I've had Gmail - and used it extensively - since 2004. I think the conversation threading is a great improvement over regular email; the ability to label (or tag) emails with multiple labels is really useful; and using Google search to find your email just makes sense. And then there's the integration of chat with Google Talk - also very useful.
More recently I've started using Google Calendar, but I've yet to really make that work well for my purposes. I'm thinking about moving more of my stuff (personal and work stuff) to Google Documents. What I have there so far is working well for me.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Discussion from Letter Z blog
Some interesting discussion on strategy and having a philosophy behind it:
http://letterz.wordpress.com/2007/05/28/strategy-without-philosophy/
and a couple of days later,
http://letterz.wordpress.com/2007/06/01/more-on-those-angry-librarians-in-sacramento/
http://letterz.wordpress.com/2007/05/28/strategy-without-philosophy/
and a couple of days later,
http://letterz.wordpress.com/2007/06/01/more-on-those-angry-librarians-in-sacramento/
Thing 5
Here's what I did with the Learning 2.0 blogs in my Bloglines:
I'm still adding. Just wanted to get this post up before slogging through adding the many more that we have so far. Which are at http://acpldc.pbwiki.com/ACPL_blogs.
I'm still adding. Just wanted to get this post up before slogging through adding the many more that we have so far. Which are at http://acpldc.pbwiki.com/ACPL_blogs.
New Haven Branch ROCKS!
Every single one of NWH's staff has signed up for Learning 2.0!
Okay, seriously, it's not a contest, it's not about peer pressure, it's not required. It's simply a good idea.
Maybe you're not in a place where you can acknowledge that right now. Maybe you're where I was a few months ago with specific regard to MySpace. All (well, most) of the other things we had on the list for Learning 2.0, I was down with. But MySpace? I despised MySpace. As I've said elsewhere, I think MySpace did a lot of research into how to make a really intuitive social networking site, and then, where possible, did the exact opposite.
But it's not about what you think of the Things on the list. It's about the fact that our customers are using those Things, and we should try them out so that we'll be able to help them - or at least know what they're talking about. So if you've formed a negative opinion about some Thing or other, and know you'd never use it yourself in a million years, fine. You're entitled to your opinion. Now: set that aside for a moment while you explore the Thing and get familiar enough with it to have some idea what it's about. Done? Great. Pick up your opinion again on the way out the door. I know, you're still annoyed with it. I still despise MySpace. But I know what people are talking about when they have a question about it.
Okay, seriously, it's not a contest, it's not about peer pressure, it's not required. It's simply a good idea.
Maybe you're not in a place where you can acknowledge that right now. Maybe you're where I was a few months ago with specific regard to MySpace. All (well, most) of the other things we had on the list for Learning 2.0, I was down with. But MySpace? I despised MySpace. As I've said elsewhere, I think MySpace did a lot of research into how to make a really intuitive social networking site, and then, where possible, did the exact opposite.
But it's not about what you think of the Things on the list. It's about the fact that our customers are using those Things, and we should try them out so that we'll be able to help them - or at least know what they're talking about. So if you've formed a negative opinion about some Thing or other, and know you'd never use it yourself in a million years, fine. You're entitled to your opinion. Now: set that aside for a moment while you explore the Thing and get familiar enough with it to have some idea what it's about. Done? Great. Pick up your opinion again on the way out the door. I know, you're still annoyed with it. I still despise MySpace. But I know what people are talking about when they have a question about it.
Pre-Thing 5
I think I'm going to set up another RSS aggregator to manage the Learning 2.0 blogs. No, wait, I don't need to do that - Bloglines lets you keep different kinds of blogs in different folders. Yeah, that's what I'll do. Because I want to keep track of everybody's blog, but at this point there's no central list. But there should be a list, even if it's only kept by the DC ... but it would be good if everyone could subscribe to everyone else's blog, if they wanted to, so maybe there should be a web page. Hmmm.
