If there's a nationwide, bienniel librarianship conference coming to your town, what do you do?
Well, if you are me, you book the Big Family Holiday for the same time.
Mr8 changes school next year after 3 years in a very intensive school program. Mr3 starts kindy 3 days a week next year. The Co-Pilot and I have just been working our socks off for the last few years.
We arrived in Queensland yesterday and aren't coming home for 5 weeks. Apart from an obligatory visit to Wiggles World and the Crocodile Hunter's Australia Zoo , we are resting, relaxing and recuperating. We'll leave the Gold Coast for Cairns/Dunk Island on the 17th. Visiting Uluru on the way home.
Apologies if the posting here is a bit erratic for a while. Newer, more invigorated posting will start in October.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
Librarian Fit Club - Join Up
Feel like flexing some bloggy muscles? Been resisting all things del.cio.us? How about joining some other librarians as they learn about Library 2.0 tools AND get fit at the same time?
Keith Engwall who is a librarian in Salisbury, North Carolina is inviting other librarians to join him in a project to use new web tools to work toward a common goal of shifting a few pounds.
So far he has set up a basecamp group, which requires an admin to add you, and a flickr group , which is open. He'd like some more people to weigh in with setting up a bog and a wiki.
A potential participant suggested using the 43 things website to track our goals. The joint goal is be a more fit librarian. It's been a while since I looked at the site, so I went back for another look tonight.
I'd seen it before I delved into Library 2.0, but not joined in. Funny, but I am so much less reserved about giving out a few personal details and jumping straight into a social web site. I remember thinking "hmm interesting", and looking at who was from my home town, but not really thinking that I might participate.
Tonight I was joined up in the first minute and after half an hour or so of playing, I have a list of 8 things that I have done, all flagged as "worth doing" by me. I have 6 things I want to do.
What have I done?
I actually received a cheer within seconds of posting a goal (something to do with my comment on the "go to a nude beach" goal that it was really worthwhile..except for one Easter holidays when I accidentally met my own brother there...hooo boy).
(I also want to go to 12 places:
Keith Engwall who is a librarian in Salisbury, North Carolina is inviting other librarians to join him in a project to use new web tools to work toward a common goal of shifting a few pounds.
So far he has set up a basecamp group, which requires an admin to add you, and a flickr group , which is open. He'd like some more people to weigh in with setting up a bog and a wiki.
A potential participant suggested using the 43 things website to track our goals. The joint goal is be a more fit librarian. It's been a while since I looked at the site, so I went back for another look tonight.
I'd seen it before I delved into Library 2.0, but not joined in. Funny, but I am so much less reserved about giving out a few personal details and jumping straight into a social web site. I remember thinking "hmm interesting", and looking at who was from my home town, but not really thinking that I might participate.
Tonight I was joined up in the first minute and after half an hour or so of playing, I have a list of 8 things that I have done, all flagged as "worth doing" by me. I have 6 things I want to do.
What have I done?
- Write a will
- Have 2 children
- grow my own food
- learn to dance
- buy a bicycle
- go to a nude beach
- have more energy
- Have a baby
- be a more fit librarian
- eliminate clutter
- go walking every day that I can
- make a smaller ecological footprint
- get my asthma completely under control
- Create communities
I actually received a cheer within seconds of posting a goal (something to do with my comment on the "go to a nude beach" goal that it was really worthwhile..except for one Easter holidays when I accidentally met my own brother there...hooo boy).
(I also want to go to 12 places:
- Dunk Island
- Australia Zoo
- Eumundi Markets
- Noosa
- Dreamworld
- Gold Coast
- Palm Beach
- Surfer's Paradise
- Cairns
- Sea world
- Currumbin wildlife sanctuary
- Byron Bay)
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Make a magic dragon !
Wow, wow and double wow!
I've been behaving bizarrely for the last day. Every so often I'll stop what I'm doing, walk to my desk, close one eye and rock from side to side. No, I'm not stimming. I'm just marvelling my little dragon friend below, and how his head follows me as I move. Spooky but fascinating!
This paper dragon was made from a template available here. It is cut from a single piece of paper, and has only one part. It involves about 2 minutes of cutting and sticking.
The movement is all optical illusion, based on our brains expecting certain objects to look a certain way - like noses to point outward, not inward. It was created for the Gathering for Gardner event in 1998. Martin Gardner, born in 1914 wrote the "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American from 1956 to 1981.
If you don't think you want to make your own, then watch the video here. After you watch the video, you probably will change your mind.
I've been behaving bizarrely for the last day. Every so often I'll stop what I'm doing, walk to my desk, close one eye and rock from side to side. No, I'm not stimming. I'm just marvelling my little dragon friend below, and how his head follows me as I move. Spooky but fascinating!
This paper dragon was made from a template available here. It is cut from a single piece of paper, and has only one part. It involves about 2 minutes of cutting and sticking.
