Image Use ethics - CC0 and photoscraping sites

Two issues 

1. what is our responsibility for proving right to use images?
2. can Google prevent photo scraping sites from landing higher in search results than original sources?

Should we say where we get an image even if it is in the public domain?

If we find an image via Google's image search with the licence Tool set to filter by Creative Commons licence?

I wanted an image to convey my mid-journey step in which I refined my plan - and I thought of orienteering with map and compass.  Found great lego orienteer images, but could not find who had made them available, (Google-search-filter)-allegedly by CC.  

The one/s I liked appeared (and I list here not really to shame, but to show how far I explored looking for the image creator):

With licence statement but no link or credit at:

• (Copyright Creative Commons CC0) ecoparent  - so I quickly checked on what CC0 means, and learned that if one is not the creator one should not label it as this site did.

with no copyright/licence statement or photo claim/credit at:

• The Glebe Primary School ,
• St Paulinus Catholic Primary School ,
• Puzzle Factory (français), 
• The Rand Athletic Club Orienteers' Strava club page 
• Italian Radio 6 INradio's Fifth Grade Tag list of posts thumbnail (but not in the post itself) 
• And Argentaweb post 
• and (eventually found with a reverse google image search using a screensnip) hundreds of other places including Jordan Tzvetkov's Twitter profile and Power of Ted 

Then I briefly thought I had found the source - where it appeared to have been released into the Public Domain with CC0...

Screensnip of the CC0 claim by scraping site, see it yourself at webarchive

 - and where EXIF data is given as if shared by the creator. But still I wondered - particularly as there is no id for the photographer even though I would have to register to download the image. Is the site (pxhere.com [ph]) legit?

So I googled that! 

 is pxhere legit

and found I was right to be suspicious: 

Photoscraping sites are not hard to detect.

Alan Levine shows how one scraping site had scraped an image from pixabay. A clue that a site is probably a scraper, he mentioned, is the lack of identification of the contributor.  Later in the post Alan discussed how a CC-BY image he had on Flickr had been picked up by [ph] who claimed it as CC0 - an outright lie.

Now I suspect [ph]'s short url indicates they've probably even renumbered photos they scrape so I couldn't just swap out the domain, so I picked a few keywords and searched pixabay. Sure enough, there the image appears to have been created and shared CC0 by Andrew Martin (aitoff) 

Image by Andrew Martin at Pixabay

Aside - I am only 90% happy with the (optional for CC0) attribution phrase pixabay provides - they link fine to the user, but not at all to the image - so I edited the html, and hope they reconsider their default setting. 

Google lets scrapers float up

Although the first image-scrape Alan discussed were images given to the public domain, the problem he describes is that Google lets photoscraper sites float to the top of their search results.  I believe Google ought to find a way to prevent that.  

Regardless, I would prefer to see everyone cite where they obtain the images they use online - particularly organisational sites like schools! Can we consider it a moral responsibility? I do. I also do not believe the difficulty of finding the true creators of public domain images releases anyone of that responsibility.  

Creators: don't join scraping sites like [ph] 

"It is impossible to delete your photos and your account, support simply ignores all requests. As a photographer, I highly do not recommend this service, a lot of photos are used with copyright infringement!" -- Danila Perevoshchikov 3 March 2020 at Facebook

 

Bless Blogger embracing p tags

When Open Live Writer stopped working for me I sulked in hiatus. While submitting my latest CPD I felt the faintest spark of blogging urge again. And then came the reminder that I'll be paying for that other blog again soon. 

So I googled doubtfully for a Google-Blogger <p>shaped miracle. 

-site:pinterest.* "blogspot" paragraphs

{Aside: Query for Google: can their algorithms be clued in to prioritise pages dated after June 2020 on  any search including Blogger or blogspot?}

Guess the contours of my curiosity when I spied in the results, dated June this year:

@Katherine Tyrrell, Thank You. Not only has Katherine been so persistent with Blogger that she was around to experience the new interface - she also didn't hold back in her critique and she courteously linked to the Official Blogger Blog's (apparently tardy) Announcement. Although neither specifically mentioned p tags and appropriately spacing paragraphs, I cautiously began to hope.

