising in Second Life: The role of presence and attractiveness of virtual spokespersons. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 10(1). Retrieved from http://jiad.org/article124

Continuing... Caledon Librarianship research: Reference collection

Can Google help me discover *why* this is the "Colonel Exrex Somme" reference collection?  It appears that the compliment was presented, with dramatic timing and visual presentation at the second Compliments Duel on May 11, 2008.





[15:29] JJ Drinkwater takes a deep breath
[15:29]-[15:37] JJ Drinkwater:
I am so stunned by the Colonel's politesse, as well as by his hats, that I am, for the moment, at a loss for words
pretends to think
It is true, sir, that in a land of magnanimous spirit, as this, our Caledon, we rise as we are able
And yet, it is not only those who are poor who are honest, nor yet only those of humble origins who exemplify Nature's Nobility
And, as I have repeatedly said, here today and on many another ocassion
Your love of learning do you the most irreproachable credit
As I am at a loss for words, I think I must let pictures tell, in the main, my story....
As you know, it is the custom of the Caledon library to name its brances and, when possible, its collections, after persons of note
viz the Marie Curie and HG Wells memroial branches
And the Ellen Throckmorton Etiquette collection
Now, the glory of the Caledon library (second only to its patrons and supporters) is its collections
And when we went to name our Reference Collection
We felt that we must name it for someone of suitably compendious learning, and widespread intellectual curiosity
Which is why, sir, we could do no better that to create....
The Colonel Exrex Somme Reference Collection

However, the decision won't have been made on the spot, so I wonder whether the whole compliment was planned long ahead... or ?

I love that the Colonel Exrex Somme Reference Collection is searchable with a Custom Google Search (sorry: Caledon Library Aetheric Search Gizmo).

The Library Militant: Caledon Library News: Colonel Exrex Somme Reference Collection via kwout

As to browsing the collection (be careful this could take hours... I was drawn in to Roger Vaughan's Victorian & Edwardian Photography Collection, fascinated by the compilation and the sharing of information to trace old photos). But back to the Col. Exrex Somme collection, it is built within a blog with each category in a blog "post", and each resource is annotated. There are not too many categories -- what is "too many"? --  the compact presentation may avoid the appearance of "too many".  Perception of "too many" often prevents me browsing reference collections.  At each category, breadcrumb trail would be preferable (more easily recognised) for navigation over the "Click back" to main at the bottom of the category.

Of course I'm dreadfully curious whether the library uses aetheric means to track/quantify usage of those links; and whether Google feeds them an account of searches conducted?

Maintenance must be a nuisance, how big is the team maintaining it (and TheLibraryMilitant)? Among the browsables Caledon,

• "SL Steampunk Blogs - Zoe Connolly's links and reviews of blogs covering Caledon..." no longer exists.

Cleverly, expansion of the collection is socially-enabled using WuFoo

All of this discovery followed from one sign amongst the Steampunk Collection up on the Dirigible. So what does it mean to my research into Second Life-ly librarianship?  It interestingly demonstrates:

• collection development focussed on the sim's theme - a well-recognised point
• and admirable use of collaborative/interactive tools.

and I still need to contemplate the in-world presentation.

Library 2.011 Worldwide Virtual Conference #lib2011

Library 2.0 - the future of libraries in the digital age via kwout

Prelude
It can be hard to keep up with the multitude of industry journals.  Today I was considering just deleting Kevin Dudeney's aliaLIBTEC announcement that the latest Associates was up.  I knew if I went to have a look at the contents I might be tempted to read a few articles and that would eat up my evening--as it is doing.

Still... to the reasons for my post:

1. Julanna Hennessy found it odd that there was a lack of involvement by Australians and other countries in our time zones. I want to assure her that I was registered and although a family crisis prevented my real-time attendance I've been catching up since. The conference website is still in my open tabs, I've viewed two sessions (both of which have added to my professional knowledge) and I just need to find the spare hour each to view more. Sometimes more than an hour because I like to take notes too. It is not easy to "rewind" the Blackboard Collaborate sessions - sometimes they would completely restart.
2. I'm super-impressed that the Library 2.011 conference is free. Therefore, though this post may remain obscure, I wish to publish my thanks to the founding conference sponsor: School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at San José State University; the co-chairs Sandra Hirsch and Steve Hargadon, and to all of the presenters.

About the individual sessions, so far, I can recommend:

• Melanie Metzger's session I've noted as "Treasure Hunt Training for Library Staff" although its title is Training Core Knowledge Skills by Finding Treasure [the recorded session]
• Reina Williams' session: Virtual Reference and Instruction: What is it really like? -- might be useful if you're new to the topic, or are still considering it [recorded session]

I concur with Julanna's conclusion:

"I got a lot out of the conference, some new sites to explore, a stronger understanding of how changes in technology is affecting our industry and how our industry is rising to the occasion, and the fun of playing with technology I hadn’t used before. If anyone gets the chance to attend one of these in the future jump at it."

