Need clarification on steampunk?

Apparently its *not* just gears glued on:


(I hadn't thought it was, but then again some designs in Second Life labelled Steampunk do give that impression)

Do I need THIS device?

Ceccy once explained the "plot device" to me.  I didn't imagine anything like this. (Discovered via Storm Bear, and his comment "Kids these days and their digital gear…")

Plot Device from Red Giant on Vimeo.

About webbing: hyperlinking in blogs etcetera

At work this afternoon I overheard Haze chatting with a patron about the library course, and when it seemed they were chatting about web2.0 technologies I looked up. 

It was Di-Dee!  Naturally I had to pin her, to personally introduce some of my favourite web2.0 technologies.

But at this early stage in explorations, the most immediate item I hope Di-Dee took away was how to enhance her posts with hyperlinks.  If possible, I will insert a quick little video on creating hyperlinks in Blogger, for the students and colleagues newly lured into web2.0



Over a week later, after CaptureFox shut down Firefox dozens of times, and after I couldn't access any video I created with CamStudio, I've finally tried Jing to get the above, please tell me if it doesn't work for you.

Before I could make the video, I was distracted by pondering the thought that once one knows HOW to, there is still the questions of why: whether, when, where.

Immediately I began pondering that question I remembered a book I enjoyed recently. Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters - it took me ages to rediscover the title of that book as it was not in my reading history at CHRLC or UB, because I had borrowed it through BONUS from UTS or Massey (interesting aside, I will be wanting to look up Dewey again because these libraries chose slightly different numbers: 303.4833 .v. 302.231). Say Everything... was immensely readable. Maybe because the interesting societal perspective was balanced with personal, intimate stories of some of the people who are the history of blogging.

Just because hyperlinks = the web and blogging began as regular sharing of hyperlinks, doesn't mean that every blogging purpose is served by hyperlinks. There are plenty of writers about the value of hyperlinks to blogs whose goal is moneymaking and that's why I'm not linking to them. Others like Julie Schopick express their value to expertise sharing, and reputation building. One might see few to no hyperlinks in news blogs (as long as they are truly first with the news) or maybe opinion blogs (although we still expect to see links to online sources that trigger the development of opinion, and the quality of the opinion might be enhanced by quality hyperlinks) or even fiction writers' blogs.

One purpose that probably applies to most blogs is Conversation - and that *is* served by hyperlinks - at least ... oops, I have absorbed that as a fact, without this moment being able to explain just how... can someone help me out with that?  Good, yes thanks Julien Frisch:

"If their only function would be to be the glue between those who are writing, a system of reference and reverence, they would already fulfil an important function, one that I consider to be one of the main elements of blogging.

But in fact, the use of hyperlinks is not only a way to create connections to others. Hyperlinking allows completely new forms of writing about ... [fill in your sphere here]...

If hyperlinks become an active part of the language we speak when we write online, we can help to build bridges between those who are already inside the debate and those who want to join. ...

Links are used both as reverence mechanism between peers but also as cognitive bridges for those who would not understand the full extend of an article without this relational guidance by the author, without forcing the latter to (re)write what has already been written before." (Frisch, 2009, ¶8)

Do read Julien's whole article, his example is excellent and the comments interesting.

Darn it, this is turning into another long post I shouldn't be spending time on with all the shopping, booking and packing I still need to do... but having found such interesting articles I do want to share them....

Julien's inspiration: Venkatesh Rao's The Rhetoric of The Hyperlink is another must-read and I recommend it also to my writer friends. I will only quote one of his interesting comments, which happens to sum up the point of hyperlinking shared by for-money, for-giving-expertise, for-conversation and for-the-writing blogs: becoming reliable:

"Real hyperlink artists know that paradoxically, the more people are tempted to click away from your content, the more they want to keep coming back.  There is a set of tradeoffs involving compactness, temptation to click, foreshadowing to eliminate surprise (and retain the reader), and altruism in passing on the reader. But the medium is friendlier to generosity in yielding the stage." (Rao, 2009, ¶8) 

Actually that conversation probably gives me a partial answer to my question: when?  

I had sought to find ready-made advice on when and when not to hyperlink...unsuccessfully.

However I did find: Penny Coutas with the same question amongst others in her mind when puzzling over a style for hyperlinking in her online academic writing.  In fact, fellow CULLB602C students may find it useful to consider Penny's thoughts when preparing their own assignments online.