Hope waxed and waned : 

Yay every ENTER a paragraph,
Oh No how do I get it to stop?,
meh Okay that's how to switch to html,
what's with the blank lines?,
oh great I can copy across the kwout,
OMG why does it keep re-inserting </area> inside the <map> every time I switch back to html-edit? Seriously, I have to go back to html to insert a <hr>? (Good grief!),
Hhmmm?
.....[eventually]... right well okay that wasn't a really bad nightmare,

So let's post how excited I am about the <p>-respect,

OMG why is it not now doing the paragraph thing?
Oh I have to switch that there from Normal to Paragraph...
every time? Why?
[and later] but not anymore?
WTF is going on?

And now hours have slipped away!

Getting Pinterest out of Google Results by default

Too often my search results have been cluttered with useless results from Pinterest. Generally when I search I want informative results and unfortunately when Pinterest pops up if there is any useful information behind a Pinterest result it will take a long click journey to find it.

So today I went looking for a way to exclude pinterest by default.

The solution for me (Thanks Benjamen Lim) is browser based: a Chrome setting.

For my own future reference I’ve detailed things Benjamen didn’t, but left out some explanations he gave that you might like to read.

1. In Chrome, go to Settings>Manage Search Engines.
   
   
2. Find Google, click the stacked dots at right.
   
   
   
3. Click Edit (if Google is your default search engine, Edit is the only option available under the dots)
   
   
   
4. Although the URL is greyed out, we can double click and Ctrl-A to select and Ctrl-C copy.
   
   
   
5. Now where Benjamen Lim moved straight to Adding a new engine, I figured:
   “the URL is long but the box containing it small”
   so I opted to open Notepad to paste & edit the URL there before copying the new version and taking it back to add the new engine.
   
   However, the spot to edit in the URL (after ?q=) is only 20 characters from the start of URL
   
   
6. Whether in Notepad or the Adding engine box, after pasting the copied URL find the spot between ?q= and %s& and add in
   +-site:pinterest.*+ after ?q=.
   and Save.
   
   
7. Find the saved engine in the non-default list and make it default (through the stacked dots)

PS

If you’re wondering how I captured the cursor and pointer in my screenshots, the answer is IrfanView, recalled by revisiting my post [in other blog].

PPS

My republish-worthiness meter will be refined because republishing that post about IrfanView took a very long time.

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?

My take-aways from “How Do Some Women Find Their Way Through the Labyrinth” [to become leaders]

Chapter Ten is the only chapter I read of Through the Labyrinth : The Truth About How Women Become Leaders .  The titles of other chapters did not convey any likelihood of saying anything different from prevalent information on their title topics (glass ceiling, discrimination, comparisons to men…)

So:

“First Principle: Blend Agency with Communion” … citing Dawn Steel “… a tough balancing act, … gauging how to juggle my masculine side and my feminine side… where the lines how to be drawn. In your dress, in your talk, in your body language, for starters.” (p.163)

• “establish an exceptional level of competence as a leader because… [exceptional level]… needed to convince others she is equal to men…it isn’t fair, but women often need to be exceptionally good to be credited with the abilities of less competent men… ‘Perform beyond expectations’… Deliver more than people expect. Impress over and over again… build a track record” (p. 164)
• eg “gain superior task knowledge”
• eg “be exceptionally well prepared for meetings and negotiations.”
• “Leaders competence derives from a confluence of tasks involving monitoring, advising, encouraging, directing, sanctioning, and solving both interpersonal and technical problems… etsablishing a record of competence in such activities requires the cooperation of followers.” (p. 164)
• Will need to seek out and put yourself forward for more challenging scenarios (which are not usually offered to women) in which to demonstrate the above, even though that may seem (from cultural expectations only of women) ungenerous and selfish. “Finesse the double bind… by combining assert[ion] with kindness, niceness, and helpfulness.” (p. 164)
• When directing, and being assertive and decisive – do so with warmth (smiling, looking at people rather than away) & per example from Hilary Clinton, arrange environment to give warm appearance (eg children at event – what other environmental factors could be arranged to balance a woman’s assertiveness with warmth?) (p. 165)
• “encourage subordinates and reward positive contributions” without coming off as inappropriately mothering. (p. 165)
• may be particularly effective in situations requiring transformational leadership, eg Meg Whitman (eBAY) “known for listening to her company’s customers and employees and thereby running a flexible and responsive organisation.” also ref Cynthia Caroll (Anglo Mining) and Amanda Burden (New York City Planning Commissioner) (p. 166)
• in Highly Masculine / “hyperagentic” settings the above recommended blended approach will either be less likely to be effective , or face greater challenges, wish such attributes perceived by some as weakness, eg Angela Merkel “So much passivity makes you wonder whether she will be able to make decisions quickly when teh going gets tough…brought a dose of discussion, discretion and collegiality” (p. 167)
• “avoid crying when upset” (p. 167/168)
• “not every good leader is universally liked .. women should lead in an assertive, competent manner, accompanied by especially nice, friendly behavior only to the extent that it does not undermine their authority” (p. 168)
• Take Credit for Accomplishments … “in a friendly and collaborative manner” (P. 168/169) eg call attention to your excellent proposal by inviting others to react to the suggestion and help her develop it further. Or when accoladed, acknowledge help of collaborators while accepting personal credit.
• If you see men taking credit for women’s proposals say something like “John I see that you agree with Emily’s suggestion. Emily can you tell us more about your idea?” (p. 169)
• Overcome reluctance, INITIATE negotiation over salary (after obtaining “as much information as possible about typical salaries and benefits”), and in doing so “present a alance picture displaying both task competence and social skills”,  (p. 171)
• Either choose to work where your values are shared, or be prepared to feel somewhat inauthentic when you must represent values you do not hold.