Hoping to interview JJ Drinkwater: Planning preliminary research

I'm a dreamer. 2-365 by Chelseaography. CC: BY-NC 2.0

Today, I finally tagged as questions I would ask a page that has been hanging around in my open tabs for goodness knows how long:

So, its 2.5 years since EppieBlack interviewed JJ Drinkwater and I'm wondering whether any of JJ's views have changed since (at the time he had been through 3years conversation about libraries roles in SL)?  For example: Does he still think that SL is a good environment for making collections accesible - interest-wise and creating inspiration? How does he evaluate the success of an event and/or an exhibit?  On what does he currently invest his time in SL now?  They touched on qualitative measures ("use a lot" - which?) and what is not possible to count/track - has any of that changed?  He mentioned building the online catalogue (and I recall being impressed recently, must look again) - has that been worthwhile, what was most important with it and what would he recommend for others? How did he land the director's role at Caledon libraries?  He managed volunteers, orchestrated exhibit schedule, ran events -- what kind of learning did that involve? what mistakes? 

While I do search my tags, I don't tend to find time to check it for things to do, but I do see my blogger drafts.

So, to be sure my questions would be the best I can ask, if I find an opportunity, I figure:

1. First I would want to run around and check the Caledon Libraries, 
2. see and analyse current exhibits. 
3. Join the group/s perhaps - and from now I should 
4. document all instances where I see adverts of Caledon Library events. 
5. Definitely explore the online catalogue and 
6. read more of what Drinkwater has written.  
7. Then refine my questions and 
8. seek an interview

We have a Plan!

by lucyb_22. CC:BY-NC-SA-2.0

Community Virtual Library in Second Life

Facing off the library pigeon by moonflowerdragon, on Flickr


Since my last assignment for the year was submitted, I've had more time for Second Life. Over the years I've regularly checked LIS literature and the biblioblogosphere to keep up with LIS and educational activity in Second Life, and observed broader opinions expressed through twitter. While I have not tallied or coded the variety of articles (and only recently began collecting some with Zotero), my general impression was that many, while positively justifying their experiments, appeared to conclude that technical barriers and initial learning curve limited its overall usefulness for ongoing purposes. However some reports within the last couple of years claimed to be continuing and abundant higher education sims still exist so I intend to discover, if possible, what kinds of programs continue.

Naturally I checked out the changes at Community Virtual Library. It was looking strong and healthy, but I was curious how librarians were thinking about the future of CVL and coincidentally a meeting was planned to discuss where CVL would go from here. Abbey Zenith's prelude to the meeting, published in the aforelinked Rez Libris, included comments that have me curious:

"Perhaps we have not yet realized the potential we envisioned" I can't remember how the original vision was framed.

Abbey reports that reference, exhibits, collections, programs all continue to be successful as services to Second Life residents - so I was curious about statistics, how it is determined who is using CVL and what counts as successful. Abbey's concern was for a loss of "momentum we had in providing professional development opportunities to librarians, library staff, and students". What does Second Life, let alone CVL, offer librarians, library staff and students? Has it changed since Kathryn Greenhill's (2007) 10 reasons? Have librarians moved to other virtual worlds or is the role of information professionals in virtual worlds not so much of the 'librari'ness? Are libraries in virtual worlds role play sims? If so, I don't mind the RP.

Unfortunately the meeting was on at 4am Eastern Daylight Time, and it was one of my late nights so when my alarm rang I was asleep again a few minutes later. Thankfully the meeting was logged so I could catch up the next day.

It appears that aside from the normal imperative to look forward and continuously evaluate, part of the reason to ponder the future is that in 15 (or now 14.5) months the tier fee payments will see a dramatic increase because the initial non-profit arrangement no longer exists. Ah, fundraising discussions :-) that brings back memories from my days in the Australian Breastfeeding Association. So I need to keep my eyes and ears open for: grants, donations, visitor-attraction (no-one mentioned Hunts - they don't *all* focus on shops - I've been on two that didn't - and I'm not a shopper) and the visitor attraction thread raised some interesting ideas - sounds like fun ahead.

It is really hard to glean the key points of meetings from a conversation log - I wonder whether anyone has used an interactive web screen at such a meeting to track brainstorming and keep agenda/minutes?

Does my library need mobility yet?

I don't have a smartphone or an ereader. Too expensive yet. However, the potential impact of such devices on library services may lead to me making the work/study-related expense eventually.

In the meantime I'm curious. How will mobile/smart phones influence academic libraries? Formal and informal industry literature has plenty to say (just tonight I stumbled upon  Daviess Menefee's  recap of Elsevier's 2011 Digital Libraries Symposium / Mobile technologies: Issues for libraries), but as to day-to-day experiences, I haven't seen a demand locally, yet. 

I thought I had an opportunity recently: A young man looking for a play showed me call number on the screen of his phone rather than a scrap of paper - but it was a photo of the catalogue screen.

Then again yesterday: a young lady looking for theatre books had a list on her phone - but it was a list of notes she had entered into her phone rather than write on paper.  This young lady was very kind, answering questions about her iphone and its apps, and we looked together to see whether our catalogue was configured for mobile - not.  I also quizzed her opinion on whether it would be handy.  She thought she'd be unlikely to want to use her phone to check the catalogue - she'd use her PC or come into the library.

