I've enjoyed the learning challenges posed by our 2.0 exercise. A repeated, or follow-up, exercise would benefit from a smoother process, perhaps created using the feedback of a beta testing team. It's been exhilarating to hear the buzz of group learning, but it's been sobering to witness episodes of even well-intentioned coercion. We have not quite met the challenge of radical trust implicit in self-directed learning.
The journey to learn 30 things is a long haul, perhaps too long. I believe 23 Things are preferable to 30 Things. I think a course of 10 Things, with time to synthesize and extrapolate, is even better. We have missed opportunities for thematic dialogue and construction of meaning, especially across the generational spectrum.
Beyond the tools and techniques (the Things), there are concepts raised that bear rumination. There is, for example, an existential toll exacted by multiple creations of self--all those profiles, usernames, passwords. All those identities spinning centrifugally from one's core entail cost and energy. It would be profitable to incorporate some discussion about these concepts into the program, if only to better explain to the public the human cost and benefit of using 2.0 tools.
Our 2.0 exercise has helped to underscore for me the importance of approaching technological education in a holistic manner. It is not the technology, or even the technologically proficient, that directs our course of enlightenment. It is the force of our institutional principles - access, equity, inquiry, and dialogue - that turn the keys of our professional development and our community service.
Peace out.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Rollyo--Not My Taste
Although it does resemble a tasty sushi tidbit, Rollyo does not suit my search palate. I guess I don't like pureeing my peas with my carrots. I prefer bundling my trusted search sites via del.icio.us or a wiki, and then composing or tweaking searches to suit the individual resource. It's the amassing of the resources that represents the convenience for me, not the mass-execution of the search.
I also like to track the results that an individual resource yields; that allows me to compare coverage and identify gaps. I have used Rollyo as an auxiliary tool to identify overlooked sites or to finetune search engine comparisons, but that backup use doesn't warrant registration.
Chacun a son gout et bon appetit! (garnish with your own accent marks)
I also like to track the results that an individual resource yields; that allows me to compare coverage and identify gaps. I have used Rollyo as an auxiliary tool to identify overlooked sites or to finetune search engine comparisons, but that backup use doesn't warrant registration.
Chacun a son gout et bon appetit! (garnish with your own accent marks)
One More (Library)Thing
LibraryThing is a favorite site for book information and reader connection. The catalog created for this exercise features books that support continued exploration of the some of the more intriguing Library 2.0 topics,
Here's the link to my books:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=lit4life&shelf=shelf&sort=tags
Here's the link to my books:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=lit4life&shelf=shelf&sort=tags
So Many Lessons...
So little time. But here's my shot at capturing some of it. I'm calling it Play with a Purpose, created using MagMyPic. http://www.magmypic.com/
Also found an idea generator (from Old Dominion University) that could be helpful in brainstorming research paper topics. here's the Social Sciences list.
Pod People!!!
Effective podcast use by libraries presents an interesting challenge. Finding a receptive audience for podcasts seems to go against the notion popularized by campy films of the past. Good podcasts are not designed to cultivate uniformity across the demographic spectrum. Rather, they seem crafted to address a niche of uniqueness, and to carefully tend a nascent perception of privilege. Well done, they serve a concierge function for targeted library customer profile.
Podcasts produced by Johns Hopkins University's Sheridan Libraries present a nice example of niche marketing. I listened to the podcasts for alumni as well as current students, staff and faculty. A couple of features were finely tuned. The musical introduction, especially the one chosen for the alumni, eased any sense of strangeness the listener might experience in trying out the podcast tool. The tunes were a hospitable welcome, a warm or cool drink while strolling the virtual foyer. Beyond that the format was a conversational interview between two staff members. Two voices are usually more engaging than one, and pod listener can imagine himself at his own private screening of this new fangled library "show."
Not bad. Now if they could only arrange for a free gift under my seat...