Second principle: Build Social Capital

• Join and participate in networks, both male and female, even though it will often mean doing it yourself almost all of the time (p. 173)
• Find a good mentor (male most likely will result in higher compensation), both informally and formally. (p. 174)
• Form good relationships at all levels (above, same and below) (p. 174)

There and back again: returning to Blogger from self-hosted WordPress?

Who cares?

I hope anyone else who lands here after pondering whether to switch from Wordpress.org to Blogger comments below – so we can compare thoughts. Were you wondering how, or why? Are there as few articles about that journey now as there were when I searched--let alone any promise of ease in such a transition?

During my search for tips back in July 2017 I found that my experiences and rationale almost totally matched Jenn’s Wordpress—>Blogger transition story, even to the fact that Google assumed I really meant to ask about switching the other way. (Did hers happen in 2014, or was the post re-dated when she shifted it with her blog, Hello Brio over to Squarespace?)  Like Jenn, I want to tell you why ; and in case she decides to ditch that post, I will reflect on her suggestions.

Why I decided that the experiment with self-hosted Wordpress was over

--posting infrequency + not finding the right handle for a static portfolio = insufficient value for $$$
--under my name = wanting it to be perfect
--struggle to get it "just right" too time consuming
--needing to spend less time at the computer

Why I am switching [back] to Blogger from Wordpress (despite the p tag issue).

1. Nostalgia.  I loved learning to blog here, and have fond memories of when some of my posts made a difference to people.
2. I still have a hefty collection of posts here, which people are still reading.
3. It is free.
4. I think Blogger can do more now than it did then, but I do not need most of the extra functionality self-hosted Wordpress could do.
5. moonflowerdragon.blogspot looks better on mobile than micameerbach.com

As Jenn suggested, I reconsidered my goals:

• Return to one FREE online spot
  # no particular deadline, although the sooner it is done the sooner I can stop paying for the other domain, yet let’s give enough time to be sure it will work comfortably.
• See whether I return to posting more frequently under the pseudonym
• It was always about skills/professional development, and it still is, with a few new questions:
• What would it take for a blogspot site to be a professional advantage rather than the opposite?
• How much of that which I did at micameerbach will remain relevant if republished?
• Are any of those posts that stayed so long in draft worth actually posting?
  

How I plan to switch from Wordpress back to Blogger = Slowly

Tracy Thomason over at 15 Minute Monday posted about exporting one’s files to move from Wordpress to Blogger.

However, I figured that as I would need to check each post for peculiarities anyway, I might as well consider each of the 111 posts (61 published, 49 drafts, 1 private) manually.

Those peculiarities?

• both Jenn and Tracy mentioned that image URLs don’t transfer
• inbound links would be broken
• internal links would be broken
• comments would have to be exported or mapped over

First: I made sure that the Internet Archive WaybackMachine is capturing micameerbach occasionally – some busy posting months were not captured at first, but the Internet Archive WaybackMachine lets us add.

Second: This post here, and a (semi)final post there

Third: Up to 111 iterations of:

1. Pick a post, either the next highest viewed, or any post,
2. Check whether its URL is cited anywhere else online.
3. Read it,
4. Consider: does it offer or demonstrate anything useful?