Wikipedia as style guide? by Penny Coutas in Exploring the Hype(r) of Languages Learning and Teaching via kwout

I am glad Penny mentioned her discovery that online academic journals do not optimise the use of hyperlinks but rather use print-based referencing styles.  I have found the same. Penny also has an answer (no) for morgan who once asked if I knew whether APA allow a different rule for online publications.

Personally I recommend when writing for academic purpose online, do both.  As Felix Salmon (2010) concluded in his opinion piece Why links belong in text "Someone writing online should no more put their links at the end of their essay than a university professor should first give the lecture and then run through the slides." When the medium is online, optimise for online reading.  If the purpose is academic and if there is either academic requirement or the possibility of print publication, then use print referencing style too. (If you're writing in html spaces rather than pdf or other web-accessible docs you might seek clarification on whether you need hanging indented paragraphs in the reference list.).

Felix wrote Why links belong in text in response to Nicholas Carr's complaints about how distracting hyperlinks can be. Felix dismisses nick's point about the big distraction - being drawn away from the original article: "In these days of tabbed browsing, there’s a difference between clicking and clicking away: most of us, I’m sure, control-click many times per day while reading something interesting, letting tabs accumulate in the background as we find interesting citations we want to read later." (Salmon, 2010, ¶6) That's certainly how I avoid losing my place.

However I would sometimes (particularly when there are 'too many' links) relate to nick's second point: "Other times, they're tiny distractions, little textual gnats buzzing around your head. Even if you don't click on a link, your eyes notice it, and your frontal cortex has to fire up a bunch of neurons to decide whether to click or not. You may not notice the little extra cognitive load placed on your brain, but it's there and it matters." (Carr, 2010, 2010, ¶3). I also relate completely to Felix's response that in certain situations (particularly when author's cite someone else) " I expect a link and there’s much more cognitive load placed on my brain — there’s much more buzzing in my frontal cortex — if there isn’t a link there than if there is." (Salmon, 2010, ¶1)

Pursuing the notion of "too many hyperlinks" for advice from a different perspective. I found that Torley (yes of Second Life video tutorial fame) advises to hyperlink sparingly, and shares his approach (2008, ¶7) "I'll hyperlink to shed light on inspirations + influences behind a post. I'll hyperlink to provide contact info, and "further details" too onerous, too rich to cram onto a single page."


To other bloggers: how do you decide what to hyperlink?

For me, the hyperlinks I create are for a reader like me, they offer links I think I'd find potentially useful:

• explaining an idea better than I have
• providing a reference or credit for material I quote (or further reading)
• backtracing my stimuli

To avoid an excess of hyperlinks:

• If you're using Zemanta don't link every word in your post for which Wikipedia has an article.
• Remember that readers can select words or phrases we need clarified and right click for a google search. (for that fact I appreciate the reminder from Jack, one of Venkat's readers).

That last point is also advice to readers... for whom I have more:

To online readers who may be stressed by "too many" hyperlinks - adapt the rules for crossing a road safely: Before you click: Stop Look Listen Think.

Stop: Don't click, just hover and;
Look: read the URL "where it goes" displayed in browser footer
Listen: listen to the article you're already reading
Think: do you really need or want to explore that link?
Then if you still want to check it out, use Right-Click, Open in New Tab

I will also be looking into the Readability plugin that apparently helps readers by removing all the extraneous stuff around the article we want to read.  It has recently been updated with an optional feature so that (if I understand it correctly) hyperlinks are made less visible (can still be seen on hover) but listed completely as footnotes.


And just for the practice...

References

Carr, N. (2010, May 31). Experiments in delinkification [Web log post]. Rough Type. Retrieved from http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2010/05/experiments_in.php

Coutas, P. (2010, June 7). Wikipedia as style guide? [Web log post]. Exploring the Hype(r) of Languages Learning and Teaching. Retrieved from http://www.exploringthehyper.net/blog/2010/06/wikipedia-as-style-guide/

Frisch, J. (2009, July 7). Creating a European public sphere: the hyperlink story [Web log post]. Julien Frisch. Retrieved from http://julienfrisch.blogspot.com/2009/07/creating-european-public-sphere.html

Rao, V. (2009, July 1). The rhetoric of the hyperlink [Web log post]. ribbonfarm.com Retrieved from http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/07/01/the-rhetoric-of-the-hyperlink/

Salmon, F. (2010, June 2). Why links belong in text [Web log post]. Reuters. Retrieved from http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/06/02/why-links-belong-in-text/

Torley. (2008, April 21). Hyperlink sparingly [Web log post]. Musical dream journal. Retrieved from http://torley.com/hyperlink-sparingly

Citing a song in APA style

.... particularly if APA's example reference to the writer is not accurately crediting the idea you cite?