Podcasts produced by Johns Hopkins University's Sheridan Libraries present a nice example of niche marketing. I listened to the podcasts for alumni as well as current students, staff and faculty. A couple of features were finely tuned. The musical introduction, especially the one chosen for the alumni, eased any sense of strangeness the listener might experience in trying out the podcast tool. The tunes were a hospitable welcome, a warm or cool drink while strolling the virtual foyer. Beyond that the format was a conversational interview between two staff members. Two voices are usually more engaging than one, and pod listener can imagine himself at his own private screening of this new fangled library "show."
Not bad. Now if they could only arrange for a free gift under my seat...
Directory Assistance?
Searching with the aid of the podcast directories was neither fruitful nor satisfying. Many of the pertinent sites I found were not highly indexed, and the inability to jump to individual segments within those that were indexed prompted swift bail-out on Thing 24.
Google yielded richer search results, mainly through identifying public libraries, such as Denver and Kankakee that use podcasting. Even when used by systems with demonstrated proficiency, the format may have limited utility. Long podcasts, with minimal visual accompaniment, rely on strong listener motivation and commitment. Shorter sound bites, as used by Denver to introduce noteworthy picture books, might pique parent/caregiver interest and provide some modeling of reading technique, but I found the well-designed parent page far more engaging than the podcasts. Denver did an excellent job of linking podcasts to the associated customer profile page.
Google yielded richer search results, mainly through identifying public libraries, such as Denver and Kankakee that use podcasting. Even when used by systems with demonstrated proficiency, the format may have limited utility. Long podcasts, with minimal visual accompaniment, rely on strong listener motivation and commitment. Shorter sound bites, as used by Denver to introduce noteworthy picture books, might pique parent/caregiver interest and provide some modeling of reading technique, but I found the well-designed parent page far more engaging than the podcasts. Denver did an excellent job of linking podcasts to the associated customer profile page.
Et Tu, YouTube
YouTube strength lies in its capacity to deliver experience that is immediate, genuine, and robust. If a piece is tentative, it doesn't belong on video, and is unlikely to be a YouTube fave. Library Dominoes did little for me; I just pitied the poor soul tasked with post-production clean-up.
It's not surprising that YouTube best bets tend to be transgressive. They aim, and succeed, at turning something on its ear. Topic and degree of trangressivity are subject to personal taste; let that be caveat and disclaimer for what follows.
A cursory search for literacy-related videos yielded a couple of gems:
For an assortment of reasons, I won't link or embed, but each video is worth viewing for its library service implications. Each video promotes reading, albeit in an edgy, highly stylized manner.
Read a Book incorporates rapper D'Mite's raucous refrain along with profanity and racial epithet, all set to an unrelenting hip hop beat. The pace is purposeful; the message richly layered. The raw exhortation to literacy plays against a display of classic African American literature and historic African American leaders. The mix engages movement and provokes thought.
The Men on Books comedy skit features fictional gay book critics, from the television show In Living Color, who talk up (and down) popular and classic titles from their own highly vamped and often scatological perspective. The video's a tart example of the truism: same book, different reads.
It's not surprising that YouTube best bets tend to be transgressive. They aim, and succeed, at turning something on its ear. Topic and degree of trangressivity are subject to personal taste; let that be caveat and disclaimer for what follows.
A cursory search for literacy-related videos yielded a couple of gems:
- Read a Book - Get Crunk About Reading, by Dawiyd Moor, featuring music by Bomani D'Mite Armah
- Comedy Skit - Men on Books, submitted by Digital Overdrive
For an assortment of reasons, I won't link or embed, but each video is worth viewing for its library service implications. Each video promotes reading, albeit in an edgy, highly stylized manner.
Read a Book incorporates rapper D'Mite's raucous refrain along with profanity and racial epithet, all set to an unrelenting hip hop beat. The pace is purposeful; the message richly layered. The raw exhortation to literacy plays against a display of classic African American literature and historic African American leaders. The mix engages movement and provokes thought.