If it is worth transferring,

1. in html view, copy and paste everything across to a new post here, but in Open Live Writer (unless Google decide to support p tags in their Blogger editor),
2. append note about where I had originally posted it, perhaps hyperlink to archive version?
3. reupload photos and basically re-link everything.
4. retag & add tag Republished_from_micameerbach
5. Do not try to anticipate whether formerly internal links will also be transferred, just relink to their WaybackMachineversion, and note them in a Google Doc for later checking
6. At old post append note about and linking to republication
7. At old post tag with Republished_at_Moonflowerdragon – let’s me track which ones I’ve done.
8. If the URL was cited anywhere, contact citers to inform them of new post/archive to avoid broken link.

If it is not worth transferring,

1. Check whether it is at WaybackMachine
2. If similar topics/posts here, append at top – link to tag/post]
3. Tag as Not_republishing
4. If the URL was cited anywhere, contact citers to inform them of archive version.

For drafts, I could just copy & publish, but that would not help answer the learning questions above, so I could

1. if publishing: tag it something like drafted@mm / published@MFD
2. if not publishing, don’t delete but tag it notpublishing@MFD

Finally: Unless I give up earlier, when all 111 iterations are complete:

1. Count the tags & maybe talk about what if anything I got out of the process
2. Wind up that account
3. Celebrate

Image Credit: The beautiful watercolour above is “Bilbo: Back again…” by Kinko-White who kindly gave me permission (via shuzzy) to use it here to symbolise my return home here after an adventure.

Testing Open Live Writer for p tagging

First, well done me for finding out why I had trouble installing Open Live Writer, and fixing it.

Now to find out how OLW handles paragraphs.

Cool. So next, whether Blogger will respect them.

Preparing for conference

#ALIA2012 is my first librarianship conference.

How different will it be to gather with a collection of librarians instead of a bevy of breastfeeding counsellors?

ABA conferences inspire

I found conferences with the Australian Breastfeeding Association warm, friendly and encouraging. Could that be because members are nurtured in welcoming skills (by example, inclusion and training) from their first contact?  Perhaps it was also because we all shared a purpose, and identity - having reached at least a specific stage of training in order to be there. 
 
Of course my own attitude played a huge part too: I was eager and determined to learn all I could to make my own volunteer work more successful. I expected to enjoy an ABA conference because everyone who had been to one spoke positively and excitedly about them.  Even that would have been shared though, because going at all was an additional voluntary opportunity.

Discovering ALIA conferences

So why do I feel a little differently about going to ALIA2012?

• The association is different: ALIA is more heterogenous, sure we share an interest in library and/or information services but that is a very broad field. My evening work hours prevent me attending ALIAVic events so there are few inter-personal relationships involved in my membership. There is no patterned (personal) welcoming behaviour in ALIA.  I wonder whether warmer 'welcoming' is something ALIA groups could arrange for members to learn from ABA?
• My position is different.  With 18 months of study and unschooling to go, and with a casual and subordinate work-role the distance feels much greater between what I might learn in session and any opportunity to apply it.
• I expect that the content will be drier (no pun intended). Frequently after (other LIS) conferences bloggers bemoan a general lack of vibrancy in presentations.

Orienting myself

Nevertheless, having thought back to my ABA experience, I see ways to uplift my attitude and I realise I have been applying some already:

• Signing up for first-timer mentoring;
• Booked to attend the first-timer breakfast and all the social events;
• Paying attention to ongoing discussion around the conference - through ALIABiennial (blog), @ALIAbiennial and #ALIA2012;
• Pre-reading all information on sessions (the program now links to papers) and presenters - I've even browsed online sources about (or discussions of/by) speakers to get a sense of their direction: Keynotes: Alex Byrne, Michael Kirby, Tom Chatfield, Ingrid Parent, Mitchell Whitelaw, Anita Heiss, Matthew Reilly, Richard Glover.
• Discussing the conference with people at work;
• Reminding myself it is okay to be curious and to ask.

Re-reading advice saved earlier (with Delicious/Diigo)

Do you just love it when you can use sites you found earlier?  Although I had remembered most of the advice, it was still reassuring to refresh and double-check my readiness against:

• 6 tips to prepare for a conference from Kristy Bolsinger;
• David Bentley's Top 10 ways to get the most out of conference;
• Joeyanne Librarianne also offered 10 tips post-LILAC2010 ;
• Chris Brogan recommended 27 things to do before a conference.  