Lyrics

Quite possibly the googlers who landed somewhere in my blog (and would have left dissatisfied because I hadn't yet decided to play with this puzzle) may have been wanting a simple answer for quoting song lyrics. Cool, can (maybe) do from APA's (2010, p. 209) example for a music recording (if a recording is your source).

Writer, A. (Copyright year*). Title of song [Recorded by B. B. Artist if different from writer]. On Title of album [Medium of recording: CD, record, cassette, etc.]. Location: Label. (Date of recording if different from song copyright date)

*Copyright date? Aren't we supposed to cite our Source..."Give in parentheses the year the work was published" (APA, 2010, p. 185)? And seriously how often do you see the lyrics' own copyright date provided even when the records, cassettes or CDs includes a print of the lyrics? But I'm not going to explore the complexities of music/lyrics copyright: Circle C and Circle P (© and ℗) just now.

Time for examples?
I don't listen to enough music to identify any with academic relevance, so let's just pretend these do:

"...I'm feeling you, you're on my mind
I wanna be with you
'Cause when you're standing next to me
It's like wow..."
(Harry & St. Victor, 2001, Track 3)

Harry, J. & St. Victor, S. (2001). Like Wow! [Performed by Leslie Carter]. On Shrek: music from the original motion picture [CD]. Dreamworks.

Or:

"I've been alone with you inside my head
And in my dreams I've kissed your lips, a
thousand times..."
(Richie, 1983, Track 2:4)

Richie, L. (1983). Hello. On Can't slow down [Record]. Los Angeles, CA : Motown.

And, because I began exploring APA citation in more detail for electronic sources, 2 more examples:

Say I quote lines of a song relying on text version of the lyrics?:

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?"
(Burns, 2010)

Burns, R. (2010). Auld Lang Syne (contemporary version) [song lyrics]. In Cantaria folk song archive. Retrieved from http://www.chivalry.com/cantaria/lyrics/auldlang.html

OR, say I referred to OK Go's (2009, 1:17) advice to "Don't go blaming the kids again", "if your mind don't move and your knees don't bend" or in some other way to their song This too shall pass and if my source were their marching band version video which they are now (but were not previously) permitted to embed and allow others to embed.

Then my reference list might appear:

OK Go. (2009). This too shall pass [music video]. Capitol Records. Retrieved 30 May 2010 from http://www.okgo.net/2010/05/28/the-little-things/

Even if I had viewed the video at YouTube where OkGo mention the album in which the song appears: "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky", my own source was not the album.

 

Performance

But, what if we write about the ideas performed rather than the lyrics? What do I mean by that... could you writers about song performances help me out here? In the meantime, as one example, tvtropes refer to when the cover changes the meaning, (although some of their many examples merely demonstrate a variation of tone), still that sort of instance might dramatise that there are times when we might need to cite someone other than the song-writer.

Perhaps the dramatic difference between Greg Laswell's and Cyndi Lauper's covers of lyrics originally by Robert Hazard. Might one cite Lauper's (1983) feminist declaration of girl's wanting to have fun on the one hand, or Laswell's (2007) lament that girls just want to have fun, and perhaps credit Hazard for lyrics in additional information in the reference list?

Lauper, C. (1983). Girls just want to have fun [adapted from lyrics by Robert Hazard]. On She's so unusual [CD]. CBS.