The movement is all optical illusion, based on our brains expecting certain objects to look a certain way - like noses to point outward, not inward. It was created for the Gathering for Gardner event in 1998. Martin Gardner, born in 1914 wrote the "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American from 1956 to 1981.
If you don't think you want to make your own, then watch the video here. After you watch the video, you probably will change your mind.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Folksomic and Synchronic
Last night, I listened to a podcast from from Talis of members of the Library 2.0 Gang discussing tagging, folksomies and libraries. You can Download the MP3 here. I'd already written this post before a couple of coincidental things happened. More on that later.
I've been waiting to hear librarians talking about social tagging ever since I poked my duck like beak into Library 2.0. I particularly wanted to hear where our traditional cataloguing tools might fit. I wasn't disappointed. Paul Miller did make the point that it was 40 minutes into the total 45 before authorities were discussed.
Synchroniciity number one - A couple of hours ago, Paul Miller actually commented on my "They DO mash" post. BTW, they received 18 entries in the Mashing Up the Library competition)
Some of the points raised that I found interesting (many of them by Karen Schneider, I think):
I've been waiting to hear librarians talking about social tagging ever since I poked my duck like beak into Library 2.0. I particularly wanted to hear where our traditional cataloguing tools might fit. I wasn't disappointed. Paul Miller did make the point that it was 40 minutes into the total 45 before authorities were discussed.
Street performers - Australia (LCSH)
It was great to match people's voices with their blogs. All much as I imagined - except Paul Miller. I expected him to be brash and way too forward..something to do with the job title "Technology Evangelist", I guess. He was very English and politely witty in a way that made me think of old BBC radio series like My Word. Synchroniciity number one - A couple of hours ago, Paul Miller actually commented on my "They DO mash" post. BTW, they received 18 entries in the Mashing Up the Library competition)
Some of the points raised that I found interesting (many of them by Karen Schneider, I think):
- Tags and subject categories need not be mutually exclusive. There is merit in assigning both to a work (I'd presumed it was either /or).
- Faceting and sub faceting is not really possible with tagging, but is an advantage of traditional classification.
- Authority control is less important when you have large volumes of tags assigned to one work. So what if the same thing is tagged by 30 people as "felines", another 20 as "cats", and 5 more as "cat" - all provide access and there is built in "see also" referencing.
- This may be a Long Tail issue. Very popular items will have lots of tags, but subject catgories may be the only way to find items in the Long Tail.
- Some items are more findable with categories (French history for example), whereas some are better with tags, particulalry contemporary topics (like surferpunk).
- Tagging probably works better when the tags others have assigned are offered, or somehow the system detects probable tags for the subject area. (a great project for someone, there).
- People need to feel ownership of the enterprise before they will tag (explains why they do it like mad on Library Thing, but on Amazon, not so much)
- Casey Bisson is working on a WordPress plugin to allow users to assign their own tags to items in a WordPress blog.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Mummy's Honour Certificate
About twice a year I receive a note from Mr8's teacher telling me to turn up at the next school assembly because Mr8 is going to receive an Honour Certificate. The whole family drops him off at school and we casually say "Oh, we're here now. Is there assembley this morning? Maybe we'll just stay for that".
Mr8's Honour Certificate
We sing the jazzy version of the national anthem complete with digeridoo and a drum machine beat. We distract Mr3 in an effort to keep him quiet (a pre packed lunchbox works wonders). We join in when the music teacher leads us through today's song, complete with hand actions and bum wiggles. We listen to a description of "This week's virtue".
Mr8 usually receives his for "determination" and "great attitude" and "improvement". We know that every kid will get a couple each year. But it is still special and makes us feel really proud. If you know Mr8, then you'll know that hearing he is still trying his hardest and that the teachers acknowledge this is a big achievement. The last honour certificate commended him on his "friendliness" - for him, that's BIG!.
So, as I was leaving work on Friday, I saw a white envelope in the tray next to my in-tray. In it was a Staff Recognition Award. It's for innovation in using and exploring new technologies throught the MULTA project and the development of screen capture online tutorials. They do have a staff morning tea where they present these each quarter, but it's not on the day I work. I don't think it involves the whole family or digeridoos or bum wiggling.
I took it home and showed the family over dinner. "What's that?" asked Mr8. "Oh, that's mummy's Honour Certificate" said the Co-Pilot. I think they were proud.
Mr8's Honour Certificate
We sing the jazzy version of the national anthem complete with digeridoo and a drum machine beat. We distract Mr3 in an effort to keep him quiet (a pre packed lunchbox works wonders). We join in when the music teacher leads us through today's song, complete with hand actions and bum wiggles. We listen to a description of "This week's virtue".
Mr8 usually receives his for "determination" and "great attitude" and "improvement". We know that every kid will get a couple each year. But it is still special and makes us feel really proud. If you know Mr8, then you'll know that hearing he is still trying his hardest and that the teachers acknowledge this is a big achievement. The last honour certificate commended him on his "friendliness" - for him, that's BIG!.
