Week 9 Thing 23 Summary

Finished at last! On the whole I’ve enjoyed my journey and I’ve learned a lot along the way.

My Favourite Things

• Del.icio.us is fantastic, even though my first impression wasn’t that good. It’s very useful for keeping track of all those links and sharing them with others.

• Flickr – online storage of images is a good idea. It’s better not to keep too many images on my PC and in email inbox. The blog this option is good, very easy. Flickr toys have lots of potential and are fun tools.

• Image generating tools in general. There is potential for use in Library e-newsletters etc

• Wikis – I think it would be a great learning exercise for Library staff to set one up and collaborate on it.

• Podcasts – potential for our website, blog, newsletters, information literacy tutorials etc

• Videos – potential for all of above. I would like to create some or get existing videos hosted. There is a need for good quality online videos that are relevant to TAFE. Many existing, commercially available videos don’t suit our needs.

 Least liked

 

I found something of interest in pretty much all the tools and activities covered in the course, but got frustrated with the technology (and my lack of understanding/expertise) on a number of occasions. Sometimes technology was slow, activities were excessively time consuming, or tools didn’t work the way they were supposed to etc.

 

By far the worst aspect of doing the course was CENSORSHIP i.e. the blocks on internet sites that we have to deal with. I know there is the option of viewing things somewhere else, e.g., at home, or at a public library, but if you want to use a Web 2.0 tool for work purposes and you can’t access it at work it is just so frustrating!!!!! For me it kills the impulse to be innovative and put the effort in. Even since starting the course, a slide show I put into my blog is now hosted on a blocked site, so can’t be viewed on campus. I worry that this is going to make us look unprofessional if we use a tool to communicate with students, and then can’t open it a few weeks (or days) later!!

 

The other problem with not being able to guarantee reliable access on campus is that some students don’t have access off campus. It creates equity issues. Not everyone has broadband or a high enough speed internet connection to watch online video for example. If something is hosted by teachers, or libraries, and the site is then blocked for some reason, some students may miss out on useful resources.

 

I do understand the need to block sites with inappropriate content, but some of the sites being blocked just don’t appear to warrant it. I would like to know more about the decision making process in regards to censorship, i.e. how are websites evaluated?  

 

Week 9 Thing 22 eBooks & Audio eBooks

The HI Libraries (and TAFE NSW LIbraries) subscribe to eBooks, so I’ve had a look at some of these. Some are useful, others not as good (same as print versions really!). Personally, I find it hard to read large volumes of text on screen, but good for brief readings, definitions etc. I think some text books are suited to an electronic format, but I’d find it hard to read a novel or detailed study this way. The convenience factor is significant though. 24×7 access from your home computer is a time saver.

The British Library’s Online Gallery is wonderful. The Turning the Pages tool is incredible. The quality of these digitised books is far superior to any that I’ve used previously. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html

I had never heard of audio ebooks, but I like the idea. I’ve had a brief look at LibriVox and will try putting something on my MP3 player. Audio ebooks would be great for listening to while travelling…This might also be an option for students who catch public transport and want to get some work done on the way.

Week 9 Thing 21 Podcasts

Podcasts are great! I think they have lots of potential for libraries. Perhaps for information literacy tutorials on our website, library news and announcements, interviews….

Stephen Abram’s podcast 25 Technologies to Watch discusses emerging technologies and how they can be used in the Library field. It’s an hour long, but interesting to see what is happening in America.

http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com/seminar_page.php?sid=98

Week 9 Thing 20 Power of online video

This link to an online video was sent to me by the teacher of a course I am currently studying.
http://potw.news.yahoo.com/s/potw/63302/high-wire-act

This clip made me realise the value of online video hosting as a way of sharing creativity and resources. Walter Lewin’s video lectures were very expensive to produce, but the generosity of putting them on the Web allows them to be viewed by a large number of people across the world. Nobody has to buy a copy, there are no storage issues (although links may be ephemeral), no licences to negotiate, and no registrations. MIT (Massachussetts Institute of Technology) includes video content, such as Walter Lewin’s lectures, on its Open Courseware website. http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/about/about/index.htm
It is nice to see people sharing!!

Week 9 Thing 20 Videos – Teacher Tube etc

Well, I read the instructions (link below) for embedding video clips into WordPress and it looks like I’d need an IT degree and administrator rights for my work PC.
http://www.teachertube.com/wordpress.php

I’ve opted for just including the link to my chosen video:
American Idle : Information Resources
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=2f8a334937ff0fcdc0d8
It’s a parody of American Idol singing competition, but applied to information resources. It gave me a laugh and would probably appeal to our younger students (TPC etc). Very creative!

I’m using Teacher Tube because I only have a dial up connection at home and my laptop currently takes 20 minutes to open my email, let alone anything more complex. If I get a chance, I’ll try the public library to access YouTube.

