Try to diagnose yourself here. be honest.

But you knew that already.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:02 AM | Comments (1)

Book Recommendation

How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day (Paperback) by Michael J. Gelb

Curiosita - an insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning
Dimonstrazione - a commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence and a willingness to learn from mistakes
Sensazione- the continual refinement of the senses as the means to enliven experience
Sfumato (literally "going up in smoke") - a willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox and uncertainty
Arte/Scienza - - the development of balance between science and art, logic and imagination. Whole-brain thinking
Corporalita - the cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness and poise
Connessione - a recognition and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena. Systems thinking.

Neat perspective on KM.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:05 AM

OCUL Scholars Portal Discussions for 2008

Check out this White Paper:

Executive Summary

"This document [25 page PDF] (pdf) was created to highlight opportunities and drive discussion for the OCUL consortium in both the short term through the launch of a new Scholars Portal server in 2008, and in the long term by incorporating more 'social' means of sharing and organizing information within OCUL's Scholars Portal and the larger academic community that it serves. It was created by Scholars Portage librarians subgroup of the Scholars Portal Public Services Advisory Group.

With the implementation of Scholars Portal 2, a replacement for the existing online journal hosting service of Scholars Portal, comes a great opportunity to incorporate new features and new services to the OCUL community of students and researchers. This document was created with the intention of starting a discussion among OCUL librarians about what we would like to see be made available.

Our white paper begins with a brief a survey of the landscape and a discussion of seven areas that are challenges to our current environment:

• User expectations are not being met
• Academic work is social
• Citations are hard work
• Academic work is not connected
• Ascendancy of Web 2.0 applications
• Our advanced features are not being used
• Metrics of scholarly authority are changing

Recognizing that many of these areas overlap, we suggest three main areas, with specific recommendations for each, where our institutions can help to alleviate these pressures.

Enhance and improve the user interface
• Enrich Scholars Portal content by bringing in metadata from sources outside the journal repository
• Explore the implementation of controlled vocabulary, thesauri and authority control
• Add user tagging functionality

Connect the citation network to user workflow
• Provide table of contents (TOC) RSS feeds with links that facilitate authentication. If it is possible, allow users to generate their own RSS feeds.
• Provide users of scholarly resources with social bookmarking services
• Consider services that support the whole of the user’s research process and the development of online space for OCUL research communities.
• Seek means for Scholars Portal to be integrated into Learning Management Systems used by OCUL

Embrace standards and technologies that will allow present and future network discovery systems to make use of what we offer
• Provide both permalinks as well as COinS OpenURLs in the Scholars Portal server and to encourage OCUL libraries to adopt their own versions of LibX or promote other COinS readers
• Investigate how to take advantage of the attribute-based information that Shibboleth can provide
• Consider what semantic metadata could be provided through Scholars Portal

It is planned that a demo of the new server will be made available to OCUL librarians in October of 2007 and a beta version be developed for the spring of 2008. We heartily invite readers to comment."

The OCUL projects continue to have greeat vision and substance.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:40 AM | Comments (0)

American Reading Habits

I'd rather not comment on this but need to.

Check out the CNN poll on American reading habits. It's here.

"Story Highlights
One in four Americans read no books last year
More women are avid readers than men
Southerners read more than rest of country
Democrats, liberals read slightly more books than GOP, conservatives"

Do reporters always have to take the negative perspective and whine?
What is stuff like this trying to prove?

From my perspective 75% of Americans read a book.
Books sales are up.
Publishinng of titles is up.
Public library circulation is up.
Book reading is almost double what is was in 1945.
Book reading (the Harry Potter halo) is up among younr folks.
People are writing and publishing their own creations.

Who's kidding whom? Is the Renaiissance that hard to see?

Add to this that it is almost impossible to use the Intenret without a lot of reading. And a lot of newspaper and periodical reading has moved to the web, and we can obviously see a HUGE INCREASE is the amount of reading in America.

Then again, I guess the visual McNews from CNN might have a vested interest in making reading not look too trendy. All this reading, print and electronic, has apparently been at the expense of traditional television! I guess they're worried and commissioned a poll....

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:29 AM | Comments (3)

Top *13* Web 2.0 Tools for Librarians

Here's great post from Infododoodads. They tried to keep it to 10 but just couldn't. Do you have any favourites that are missed?

Top *13* Web 2.0 Tools for Librarians

Here's the 10 with more in the original ost and comments.

1. Google Suite
2. Meebo/Chatango
3. Wikipedia
4. Worldcat.org
5. Amazon.com
6. Del.icio.us
7. Bloglines
8. Zotero
9. Facebook
10. Wordpress
11. MediaWiki
12. Ning
13. Twitter

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:53 AM | Comments (0)

August 22, 2007

Beloit College 2011 Mindset List

Here's my annual post to this fun list from Beloit College.

It's just for fun but it does make you consider the generational changes in experiences.

BELOIT, Wis. - Most of the students entering college this fall, members of the class of 2011, were born in 1989. For them, Alvin Ailey, Andrei Sakharov, Huey Newton, Emperor Hirohito, Ted Bundy and Abbie Hoffman have always been dead.

1. What Berlin wall?

2. Humvees, minus the artillery, have always been available to the public.

3. Rush Limbaugh and the “Dittoheads” have always been lambasting liberals.

4. They never “rolled down” a car window.

5. Michael Moore has always been angry and funny.

6. They may confuse the Keating Five with a rock group.

7. They have grown up with bottled water.

8. General Motors has always been working on an electric car.

9. Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa.