So, as I was leaving work on Friday, I saw a white envelope in the tray next to my in-tray. In it was a Staff Recognition Award. It's for innovation in using and exploring new technologies throught the MULTA project and the development of screen capture online tutorials. They do have a staff morning tea where they present these each quarter, but it's not on the day I work. I don't think it involves the whole family or digeridoos or bum wiggling.
I took it home and showed the family over dinner. "What's that?" asked Mr8. "Oh, that's mummy's Honour Certificate" said the Co-Pilot. I think they were proud.
Friday, August 18, 2006
They DO mash, they DO.
I found the entries in the Mashing Up the Library Competition. There are 11 so far. They are located on a forum at the Talis site. Interesting that many of the people who can do amazing stuff like make a mashup don't have blogs, so haven't tagged an entry on technorati.
The one that caught my eye was Lillian, a chatbot who is meant to tell you holdings in a library near you. After exhausting the cities I knew in the UK, I entered London, but she still didn't know what I meant. Looks nice, though.
There's a cute little cover display that shows all the Mystery items added to the library in the last 6 months.
There's an entry from the Alliance Second Life Library 2.0 It's just so uber.
Some were created just for the competition by non-library folk. Some were already in use. I think that both are great - people are thinking about using these things in libraries and those who already are can get acknowledgement.
All I can say is - cha cha cha!
Category: mutl06
The one that caught my eye was Lillian, a chatbot who is meant to tell you holdings in a library near you. After exhausting the cities I knew in the UK, I entered London, but she still didn't know what I meant. Looks nice, though.
There's a cute little cover display that shows all the Mystery items added to the library in the last 6 months.
There's an entry from the Alliance Second Life Library 2.0 It's just so uber.
Some were created just for the competition by non-library folk. Some were already in use. I think that both are great - people are thinking about using these things in libraries and those who already are can get acknowledgement.
All I can say is - cha cha cha!
Category: mutl06
MeeboMe out, WorldCat in.
MeeboMe just didn't feel like my kind of widget, so I've taken it off my sidebar. It felt a bit like I was looking over my readers' shoulders.
And I tried to show it to someone today and I couldn't log in to meebo. Probably a liveware failure. So I'm sulking.
Now, a Worldcat search box is much more my style. And they published super instructions about how to add it in their It's All Good blog.
So now, even if you can't have a good goss. here, you can find a good read.
And I tried to show it to someone today and I couldn't log in to meebo. Probably a liveware failure. So I'm sulking.
Now, a Worldcat search box is much more my style. And they published super instructions about how to add it in their It's All Good blog.
So now, even if you can't have a good goss. here, you can find a good read.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Are we mashed yet?
I thought I'd have a peek at the entries in Talis's Mashing up the Library competition that I blogged about on July 2nd. It closes tomorrow. One thousand pounds is up for grabs.
Now, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I can't find the entries. They are supposed to be tagged on technorati with MUTL06 but I can only see 21 postings under this and only two are entries.
One finds a string that looks like an ISBN from any web page and shows what can be done with it (eg. search Amazon, show your library's holdings, cite the item in whichever citation style you specify). The other bundles RSS feeds that a library might want to provide to patrons (eg. New books, contents of current issues of specified journals) and presents them using an OPML browser. They are both created by Tony Hirst. I like them very much, particularly the first one.
Some possible explanations other than "that's all the entries there will be this year".
I also feel much, much better about where I am with mashups, APIs, OPML, Ajax etc. I know their names and what they do, but we haven't really met yet and certainly haven't tangoed. Seems like I'm not the only wallflower in libraries. Let's get dancing!
Now, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I can't find the entries. They are supposed to be tagged on technorati with MUTL06 but I can only see 21 postings under this and only two are entries.
One finds a string that looks like an ISBN from any web page and shows what can be done with it (eg. search Amazon, show your library's holdings, cite the item in whichever citation style you specify). The other bundles RSS feeds that a library might want to provide to patrons (eg. New books, contents of current issues of specified journals) and presents them using an OPML browser. They are both created by Tony Hirst. I like them very much, particularly the first one.
Some possible explanations other than "that's all the entries there will be this year".
- Everyone is waiting until the last moment to enter, so no-one else can create a smarter cousin to their idea
- I'm just not looking in the right place. A search of Flickr shows nothing under that tag, and del.icio.us has just four entries.
I also feel much, much better about where I am with mashups, APIs, OPML, Ajax etc. I know their names and what they do, but we haven't really met yet and certainly haven't tangoed. Seems like I'm not the only wallflower in libraries. Let's get dancing!
Shiny happy mums
The post after this is about library mashups, so if you're not interested in crackpot ideas, stop here and move on to some serious library reading.
The last Librarians' Internet Index has an entry about Secrets of the Sexes, a BBC TV series looking at whether men's and women's brains are wired differently. Having a spare half hour, and being a curious puppy, I took the online test, Sex ID. Find out how your mind works. The average woman scores -50% , the average male scores +50%. My score - 0% - my brain is balanced exactly between male and female.