Thing 4
Posted a comment on the IT blog, kind of dissing our main blog (http://acplinfo.blogspot.com/). I think it was a good idea, but maybe we jumped in before we were quite ready, and then we didn't support it the way it needs to be supported. I'm trying to change that, though. Maybe I'll give myself a schedule for posting, so then I'll have deadlines, and a motivation structure.
I also think that one of the reasons I don't post more is that I don't like working in a vaccuum - I want to talk about stuff I'm working on with other people. So if you think the ACPL blog is a good idea but haven't posted yet because of not being sure what to post, we should talk! The more we think together about what kinds of things to post about, the more posts we'll generate, and the better the blog will become.
Plus: kudos to Nancy for keeping the ACPL blog going practically single-handedly until now.
I also think that one of the reasons I don't post more is that I don't like working in a vaccuum - I want to talk about stuff I'm working on with other people. So if you think the ACPL blog is a good idea but haven't posted yet because of not being sure what to post, we should talk! The more we think together about what kinds of things to post about, the more posts we'll generate, and the better the blog will become.
Plus: kudos to Nancy for keeping the ACPL blog going practically single-handedly until now.
Thing 3
Okay, I worked ahead on this one. I set up this blog when we (the DC) were close to finished with the curriculum, and were getting our contact info together, and there was a slot for our L2.0 blogs. I understand a lot about how blogs work (though not everything), so if you're stuck or looking for help or whatever, let me know. You can email me, phone me, or use the Meebo thingy to the right, there (I'll try to remember to be logged into Meebo when I'm at work).
Other parts of this exercise ... here's a picture (I call it "Tough girls"):
Other parts of this exercise ... here's a picture (I call it "Tough girls"):
Blogroll ... check.
Theme ... check.
Video ... see post 'No Derivative Works.'
Thing 1 and Thing 2
Be careful - once you let these things out of the box, it's hard to get them back in again. (Reread Cat in the Hat if this doesn't ring a bell.)
Just read the introduction. On the concept of fun: My dad has a rule. Well, it's more of a guideline, actually. If you're not having at least 50% fun in your job, it might be time to look for another job. Last time I checked, he was at about 65% fun. My job's fun factor is higher than that, but I won't quote an exact number because I don't want to make you jealous.
Then I did the 7.5 habits of lifelong learners. I've always identified myself as a lifelong learner. I know that I can adapt to different learning styles pretty easily. And I know that I must be allowed to work at my own pace. Therefore, the aural style of learning is on the bottom of the heap. Visual and kinesthetic are about evenly matched ... on a scale of 1-10 for each, maybe V9 A5 K9. Or so. Yeah, I had to turn off the sound in that presentation because it was going too slow.
Just read the introduction. On the concept of fun: My dad has a rule. Well, it's more of a guideline, actually. If you're not having at least 50% fun in your job, it might be time to look for another job. Last time I checked, he was at about 65% fun. My job's fun factor is higher than that, but I won't quote an exact number because I don't want to make you jealous.
Then I did the 7.5 habits of lifelong learners. I've always identified myself as a lifelong learner. I know that I can adapt to different learning styles pretty easily. And I know that I must be allowed to work at my own pace. Therefore, the aural style of learning is on the bottom of the heap. Visual and kinesthetic are about evenly matched ... on a scale of 1-10 for each, maybe V9 A5 K9. Or so. Yeah, I had to turn off the sound in that presentation because it was going too slow.
Genius
Was just looking at the ACPLib2.0 site and Fiona said "hey, there are the library genius circles!"
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Media Literacy and advertising to young people
In Stephen Abram's presentation this morning, he mentioned that Google is trying to figure out how to advertise to children. And then he said "and maybe you think that's a good thing, and maybe you don't."
Examine your own answer to that question. If you come down on the side of no, advertising to children is unethical, because they don't have the media literacy skills to differentiate between advertising and content, or because they shouldn't be turned into little consumer automatons that can't evaluate what they're being told to want, then maybe you should reconsider how you feel about having a corporate sponsor for the Summer Reading Program.