The Men on Books comedy skit features fictional gay book critics, from the television show In Living Color, who talk up (and down) popular and classic titles from their own highly vamped and often scatological perspective. The video's a tart example of the truism: same book, different reads.
Mashup Mania
Label these visual discovery tools powerful and revealing. Mappr included a link to Graffiti Archeology, a site that chronicled the accumulation and eradication of urban renegade artistic expression. It was interesting to note that the rise and fall of aesthetic appeal did not always track congruently with the presence or absence of graffiti. The site supported a subtext that complemented its visual compilation. That makes the site rich, and a possible springboard for conversation and community building.
Creating a mosaic of "reading" was comforting, not unlike spending time in a library space, surrounded by other readers. Clicking on one image revealed a single reader who was, in turn, composed of myriad other readers. I rather liked that the single reader was discernible, but not highly distinguishable. Montagr yielded a cheering Michael Jackson/John Dunne moment, a la "We Are the World"/No Man Is an Island. My word, how's that for a mashup?
Creating a mosaic of "reading" was comforting, not unlike spending time in a library space, surrounded by other readers. Clicking on one image revealed a single reader who was, in turn, composed of myriad other readers. I rather liked that the single reader was discernible, but not highly distinguishable. Montagr yielded a cheering Michael Jackson/John Dunne moment, a la "We Are the World"/No Man Is an Island. My word, how's that for a mashup?
Tagging: Bane or Blessing?
Flickr tags have all the vitality of any folksonomy; results can be predictable, confounding as well as serendipitous. Looking for an image that expressed something profound about reading and/or libraries, I found the initial discoveries flat--lots of cherubic summer reading program participants, reading rooms and stack shots. Dispirited, I dropped libraries from the search expression: Voila, pay dirt. Two powerful images rooted out from the "reading" tag pile- one, a homeless person reading on the street (literally), and the other, two folks gazing at a Dublin Guinness factory display.
A portion of the tag list for my chosen image reads like avant garde poetry:
A portion of the tag list for my chosen image reads like avant garde poetry:
strangers
map
reading
light
Who would know that the words, amalgamated, mean library to me? Only one of the terms was in my search expression, but the image was in serendipitous communion with my search step. In the Salon article The Friendster of Photo Sites, Katharine Mieszkowski calls the comingling of similar images an "endlessly beguiling cross-pollination of photos that spark a host of unique communities." For me, it seemed that Flickr read what my left brain had not (yet) explicitly voiced. Is that imprecision or mystical anticipation? Was the tool muse or seer?
Something to ponder--later. Right now, I'm happy to have found my pic.
A Left-Right Brainer
Who doesn't enjoy looking at photo albums? And who can resist an invitation to hunker down and watch a slide show of Uncle Seymour's latest junket? If a single picture is worth a thousand words, just imagine the value of countless pictures. The prospect boggles, and the brain stalls.
Therein lies the allure and vexation of Flickr: so many pictures, so many pictures! My goal was to find the picture that communicated more than words could express, yet I had to trust language to ford the visual stream. A bit bizarre, but oddly groovy, to feel the two brain hemispheres leaning on one another in a conceptual scavenger hunt.
I found my Flickr pic, an eloquent composition by rcrowley. It's entitled Map reading by bottle light, and for me it's a visual analogy for yearning, fortification, libraries and mediation. Check it out.
Therein lies the allure and vexation of Flickr: so many pictures, so many pictures! My goal was to find the picture that communicated more than words could express, yet I had to trust language to ford the visual stream. A bit bizarre, but oddly groovy, to feel the two brain hemispheres leaning on one another in a conceptual scavenger hunt.
I found my Flickr pic, an eloquent composition by rcrowley. It's entitled Map reading by bottle light, and for me it's a visual analogy for yearning, fortification, libraries and mediation. Check it out.
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