Now, maybe it's because the test was co-designed by Simon Baron-Cohen who is a foremost autism researcher, but suddenly - "ping" - one of the mysteries of my universe fell into place.
I know a whole bunch of mums with kids on the autism spectrum. What has impressed me is that D, J, K, C, S, S, D, C, R, A and J aren't just normal people. They are unusually articulate, bright, shining women.The dads who I know are primarily scientist/engineer types. There's something going on there. Mum (bright and articulate) + dad (engineer) = some kids with ASD.
Now I think I have a bit of the answer....
Asperger's Syndrome is often described as extreme maleness (see, for example, Baron-Cohen's The Essential Difference: Male and Female Brains and the Truth About Autism).
Let's call whatever causes autism the M factor and do a "what if".
What if......
The last Librarians' Internet Index has an entry about Secrets of the Sexes, a BBC TV series looking at whether men's and women's brains are wired differently. Having a spare half hour, and being a curious puppy, I took the online test, Sex ID. Find out how your mind works. The average woman scores -50% , the average male scores +50%. My score - 0% - my brain is balanced exactly between male and female.
What's inside my head?
Now, maybe it's because the test was co-designed by Simon Baron-Cohen who is a foremost autism researcher, but suddenly - "ping" - one of the mysteries of my universe fell into place.
I know a whole bunch of mums with kids on the autism spectrum. What has impressed me is that D, J, K, C, S, S, D, C, R, A and J aren't just normal people. They are unusually articulate, bright, shining women.The dads who I know are primarily scientist/engineer types. There's something going on there. Mum (bright and articulate) + dad (engineer) = some kids with ASD.
Now I think I have a bit of the answer....
Asperger's Syndrome is often described as extreme maleness (see, for example, Baron-Cohen's The Essential Difference: Male and Female Brains and the Truth About Autism).
Let's call whatever causes autism the M factor and do a "what if".
What if......
- You're already male and you get a dose of M factor? You present as extremely male, with characteristics of autism.Your already male brain gets a double dose of male thinking style.
- What if you are female and you get a dose of the M factor? Your female brain counters the maleness of the M factor and you get a very well balanced woman, able to use both styles of thinking.
- Women with the M factor end up with engineer/scientist types because the man finally finds a rare woman who relates to his very male thinking style. (logically, he does all he can to keep this relationship going :) )
- Maybe when women present with autism symptoms, it isn't due to the M factor at all. Maybe it's because they are lacking whatever causes a female thinking style. Or maybe they get the M factor without a female thinking style to counter it. Would that explain why they only represent 25% of the population with autism?
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Meebo no no !
I made a post about adding the meebome widget to my sidebar, republished and now the first post is something I posted three days ago. No further posts appear, but I can find them by clicking on the archives for August.
Novel.
I'd be interested to know what others are seeing.
Sevice will resume after the kids are in bed tonight.
Novel.
I'd be interested to know what others are seeing.
Sevice will resume after the kids are in bed tonight.
Meebome widget is on my sidebar.
Wanna chat?
I've just installed the meebome widget on my sidebar. Still testing right now. If it says I'm online, then you can type in something and we can chat. Bit like having a brand new car in the drive without a license I'm afraid. I'm still learning to drive it, so please don't think I'm rude if I ignore you.
Meebo allows people using different Instant Messaging systems to talk to each other using their own logins. Someone using MSN Messenger could talk to someone using AIM without needing to be in the same system.
I've just installed the meebome widget on my sidebar. Still testing right now. If it says I'm online, then you can type in something and we can chat. Bit like having a brand new car in the drive without a license I'm afraid. I'm still learning to drive it, so please don't think I'm rude if I ignore you.
Meebo allows people using different Instant Messaging systems to talk to each other using their own logins. Someone using MSN Messenger could talk to someone using AIM without needing to be in the same system.
Rock on! For better and for worse.
I was as excited as Peta when I read over at Inn0vate that Blogger Beta has been released.
Google has begun stamping its own mark on the site. It now allows google ID login. I wonder how long before it's google login only - like Flickr is now yahoo login only (unless you are - and I quote -"Old skool - rock on" ).
They are switching accounts to beta bit by bit, so if you want to play with the new features, you need to get another login and create a new blog. I did this last night and had a play.
For Better
I like the fact that you can now:
Google has begun stamping its own mark on the site. It now allows google ID login. I wonder how long before it's google login only - like Flickr is now yahoo login only (unless you are - and I quote -"Old skool - rock on" ).
They are switching accounts to beta bit by bit, so if you want to play with the new features, you need to get another login and create a new blog. I did this last night and had a play.
For Better
I like the fact that you can now:
- tag a post, using a "labels" option.
- restrict who you want to see your blog by specifying email addresses, via a new "permissions" tab.