10. Pete Rose has never played baseball.

11. Rap music has always been mainstream.

12. Religious leaders have always been telling politicians what to do, or else!

13. “Off the hook” has never had anything to do with a telephone.

14. Music has always been “unplugged.”

15. Russia has always had a multi-party political system.

16. Women have always been police chiefs in major cities.

17. They were born the year Harvard Law Review Editor Barack Obama announced he might run for office some day.

18. The NBA season has always gone on and on and on and on.

19. Classmates could include Michelle Wie, Jordin Sparks, and Bart Simpson.

20. Half of them may have been members of the Baby-sitters Club.

21. Eastern Airlines has never “earned their wings” in their lifetime.

22. No one has ever been able to sit down comfortably to a meal of “liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”

23. Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than GM.

24. Being “lame” has to do with being dumb or inarticulate, not disabled.

25. Wolf Blitzer has always been serving up the news on CNN.

26. Katie Couric has always had screen cred.

27. Al Gore has always been running for president or thinking about it.

28. They never found a prize in a Coca-Cola “MagiCan.”

29. They were too young to understand Judas Priest’s subliminal messages.

30. When all else fails, the Prozac defense has always been a possibility.

31. Multigrain chips have always provided healthful junk food.

32. They grew up in Wayne’s World.

33. U2 has always been more than a spy plane.

34. They were introduced to Jack Nicholson as “The Joker.”

35. Stadiums, rock tours and sporting events have always had corporate names.

36. American rock groups have always appeared in Moscow.

37. Commercial product placements have been the norm in films and on TV.

38. On Parents’ Day on campus, their folks could be mixing it up with Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz with daughter Zöe, or Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford with son Cody.

39. Fox has always been a major network.

40. They drove their parents crazy with the Beavis and Butt-head laugh.

41. The “Blue Man Group” has always been everywhere.

42. Women’s studies majors have always been offered on campus.

43. Being a latchkey kid has never been a big deal.

44. Thanks to MySpace and Facebook, autobiography can happen in real time.

45. They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee.

46. Most phone calls have never been private.

47. High definition television has always been available.

48. Microbreweries have always been ubiquitous.

49. Virtual reality has always been available when the real thing failed.

50. Smoking has never been allowed in public spaces in France.

51. China has always been more interested in making money than in reeducation.

52. Time has always worked with Warner.

53. Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre.

54. The purchase of ivory has always been banned.

55. MTV has never featured music videos.

56. The space program has never really caught their attention except in disasters.

57. Jerry Springer has always been lowering the level of discourse on TV.

58. They get much more information from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than from the newspaper.

59. They’re always texting 1 n other.

60. They will encounter roughly equal numbers of female and male professors in the classroom.

61. They never saw Johnny Carson live on television.

62. They have no idea who Rusty Jones was or why he said “goodbye to rusty cars.”

63. Avatars have nothing to do with Hindu deities.

64. Chavez has nothing to do with iceberg lettuce and everything to do with oil.

65. Illinois has been trying to ban smoking since the year they were born.

66. The World Wide Web has been an online tool since they were born.

67. Chronic fatigue syndrome has always been debilitating and controversial.

68. Burma has always been Myanmar.

69. Dilbert has always been ridiculing cubicle culture.

70. Food packaging has always included nutritional labeling.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:53 PM | Comments (0)

Blogs for Teaching Librarians

Here's a link to my Multimedia and Internet@Schools column on the blogs I read for that sector:

Teacher Librarians: Sharing and Taking Care of Themselves

It's an amazing group of thinkers.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:36 PM | Comments (2)

Teaching the Dark Side

Here's a link to a column I wrote for Multimedia and Internet @ Schools?

K to 12 Information Literacy: The Dark Side
Advertising, Forms, and Search Engine Optimization

Hey kid, wanna buy a videogame?
Hey you, lookee over here. I’ve got cheat codes.
Hey, sucker, why not just buy your essay?
Sign up here for a free mailing list.

I think it's an important issue.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:34 PM | Comments (1)

Innovation and Special Libraries

Here's a preview of my next column for SLA's Information Outlook:

Challenges for Innovation in Special Libraries

It's based on some of my thinking during the debate we had at the Denver Conference and at ALA in DC.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:31 PM | Comments (0)

Political Skills and 2.0

Here's a link to my August Column for SLA's Information Outlook.

Promotion and Politics

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:28 PM | Comments (0)

Canaries in the Mine

Here's a link to my June 2007 column for SLA's Information Outlook.

How Many Canaries are there in Your Mine?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:25 PM

SMUG - SirsiDynix User Group

Here's a link to the presentation to the SMUG user group presentation in July.

The Social Web 2.0:A Library Technology Forecast

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:16 PM | Comments (0)

SEFLIN Conference

I was delighted to be able to speak to the SEFLIN (South East Florida) Conference. A few meals with folks were a real delight.

Here's the link to my session:

Social Libraries and Librarians: The 2.0 Challenge

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:13 PM | Comments (0)

Mississippi State University Workshop

Mississippi State Univiersty had their annual workshop and I got to be there. Here's a link to my slides. They were the definition of southern hospitality. I loved being there.

Our User Experience: Puzzle Pieces Falling in Place

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:10 PM | Comments (1)

Washington State Public Library Directors

Joe janes and I had a great time at the Washington State Public Library Directors retreat in July. Here's a link to the PPT slides we used to generate some discussion.

Libraries and Librarians: What the Future Holds

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 6:07 PM | Comments (0)

August 16, 2007

Happy Birthday CD

Happy Birthday Compact Disc. We hardly knew ye.