Sorting out the technology

• With my Xoom (so I can Skype home, and continue testing its relative handiness):
• its charger and the cable in case I need to re-enable Screenshot It
• New apps Evernote Hello, Blogger, WordPress;
• Games (currently Random Mahjong or Backgammon),
• My Toshiba laptop (for writing up in the evenings (and in case the Xoom dies))
•  its charger and a headset in case I need to dictate instead of type.
• with Evernote, Dropbox, Firefox and plugins (Diigo, Zotero, kwout, echofon) updated.
• Mobile phone (although it seems to be dying, will I have time to look for a smartphone?) and of course its charger
• Paper, pens and printouts of schedules - because electronics can die or disappear.

 I wonder what I forgot?

Image Credit: Laura Geared Up by Edward Liu, CC at Flickr

Power of social search + Google Image + fortuitous error?

echofon displayed for me a puzzle [RT] from toddtyrtle:

Anyone know what kind of plant/tree has this type of seed pod? - tweeted by andycaster via kwout

Curious whether I could track it down I wasn't having any luck with a variety of descriptive words, so I skipped to a guess and google image search. My guess was wrong, but luckily it caught an equally half-wrong? description at istockphoto.

BTW do *any* maples have similar seeds?

or is this a case of fortuitous error?
I'd say serendipitous if not for discovering Walpole's original meaning? 

After Maple the description included "London plane tree". On adding that to the search google brought up a similar query at arboristsite to which Sylvia had suggested a sycamore and linked Virginia Tech's Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation VTreeID Factsheet of American Sycamore.  Great database, with pictures of tree, leaf and seed. In this case, although it is difficult to tell because in andy's pic the seed is exploded, it still looks fluffier than the American, and more like the Arizona Sycamore I think.  Sadly the database itself doesn't seem to include description of seeds, so from it I can't learn how to describe seeds.

Back at Google Image Search I checked other images of London Plane and Sycamore seed photos - and I'm leaning towards Sycamore.

I was impressed with the power of social answer finding (?social search engine) allowed me by Flickr a few years ago, when I uploaded a photo called "what flower is this" and 17 months later (possibly after I added it to a group) was surprised to find an answer but andycaster had his answer in ... 35 minutes?

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"

Add form (or link) for your readers to get your blog updates by email

Thanks to my sister getting her wiggle on and not only posting to her new blog (Caterpillar Contemplations), but also thinking of her likely readers who may want to get her updates by email...

I googled, and now know how to add a widget to a blog that enables readers to subscribe via email. It can be a link, or a form in your sidebar. And it is done via GoogleFeedburner.

But I'm not going to describe how because all the (very simple) instructions are at Blogger Tricks. I do suggest you read all the instructions - I read the first and then raced in to my sister to tell her it goes through Feedburner and we basically puzzled the rest of it through. Only when I came back here to tell you (fellow library students at UB) about it did I notice the rest of the instructions that would have saved us so much time!

Hello from our new laptop

How exciting: for our trip we’ve bought a new laptop :-D

Why? We want to be able to:

• keep in touch with people back home
• go online wherever we happen to be to research the next stage
• watch movies or shows we’ve bought specially to view on the trip (could you recommend some good “travel” movies?)
• play a game or two in down-time
• transfer, sort and store our photos as we go.

Please give your tips/advice for travelling with a laptop.

So, Cricket researched options and required specifications and finally recommended the:

Toshiba Satellite A500/031

Sure go ahead, if you’ve had trouble with one, do send warnings.

But so far (4 hours in to familiarisation, only Firefox installed) I’m enjoying it – except that the desktop icons are a lot larger than I would like and there are no options to make them smaller (resolution is as high as it will go; and Control Panel options to change desktop icon & text size is only available to go larger).

Just like when I found delightful features of Windows 7, I have been delighted to discover Toshiba Bulletin Board.  The boys and I will be sharing the laptop and I don’t think we need to have different user settings because we use the same programs, and anything we want to keep private we can save to our memory sticks – BUT I like to use stickies and to do lists – but the boys don’t need to see my notes to myself on the desktop.  With Toshiba Bulletin Board we can make our own boards – to pin up our own lists, photos, notes etc.