- do more fiddling with the templates - although I couldn't see the new templates they advertised.
- change my template by dragging and dropping boxes around the screen.
- preset the default font and colour by selecting buttons. (Too lazy to change my template, I manually change the colour and font of each post)
For worse
But, in the "publishing" settings for my new blog there is one little line missing.This one:
You're publishing on blogspot.com
Switch to: FTP (publishing on your ISP server) Or SFTP (secure publishing on your ISP server)
You are locked into your blog address being at blogger and cannot use your own domain name.
Why would this disturb me? Well, a couple of days ago I went out and bought a domain name and some hostiing to use for this blog. I had just read this article at How to Blog advising anyone starting out to ensure their blog had its own domain name...and if you already have a blog to switch to your own domain name. This is so your readers can find you regardless of where your blog is based. If the blog host starts charging for what was a free service (like Typepad did), or makes changes you don't like, you can switch.
I'm still planning to use my own domain name so I'll stay on the old version of blogger while I decide whether to switch to WordPress on my own domain. Rock On!
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Laugh, cry, reread, resolve, metamorphose - my book list
1. One book you have read more than once . Monkey Grip Helen Garner.
First read it at 15 and thought "yeah, I'm going to go to uni and live in share houses and experiment with new ways of doing lurve and have deep political discussions and intimate personal discussions". Usually read it about every 2 years. Last time I read it, I thought "Wow, this woman had a kid and she was doing drugs and going out late at night. How come I didn't notice this before?".
2. One book you would want on a desert island. Complete works of Lewis Carroll
If I'm going to go ga-ga, then it's nice to have a bizarre world to keep me company. If I'm going to stay sane, then his logical conundrums would keep me that way.
Apologies to Mrs S Milligan Manby.
3. One book that made you laugh. What the papers didn't mean to say: a scandalous collection of clangers, misprints and other typographical disasters by Fritz Spegel
A teeny tiny book published in 1965, full of clippings of typos from British newspapers. Also the companion volume, What the Aussie papers didn't mean to say.
4. One book that made you cry. What the papers didn't mean to say: a scandalous collection of clangers, misprints and other typographical disasters by Fritz Spegel
No, it didn't just mildly amuse me, it had me in gaping great gusts of laughter, falling to the floor, crying and actually having an asthma attack.
5. One book you wish you had written. A suitable boy by Vickram Seth
I could pretend it was for the preciseness of the structure, the detailed research, the absolutely consistent internal world, the grammatical exactness of the language, the preciseness of expression, or the playful way it is all intertwined with the lightest touch. Actually, I just fell in love with the people.
6. One book you wish had never been written. Thomas and the birthday party
See last night's post. I may add that the kids LOVED the cake....but Mr3to4 had me perform an act that may have traumatised every child at the party. He had first choice of the cake, and decided he wanted Thomas' face. In front of a 9 small children, I decapitated Thomas.
7. One book you are currently reading. The Meaning of Tingo: and other extraordinary words from around the world by Adam Jacot de Boinod
8. One book you have been meaning to read. Web 2.0 and Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software by Michael Stephens
9. One book that changed your life. The Optimistic Child: Proven Program to Safeguard Children from Depression & Build Lifelong Resilience by Martin Seligman
My mum died of cancer almost six years ago, with very little time between diagnosis and death. All the books I read said "people with positive attitudes live longer with terminal cancer". Boy, did that piss me off...she hadn't had time to absorb it all and knew that she was going to die and leave people she believed couldn't survive without her. She hadn't had time to get to sweet, gracious acceptance. She was mad and confused. "This stuff is all just blame the victim", I thought.
Seligman was president of the Amercican Psychological Association. He uses psychological method not to treat problems or abnormality, but to define what happiness is and how we can attain it. Reading his books restored my faith in optimism and in positive attitude and made me less angry at the "just smile and accept it" school of thought.
10. Now tag five people:
- Morgan - tag!
- Tom Goodfellow - your turn.
- Jan M S - I know you don't blog, but email me and we'll save it for when I convince you to start one!
- Peta - you're it!
- Bronwyn - can't duck.
One book I wish had never been written.
I was quietly minding my own business, enjoying CW's list of books meme describing those that made her cry,laugh etc. when I was tagged . The list is already written in my head and I'll post it soon, but there is one question I MUST answer tonight.
What book do you wish had never been written?
How I spent my evening.
Thomas and the birthday party (ISBN: 043497616).
A seemingly innocuous book about Thomas the Tank Engine attending his first ever birthday party, held for his driver. The driver's wife greets them at the engine shed wearing her special best dress and shares a birthday cake in the shape of Thomas.
WARNING: Encourages three year olds who are turning four to point to the page and say "Mummy, THAT's the cake I want for my birthday party".
What book do you wish had never been written?
How I spent my evening.Thomas and the birthday party (ISBN: 043497616).
A seemingly innocuous book about Thomas the Tank Engine attending his first ever birthday party, held for his driver. The driver's wife greets them at the engine shed wearing her special best dress and shares a birthday cake in the shape of Thomas.