It has been 25 years since the first compact disc was pressed. Philips and Sony, the patent holders I think, inform the world that the very first CD rolled off the production lines on August 17th, 1982. It was a copy of ABBA's The Visitors. From hit CD to hit nostalgia Broadway and West End play.

Wow, you would have thought it was longer than that. I still remember having my first glass master made in the early 90's for over $1,000. We used to have to wait for Celine Dion to get off the disc duplicating machines for our library databases to be copied! She'd cut a million and we took the minimum order - 250 and recycled most of them. I remember how much money we saved when disc-cutters were affordable.

Nostalga rules. I wonder when we'll see the CD Museum stores - like the vinyl museum stores I used to see? I guess they've mostly gone online like used bookstores for niche markets. In an eerie coincidence, Sunday, August 12th was Vinyl Record Day. It marks the anniversary of Edison's invention of the phonograph in 1877. So that made it 130 years old last Sunday.

Still, 200 billion discs have been sold worldwide. I know that the transition to MP3 hasn't been smooth but who knows what's next - uplink? HAL?

Process trumps containers it appears. And paper persists.

Stephen

[Who still has boxes of 45's, 78's, 8-tracks, cassettes, Beta, VHS, and, yes, vinyl (and a copy of the first CD I ever pubished for my Christmas tree). I did try to sell my old 8088 PC to NASA.]

Posted by stephen at 7:12 PM | Comments (0)

PDF Tricks

I actually hate PDF's. Every once in a while you see someone creating archives of TIFF's wrapped in PDF's and you want to cry. Was there ever a situation crying out for librarians?

I've seen governments bury their research and reports in PDF's, presumably out of fear for the contents but mindful of a duty to publish. So they appear on the internet in many forms:

1. PDF wrapped TIFFs - images that are unsearchable and mostly unfndable but look for all intents and appearances like text. A true access chimera.

2. GovDocs exploded into chapters of individual PDF's. Arrghhh! Let's make the user try to assemble - in order - that 24 chapter report plus its cover, appendices and indexes into something compehensible. Oh yeah, extra points if it's in several languages. Of course, a Google free text search won't assemble all the pertinent pieces easily either

3. Worse, let's create a 10,000 page PDF and try to ask any citizen to download and print that! If your report is too short to make it too big, just append all your data into the appendices and make it HUGE.

5. Place your PDF on your website and don't link it to with an index, table of contents, press release or some other finding tool. Make sure there are no links for the seacrh engine crawlers to crawl! You have plausible deniabliity and can say with a straight face that it's available on the web!

6. And my favourite government opacity strategy? Only place a minimum of metadata on the PDF on the web. Say, just a number like 1237D-f but make sure it's not linked to any real number and just represents a non-sequential accession number for the web file. Then it will be nigh on impossible to find it.

Thank God for OPACs, Cataolguers and Librarians. Subversive and detectives all.

That said, ironically, here's a useful link:

Lifehacker's Top 10 PDF Tricks

The PDF file format is one of the best ways to publish, save and exchange well-formatted documents that will look exactly the same regardless of the device or computer you open them on. Whether it's your résumé, a tax form, e-book, user guide or a web page, you can't go wrong using a PDF. Chances are you've already got a free PDF reader installed on your computer, but you can do a lot more with your PDF files than you might think."

Check out the posting for a top 10 list of techniques for converting, exchanging, sharing, managing and editing PDF documents.

Top 10 PDF Tricks
10. Make custom PDF notepaper
9. Convert files to PDF online
8. Annotate PDF's with Skim
7. Password protect PDF's
6. Merge PDF files
5. Edit PDF's with PDF Tools
4. Speed up your PDF reader
3. Manage your PDF library in iTunes
2. Convert that whiteboard to PDF
1. Save any document as a PDF

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:08 PM | Comments (4)

Firefox Tools

If you're a FireFox user, then this link might be for you:

30+ Firefox Tools for Bookmarking & Search
August 16, 2007 by Sean P. Aune

More tricks for our bricks and clicks.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)

Have Students Changed How They Write Papers?

There is an interesting article in today's edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education Daily Report (Paid Wall but many of you can probably get it through your library's subscriptions and aggregators).

It's a study by Rochester about how undergraduates write papers. There's a big difference between what they're studying and my old mindset and experience. I know many high school teachers have changed how they teach writing too.

I know of a a few libraries that employ anthropologists, socialists and ethnographic researchers. I think this is a positive trend. Then again I did my undergrad in anthro.

"An Anthropologist in the Library:
The U. of Rochester takes a close look at students in the stacks

By Scott Carlson

Put this story down for a moment and take a look at the undergraduates around your desk, outside your office, or out on the quad. Do you know what makes them tick? Where and how they study, the ways they spend each hour of the day, the steps they go through when writing their papers? Or are they enigmas?

Perhaps, to get some clues, you've read books about the so-called Net Generation, which brand them all as technophiles, gamers, and multitaskers. Or you might see them as younger versions of yourself during your college years — more plugged in, of course, but essentially the same."

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:21 AM | Comments (1)

Faking It

Feeling the need to add a little MBA jargon to your communication mix?

Here's a page of hundreds of management methods and theories.

Find your advisor's favourite and be forearmed.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)

Internet Activity Index - From communication to content

OK - this is what's called a tipping point. Moving from most transactions being about communicatipon to one where most are about content is a shift. Now it's doesn't take a huge crystal ball to think that the next shift is about most interactions being social and context trumping the whole works as this stuff evolves.