Laswell, G. (2007). Girls just want to have fun [adapted from lyrics by Robert Hazard]. Vanguard Records. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5VjtJyoqJQ

And another possibility: as you may have noticed there is sometimes more meaning given to a song by its video than its lyrics or the singing of them, so a reference to a song might actually want to cite the specific video context. I've mentioned this before in my post on citing from Youtube. But for another example, let's imagine I've cited some significant aspect particularly of the video elements of OK Go's video above and not just because its here and I know because they mention it at the YouTube site that they share credit for the video direction with Brian Perkins:

We might perhaps list it then as:

Perkins, B. L. & OK Go (Directors). (2009). This too shall pass [Performed by OK Go and featuring the Notre Dame marching band] [music video]. Capitol Records. Retrieved 30 May 2010 from http://www.okgo.net/2010/05/28/the-little-things/

Yale discusses the ambiguity in citing conventions for Television, Radio Program or Music Videos, because they're created by groups, but they suggest that as long as the basic elements are present, one might (as I suggest) if focussing on a particular contribution, cite and list by that contributor.

Citing Vimeo in APA Style

Darn, I can't come up with a context in which I would cite the fantastic video below. There are more authoritative sources for the chemical facts it contains, and I know nothing about animation to refer to the techniques or effects Christopher Hendryx (2009) uses.

Well that should do I guess to get to the point, which was to give an example of citing Vimeo in APA Style, which would appear in my reference list as:

Hendryx, C. (2009). Oxygen [video]. Retrieved May 7, 2009 from http://vimeo.com/4433312

Unless of course one wanted to cite an aspect of the video that was contributed by someone else... for that video, perhaps some aspect of the narration (very appealing, I'd listen to Andrew Bailes (2009) again :D )... In that case:

Bailes, A. (Narrator). (2009). Oxygen [video]. Retrieved May 7, 2009 from http://vimeo.com/4433312

(or see a different example, citing an interviewee, below the video)

What makes it fantastic to me is the FUN presentation of basic information about Oxygen (and its interaction with Iron, Barium and Helium), perfect for an educational setting. I'd love to see a whole series of similar videos presenting the qualities of other elements (as would other viewers, like Steven White, {sad that I could not link directly to any of the comments at Vimeo}).

Oxygen from Christopher Hendryx on Vimeo.

I wonder will anyone read this far?

Okay, say we have a video that contains a few interviews, and we are citing only one of the interviewees? Perhaps David Rosenthal's (2009) points about his Doctors 2.0 endeavour within the video The Next Generation of Doctors. I would do this:

Rosenthal, D. (Interviewee) (2009). The Next Generation of Doctors. [Video] Retrieved August 21, 2009, from http://vimeo.com/5379566

Please tell me which video you're planning to cite in your paper?

Playing with YouTube - no really: a game... in YouTube

I went looking for examples of citations of YouTube videos in academic papers, but I became distracted by the fourth result to my google search.

Don't start me wondering why, with the search string ... example of YouTube video referenced in academic paper... google gave me Dan Calladine's blog post (2009, Feb 6) about "the best set of YouTube Annotations videos [he's] ever seen".

Sure have some fun with the game (BENandERIC, 2008, November 7) yourself AFTER you tell me where you've seen a paper citing a YouTube video (please because playing the game will take you away from here).




I'm actually looking for new YouTube videos to practice referencing, particularly ones that have
(a) no discernible statement of responsibility (author/creator/producer), so the reference will begin with the video title; or at the other end of the scale
(b) a place and "publisher/distributor" to include in the reference.

The video cited here allowed for additional examples of citing a screen-name, a practice endorsed by APA (2007, p23).

References:

American Psychological Association. (2007). APA Style Guide to Electronic References. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

BENandERIC. (2008, November 7). Play: "BarackPaperScissors". [video]. Retrieved July 14, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2mcdS6ioo8

Calladine, D. (2009, February 6). Barack Paper Scissors - YouTube Annotations. Digital Examples. Retrieved July 14, 2009 from http://digital-examples.blogspot.com/2009/02/barack-paper-scissors-youtube.html

YouTube Scholar

MEDIA PRAXIS is the Professor who created a course Learning from YouTube (which I found via one of Langwitches del.icio.us links for today: to openculture's guest feature by Alexandra Juhasz, which I'd really like to study from which I want to consider and learn/write/learn... when I have more time!).

I haven't noticed Library2.0 posts about that course yet, though I could have missed it, indeed I'm sure one of the Academic Library2.0 lot would have noticed and mentioned it.

Still I wanted to jot-blog about MEDIA PRAXIS and her course on YouTube because I also think Rach might be interested and I don't think she uses del.icio.us yet for me to 'for:' her, but she might be subscribed to my blog.