Because, in a sense, that's what we run here at ACPL: The Pizza Hut Summer Reading Program. Pizza Hut provides coupons for free food for every (or nearly every) participant in both the Children's and the Teen Summer Reading Programs. To me, that means that along with recommending books and movies and fun events to participate in at the library, we are endorsing Pizza Hut. I used to think that it would be better if we had a sponsor that had a healthier food offering, but I don't think that would satisfy me now.
I think ACPL needs to stop leaning on the crutch of corporate advertising in order to be able to tell ourselves that we're giving the kids what they want. We're not giving them what they want with Pizza Hut coupons. We're telling them what to want.
One argument against dropping Pizza Hut might be "but our stats will go down!" I say that if you're doing the right thing, you might - MIGHT - have to realign your expectations (and the expectations of the administration). But you might not. I think we could offer NO prizes AT ALL and still see 2/3 of the participation we see with prizes.
If we dropped the Pizza Hut prize, we'd definitely hear about it from parents. But it would still be the right thing. I think we should do the right thing.
Examine your own answer to that question. If you come down on the side of no, advertising to children is unethical, because they don't have the media literacy skills to differentiate between advertising and content, or because they shouldn't be turned into little consumer automatons that can't evaluate what they're being told to want, then maybe you should reconsider how you feel about having a corporate sponsor for the Summer Reading Program.
Because, in a sense, that's what we run here at ACPL: The Pizza Hut Summer Reading Program. Pizza Hut provides coupons for free food for every (or nearly every) participant in both the Children's and the Teen Summer Reading Programs. To me, that means that along with recommending books and movies and fun events to participate in at the library, we are endorsing Pizza Hut. I used to think that it would be better if we had a sponsor that had a healthier food offering, but I don't think that would satisfy me now.
I think ACPL needs to stop leaning on the crutch of corporate advertising in order to be able to tell ourselves that we're giving the kids what they want. We're not giving them what they want with Pizza Hut coupons. We're telling them what to want.
One argument against dropping Pizza Hut might be "but our stats will go down!" I say that if you're doing the right thing, you might - MIGHT - have to realign your expectations (and the expectations of the administration). But you might not. I think we could offer NO prizes AT ALL and still see 2/3 of the participation we see with prizes.
If we dropped the Pizza Hut prize, we'd definitely hear about it from parents. But it would still be the right thing. I think we should do the right thing.
Steven Abram's 8 am presentation
Top 10 Strategies for Library Success
The presentation sped up as we got closer to 9 am, and eventually got faster than I could blog. But I'll get the URL for the power point presentation and post it here as soon as I can.
Rate of change from now compared to 1920s-1950s - hey, we don't have it so bad! But change is coming.
Librarians need to have an informed opinion, rather than an abstract opinion. (Example: MySpace - "I've heard that MySpace is dangerous" is abstract - we need to be in it, try it out, in order to really know something about it.)
Social aspect of the web is adding all kinds of services and experiences that add to the relationships between people.
Every presidential candidate has a 2nd Life presence, a Myspace account, YouTube videos ... and librarians working for their campaign.
First three pages of Google's search results are manipulated by companies/other concerns.
Ten issues:
1. users are changing: millennials, genx, boomers, seniors
2. preserving our culture - repositories, standards, access
3. Me! - personalization, personal devices, "I matter more than you!"
tracking personal data - Google/Yahoo desktop changes the way those sites' search algorithms work
4. Boundarylessness - Cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research
5. Being Local - GPS, GIS - Google working on ways to target ads more specifically through Maps, telephone networks, identifying where you are/who you are
6. Beyond Lists - make me a picture, show me a visual, forget advanced search!
7. Selling Libraries as Essential and Valuable - tying library presence to higher standardized test scores, e.g.
8. Reorganize - Consort, Teams, cross-functional, relationship management
9. Portlets - XML, portability, unicode, J2EE, mash-ups, etc.
10. Teaching Success and KM - the real role of information literacy
Stephen has a really complete understanding of how to highlight the local content of a library.