Stephen

"Study: Primary role of the Internet shifting from communications to content
By Jacqui Cheng | Published: August 13, 2007 - 10:05PM CT

People are using time spent on the Internet to actually engage themselves in reading content more now than ever before, according to new data presented by the Online Publishers Association and Nielsen/NetRatings. The association released its four-year-long Internet Activity Index (IAI) today, which gauges people's use of e-commerce, communications, content and search services over time. And while activities like e-commerce and communications still remain popular, reading and viewing content has skyrocketed between 2003 and today.

According to OPA, about 34 percent of Internet users' time was spent reading content in 2003—at that time, content came in second to "communications," which measured at 46 percent of Internet users' time. However, as of May 2007, OPA reports that those numbers have practically reversed: content now commands 47 percent of Internet users' time, and communications only 33 percent.

"The IAI has identified a very significant and sustained trend in where consumers are spending their online time," OPA president Pam Horan said in a statement. "The index indicates that, over the last four years, the primary role of the Internet has shifted from communications to content."

This dramatic shift in focus toward content is explained by the transition of offline activities—such as reading news, browsing TV or movie listings, and checking the weather—to online, according to Horan. "Quality content sites see a consistent pattern—major news drives traffic spikes, but traffic remains consistently higher even after the event. Major news events such as Hurricane Katrina and high-profile seasonal events such as the NCAA Final Four Basketball tournament are clearly driving consumers to engage more deeply with online content," she said.

But online video and social networking sites also deserve some credit, says the report, for driving traffic and keeping users there in order to watch and communicate with each other. But wait, doesn't social networking count as "communication?" Well, yes, but not under OPA's metric, which appears to only categorize e-mail as "communication." Instant messaging also counts as content, according to OPA, which could also help explain content's explosive increase in popularity in recent years. "IM is a more efficient communications vehicle than e-mail," reads the report. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

However, it seems that e-mail's popularity isn't actually going down, but rather the availability of content to consume is going up. Anecdotally, my colleagues and I agree that we conduct more of our everyday lives online than ever before, by getting driving directions, checking movie listings, reading reviews, news and blogs, and creating content of our own. So much so, that our ratio of content consumption to e-mail communications actually is skewed heavily in favor of content, even though we send more e-mail today than ever before too. As Internet access becomes more and more ubiquitous, we will likely continue to see this pattern in the years ahead as people continue to shift their offline activities online. Now, if there was only a way to wire up our brains to access WiFi... "

More here and here and here.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:52 AM | Comments (1)

College Students Continue to Challenge

I recommend the YPulse blog for useful postings like this.

"August 15, 2007

College Students Wield Connections, Concern and Consumer Clout

Alloy sent over the summary of their latest College Explorer research, which shows how much college students have changed in the past four years (they are way more wired). I'm pulling out the key stats below:

They are totally wired

- Close to all students (93%) report owning a cell phone (up 15 points from four years ago)

- Digital camera ownership has just about doubled since 2003. Today, 64% of students report owning one and 16% cite intention to purchase this year

- In 2003, 17% of students owned MP3 players - and the iPod was not yet a staple - today more than half (58%) own one [my BusinessWeek Online piece on Apple should be running tomorrow btw]

- About one-third (28.9%) of campuses now offer blanket wireless coverage and almost two-thirds claim to have a wireless strategy plan in place (this has doubled from four years ago)

- Down with desktops: there was a 21 point increase of laptop ownership in the last two years alone (63% today vs. 42% in 2005

More students = more money to spend (or more debt to rack up)

- A 14% increase (from 2003) as 13.3 million students head back to campus with $198 Billion in consumer spending power (up 31% from 2003)

- Three-quarters of students now report employment during the year

- 56% of college students are female, about 1.1 million more than reported in ’03

They're influencers

- 27% choose to stay in touch with friends via social networking site over face-to-face communication, at 11%, or over phone, with 23% reporting

- More than half (54%) of college students (ages 18-30) visit a social networking site in a typical day

- 25% actually claim they have “never” visited a user-generated site

- 66% of students are learning about brands, products and services from their friends

- 61% report being influenced by word of mouth WOM (up 48% from 2004)

- Students cite they are most likely to look to friends for advice for movies (60%) and electronics (48%)

- More than half of students claim they played the deciding role in recent decision to buy a computer (57%), a digital camera (57%), or a cell phone/PDA (66%)

Some of them want to make a difference

- 35% of students reporting they feel that people their age have the greatest ability to impact positive world change and up from last year

- 37% cite they are more likely to purchase brands that are socially and environmentally responsible (33% in 2006)"

The original press release from Harris Interactive's Alloy, states it quite clearly:

Class of 2011 Heads Back To Campus Wielding More Connections, Concern and Consumer Clout Than Any Class Before Them

We're faster than you.
We're bigger than you.
We've got more clout.
We're louder than you.

Challenges, Challenges. Fun, though!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:45 AM | Comments (0)

More on Social Networks

I did a post on the white label social networking options a while back. There were a few. Here's a link to 34 more.

34 More Ways to Build Your Own Social Network
Mark Hendrickson at TechCrunch

This chart comparing the bunch is useful too.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:23 AM | Comments (0)

August 13, 2007

Energy Savings Update

I linked to a site earlier this month about Blackle and energy savings that could result from black backgrounds. I was suspicious at first but found back-up on the EPA site. Apparently, there's more to this than meets the eye (as Walt Crawford commented too).

From the Offical Google Blog:

Is Black the New Green?