So, I haven't made any significant comments on what I'm quite certain would be a very rewarding tour of thought, which is a little embarrassing, but it is time for bed.

No I can't leave it at just text, got to add a photo or video... hmmmmmmmmmm.......

Threads

Let's see if I can remember the path that led me to the amusing animation that I feel compelled to share.

Ah yes, it is actually a very short trip... it was the diversions that have taken so long.

First, naturally, my Bloglines - where Langwitches most recent post about her latest Voicethread caught my curiosity.

I'm still wondering what a bottle on a car means in Argentina because the answer is not yet at her Voicethread: What Could it Mean.

Some of the other Voicethreads looked interesting:

• amypalko's Colour Poetry demonstrates an idea for value-adding, archiving, sharing family, homeschooler or even school children's creative work.


• Kathleen Kyzer's UNC Chapel Hill in Second Life by using one web2.0 initiative to promote another begged me to view and was just interesting enough to keep me viewing though it was so slow I almost quit it several times.


• Freda Nichols' Dixie's House appeared to be using the tool for an art class activity - much like one could in Flickr (without voice).


• I'd like to see my boys use Voicethread to share their activities like cmmatzat did for his Lego Base


• I was so intrigued by Tom Taylor's High Speed Photography that I embedded the thread at Counting Everything, maybe one day I'll try out the technique he explained so clearly.


• The first image of sabestian's Kenya Escape wasn't so appealing to me, but I was curious to hear about a family's escape from war torn Kenya, and am glad I explored it.

Although I haven't created my own Voicethread yet, it looks a lot easier to create than a video.

amypalko's letter writing voicethread mentioned her Lives Less Ordinary Tumblr at which I found this video:
Les Triplettes de Belleville

From wood to joy

First the path:
Sandra Dodd's Wood thinking-stick (my first thought? How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? which I think is harder to type fast than say fast. second: mum's old camphor wood chest. third: I want to make a bookshelf for my paperbacks.)
--> Stephanie's post on her son's woodworking (at which I studiously avoid reflecting once again on gunplay)
--> her earlier post about late nights & trying to go to bed earlier (where I commented in sympathy: our nights are late, and I'd like them to be earlier - breathe out regret over the long-term visitors who destroyed our better habit a couple of years ago)
--> subscription to Stephanie's blog, and mildly curious about another post: The #1 song the day you were born discovered from
-->Josh Hosler that on the day I was born Judy in disguise (with glasses) was #1 in the US.
-->But what was #1 here in Australia? According to Oz Net Music Chart it was Sadie the cleaning lady by John Farnham. Lovely voice. Vivid character description - superficial characterisation. Ugh makes me cringe.
-->I did find a video at YouTube of the original performance but I hesitated to embed it here because it pre-dates sympathetic music-video and the dancers made me cringe worse than the lyrics - what a dreadful juxtaposition to the song's theme - so lacking in congruence.

So
<-- however Joy's birthday #1 was "Joy to the world" and that I've added to my happy songs playlist.

For my boys... WOW music video

While preparing previous post on citing YouTube videos, I was going to include this one as an example of one that did not have production credit... but then I found it did ... so it isn't needed there, but I can't NOT mention it here.

The video: World of Warcraft Big Blue Dress

was added to YouTube by Phenixxx. It does not contain any claim in-video or description as being created by Phenixxx, Credit in the closing scenes (not explained whether for music/video or both):

Cranius
"Big Blue Dress"
TCO
Destromath

As it happens, further research suggests that Cranius is also responsible for the video and music, and apparently vocal and character performance too. I'm curious, though I don't play the game myself, about the source of the dwarf back-up singers: are they Cranius-alts composited, or friends/guild members?

So surely the reference for this would be:

Cranius. (2006). Big Blue Dress [music video]. Retrieved May 18, 2007 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqO7zEWu0W0

How to cite a YouTube video in APA style

UPDATED: 5 March 2010

More recently a googler landed here from the query: ...directly quoting from youtube apa...

My original post did not contain a significant point for directly quoting: location reference.
{Note: A location reference would also be desirable if paraphrasing a point that does not represent the whole of the cited work.}

In APA style a location reference is included with the in-text citation rather than in the reference list: (Author, year, location) or Author stated (Year, location).