Trends
Zotero and Ning - from Stephen's top 13 apps for librarians that we don't have on 21 things
Share the good stories, not the bad ones
Instant messaging is an important way to communicate with patrons - esp. for reference
how do we get the word out about what we're good at? we don't want to let people know for some reason; Stephen doesn't understand why. Learning 2.0 web applications are one very effective way to do this. What else do we do besides books?
The presentation sped up as we got closer to 9 am, and eventually got faster than I could blog. But I'll get the URL for the power point presentation and post it here as soon as I can.
Rate of change from now compared to 1920s-1950s - hey, we don't have it so bad! But change is coming.
Librarians need to have an informed opinion, rather than an abstract opinion. (Example: MySpace - "I've heard that MySpace is dangerous" is abstract - we need to be in it, try it out, in order to really know something about it.)
Social aspect of the web is adding all kinds of services and experiences that add to the relationships between people.
Every presidential candidate has a 2nd Life presence, a Myspace account, YouTube videos ... and librarians working for their campaign.
First three pages of Google's search results are manipulated by companies/other concerns.
Ten issues:
1. users are changing: millennials, genx, boomers, seniors
2. preserving our culture - repositories, standards, access
3. Me! - personalization, personal devices, "I matter more than you!"
tracking personal data - Google/Yahoo desktop changes the way those sites' search algorithms work
4. Boundarylessness - Cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research
5. Being Local - GPS, GIS - Google working on ways to target ads more specifically through Maps, telephone networks, identifying where you are/who you are
6. Beyond Lists - make me a picture, show me a visual, forget advanced search!
7. Selling Libraries as Essential and Valuable - tying library presence to higher standardized test scores, e.g.
8. Reorganize - Consort, Teams, cross-functional, relationship management
9. Portlets - XML, portability, unicode, J2EE, mash-ups, etc.
10. Teaching Success and KM - the real role of information literacy
Stephen has a really complete understanding of how to highlight the local content of a library.
Trends
- US national debt increases (affecting every economy)
- $4 / gallon gas in US messes biggest consumer economy (can people afford to drive to your library? does everyone on staff write a book review for the blog, not a report but a 3-4 line recommendation?)
- Global Change (China, India)
- Google (Search, Ads, and Apps) Dominance?
- Generations turtle driving user behavior changes -
- Mergers (Reuters, Dow Jonew, Gale, MS Yahoo?!, etc.) Increase in information sector
- Multi-type consortia
- New standards drive portalization and personalization
- very low cost, ubiquitous and fast global network
- humans remain in charge of technology but automated "smart agents" will proliferate
- Virtual reality will be compelling enough to enhance worker productivity
- Tech addiction
- tech "refuseniks" emerge as a cultural group
- Privacy will emerge as a more balanced issue
Zotero and Ning - from Stephen's top 13 apps for librarians that we don't have on 21 things
Share the good stories, not the bad ones
Instant messaging is an important way to communicate with patrons - esp. for reference
how do we get the word out about what we're good at? we don't want to let people know for some reason; Stephen doesn't understand why. Learning 2.0 web applications are one very effective way to do this. What else do we do besides books?
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
It's a Good Life
Maybe you saw the original Twilight Zone episode, or maybe you saw the cheesy remake in the Twilight Zone movie . Or maybe you've even read the original short story by Jerome Bixby, but chances are you haven't. But you should - it's head, shoulders and knees above the screen adaptations. It was written in 1953, so when I say it's horrifying, you know it's in the psychological sense. Go ahead, read it and then come back. Though if you're not hooked in the first page or so, it's probably not going to work for you. (I didn't know until just now that Bixby also wrote one of the best Star Trek episodes ever, Mirror, Mirror.)It's a Good Life is about community, and how a particular community reacts to a set of circumstances that surpasses human endurance.
Maybe by pointing out this story, I'm saying that even with the changes that are inferred by Learning 2.0, we don't have it too bad. Learning 2.0 is about community, too, and how technology can help develop community. Of course, if your cup is half empty, perhaps it's annoying to you, or worse. But at least you still have TV.
It's a good life.
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