"Reducing climate change by saving energy is an important effort we should all join, and that's why we're very glad to see the innovative thinking going into a variety of solutions. One idea, suggested by the site called "Blackle" (which is not related to Google, by the way, though the site does use our custom search engine), is to reduce energy used by monitors by providing search with a black background. We applaud the spirit of the idea, but our own analysis as well as that of others shows that making the Google homepage black will not reduce energy consumption. To the contrary, on flat-panel monitors (already estimated to be 75% of the market), displaying black may actually increase energy usage. Detailed results from a new study confirm this.

As computers become a bigger part of more people's lives, they will consume an increasing amount of energy, which is why we've invested so much in making our data centers efficient and we've joined with others to launch Climate Savers Computing, which has a goal of reducing total power consumption by more than 50% for all computers by 2010.

There are some things you can do now to reduce the energy used by your computer, such as:

- turn on the power management features. Virtually all computers today have the ability to switch into low-power modes automatically when they're idle; very few computers have this capability enabled! Here's how to do it on computers running Windows XP.
- turn off your monitor and computer when you're not using them
- turn down the brightness on your monitor
- make sure your next computer meets the efficiency standards of Climate Savers Computing (an efficient computer uses up to 50% less energy than a conventional one)
- to find the most efficient PCs available today, look for the words "EnergyStar 4.0 compliant."

The original post links to the research.

So, like the kid said, you just can't trust those .gov sites as much as the people!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:20 PM | Comments (1)

Top Ten Facebook Apps for Librarians

Ellyssa Kroski, a Reference Librarian at Columbia University Butler library, recently posted a Three-Part series on the *Top Ten Facebook Apps for Librarians* on her _iLibrarian_ blog (Thanks Gerry McK)

Top Ten Facebook Apps for Librarians - Part One

August 1st, 2007

"Librarians are experimenting with a wide range of Facebook Apps ranging from the productive such as the 30 Boxes Calendar, Meebo, Twitter, and Zoho Online Office to the silly with Zombies, Likeness, My Aquarium, and SuperPoke. Here are the first three Facebook Apps designed for the librarian in all of us"

1. Books iRead

2. LibGuides Librarian

3. Librarian …

Top Ten Facebook Apps for Librarians - Part Two

August 2nd, 2007

4. MyFlickr

5. Slideshare

6. UIUC Library catalog

Top Ten Facebook Apps for Librarians - Part Three

August 3rd, 2007

7. del.icio.us

8. JStor

9. My Wikipedia

10. LOLCats – just for fun..

More information in the original postings. Just follow the links.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 5:01 PM | Comments (0)

Back to School

So many types of libraries - K-12 schools, colleges and universities have a whole bunch of needy students who do 'ecverything' on the web. Or so I'm told.

Anyway, Mashable again has a timely list:

COLLEGE TOOLBOX: 60+ Tools For Back To School
By Sean P. Aune on social software

"Summer is winding down and it’s time to head back to school. This list comprises everything from financial aid to local guides, social networking, web-based applications and much more for the student with no time to waste in getting the most out of their education. (more…)"

I've just used Craig's List to successfully rent a Montreal apartment for my son to go to university there. If I'd wanted to, we could have bought a bunch if used furniture inexpensively there too.

The tools listed here include ones for applications, buy/sell/trade sites, Financial Information & Aid Sites, Homework Reference & Work Sites, Informational and Miscellaneous sites, Organizational Sites, and Social Networks.

Seems like a great place to find a ready-made list to insert the great library and content sites into on our websites!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:44 PM | Comments (0)

Hasta La Vista PowerPoint

OK, Google Presentations launches soon - possibly before the end of this month (August 2007).

So, before we march like lemmings (it's an OK metaphor even if lemmings actually don't do this mythical march), after anything Google, it would be wise to look at what PowerPoint does now and the alternatives for presentation software out there - web-based.

Mashable has a list of over 30 presentation and slide show tools. So whether you're just doing traditional presentation decks, educational uses or want to have your shows infinitely re-usable on the web, it's worth a quick review of what's out there to compare the next endless beta from the G-force to.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:25 PM | Comments (1)

August 11, 2007

What color is your library?

Colours - Colors - Couleur

The M Word: Marketing Libraries and The Expert Business Source Blog have listed quick lists of the major colors and their meaning and emotional responses for branding purposes. Check out the list.

Take a look at your marketing materials - logos, website, signage, newsletters, brochures, and the rest. Are you supporting your message with colour?

Are you authoritative? Fun? Practical? Trustworthy? Warm? Feminine? Whatever.

As she says "You don’t want to waste time and money by overlooking the message you are conveying with color.

Are you consistent?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:54 PM | Comments (1)

Kicking and Screaming

Isabelle Fetherston ·over at TeleRead has a great post this weekend. Here's a clip:

Why libraries should offer popular fiction—in both print and e-book formats

"In the 1890s, libraries were debating whether to provide fiction to their patrons.

William Stevenson, the head librarian for the Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, went to great lengths to remove popular fiction titles from his library.

“It is certainly not the function of the public library to foster the mind-weakening habit of novel-reading among the very classes—the uneducated, busy or idle—whom it is the duty of the public library to lift to a higher plane of thinking,” he said. . . .

Durng Stevenson’s time, it was controversial for libraries to provide even classic works of literature.

As libraries moved into the 20th century, libraries provided fiction books but considered genre fiction to be inferior. Librarians often tried to convince people to read books that the librarian believed were either “good books” (classic literature) or of an educational nature."

There's more in the posting and it's very interesting.

I swear one of the reasons I became a librarian was my distress that my school and public libraries didn't carry Hardy Boys books.

Wilson Library Bulletin published an article in 1956 or 57 ranting that libraries shodl not provide telephone reference. (apparently if the questions wasn't important enough to make a trip to the library it wasn't worth answering!).