To locate a quote within a video I would use a time reference, eg:

"No monkeys were harmed in the making of this film" (Booth, 2006, 3:36)

Back to original post with minor edits:

I apologise if this page took a while to load, I love these videos because my boys love World of Warcraft.

I haven't really had occasion to need to cite a video myself, but as MyBlogLog tells me that visitors have browsed by my 'cite-a-blog' and 'cite-a-blog-comment' posts from google searches seeking APA style citation guidance for youtube videos, I've been wondering...

First, to cite a video seems on the surface quite simple:

• title would be the video title [from the YouTube page only if there is no titling within the video itself],
  
• as an electronic source there would be 'Retrieved -date- from URL' [since 6th edition, retrieval date not required unless source is likely to be changed] and 
  
• author would be the producer of the video if known... which begs another question: identifying the producer. However for now, one calls to mind that
  
• APA citation style for audiovisual media varies from print material in that the function of the originator or primary contributors is designated in parentheses, and the nature of the work in brackets after the title (American Psychological Association [APA], 2001, p. ?)... which brings to mind the music video which begs another question (if one's commentary refers to the music content is the reference to the song writer and if relevant performer?; and if one's commentary refers to the visual content is the reference to the video producer?; or does one in any case reference both?)
  

Back to identifying the producer:

1. If the video includes an appropriate credit - great use that, (although one still has those questions about specific reference to either music or video content in music video).
   
2. Many YouTube videos do not have credits, and there is a distinct possibility that people might post videos they did not create, such as the Slingshot Fun video in McConnell Library's example (McConnell Library, 2007) so that it might be best not to attribute to the YouTube member who posted it [and in this case cite and reference by the title], however:
   
3. The personal web-cam style videos, apparently home-made by the one who posts them to YouTube - can they be credited to that one? If 'apparently' is not enough, what if the video's description contains a claim of creation? [I think if you believe the one who uploaded made the video, then cite their screen-name if they don't provide a proper name]
4. What then about YouTube's "director" videos?
   

Perhaps I should test some... what about ....

Credit given in video:

If I comment upon Mike Spiff Booth's video content... maybe:

Apparently no monkeys were harmed in the making of Mike Spiff Booth's video Code Monkey (2006, 3:36).

to list in the reference list:

Booth, M. S. (Producer). (2006, September 23) Code Monkey [music video]. Retrieved May 18, 2007 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Wy7gRGgeA

however, would I cite songwriter and video producer both if I wrote something like:

The way Mike Spiff Booth shows it (Coulter & Booth, 2006) one is left uncertain whether Code Monkey gets the girl or just imagines he does "one day".

with a reference:

Coulter, J. (Songwriter & Performer) & Booth, M. S. (Videoproducer). (2006). Code Monkey [music video]. Retrieved May 18, 2007 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Wy7gRGgeA

Credit/responsibility appearing to belong to YouTube member/poster:

in text:
...when tipping in a loose page, only a minute amount of pva is required (molly1216, 2006, 0:17)...

Reference:

molly1216. (2003). How to tip in a loose page [video]. Retrieved May 18, 2007 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD457Dr1jx0

But what about characters:

Might one do this?
in text:

According to Ol'Chumbucket and Cap'n Slappy (2003, 0:47) "Avast" means 'stand and give attention'.

Reference:

Ol'Chumbucket & Cap'n Slappy. (2003). Talk Like a Pirate Day: The Five A's [video]. Retrieved May 18, 2007 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cKCkbWDGwE

References

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Americal Psychological Association.
McConnell Library, Radford University. (2007, March 1). Citation Style Guides. Retrieved May 18, 2007 from http://lib.radford.edu/Resources/handouts/styleguides.asp#websiteno

Like supermarkets or anything 2.0? You *have* to see this...

Thanks to Library COGs, via Chadwick (InfoSciPhi) and I'd have seen neither without feeding from a Bloglines search on "Carnival of the Infosciences"

Powerpoint, making the most of...

ACRLog (StevenB) shared this video on optimising powerpoint presentations. I wonder whether I'd have improved my own presentation had I seen it last year. Perhaps I'll find a way to mention it to this year's students of the subject and my ABA colleagues...



(Irritatingly google has still not enabled us to post YouTube videos directly from YouTube to our New Blogger blogs).