Which reminds me of the lass for whom I found a free online version of a play (because our only copy was out) and when she took the URL mentioning that she could call it up in the session.  Did she mean phone, tablet or laptop I asked?  Laptop - she can't afford a mobile internet plan either. 


As to that symposium (back in January): Menefee reported that Joseph Murphy said "Don’t look at these applications [social recommendations, mobile photo sharing, social check-ins] in terms of enhancing library services... look at how they will influence people’s expectations for engaging with social or physical data".  Rundblad (according to Menefee) spoke about understanding the user and their context (sure and I'd love to speak to more of our patrons who use mobiles) - a vital point taking into account limited budgets, a point that Schottlaender apparently made. 

I can't help remembering my cousin and his daughter showing me how they use the internet with their mobiles.  It is easy to imagine a group of students, or even one pondering his study in some queue or otherwise out somewhere, and on the spot pulling out the mobile to follow up a thread of an idea... assuming the library even figures into their sourcepool what might they find? I want to know.

Scribd as repository?

Oh my, I began exploring whether mobile access is a significant issue for academic collections, and ended up in a side road exploring Scribd... I need to set aside that sideline, but I want to track some of it before I get back:

It is too late for a chronology of what turned up when, so maybe by age of article, and in reverse:

In January this year Kathryn Greenhill reiterated a recognition that Scribd-like services have got so much right, while specifying why Scribd (and one guesses any for-profit cloud system) ought not be relied upon - this warning was in reply to Brian Kelly's enthusiasm for how Scribd has enhanced access to papers.

No, if I try to make coherence it is going to take too long. So, a list of items that contain points of interest I'll just have to get back to, unless someone else can point me to a summary of all issues?

In July 2009 Kerim Friedman asked whether Scribd would serve as an Edupunk repository.

(Update 14 June 2021, Screensnip replaces original kwout of Scribd: EduPunk repository? - Open Access Anthropology | Google Groups

Christopher Kelty weighed in there with:

"archival persistence? How would these tools allow for permanent findability and a certain sense that one can be sure it will stay available for a long time? DOI numbers require an institutional home... COiNs data are easy to add to a blog post... Zotero can find things with this data... so maybe part of the blog post should be best practices for eduPunk future-proofing... "

Archival persistence and ownership issues seemed to be the major argument of commenters against Joseph Esposito's June 2009 proposition that libraries "should begin to close their IRs" to save money, in favour of Scribd served repository.

Also in June 2009, and same venue, Michael Clarke described the profit-potential of Scribd for publishers - might it also serve institutions in the same way?

Interesting that many articles about Institutional Repositories are shared by writers through Scribd.

Before I leave this sidepath, I must also keep this link to all of Brian Kelly's interesting discussions of Institutional Repositories, top of which (at present) is an article about measuring the effectiveness of institutional repositories.

Academic Collection mobility?

Is the content of academic libraries accessible by mobile device?

I fear this is barely (or maybe not) related to the report I ought to be preparing for my INF210 class. My library-twitter-verse keeps mentioning that the mobile trend is important - and as the INF210 task is focussed on collections, I wonder what implication the mobile trend has, if any, on future developments of an academic library collection. 

Without trying to answer that question just yet, I am going to try to gather some of the material I've been scanning:

First, for chronological location 'twas this John Dupuis' retweet of Sarah Houghton-Jan's mention of Aaron Tay's musings about mobile options for libraries and thoughts on usability which provided the last straw.  My desire for a tablet (sons don't want me to get an ipad) that could somehow ease my research efforts is pricked with every tweet about ereaders, ipads, ebook lending - so while I'm feeling the pressure to get started shifting my research into writing a report, my procrastinators asks whether this mobile device thing is something worth exploring for my collection report.

I know libraries are optimising their websites and catalogues for mobiles, but the important question (for whether this distraction is useful to INF210) is whether this makes a difference to the Collection. So I ask (doubting it is the question I should be asking) whether mobiles can access full-text content - not just records of the content.  Had I a mobile could I easily read full text articles, books, repository contents?

Okay, I've begun finding answers to my own question, with help from University of Sydney's list of library resources for mobile devices, Dartmouth College Library's description of mobile access to digital resources, and Richard Bernier's slideshow:

Research on the Go: Accessing Library Databases via Mobile Devices

Presentation by Richard Bernier

So some database content (eg EBSCOhost) can apparently be found and read by mobile - can anyone tell me how well? / how much?

Michelle McLean shared notes she took at CIL 2007 that mentioned Overdrive and Netlibrary had mobile accessible ebooks - but Josh Hadro says it is still too complicated to actually get those ebooks onto mobile devices.  Oh of course Meredith Farkas listed some vendors who have mobile interfaces (slide 60) and I see EBL Ebook Library in there - that's one of UB's suppliers (I want to see how well mobile access works :-S).