Naturally one of the first things I did when I finally started familiarisation procedures (ie mucking about in there) was to begin a todo list, and documenting what I’ve done and learned so far :P

1. Removed battery
2. Connected to secure home network
3. Windows 7 offered to set up a homegroup and this time I went with that and received a password
4. I can access some stuff on other home computers - but it looks limited to docs, pics, vids, music; couldn't see how to access program files - would be convenient not to have to redownload stuff.
5. Created personal Bulletin Board - boys can have their own
6. Listed things to install in Board’s ToDo List
7. Installed Firefox
8. Learned a tiny bit about homegroups – but still confused about Windows 7 file management.
9. Tried to find a way to shrink the icons on desktop – couldn't
10. Changed basic computer's Windows7 user name from New User, although that is still showing as its name from my PC.
11. Wondered what option we will use for office software on this machine.
12. Removed Wild Tangent
13. Looked for that Windows 7 writing tool I liked so much for blogging, ah yes Windows Live Writer, so it is in the Windows Live folder.
14. Changed desktop background theme.
15. Binned Adobe shortcuts - won't need those
16. Pinned tools I use (Paint, Writer, calculator) to Taskbar, unpinning the unnecessaries.
17. Played some more with the Board (added a pic of Xin and Me in Second Life)

And now the laptop and I need to get back to work…. that to do list calls…particularly the firefox addons: delicious, kwout and zotero.

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.

Four sentences for your cover letter (from creamcitian at The Scott Adams blog)

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Next time I need to write a cover letter for a resume I believe I will remember those four sentences from The Princess Bride - thanks to creamcitian's concise explanation of how they represent the four key messages one needs to convey.

I want to link you directly to the comment in which creamcitian offers this striking cue, but it seems Dilbert.com doesn't assign permalinks to comments. The link I have provided is to a display of most popular comments first (creamcitian's topping the votes at this time).

Literacy & Informacy: Problems with the term "information literacy skills"

Previously, I explained why I applied for RPL in
CULLB602C Use, evaluate and extend
own information literacy skills.

YAY I have been granted recognition of prior learning :D

I never did get around to publishing the progress of my thoughts while examining conceptions of “information literacy” - probably because I never really resolved the issues to my own satisfaction.

Perhaps instead I will just post a scattering of thoughts without aiming for a conclusion.

First I needed to understand my base point. So I looked at definitions:

From memory: A skill is an ability; but then so is literacy. So "literacy skills" is tautological (ability to read and write abilities).

I checked a dictionary:

From the Concise Oxford Dictionary (Sykes, 1976):

information n. Informing, telling; thing told, knowledge, (desired items of knowledge, news.

literacy n. Ability to read and write.

skill1 n Expertness, practiced ability, facility in an action or in doing or to do something; dexterity, tact.

However: I have observed over the years that the term ‘literacy’ has been used to express a variety of notions beyond that simplest definition, to include whole spans of thinking and communication skills (Callison & Lamb, 2005-2009). Sometimes to the point where reading and writing may be completely irrelevant: “making meaning in a two way flow of communications” (Boyce, 1999, p. 57). In fact Callison & Lamb (2005-2009), among many, declare that “the definition of literacy has evolved” (¶1).

Oh I'd agree that the term has been malleably defined to suit the goals of its users, but considering the breadth encapsulated in its Latin root, evolution is not what has happened.

Online Etymology Dictionary via kwout

I guess I struggle with phrases compounded as "xxxx literacy" because of the way "literacy" itself is loaded.

Comprehension and communication skills seem to me to be independent of the ability to read and write; and need to have been present in order for a person to learn to read and write. Refinement of comprehension (higher order thinking skills) and communication also develop outside a text environment, although most of us don't get to see that as we live and learn within one.

It is easy to see how, in a society in which text is a dominant communication device; people can conflate natural development of human capacity to comprehend and communicate with increasing competence and fluency with text. Could such conflation create an assumption that to learn and function depend particularly on the ability to read and write; then explaining why quite beside the overall education system, literacy programs particularly attract funding? Might this factor into a willingness to wrap up anything at all as literacy?

Back to "xxxx literacy": These days one can find “literacy” being appended to almost any other word to convey something about skills which are required to make sense within context of the first word. Often, these skills do not require literacy at all except when they are to be applied in a text environment. For example:

“Scientific Literacy, Economic Literacy, Technological Literacy, Visual Literacy, Information Literacy, Multicultural Literacy.... communication literacy, productivity literacy, content literacy, critical literacy” (Callison & Lamb, 2005-2009, ¶4,5).