Clever Library advertisement

Mi estas komencanto de Esperanto

Mi studas Esperanto ĉe lernu! danke al sennoma komentulo.

I first heard about Esperanto in a story whose title and even plot I've long since forgotten. I have a vague sense it might have been a futuristic science fiction novel, and I thought it might have been another word for a merged language like Spanglish.

Then some indeterminate time later I read about a homeschooling family from Ireland who had learned Esperanto. I found primers at either Wangaratta or Wodonga library and on the internet, playing with it for a little.

That anonymous commenter had directed me to videos at lernu!. Two clips were google videos (at least one of which is also at YouTube but the sound is not as good there).

Esperanto Estas:


While at google video I noticed "Wrecking Ball at the Tower of Babel" which documents a pessimistic view that constructed international languages are unlikely to become significantly useful because no international organisation has the authority to require teaching of it, no national governments would be willing to require teaching a language perceived as 'novelty' and "since language is related to identity, culture and memory, many believe that language erosion is comparable to cultural genocide" (Can anyone tell me if it is possible to link to a specific part in a video? This conclusion was expressed at 08:43).



That video suggests that learning a new language requires the elimination of the native language (citing for example Napoleon requiring schools to teach only one French language eliminating many dialects). However the Australian education system requires students to study both English and a language other than English (LOTE). {Tell me Aussies do any schools offer Esperanto?}. What if one then another then another (etc) school offered Esperanto?

Is Australia the only country that requires students to learn a second language?

23Things #20 YouTube... or other video sites

I've discovered YouTube awhile ago, so for the spirit of this thing I have been exploring Yahoo video and Google video.

Unfortunately I cannot blog directly from Yahoo video so I've copied across an embed script for a compilation of anime romance:



Although google video provided a button to blog and validated my blogger sign in, it then (twice), after I wrote and clicked the post button, told me that I had invalid login information! I can't be bothered doing it again. (It was only an animation apparently from Pixar with blue birds that was in a popular collection)... Oh okay, I've searched it out to copy the html (genre:animation birds):



Because I was frustrated I decided to post another video from YouTube - who told me it was successful, and it might take 24 hours to turn up.

When I looked back at the exercise I note Helene asked whether we could

see any features or components of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?

I'm not sure whether Helene was asking whether YouTube or other video sites might be useful tools to mash with a library's website, or whether library websites would be enhanced by social features such as patrons being able to upload their own stuff to the library site, or comment on things. On the latter: I don't know about uploading but I've already commented elsewhere that I love the idea (carried out at Ann Arbor) of patrons being able to comment and socialise around the collection via the online catalog. On the former sure - I've noticed a library tour video somewhere, and I can imagine something like the following playlist on a staff wiki:



Darn, I previewed three times before publishing and still forgot something:

I like being able to collect my favourites (or subscribe to another user's videos) at YouTube, which can also be done with Yahoo video but not google video. I went back to check, make sure I hadn't just missed it, but I still don't see an option for that, but I did find another funny video:

Loathing

Wicked Musical

In my music I usually prefer lyrics of a theme or feeling to which I can relate my own experience. In this I don't - but I like it - I enjoy the voices and the presentation.

Thanks TLB of The cat's meow for the link (and PLCMC Learning 2.0 for the link to TLB)

Yes I'm Blogging This

Are You Blogging This?

Why Not? That was fun... shows me how much more I have to learn.

I've had a lot of fun at YouTube today: from Numa Numa and NumaNuma in English, to "Ray of Light" St. Joseph County Public Library Version

Lego on YouTube... These boots are made for walking

Okay, remember how I love the journey as much or more than the destination? Let me try to track back how I found this...

Helene Blowers Library 2.0 bootcamp blog

'cause hers was first on the Library2.0 bootcamp participant blog list and she's commented on my blog.

From Michelle Boule's ALA TechSource Blog post 'What a long strange trip'

Which I'm now reading at Bloglines ... an experiment, as I was very happy with my Feedblitz emails.

Talk Like a Pirate Day training video #1

I'm experimenting with posting about videos - can't do it from MySpace, which is disappointing because I would have included Weird Al's White and Nerdy, but perhaps YouTube will be friendlier.



Unfortunately YouTube appears to be having trouble accessing my blogger details to set up my blog at YouTube... so I wonder whether I can just post the embed script by email?