The Library in Your Pocket: Mobile Trends for Libraries

Presentation by Meredith Farkas

Oh and slide 61 Meredith mentions the Duke Mobile Digital collections, I remember viewing that Youtube video in 2009: excellent.  In Slide 62 Meredith shows how Flickr can make photo collections mobile accessible - although how reliable this strategy would be in the long term is questionable unless I missed a change in attitude from Yahoo over Flickr. Hmm and NCSU have mobile devices in their collection to loan (slide 63).



So, considering a growing academic collection area: repositories? Apparently Adewumi and Omoregbe (2011) found that only Greenstone supports access via mobile devices (p.31 [p.4 in Scribd]) although they did not identify which versions of the platforms they were reviewing. Without a device I'm left wondering what level of access that is - oooh if only I had a device I could use to check all the repositories I've been looking at lately.

Interestingly, the Journal of Computing in which I found Adewumi and Omoregbe's article is available via Scribd -

Institutional Repositories: Features, Architecture, Design and Implementation Technologies

I'm going to want to read that article in more detail: how does Scribd compare to IR platforms? One advantage: from how many IR's can one EMBED items? One limitation in Scribd (which doesn't differ greatly from many of the repositories I've viewed) is that it did not give Zotero suitable metadata beyond title for citation.

Oh my, another distraction (Scribd as repository?) - but I've set that path aside to consider later. What is relevant is that Scribd viewer is mobile (with HTML5).

Leads to explore:

A 2009 annual report from an IFLA committee in acquisitions and collection development mentioned plans to convene a programme at Gothenburg in 2010 entitled "Opening Doors to Spectacular Collections: Access to Multi-sensory, Multimedia, and Mobile Materials" ... okay, one of the sessions was:

"A collaborative study: on the demands of mobile technology on virtual collection development" by Mari Aaltonen, Petri Mannonen, Saija Nieminen and Marja Hjelt. Quite irritatingly the pdf appeared to lack metadata for Zotero to grab, however the content is worth the bother.

Among the researchers' conclusions: "readers are not good enough in functionality to warrant materials being chosen purely on the basis of compatibility with these devices"; functionalities they mention as necessary (and lacking) for academic reading in readers (and I would guess in mobiles) are: easy browsing, navigating, searching and zooming, handling of colour graphics, tables, pictures and equations, ability to jump easily between multiple documents and to annotate.

Oh my oh my oh my: just when I thought I might be able to stop and go to bed echofon tells me that Dan Cohen thinks this worth mentioning:

neat right? but that's not all. While I sniff out the second article (Reinventing research? Information practices in the humanities), RIN go ahead and show me their recent tweets

Reinventing research? Information practices in the humanities | Research Information Network via kwout

Did you see? "Mobile use of repositories". MMhm, so Leslie Carr tells me that access of output at University of Southampton ECS repository is "less than 1/4 of the general use of mobile Internet" and he believes this is because pdf doesn't suit small devices. But he mentions "Mekentoshj's Papers and Mendeley for iPhone seem to indicate that an attractive mobile experience should be possible." Ack, and then Richard M Davis replies mentioning his "Download to my Kindle" idea for repositories, and a comment about pre/post publication versions being in "less intricately formatted PDFs" - which makes me wonder, but only a little as I'm more curious about his reference to "Scholarly HTML" which I think might be related to TEI? (Text Encoding Initiative?) but not directly, if I read petermr's hopes for Scholarly HTML correctly.

A question librarians, archivists, repository builders are concerned with is format durability.

That's all very interesting, but I'm guessing it is not one of the biggest issues to anticipate in the near future of collection development at a regional university library?

Restraints when blogging

restraint | one of the Horses of Marly in the Louvre's Cour Marly, made by Guillame Coustou in 1745. | Uploaded by pb-n-james via kwout

How does blogging fit with your career?

Back in June last year, SueLibrarian mentioned the topic of blogging personally on professional topics and asked whether others feel restrained from doing so for any reason. Plenty of comments from fellow librarians shared how to manage, or avoid the risks. (And while I'm acknowledging the long-ago stimuli: @flexnib's self-questions... just "ditto") Sue had been stimulated by Dorothea Salo's experience with conflict between her blogging and colleagues.  Dorothea (whose Book of Trogool is now hosted at Scientopia) pointed to Jenica Rogers' 2009 opinion that librarianship was not yet ready for online identities - although the other 18 points Jenica made in that post were positive about managing and understanding online identity.  

This is an issue I've pondered much to myself but haven't been game to record where I sit.  My situation is slightly different: I'm working (part-time) in the profession but I'm also still studying. (And therein lies a tickly topic with other unfinished posts relating to "profession" / qualification levels / exclusion and stratification.)  But for now I'll focus on risks or rewards, if any, to a later career by blogging while a student.

"What if a prospective employer takes exception to something I've written?"
"What if I'm wrong, or sound stupid, or ...(yes thank you Ceccy) condescending, or long-winded or..."
"What about all the non-professional posts I make too, should I have separate blogs, but then they'd both have fewer posts"

So, "to blog or not to blog" as one might google - and find oneself not alone in pondering.  Charlsie pointed out that in an age when future prospective employers will google us there is as much risk of being under- as over-exposed.  Eliminated from consideration for having nothing to say or for having said something unpleasant?