WARNING: Encourages three year olds who are turning four to point to the page and say "Mummy, THAT's the cake I want for my birthday party".
Friday, August 11, 2006
What I learned during the MULTA project.
Today at the MULTA project wrap up meeting I listed 10 things that I learned during the MULTA project.
An image I used to encourage staff to take part in the project.
1. Forums are probably not the answer to internal communications that I thought they'd be.
2. Blogs are not online journals. They are just a convenient way to make a web site and can be used as an OPAC, a review site or a regular web site.
3. Blogs are most useful if they have an RSS feed and are part of a network of bloggers with an interlacing comments culture.
4. Wikis are easy and useful, and make me more inclined to share what I know.
5. Wikis need wiki gardeners.
6. A large proportion of the people who will enter first year Uni in five years use MySpace today.
7. If you expect your site to be used one way, users will probably find a way to use it that suits their needs (eg. Flickr started as a photo sharing site, but is now used a place to upload images for blogging). I think this is true of our library web site - our users probably don't use it in what we see as the best possible way.
8. If you know enough about the layer underneath your web site, there are great new tools that allow you to do amazing things if you have the skills.
9. Social tagging can't be explained in just one session.
10. Many library staff have secret talents that blogging brings out.
If you'd like to see more about what happened each week at MULTA, you can visit our weekly recap page.
An image I used to encourage staff to take part in the project.1. Forums are probably not the answer to internal communications that I thought they'd be.
2. Blogs are not online journals. They are just a convenient way to make a web site and can be used as an OPAC, a review site or a regular web site.
3. Blogs are most useful if they have an RSS feed and are part of a network of bloggers with an interlacing comments culture.
4. Wikis are easy and useful, and make me more inclined to share what I know.
5. Wikis need wiki gardeners.
6. A large proportion of the people who will enter first year Uni in five years use MySpace today.
7. If you expect your site to be used one way, users will probably find a way to use it that suits their needs (eg. Flickr started as a photo sharing site, but is now used a place to upload images for blogging). I think this is true of our library web site - our users probably don't use it in what we see as the best possible way.
8. If you know enough about the layer underneath your web site, there are great new tools that allow you to do amazing things if you have the skills.
9. Social tagging can't be explained in just one session.
10. Many library staff have secret talents that blogging brings out.
If you'd like to see more about what happened each week at MULTA, you can visit our weekly recap page.
It's a wrap!
We had our wrap up meeting for the MULTA project today. This was a two month collaborative project where library staff used a tikiwiki environment to find out ablout blogs, wikis, social tagging, forums, RSS feeds, Library 2.0 and some of the associated memes. I wrote a wiki page defining each one and set weekly tasks involving one technology per week. I also ran a "hands on" workshop once a week.
The reminder I sent out to staff about today's meeting. Thanks to Librarian in Black for the pointer to says-it.com.We decided how we wanted to continue to use the site, and to continue MULTAting new technologies (what about podcasting and screencasting and virtual worlds and....). We are forming a group to implement some of the recommendations we created as part of a group wiki editing exercise.
We finished up with an amazing spontaneous conversation . It just showed that people had really "got" the implications of the new tools. The topics ranged from:
- the budget for our online journals and whether people could access them well
- google scholar
- what our younger users are up to
- how these tools are a bit like the internet when we were first exposed to them - we know that they will change what we do, but can't exactly see how,
- Second Life and Universities with campuses there
- how we can find out how our users are using our site
- how the number of information sources has grown so large that we can't afford the luxury of providing subject heading access like we used to
- how far we should go to meet students where they are instead of where we think they should be. (is this new for academic libraries? - I don't think so)
- where intellectual rigour fits into students' searching strategies.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Yes,yes,yes,yes,yes.
This morning, CW posted a "5 words to describe your life right now" meme.
Glibly, I thought mine would be:
1.Unbalanced
2.Balanced
3.Unbalanced
4.Balanced
5.Unbalanced
I blame Danny Wallace and his book Yes Man.
He tried saying "yes" to absolutely everything for a year, as long as it didn't go against his fundamental moral principles...and the requester didn't know what he was doing. So, while he wouldn't kill anyone if requested, he did end up taking Scientology personality tests, being told about God by Jehovah's witnesses, going to parties on weekdays and taking many opportunities he would previously have walked by.
"Like to visit Singapore?" ,screams a travel poster.."Yes".(ticket bought and weekend away).
"Like another credit card? ", asks the letter..."yes"...
"Are you staring at my girlfriend, mate?" asks burly drunk in nightclub.."yes"
"Are you looking for a punch in the face then?"..."yes". (And he survived..the guy thought he was clearly mad and left, muttering).