Even the competence to pursue, evaluate and use information does not require literacy (the ability to read and write). Campbell (2008 p. 19, citing Aporta, 2002) describes how the Inuit people in Canada’s High Arctic, when planning a journey across the sea ice which reforms over time with ocean currents and underwater landforms:

• know they need information on the current “ice marks” by which to navigate,
• know whom to approach to get information (the experts with the traditional, oral knowledge on the codes that make such marks predictable),
• evaluate who has the most experience or is the best navigator, and
• use that information to travel through the sea ice territory safely

Campbell (2008) declares this pattern of information seeking, evaluating and using is consistent with the American Library Association (1989, ¶3) definition of being information literate: to recognise when information is needed, to locate, evaluate and use appropriate information effectively.

Such an example demonstrates that the capacity humans have for acquiring and using information does not require literacy (ability to read and write). So to label such capability as "information literacy" perpetuates confusion where there should be distinction between literacy and thinking or whatever skills are of practical interest.

• Precise skills which fall under the label ‘information literacy’ are remarkably diverse depending on the educator and his/her program, and can include:
• Basic computer and internet access skills (Millen & Roberts, 2007) through to information technology fluency (Bundy, 2004 as cited in Andretta 2005, p. 44; Shapiro & Hughes, 1996),
• Library orientation (Slusarczyk, 1996; Gavin, 2008),
• Search engine savvy, or searching the web (Boyce, 1999, ¶2; Gavin, 2008) ,
• Searching OPACs, databases (Gavin, 2008; Andretta, 2005),
• Selecting a research/essay topic and developing a thesis statement (Gavin, 2008),
• Writing skills (Andretta, 2005, p. 176),
• Referencing skills (Andretta, 2005, p. 175; Slusarczyk, 1996 p. 62),
• Evaluating web sources (Gavin, 2008; Andretta, 2005, p. 174),
• Standards and formulae for cognitive skills and metacognitive processes including problem solving and critical thinking (Boyce, 1999, ¶2; Eisenberg & Berkowitz, 2009; Shapiro & Hughes, 1996, Bundy (2004) and Hepworth (2000) as cited in Andretta, 2005, p. 44 and p. 16)
• “Social-structural literacy, or knowing that and how information is socially situated and produced” (Shapiro & Hughes, 1996),
• The ability to self-publish electronically in text or multimedia (Shapiro & Hughes, 1996),
• Values and beliefs about wise, ethical and socially responsible use of information (Bundy (2004) as cited in Andretta, 2005)
• “right through to philosophy of learning how to learn, personal mastery and leadership” (Boyce, 1999, ¶2)

Once again one wonders whether the umbrella use of a term like “information literacy” is motivated by the appeal of the words to garner financial support. Boyce (1999) opines:

“The social and cultural values we associate with each word mediate their connection so that coupled together in a special communications context, at a time of educational and curriculum reform, they are endowed with urgency and extra significance”

I'm tempted, if an umbrella term is needed (for the capabilities to identify a need for, seek, find, evaluate and ethically use information) to use Informacy. Although I imagined the term for myself following the pattern set by literacy and numeracy, I have discovered I am not the first:

Informacy term first used - Google Search via kwout

Not having access to Emerald's holding of Aslib Proceedings from 1984, I cannot check who (if anyone) R Lester appears to have been citing in that article. Nor could I check whether the term was defined as I would use it. (Update 11 April 2011, I've somehow gained access and it appears Lester was citing a "LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES COUNCIL. Working Party on Manpower Education and Training. Discussion Paper on User Education. June 1983" and from his quotes (because I can't find the original) believe they did use the term as I would.  Interestingly, Mr Lester argued against public funding of "user education" programs, and felt the appropriate place for informacy education was in primary schools.)

In one case:

eInclusion@EU : Section 2.2 via kwout

Is there any way of easily discovering whether the term was ever proposed outside of the context of modern technology? In some cases Informacy appears to be used as a compound of information handling and technolacy (another term I'm not the first to conceive):

The Digitisation of Our World - The Digitisation of Our World via kwout

Rise of the knowledge worker - Google Books via kwout

Media access: social and ... - Google Books via kwout

Considering that information is available both outside text and technology, I'd prefer that the term Informacy not automatically incorporate Technolacy:

reinventing-IT: Literacy, Numeracy, and Technolacy? via kwout

But that's enough for today.