For a more positive perspective I looked for people who believe it was their blogging that got them their job. It turns out (as ever) that there is more to it, such as the skills that we learn and demonstrate writing for a blog as Cameron Plommer showed. Or, as Tyler Durbin discussed, the self we reveal and develop while becoming part of a community.  Tyler's opinion spoke to one of my concerns: when one of his commenters suggested that to be helpful towards a career one's blog writing must be "polished, professional and focused on topics relevant to its purpose" (eek, my blog is a wandering), Tyler argued instead for "real, honest and candid".

Like Tyler, "I'm the person that is directly related to the content" of my own blog - so now I have to wonder what my blog reveals about me.  Rational? Compassionate? Tech-savvy? Analyser? Synthesiser? I could also consider for future writing what I *want* it to show about me.  Tyler links his blog-revelation directly to the type of place at which he now works.  Perhaps my blog will not fetch me the few extra hours a fortnight my budget needs now, but over the next few years will it connect me with a team to help a wide variety of people find the weird, wonderful, where-oh-where information they need? Or with experiences I cannot even imagine yet?   

Ryan Healy's fifth reason for college students to blog addressed another of my concerns: being wrong. If I can be brave enough to post even when I might be wrong, I can be told (or discover), listen, re-evaluate, compose myself and reveal growth.  Con (aka flexnib, mentioned above) was even more forgiving: "ah well, it’s a blog post. It’s not meant to be perfect."


So why am I writing about this now?

Let me catch you up as it has been *cough* a while since I last wrote: I am studying at Charles Sturt University for the Bachelor of Information Studies (Librarianship). Okay so there has been more happening too but that will do to lead into:

Last night my search for an elusive article (abstracts without access to full-text are so frustrating) drifted a delightful blog into my view: At "Old Things with Stories": Lisa Schell brings things, ideas, images, together - in ways and style that connects for me - her choice of images, the blending of professional thinking and personal experience, and it appears the blog was inspired by her graduate LIS studies.  (side note for fellow students at CSU: she specialises in Archival Administration and Records Management)  You'll understand it was so charming I emailed her to ask for her to open the blog to comments.

Right so, you can imagine my joy to receive a reply this morning.  And my gulp when she asked whether I have a blog and I remember that it has been *ahem* since I last posted.

The course at CSU involves reading and posting on our reading to internal CSU forums.  Sometimes the requested contributions to forums are not outlet enough for my reactions to my excessive reading but I don't want to burden the students who are finding the work as it is more than enough to keep up with. I've considered channelling some of the overflow here, and then I have to remind myself how long I spend preparing a blogpost and thus how it diverts me from the dreaded essay tasks.

Hmmm, might blogging help me process ideas towards my essays? I'm recalling John Dupuis recently posted on a topic that he had merely touched on in earlier posts - does anyone else explore incomplete notions piecemeal through their blog?

Can you stand a diversion? Son#2's latest interruption in Boolean:
"World of Warcraft" AND "Abbott and Costello"

EBLIP online journal... sigh

Loving the online journal Evidence Based Library and Information Practice because: Interesting, Chock-full of interesting; Free. Makes me want an e-reader of some sort so I can more easily take it somewhere more comfortable for reading.

Really annoyed by the journal because: For *&^%$#@! - it is freely available online - why on earth is it being published with those -------! columns?  In fact, wouldn't those columns be even more of a nuisance on an e-reader?

I guess I'd understand if the journal was being issued principally as a print journal and the online version is merely for accessibility - is it?  This journal is so interesting I'd consider paying a fair amount for a print subscription just so I can read it somewhere comfortable, but I can't find any information pointing to that as an option.

Blogger or Posterous or Tumblr for library students’ first blog?

Something somewhere commented on the simplicity of getting started blogging with Posterous.  Lately I’ve been watching fellow students start an exploration of web2.0 technologies in relation to libraries and information literacy – with a first blog at Blogger.

Blogger is very easy to get started with.  But I wonder if it is easy enough for people who are not already motivated … I mean for those who wouldn’t have been looking to blog at all if not for the subject in their course?

Via their default methods, Tumblr is even simpler than Posterous for getting started, although Posterous also have a simple online sign up page. Their default methods:

Tumblr via kwout

Posterous - The place to post everything. Just email us. Dead simple blog by email. via kwout

Naturally I had a go at setting up blogs at both. I did try to capture the process, but unfortunately CaptureFox didn't seem to like my setting preferences and shut down Firefox on me. I give up on that particular idea for now. In fact, considering I have so much to do to prepare for the family trip to US/Canada I must not let myself be diverted into trying out these services thoroughly.

Instead, I perused reviews:

• Chris Foresman concludes in favour of Tumblr, citing its "myriad options for posting"; "design flair"; variety of themes; "separation of content types" and options for text editing. Chris acknowledged Posterous' "ease of posting via e-mail"; "clever auto-uploading and auto-formatting of attached media"; that some might prefer its "spartan design aesthetic".
• Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry believes the chief difference (demonstrated in their default sign up methods) is that Tumblr's apparent focus on design gives it an edge over Posterous' engineering focus. 
• Anna Frenkel's very thorough comparison was more thorough in detailing the advantages of each over the other, and I ended up with the impression that the choice will depend on the potential blogger's purpose and preferred way to post.
  