While not going to Danny's extremes, I've tried saying "yes" a lot more when opportunities have come my way. I guess it led to helping to start up the lint blog. I guess it led to me to agreeing to find out about social software for MPOW. It's why I said "yes" last night to doing something legal involving Microsoft that I should have said "no" to. It's why I was a single person audience for Mr3's "kinda dance" session at daycare today, during my child-free day.
Interestingly, most of the "yeses" have been to things not involving my kids and family, where previously I would have said "No, I just don't have time".
It's why I looked at CW's "5 words" meme and said "yes, I'll try that too".
Glibly, I thought mine would be:
1.Unbalanced
2.Balanced
3.Unbalanced
4.Balanced
5.Unbalanced
I blame Danny Wallace and his book Yes Man.
He tried saying "yes" to absolutely everything for a year, as long as it didn't go against his fundamental moral principles...and the requester didn't know what he was doing. So, while he wouldn't kill anyone if requested, he did end up taking Scientology personality tests, being told about God by Jehovah's witnesses, going to parties on weekdays and taking many opportunities he would previously have walked by.
"Like to visit Singapore?" ,screams a travel poster.."Yes".(ticket bought and weekend away).
"Like another credit card? ", asks the letter..."yes"...
"Are you staring at my girlfriend, mate?" asks burly drunk in nightclub.."yes"
"Are you looking for a punch in the face then?"..."yes". (And he survived..the guy thought he was clearly mad and left, muttering).
While not going to Danny's extremes, I've tried saying "yes" a lot more when opportunities have come my way. I guess it led to helping to start up the lint blog. I guess it led to me to agreeing to find out about social software for MPOW. It's why I said "yes" last night to doing something legal involving Microsoft that I should have said "no" to. It's why I was a single person audience for Mr3's "kinda dance" session at daycare today, during my child-free day.
Interestingly, most of the "yeses" have been to things not involving my kids and family, where previously I would have said "No, I just don't have time".
It's why I looked at CW's "5 words" meme and said "yes, I'll try that too".
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Public version of WorldCat is live
OCLC's public version of WorldCat went live yesterday, 6 August 2006. It is the world's largest computerised library catalogue with more than 70 million records and one billion location listings.
It's something that founder, Frederick G Kilgour, just missed seeing. He died on 1 August aged 92. See OCLC's blog, It's All Good, for a tribute to this inspiring man.
Give it a burl. There has been debate about whether public users will understand what it all means and will now expect to be able to trot into any library with holdings on WorldCat and borrow.
It's something that founder, Frederick G Kilgour, just missed seeing. He died on 1 August aged 92. See OCLC's blog, It's All Good, for a tribute to this inspiring man.
Give it a burl. There has been debate about whether public users will understand what it all means and will now expect to be able to trot into any library with holdings on WorldCat and borrow.
WorldCat home page
I don't think this has been an issue with the public interface of Libraries Australia, launched on 30 November last year.
Libraries Australia home page
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Feel the power - safe and unsafe ways
UNSAFE
Yesterday I was almost an ex-librarian and ex-mother-of-two and ex-blogger.
I was moving a laptop from my Co-Pilot's office to Mr8's room. It was switched on and plugged in. While I was unplugging it from the power point, I accidentally touched the pins of the plug and "zap" however many volts were going into the laptop went straight into me! I felt a bit of an "ouch" and my upper bicep has been sore since. Glad the kids weren't watching.
Don't try this at home
SAFE
At least twice a week, I'm an iron pumping librarian..and I just love it. If I can get through the sqats and the lunges and curl my biceps, I know I can handle most things a library and kids can throw at me. It's a bit of Little Engine That Could Therapy a couple of times a week ( "I think I can, I think I can..").
I do it in a class with funky music playing to make it interesting. The class I take, Body Pump, has worldwide releases of new moves and music evey three months. It even has a web site where I can suggest music that they can use in the next release.
If an interesting experiment started by a Liverpool library becomes a trend, then maybe I won't even have to leave my library to get my power fix. They have installed squat machines and shoulder presses next to their OPACs, so that people waiting for the PCs can workout. Personally, I'm all for it!
Yesterday I was almost an ex-librarian and ex-mother-of-two and ex-blogger.
I was moving a laptop from my Co-Pilot's office to Mr8's room. It was switched on and plugged in. While I was unplugging it from the power point, I accidentally touched the pins of the plug and "zap" however many volts were going into the laptop went straight into me! I felt a bit of an "ouch" and my upper bicep has been sore since. Glad the kids weren't watching.
Don't try this at homeSAFE
At least twice a week, I'm an iron pumping librarian..and I just love it. If I can get through the sqats and the lunges and curl my biceps, I know I can handle most things a library and kids can throw at me. It's a bit of Little Engine That Could Therapy a couple of times a week ( "I think I can, I think I can..").
I do it in a class with funky music playing to make it interesting. The class I take, Body Pump, has worldwide releases of new moves and music evey three months. It even has a web site where I can suggest music that they can use in the next release.