And now we see similar resistance to gaming in libraries (despite recent research showing that 77% of public libraries offer some kind of gaming). The same goes for instant messaging reference, virtual reference, audiobooks, e-books, streaming media and graphic novels.

It makes me feel oddly better. It seems that all advances are tested through a trial-by-fire (or in some cases inertia, passive resistance, debate, trial, etc.) So I guess innovation and change are made fireproof through this process.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:34 PM | Comments (1)

Libraries Business Needs

Yes, I know libraries aren't businesses. Then again, many libraries need to adopt some business "like" behaviors and many librarians actually run businesses as their main jobs or within their jobs. Some of us are very entrepreneurial.

Anyway, there are now thousands of small and medium-sized businesses managing all their affairs with online applications. Mashable has rounded up more than 230 of the leading online applications for managing businesses. Here's the link to the list.

Here's are the categories:

Accounting, Billing, Invoicing, Estimating & Contracts
Calendars & Scheduling
Collaboration & Workgroups
Conferences, Presentations & Meetings
Crowdsourcing, Networking, & Community
Customer Relationship Management & Contact Management
Database, File Storage and Information Management
Email
Employee Management, Payroll and Human Resources
Mail Handling
Marketing & Publicity
Money Making & eCommerce Solutions
Office Applications
Organization & Management
Phone & Voicemail
Planning
Time Management & Tracking and Project Management
Virtual Office Platforms
Industry-Specific Applications
Miscellaneous

Anyway, it looks like a good list of stuff for small libraries, special libraries and teams to work smarter and better. I am always amazed at the stuff that's out there.

This list might be a good one for those of you who support businesses in your community.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:21 PM | Comments (1)

Search in 2010

Chris Sherman at Search Engine Land has a great interview with a series of search gurus on his blog. It's called Search in the Year 2010 and includes these folks:

"Jakob Nielsen, the Web’s best-known usability guru
Marissa Mayer, Google’s VP of user experience and interface design
Michael Ferguson, one of the architects of Ask’s unique user experience
Larry Cornett, the VP of search experience at Yahoo!
Justin Osmer, Product Manager for Microsoft Live search
Chris Sherman, Executive Editor of Searchengineland and always thoughtful industry observer
Greg Sterling, another industry analyst who always has interesting insights, particularly in the local and mobile world
Danny Sullivan, the Go To Guy of search"

Worth the read.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)

Library Newsletters

There are lots of new ways to communicate with our users. Most libraries have added their user's e-mail addresses (permission-based marketing!) to their library card records. Most colleges and universities already have access to their students' e-mail addresses (and many license this access to Google and other marketers.) I know a few libraries collect clients'/users' IM and texting addresses too.

Then again there nothing like the old newsletter. Most have been updated to PDF and web-based formats in addition to the usual print versions. Distribution can be a challenge in our world. We put so much passion and heart into our work and then we try so hard to get the word out to those who need to know.

Anyway, if you haven't updated your newsletter distribution strategies already, here's a link to a posting with more than 30 email newsletter services which enable you to create and send professional newsletters to your target audience.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)

August 10, 2007

Happy Saint Lawrence Day.

Happy Saint Lawrence Day. (You probably don't need to be told but he's one of the patron saints of librarians - the others being Saint Jerome and Saint Catherine of Alexandria.)

The Vatican Library has his head in a box. I guess that makes it easier to shelve and put a spine label on it than the unabridged edition.

For those of you who had trouble keeping up with demand for the Da Vinci Code in your library, blame St. Lawrence. He's the one who lost the Holy Grail.

If you want to know more:

Humourous take on St. Larry here at Librarian Idol.

More here and here and here.

Happy Saint Lawrence Day.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)

August 9, 2007

Choosing a Virtual World

Here's an interesting posting from TechCrunch. It talks about choosing a 3D world in which to play. I found this chart helpful:

Casual Immersive Worlds Comparison Chart

It covers these sites (in this article too):

Active Worlds
Barbie Girls
Club Penguin
Cyworld
Dubit
Faketown
Gaia
Habbo Hotel
IMVU
Kaneva
Millsberry
Mokitown
Neopets
Red Light Center
Second Life
There
Webkinz
Zwinktopia

And covers these areas:

Website URL
Target Audience
Main Premise
Immersion Level (out of 5)
Graphics & Point of View
Users Online When Visited
June 2007 Total Unique Visitors
Revenue Sources

It an interesting snapshot of this trend in the summer of 2007.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:19 AM | Comments (1)

A Timely Report in Time for School

Just in time for Back to School, a good report from the National School Boards Association.

"One of the commonly accepted mantras is that the Internet is a very dangerous place for kids—especially social networking sites, where innocent youngsters can be approached by strangers offering them virtual candy—hence the recent moves by sites such as MySpace to tighten up access controls for younger users. A new study from the National School Boards Association suggests strongly that many of those fears are misplaced and that the overwhelming majority of kids have never had an unknown adult ask them for personal information.

Funded in part by Microsoft, News Corp. (which owns MySpace). and Verizon, the study paints a picture of Internet safety that differs significantly from that commonly depicted by the mainstream media." (Found via Ars Technica)

Here's an article on the report and a few additional commentaries afterwards.

Study: Fears over kids' online safety overblown
By Eric Bangeman published: August 08, 2007

You can link to the original report PDF here (12 pages).