Perhaps for ?mature? students who are very comfortable with email and aren't interested in fussing with the appearance of their blog Posterous might be the way to go. For first time bloggers who don't feel attached to email or perhaps want more appearance options Tumblr could be preferred.

I will note that a (?second) step in the setup process for Posterous (I think) was an offer to look for my "friends" through other services and then suggested I set up my friends with a daily posting from my Posterous. I don't like either option. I particularly don't like them being offered in the setup stages.

Something I have not discovered is how each handles comments - which for social web students is an important element to explore. Can someone clarify for me whether either of them simply feature commenting without any special addons or plugins?

As the students I’m thinking of are library students I went looking to see whether any libraries or librarians use either service:

I have now subscribed to Julie Cornett's adventures as a Frontier Librarian via Posterous - after her post on Information Competency using Interactive Television caught my eye, I found interesting library stuff (and/or beautiful photos) in all her posts. And she has comments that don't appear to have required any plugins.

And to The Clueless Librarian who Tumbles. What can I say?

The Chicago Public Library uses Tumblr. But I couldn't find any libraries using Posterous.

About judging ideas & opinions

Scott Adams riffed on the notion that it is absurd to have an opinion on whether it was a good idea to create a certain movie (or other things for that matter).

Scott Adams Blog: The Value of Ideas 06/04/2010 via kwout

I wonder whether opinions say more about the opinionator than the content of the expressed opinion? e.g., one who says "that's a bad idea" is revealing that they simply cannot imagine an expression / execution of the idea that they would enjoy. Which might lead their listener to wonder about the quality of the opinionator's imagination, or preferences.

Which reminds me about another opinion on opinion:

That, in many situations, while everyone is entitled to their own opinion (supported by Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

)... "not all opinions are equal". While I'm sure she's not the only one to express that truth, 'tis Sandra Dodd of unschooling fame, whose expression of it I always remember... vaguely....

Image by moonflowerdragon via Flickr

Of course, one of the reasons this comes up in relation to Sandra is in the matter of freedom of expression of opinion. If I recall correctly, and I hope someone will point out if I misrepresent it, Sandra expresses the opinion that place may limit freedom of expression. For example, in a Yahoogroup or mailing list, made or owned by an individual - the rules for expression in that place may be declared by the owner and maintained through eviction from the group if necessary. Similarly for private homes, or other privately-owned buildings. I have not investigated whether the law supports private-space-right-to-suppress-speech.

OOOh, but that reminds me of a recent post by Kathryn Greenhill, about the library's role (as a public institution) in the provision of information when there are many opinions on a topic: that of not censoring, no matter whether the available information is, in the librarian's opinion, bad in some way.

I think the following of Kathryn's comments sum her overall view, though I recommend the lively presentation in her whole article:

A library’s role is not to supress ideas – not matter how dangerous or loony I may believe those ideas to be, nor how wrong I think they are. ... A library’s role is to provide access to information and connect people to that information. We seek to provide a balanced and varied collection, but not to judge the information we are providing, nor the people who are seeking it. ... I am not arguing that ideas should be heard without rebuttal, argument, critical thought or judgment. I am arguing that they should be heard and that libraries exist as a vital institution to protect the right for that to happen...

I think an important point to remember is the breadth of material that comes under the label "information". "Information" is not only facts, but also theories with or without reasonable support, opinions of varying quality and fictional representations.

Something students in CULLB602C@UB will be exploring is the library's role in teaching Informacy, ie: educating its patrons in evaluating the sources of information they peruse.

Related articles by Zemanta

• There is no such thing as public opinion (clubtroppo.com.au)
• A Vision for a School Library (123elearning.blogspot.com)
• Court Says Internet Filtering in Public Libraries Not Censorship (readwriteweb.com)

Just a quick mention in relation to Zemanta: I chose (as somewhat related in area of interest) the above articles from those suggested by Zemanta. As I scrolled through the list of suggestions again after my second selection I was disturbed to note that an article was marked "Clicked" (ie selected) that I had *not* chosen. It is possible that I may have mis-moused or mis-clicked in making my selection; and I have no way to be sure - but as the "clicked" item I did not choose was a PROMOTED article, I intend to carefully double-check my selections in future.

Creating a Reading List with Zotero

Working in a library I tend to discover way more books I'd like to read than time allows.

So I have a few challenges:

• How do I track titles of books I'd like to read when I get the chance?
• Considering I may never get back to anything on that list, how do I choose what to borrow Right Now?
• What is the most efficient and effective way for me to track the ideas I discover while reading?

My lunch is cooking right now, giving me a deadline for completing a post, which some of you may have discovered is another one of my challenges.

SO: today I'm only going to touch on the first one - because I've recently found an idea for that purpose.