References (only those which could not be hyperlinked):

Andretta, S. (2005). Information literacy: a practitioner's guide. Oxford, UK: Chandos.
Boyce, S. (1999). Second thoughts about information literacy. Concept, challenge, conundrum: from library skills to information literacy (pp. 57-65). Adelaide, SA: University of South Australia Library.
Gavin, C. (2008). Teaching information literacy: a conceptual approach. Plymouth, UK: The Scarecrow Press.
Millen, D., & Roberts, H. (2007). Healthy mind, healthy body: digital literacy in the NHS. In J. Secker, D. Boden, & G. Price, The information literacy cookbook: ingredients, recipes and tips for success (pp. 27-43). Oxford, England: Chandos.
Slusarczyk, L. (1996). Finding business information in Curtin University Library: information literacy skills for life-long learning. [Bentley], Western Australia: Glenn Pass.
Sykes, J. B. (Ed.). (1976). The concise Oxford dictionary of current English (6^th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

RPL for CULLB602C & Library2.0

Have you ever applied for RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning)... would you describe it as Fun Fun Fun? Hm, not sure I would either :D

Still, that's what I've been doing for the past few months...and much of the process has been Fun.

Since I began studying for an Advanced Diploma in Library and Information Services I have been avoiding one particular subject: "CULLB602C Use, evaluate and extend own information literacy skills". Why?

Because the major assessment task for the unit appeared to be even worse than the nature of assessment I detested in undergraduate degree courses: not just a trivial essay but a completely irrelevant (to the industry) trivial essay. To be produced just for the sake of demonstrating "conducting research", "communication skill" and "appropriate referencing" - as if none of these attributes have been demonstrated in any of our other unit assessments. Only this was the longest individual piece of writing required in the course. (Other units' assessment tasks often had no number-of-words constraints and depending on the student's extent of research may (in fact for me did) produce longer pieces of writing.)

All this time I have wondered in what way that kind of assessment related to the title & purpose of the unit. So in 2009, facing the prospect of having to do the unit in 2010, I asked a current student of the unit for the elements of competence. The elements and criteria of competence (pdf) of this unit are interesting - they are relevant to the industry and competence in them is I believe important for performance as librarians. (By librarian I mean the Cambridge and Oxford definition not the more recent and questionably-motivated redefinition). Unfortunately I did not and do not believe that the assessment tasks used in recent years appropriately challenged students or allowed them to develop and substantiate even half of the criteria of competence that the unit appeared designed to achieve and which would be valuable for their careers.

Also while I read it occurred to me that as a result of my work and play I could already demonstrate competence in all of those elements and their criteria: I would apply for RPL.

Along the way I would wrestle with a term I have long detested: "information literacy" - I refuse to append the third word often thrown on the end as it is in the name of the unit, because the effect makes me shudder. Naturally it is a fight I am in no position to win, but the attempt involved research, reflection and writing. All of which I felt would be constructive: personally, professionally, and for my application for RPL.

Do you think a series of posts could be good evidence? I wasn't brave enough. Not that I have an audience of whom to be shy, after all I write randomly, and for myself mainly. I did not know who would assess my application so I could not check whether they would be comfortable with that sort of evidence, although I did eventually refer to some of my posts (particularly those on citing online sources). Although it wasn't just the assessor's comfort... the thought of having what I hoped would demonstrate my competence available for anyone to view (and potentially question) was a little too scarey. Now I wish I had tried it because I have come to feel that blogging would be an excellent medium through which students could explore, develop and demonstrate the competencies of the unit.

I'd still like to post some of the thoughts I had during my application, and the assessor has since given approval, but I'm not sure how to or even whether it is worth doing so retrospectively.

Amongst other evidence, I referred to my explorations and subsequent use of web2.0 tools. I kept fantasising how a program somewhat like 23 Things could might help library students to "use, evaluate and extend" their "information literacy".

Excitingly, during my interview, the assessor indicated that my application for RPL and its reasons (ie the poor relevance of the assessment task) had contributed to a review of how the unit is presented at UB. Apparently it will now be restructured and among other changes will involve aspects of ... oh let's call it "Library 2.0 stuff" for want of a better phrase. I hope I get to see how it changes.