CREATING & CONNECTING: Research and Guidelines on Online Social — and Educational — Networking
NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION

From Cory Doctorow: "National School Boards Association (a nonprofit that represents 95,000 US school-board members) did a comprehensive study of students' experiences with the Internet, especially with social networking sites. They determined that the much-touted risk of online stalkers and predators was basically nonexistent (0.08 percent of students surveyed had ever gone to meet a stranger without parental permission). The best part is their recommendation to schools: stop fearing the Internet and embrace it as an incredible tool for instruction.

In light of these findings, they're recommending that school districts may want to "explore ways in which they could use social networking for educational purposes" — and reconsider some of their fears. It won't be the first time educators have feared a new technology, the study warns. "Many schools initially banned or restricted Internet use, only to ease up when the educational value of the Internet became clear. The same is likely to be the case with social networking.

"Safety policies remain important, as does teaching students about online safety and responsible online expression — but student may learn these lesson better while they're actually using social networking tools."

Social networking may be advantageous to students — and there could already be a double standard at work? 37% of districts say at least 90% of their staff are participating in online communities of their own — related to education — and 59% of districts said that at least half were participating. "These findings indicate that educators find value in social networking," the study notes, "and suggest that many already are comfortable and knowledgeable enough to use social networking for educational purposes with their students."

There's further commentary at Mashable here.

I like this quote from the report:

"Safety policies remain important, as does teaching students about online safety and responsible online expression — but students may learn these lessons better while they’re actually using social networking tools."

I've written a few articles (here and here) about this and it's great to see the NSBA taking up the cause. Of course the work done by ALA, YALSA and the Illinois Library Association adds to the corpus.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:38 AM | Comments (0)

August 8, 2007

A few articles

I write a column for Multimedia & Internet @ Schools magazine. It's a good journal that keeps up with the trends in school libraies and media centers.

Anyway, my column is embargoed and here are three that can be posted:

Multimedia and Internet @ Schools
Jan./Feb. 2007 issue)
Justifying the Social Tools: Improving the Conversation

Multimedia and Internet @ Schools
Mar./Apr. 2007
Shooting Themselves in the Foot

Multimedia and Internet @ Schools
May/Jissue
Meet Your Kids’ Avatars: Future School Libraries’: A Third Presence in Second Lifeune 2007

Each followed the theme that education sector has to start experimenting with these new tools or they will be forced underground with the learners and everyone loses.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)

Summer Fun

Here's a five minute video from YouTube. I find it quite funny and very well produced.

Librarian Crimes by Haunted Love.

If you've ever ground your teeth at a user. . . .

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)

Social News and Social Bookmarking

Here's a link for some summer playtime.

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING: 50+ Social Bookmarking Sites

It will be interesting to see how the social bookmarking space plays out. I think that it's really just a feature or function of a larger social community or research space. So what features work (clipping for example) and what don't? How will this integrate across the whole web space?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)

Al and Me

So cool I had to post it twice. Zac put it on his Facebook Album.

I was on local TV today for about 8 seconds. If TV is dying then why did I get a raft of e-mails and phone calls? Just goes to show the persistence of technology and media.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:22 AM

That's all for now

OK, that's too many postings for one day.

So, I'll go back to vacation.

(Whee, my e-mail box is down to below 50 entries and I'm almost caught up!)

Sick, eh.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)

August 7, 2007

Interesting Strategy

Well this will be interesting to see.

Yahoo! owns Flickr and has some Yahoo! Video initiatives going.

Now they see YouTube doing pretty well.

So, why not allow videos in Flickr?

I love rumours that make sense.

Cool, eh?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 11:46 PM | Comments (1)

But would you want to?

I was interested to read the following prediction from Peter Kaufman [ppt] in Lorcan Dempsey's blog. I haven't seen anyone else repeat it so I'll post it here since it's very worthy of discussion:

Over the next 13 years:

An iPod or a device its size will be able to hold:

a year’s worth of video (8,760 hours) by 2012 (5 years from now)
all the commercial music ever created by 2015 (8 years), and
all the content ever created (in all media) by 2020 (13 years).

[Peter Kaufman. Online digital video – educational developments and opportunities. ppt]

So, we know that the Internet/web have challenged libraries.
Book digitization projects are challenging libraries.
Format and container changes are challenging libraries.

Then again, organization, metadata, decent personal service and more are challenging the web world.

If we have everything in a pocket-sized device - within our lifetimes - what are the consequences for libraries, education, businesses, associations, cultural centers, or society at large? Is content enough? I doubt it.

Will people be able to ask good questions of their pocket database?
Will evil doers be able to manipulate the content?
Can we pay more for one without ads?
Who will they call for help? (Now I'm hearing Ghostbusters music in my head!)

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? (Why do I hear Glinda's voice in my head as I type this?)

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:33 PM | Comments (0)

Who is my friend?

The inimitable Dave Pollard at the How to Save the World blog offers a thoughftul post on The Dynamics of Social Networks. He's also great at visuals as you can see below:

This visual depicting Dave's view of his own personal network is interesting. It clarified for me the role 'friending' plays in virtual social networks. We hear people use the word friend in these environments all the time. What used to be a word with very specific and freighted meaning has become a collective noun for everything from colleagues, friends, aquaintances, friends of friends, family, co-workers, and more. My kids seem to have comfortably internalized this change rather quickly and I still feel a bit uncomfortable giving up the hierarchy of how I know you and playground learnings about best-friends vs. others. I wonder when I'll either lose this attachment to the word or social networking tools will get better at knowing who I trust...most?

Anyway, that's a tangent and Dave's post is worth the read here.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)

Measuring Social Networking Success

I am always told that you can't manage what you can't measure. I'm not so sure I believe that statement wholeheartledly. There are lots of things that I think are immeasurable (belief, passion, vision, love, etc.), but that's just me. I always leave myself wiggle room that managing and leading are two quite different animals.