I've been using Zotero to capture works I use for study - and now I've created a folder called: Reading List :D how clever is that?

Okay, for you to appreciate how it is that Zotero is so helpful in this respect, you need to understand what Zotero can do. It grabs and keeps citation data from library and other catalogues, or websites that provide such data, allowing us to make notes, tag, sort etcetera, and Share too I think.

Last night at work I found a few books on the shelf I really want to read, but too many books at home unfinished, so I found the titles in the catalogue, and had Zotero grab the information.

In a way, I used to prefer to be able to create my reading list more directly in conjunction with the library catalogue, much as it now allows me to keep a Reading History (which should probably more accurately be called a Borrowing History). Of course the catalogue allows me to mark records and email myself a list, and I guess I could then maintain a folder for such emails over time.

But maybe using Zotero for my Reading List is even better because the data is then in the same place that when I have read it, I can make notes, and later access the citation data if I use it. And when I work out to use the collaboration feature, I could share my Reading List... which is an intriguing thought for if/when I get into teaching.

Are any teachers in library science using Zotero this way?

I've used a toread tag with delicious for collecting online matertial to read later; however today I discovered the firefox extension Read It Later which would allow me to download pages for offline reading - particularly useful when I'm using a laptop I think.

How is it done? Library Tech research

But how? ... Is it simpler than I imagine?

Jason Griffey (back in September 2009) advised three strategies for researching library tech decisions. If/when I get a turn at bat, will these ideas be useful to me?

1. Listen to patrons (ie pay attention to the technologies they are using).
   At a combined University/TAFE library, we hear and see that patron technology use is extremely diverse. We have the spectrum from both higher ed and TAFE students who have never used a computer or mobile phone, through to the highly technology savvy. It is to detect the former as they're asking for help.
   But how do we "pay attention" to the technologies the savvy are using, without spying?
   Random chance observations in passing to open/close curtains or provide assistance is surely not reliable as representative data? Perhaps it could be more so if observations could be accumulated from all library staff who pass through the computer commons - but that would require those staff to be able to recognise the variety of web2.0 services that might be used, else the observation data will be skewed.
   Is it possible or appropriate for tech services to tally which internet services are most popular, or is this something that ought to be asked instead?
   I also wonder whether there is an association between extent and type of technology use and the student's (or teacher's) course?
   
   
2. Find out which technologies are most popular in general public.
   Or, at the TAFE, continuing the theme from above: At the same time there may be a difference between courses as to which technologies would be most relevant both during the course and later vocationally. Effective subject liaison may be useful to determine this, and not just with teachers as some students are in advance of teaching staff in uptake of both socially and industry relevant technologies.
   
   
3. Try radical ideas and winnow the ones that fail.
   Sure, this could be useful at the very least for librarians' professional development, although in a TAFE/Higher Ed context I'm guessing that it might be useful to first target the radical ideas which are being tested (if any) by technologically radical teachers, associates or technology personnel.
   

This was a "just wondering" post in what may become an occasional series of "just in case I get a chance at bat when the children are all grown".

How does web2.0 build better business?

In a sec I'll tell how I came to read the abstract by Megan Mulherin, then a MLIS student, that made me ask myself to little avail and now you, the following questions:

*Which daily management challenges can be better faced & overcome with web2.0 technologies?
*How does web2.0 help a company better position themselves against competitors? and
*How does web 2.0 help a company create and sustain a more robust form of management?

The only daily management challenges I can guess that web2.0 would contribute to are those of self-promotion or positioning and perhaps (the 2.0 aspect) communication with consumers. I wish the abstract had been more specific. I'm still stumped though how this creates "more robust form of management". Unless she means that for a business to be managing their public (web2.0) dialogue with customers *well* the company will have to be responsive to customers, quick to fix problems and are there other qualities?

Has that actually happened? That a company did not have a robust form of management prior to the introduction of web2.0?

...
Once again it was my Bloglines that led me.
I absolutely love that Michael Stephens uses web2.0 for his LIS course, and has his students use blogs and research web2.0 tools. Naturally Michael was proud when a student blog was highlighted by ... hm... "BestBizWeb Enewsletter" I say "hm" because the highlights iterate "our view" but who 'they' are is not indicated. This enewsletter appears to be an offshoot of a publication "Information Advisor" declared to be edited by Robert Berkman, which also uses "we" and "our" throughout, but which does not (in the sample issue) contain the names of any other contributors. That seems shonky to me.

Still, I'm glad the blog was highlighted because I've learned some of the interesting activities Michael's students get to do, like Brand Monitoring.

Around about a LIS Curriculum

Post begun April 2009:
Strolling through the months' old Bloglines that accumulated while the boys and I were busy moving last year, I try not to stop for long on every interesting post... and that is difficult, particularly when people are kindly sharing their notes from conference sessions and I want to absorb the details. Sigh.

Still, I had to stop when I reached the following slide from Meredith Farkas' presentation at The future is here, library conference in Iceland. (I'd link to that but it was a pdf and it seized for me so I shan't).