Week 8 Thing 19 Library Thing

Now this is fun! It’s so fast! And you don’t have to do all that pesky, time consuming, cataloguing. (My apologies to all librarians who love to catalogue the traditional way).

I really like having images of the book covers included in the Library Thing catalogue. I know that there are Libraries out there in the real world who do this too. I wish we had this function on TAFEcat. So many library users identify the items they need by what they look like, leading to requests for “the small red book” etc.

I’ve added a widget to my blog sidebar that links to my Library Thing catalog (only a few titles in there so far).  In WordPress you have to go into Design, then widgets and add as text widget. Here is the link,  http://www.librarything.com/catalog/gipsylibrarian

One thing I am a bit concerned about is that the link to my catalog would give editing rights to anyone who accessed it. Perhaps there is a way to prevent this. I have no objection to people viewing and searching my book collection, but I’d prefer to keep control of the editing rights (adding, deleting titles, ratings etc).  Otherwise, why bother having a secure login and password?

Library Thing for Libraries may be worth further exploration, but I don’t really understand the technical side of setting up library catalogues and websites. I don’t know if these options would be useful, or even possible, or not….. Perhaps tag browsing??

 

Del.icio.us

I finally got a chance to create a del.icio.us account to bookmark the myriad of links that I am gathering as part of the 23 Things course. http://del.icio.us/gipsylibrarian

Benefits

• Easy to set up an account
• Bookmarks don’t get deleted when computers crash or get rebuilt
• Access to favourites from anywhere that has internet access

Thoughts on tagging

Social Tagging (where tags link to tags used by other users) is really very similar to cross referencing – Librarians have been doing this forever!

• Del.icio.us is not as disorganised as I first thought
• I think it is better to limit the number of tags to make things more manageable
• The quality of the tags (and the tagger’s ability) does vary greatly. Perhaps some people have training in filing and indexing (or even library training!) or are just naturally logical, methodical types!

Week 8, Thing 18 Online productivity tools

Google docs and zoho writer sound like they could be really useful for collaborating on work-related documents. Too bad we can’t access them at work – of course they are BLOCKED!!! Looks like we will continue to send documents back and forth by email, or store things in T:Drive to work on (we currently track changes by using methods such as typing in different colours – very high tech!).

I might look at these tools at home sometime, although then I would have to teach the people I know how to use them too. (Most of them don’t use or don’t like technology, or are too busy to learn about new tools).

Question: Is there an Institute option for collaborating on documents? Perhaps there is and I just don’t know about it.

Week 7, Thing 16 Wikis

I’m already a fan of  Wikipedia. It’s a useful resource for librarians.

As for contributing to wikis, I’ve used a wiki when I was involved in a Learnscope project a couple of years ago. The main problem was finding time to work on the project and also add updates to the wiki. Time pressures won and I only added the bare minimum of project details to the wiki. Still, I like the idea of a shared web page that can be edited and updated by a group of users.

I’ve had a look at some of the wikis listed (those that weren’t blocked!). I’m a bit concerned about the number of these wikis that have been abandonned and the content moved elsewhere. Some contributors state that they had too many problems with spam. Other wikis were just created for a specific project though, and ended at the project’s conclusion. If privacy and spam issues can be resolved, I think wikis have potential for the following:

Potential Library Uses

• project management
• library subject guides with RSS feeds e.g. http://champlaincollegelibrary.pbwiki.com/Accounting
• reading lists with RSS feeds

Education Uses

Here’s an interesting idea – wikis as textbooks! http://lrr.cli.det.nsw.edu.au/Lrr2Tale/Tale/ResourceInfo.aspx?resID=6927

Potential Challenges:

• controlling authority of content
• deciding who can edit the wiki and setting up restrictions without missing out on potentially valuable contributions
• finding time to maintain the wiki as regular checks and updates would be required

Week 6, Thing 15 Copyright, Creative Commons, Library 2.0

Copyright is a minefield and keeping up with what you can and can’t do is a big challenge. Creative Commons Licences are a great idea – I support any initiatives that facilitate sharing of resources, while acknowledging authors and owners.

As for Web 2.0, Library 2.0, (TAFE 2.0?) it is another challenge that we are all currently facing. I welcome the idea of more interaction with and participation from Library users. I know it is needed, or we will become obsolete. One of the challenges here is finding effective ways to encourage Library users to respond and engage. In theory it all sounds so great - reach out and support users in new ways, meet them in “their” world and customise services to support users in the way they want to be supported. The hard part is putting this into practice. We can set up blogs, wikis, create podcasts, videos etc etc, but how do we get users to respond ? Many Library users are so pressed for time that all they want is to grab the relevant text for the latest assignment, without having to search the catalogue, let alone engage with us online. Also, how do we find out what users want in the first place? It is easy to make false assumptions and spend a lot of time on something that nobody needs or wants… On the other hand, sometimes it is worth just having a go and seeing what the response is. Perhaps if new methods and tools were introduced, people would welcome them.