If an interesting experiment started by a Liverpool library becomes a trend, then maybe I won't even have to leave my library to get my power fix. They have installed squat machines and shoulder presses next to their OPACs, so that people waiting for the PCs can workout. Personally, I'm all for it!
Friday, August 04, 2006
Should Librarians dump Mel?
Mel Gibson has behaved like a cockroach. Already known for his homophobic statements, under the influence of alcohol and an arresting officer, he's come out of the closet as an Anti-Semite as well.
The super-purple-cosmic-librarian.
Mel Gibson is also a poster boy for the American Library Association's Read campaign (since 1984).
Poster boy
Poster boy"Should they dump him?", asks Karen G Schneider over at The Free Range Librarian. She says "yes". In the poll at LISNews about two thirds say "no" and one third say "yes".
The arguments centre around whether ALA is endorsing Mel's other opinions when he endorses their "Read" campaign. Do they want to be associated with his views? Should they use his celebrity power and appeal to people who otherwise wouldn't look at their library?
A look at ALA's online store shows that there are also "Read" Posters of Brittany Spears, Bill Gates, Colin Farrell, Kiera Knightly. Personally, I find the Indigo Girls, Tim Robbins, Melissa Etheridge and Yo Yo Ma posters very appealing, but know that some people would have real problems with the lifestyles or opinions of some of these.
Maybe an association that sells an "I read banned books" badge, isn't in a moral position to ban one of their own posters due to slimey beliefs of the person in it? (But, is the logical extension of this that they should actively go out and find people with a wide range of views...even offensive..for their campaign?).
I like the approach of the University of Wisconsin law librarians, who created a series of "Read" posters featuring UW Law Faculty members. Or the Lansing Public Library, who has a series of Read posters featuring prominent local citizens like the Fire Chief or the Youth Centre Director.
I think the Australian Library and Information Association got it right with their poster promotion. See their "webcards" page for more. Who needs Mel, when you can be associated with a super-purple-cosmic-librarian ?
The arguments centre around whether ALA is endorsing Mel's other opinions when he endorses their "Read" campaign. Do they want to be associated with his views? Should they use his celebrity power and appeal to people who otherwise wouldn't look at their library?
A look at ALA's online store shows that there are also "Read" Posters of Brittany Spears, Bill Gates, Colin Farrell, Kiera Knightly. Personally, I find the Indigo Girls, Tim Robbins, Melissa Etheridge and Yo Yo Ma posters very appealing, but know that some people would have real problems with the lifestyles or opinions of some of these.
Maybe an association that sells an "I read banned books" badge, isn't in a moral position to ban one of their own posters due to slimey beliefs of the person in it? (But, is the logical extension of this that they should actively go out and find people with a wide range of views...even offensive..for their campaign?).
I like the approach of the University of Wisconsin law librarians, who created a series of "Read" posters featuring UW Law Faculty members. Or the Lansing Public Library, who has a series of Read posters featuring prominent local citizens like the Fire Chief or the Youth Centre Director.
I think the Australian Library and Information Association got it right with their poster promotion. See their "webcards" page for more. Who needs Mel, when you can be associated with a super-purple-cosmic-librarian ?
The super-purple-cosmic-librarian.Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Random idea generators have overtaken my life.
My hair is unwashed, my children go hungry and the cat meows at my feet. Why?
Because I discovered via snail's trail the Library 2.0 Generator at Dave Pattern's weblog. To get sucked right into its vortex, click here.
Some ideas just can't be implemented.
My favourite so far has been "reclassify your staff using a folksonomy". ( Does that mean we could replace their job descriptions with tags like "loudlaugh", "funkyshoes" or "tidydesk" ?).
But I can never be quite sure that something even more bizarre won't be generated if I push the click for another idea button one more time. It's like playing the poker machines. I keep walking away and pretending to do something serious, but always return to my screen for just one more try.
If I allow it into my work time, and end up jobless, maybe I could hop over to Web Two Point Oh!: Create your own Web 2.0 Company and randomly generate a company to get me out of debt. How about Tripkoya: rss-based classifieds via instant messaging, or Zimelirati: streaming textbooks via flash or...just let me press that button one more time.....just once.....
Because I discovered via snail's trail the Library 2.0 Generator at Dave Pattern's weblog. To get sucked right into its vortex, click here.
Some ideas just can't be implemented.My favourite so far has been "reclassify your staff using a folksonomy". ( Does that mean we could replace their job descriptions with tags like "loudlaugh", "funkyshoes" or "tidydesk" ?).
But I can never be quite sure that something even more bizarre won't be generated if I push the click for another idea button one more time. It's like playing the poker machines. I keep walking away and pretending to do something serious, but always return to my screen for just one more try.
If I allow it into my work time, and end up jobless, maybe I could hop over to Web Two Point Oh!: Create your own Web 2.0 Company and randomly generate a company to get me out of debt. How about Tripkoya: rss-based classifieds via instant messaging, or Zimelirati: streaming textbooks via flash or...just let me press that button one more time.....just once.....
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