Aren't these all subjects that can be learned through professional development, self-education and a capacity to read, experiment, reflect and apply critical thinking?... aside from Management (and possibly not even that), none of these require "higher" education, merely a capacity for informacy, action, reflection and critical thinking.

Today:
I've delayed posting this for almost a year. Each time I've begun to contemplate how much of these topics have been addressed throughout my Advanced Diploma course, and independent study I've been distracted. It seems absurd to me that our industry requires a library-degree (or worse a Masters!) for qualification to work as an entry-level librarian, when the job description could be filled by intelligent people with demonstrable knowledge and skills obtained through other means.

So there are a few themes I'd like to explore at some point, though not yet:

1. The actual skills and knowledge required in the most fundamental librarian positions - (the variety of ways such skills might be obtained and demonstrated/outcomes of LIS program) = should a degree (or whatever) be essential for a librarian position?
2. If there are certain topics desired to be learned prior to employment as a librarian which aren't in a LIS program does this necessarily mean the subjects should be in a LIS program? Might it be more logical to reconsider the required qualifications for librarianship?
   
3. In what ways are LIS Advanced Diploma and Degree programs significantly different and what difference, if any, does this make in job-performance-capacity?

Considering a discussion with my son today about "Don't sweat the small stuff" and "it's all small stuff", I might leave those ideas in the air. Feel free to comment.

Subversive handouts for the too-short introductory class

I love this idea... I've been observing the material reference librarians at work use in their info skills classes, and have been aware that there are many tools, tricks or skills that students might enjoy learning over time that can't all be presented in introductory classes. Such a neat way to trigger curiosity.

clipped from pegasuslibrarian.blogspot.com Since then I've used the "Here's what we learned today... Here's what you can ask me about any time... Here's how you can get help..." handout in many, many classes. And while they're useful for lots of kinds of classes, they're particularly good for two kinds of sessions: those like the one I described above, and those where the professors know full well that the primary goal of a short session is to introduce their students to me so that the students will be more likely to come see me with their research conundrums later. And my original experience of having professors and students alike ask questions from the handout while still in class has held true of almost every session for which I've created one of these. (Here's an example of one I created for a class I taught earlier this week.)

When a player guides...

I've been thinking lately about how I have been introducing friends and colleagues to the web2.0 tools that have given me so much fun learning.

Coincidentally, today I noticed Helene Blowers' presentation From Players to Guides and took a look to see whether her advice matches my style.

After reflecting on the importance of playing for learning, Helene turns to becoming a guide, which she identifies as "a person who exhibits and explains points of interest" (Blowers, 40/67). Helene advises becoming a Discovery Guide, orienting on learning rather than training and focusing on FUN. Learning in which exposure is the first step and where learners have as much to share as guides.

There are two slides that remind me of training and collaborative volunteering with the Australian Breastfeeding Association, and that I believe will be tumbling in the back of my mind while I continue holidaying:

Slide 57 From Players to Guides by Helene Blowers

Slide 58 From Players to Guides by Helene Blowers

and keeping in mind the daily dozen who visit this blog from searches for guidance on referencing citations of blogs or online videos in APA style, here is a guess at referencing a citation of a presentation stored at Slideshare in APA style:

Blowers, H. (2008). From players to guides: Learning Strategies for a 2.0 World. [Presentation]. Retrieved September 22, 2008 from Slideshare website http://www.slideshare.net/hblowers/from-players-to-guides-presentation

EBLIP latest

Just briefly (after all I am on holiday): I've been perusing the latest issue of Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP). First I enjoyed Marcus A. Banks' final theory in Friendly Skepticism about Evidence Based Library and Information Practice that differences in decision-leading preference, or tendency to wait for evidence versus willingness to play or experiment, stem from hard-wired personalities (ie Myers-Briggs S .v. N: data-driven .v. intuitive) and that both have value.

However I was triggered to blog by a quote in the letter to editor by Judith Siess Commentary on a Library Non-Use Study upon which Siess applauded the concluding statements (of the study: Non-Use of Library Services by students in a UK Academic Library, by Lisa Toner in EBLIP 3:2, 2008) for recognising the value of further evaluation, which followed after Siess' surprising evaluation of 14% as a 'quite acceptable' response rate. I'll have to read the study she was commenting on to check the nature of the data it studied, but I'm guessing that a major gap was missing in the study: Patron NEED. From the commentary it appears that the study examined only why people don't use the library, not whether their perceptions & decisions impacted positively or negatively on their outcomes. I wonder: if students do not use the library and succeed quite happily in their studies, do they really NEED the library?

That wondering was triggered because the commentary earlier mentioned that the study showed that non-users not only didn't use the traditional (?physical) library, but didn't use its electronic resources but most did use the Internet; later mentioned that some 4% of respondents expressed a lack of need for libraries; finally highlighted that the studying library concluded with deciding to increase marketing, publicity and promotion; all without telling me if the study examined whether patrons who don't use the library actually DO need it (or not). Surely data related to that part of the equation is relevant? That is: what are the outcomes for students who don't use the library? Is it significantly different from those who do? If it isn't, then I'm guessing we have some really interesting questions to investigate and answer.