However, it's probably good to at least try. This posting from Searech Engine Journal is a good start:

Measuring Social Media Marketing: It’s Easier than you Think!
July 30th, 2007 by Michael Brito

Michael's lilst of traditional media and social media metrics is a good place to start a conversation.

With so many libraries dipping their toe in the social networking and social media lap pool , we might be wise to get somme benchmarks just to see if we're making progress towards both traditional and innovative library goals and visions.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:38 PM | Comments (0)

Are we interested in content created by so-called 'amateurs'?

From Search Engine Watch:

Deloitte media-consumption study finds user-generated content spans generations

"According to a new study by Deloitte, about 51% of US consumers are interested in watching and reading content created by others, not just stuff crafted by the big Hollywood companies and TV networks. And Baby Boomers (42 to 60) and older Matures (61 to 75) are also taking part in the user-generated-content phenomenon, not just the under-25 crowd, Deloitte found. You can read more about the study at Advertising Age." (Requires registration)

A 4 page PDF highlights of Deloitte's Are You Ready For The Future Media study is here.

Pew has been tracking the user generated content phenom for a while. I wonder who's going to collect, index, and organize and archive these modern cultural objects? Opportunity knocks.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:26 PM | Comments (0)

Slide Share

Here's an interesting application. I've seen it before but it's more interesting now that it's populated. It's called SlideShare and you in see it here (You have to sign in for free).

Two neat ideas I heard for it were:

1. A small group of librarians are sharing PPT's there so they can be adapted. We use PPT so much now, why shouldn't we share them like OCLC records? This might be one way that library collaboration looks like now.

2. I think it's useful for getting ideas for presentations. Some of these presentations are beautful and quite engaging! (Then again, I also like the ideas I get from the Presentation Zen blog.)

3. You can synch narration with your slides too (Slideshare + Podcast - Slidecast). Can this be used for inexpensive conference tapes, tours, training and such?

4. Search on "libraries" or some such and check out the hundreds of PPT's. I particularly liked this one - humour and hard copy - The Top 10 Reasons Libraries Are Still Important.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 9:00 PM | Comments (2)

DRM and SLA

I participated in a small panel at SLA in Denver. Here's a link to the slides I used, although it's not that clear what was said. Such is the nature of panel discussions.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:49 PM | Comments (0)

ALA Empowerment Conference

In DC this June ALA ran an Empowerment Conference for library staff. It was pretty interesting to see the great skills and energy of this group.

Joe Janes from the U Washington iSchool and I did a session on trends. We had a severely dead PC projector so we went naked and went without our PowerPoints. I think we did well.

Anyway, just in case anyone want to see the slides, I'll link to them here.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:44 PM | Comments (0)

ALCTS at ALA

I was honored to give the end note at the ALA ALCTS 50th anniversary pre-conference workshop.

It was a very innovative format with speakers and reactors and an end of day panel that reacted to the whole day. Entertaining and educational. The organizers did a great job (and great food in the Reagan Building too).

Here's a link to the PowerPoint:

Social Libraries: The Librarian 2.0 Phenomenon

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:35 PM | Comments (0)

Building Bigger Brains in Libraries

I did a few SDI LIVE sessions in the booth at ALA.

Here's a link to the PowerPoint about various strategies to develop staff for the new world of libraries while still remaining committed to our traditions:

Bigger Brains: Building Capacity for Learning in 15 Minutes a Day

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:35 PM | Comments (0)

Air Force Navy Symposium

The military librarians are one of my favorite groups. I've spoken to most branches of the service and I'm always impressed with the breadth and depth of their commitment and innovation. There is EVERY type of library in the military and they're truly global. I loved watching all of the military librarians being honored at SLA this year with a special award for all their efforts.

Anyway, I lucked out and to to do a session at the Air Force Navy Librarian's Symposium at an ALA pre-conference in June.

Here's a link to my PowerPoints.

Social Libraries: The Librarian 2.0 Phenomenon

Thiis month I also got a back room tour at the libraries in Omaha for the military. I'm not sworn to secrecy, but I'll be discrete. These folks are awesome. I was amazed.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:19 PM | Comments (0)

ALA Public Relations Session

I had great fun getting up early in the morning on Sunday at ALA in DC.

I'd been asked by the ALA PR committee to do a 2 hour program about innovative PR so I chose to highlight recent technology innovations that libraries could use to enhance their PR activities.

Here is a link to the PowerPoint.

PR for the New Millennium: 16 Cool Technologies

Natch - you might notice that I managed to get an article out of it too in the latest SirsiDynix OneSource. Nothing goes to waste on a long plane ride to Seattle!

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 8:12 PM | Comments (0)

Building Better Commnuities Awards Ceremony

One of the most fun things I got to do with Tom Gates, the SirsiDynix VP Marketing, at ALA in DC this year was present the SirsiDynix Building Better Commnuities Awards along with cheques for over $60,000.00 US.

The 15 finalists press release is here.

Six very deserving libraries won and there were 15 fabulous finalists - all innovators. You can read the press release about the 6 winners here.

Our PowerPoint highlighting the finalists and winners suffered a few technical difficulties so I thought I would link to it here for anyone who wants to see these great innovators in libraries.

All 15 finalists received a framed certificate acknowledging their efforts and the six winners received a beautiful trophy in sapphire crystal and a cheque.

I've seen quite a few press releases, press coverage, photos on the web and more from the winners and finalists. It's great to see these folks getting some spin for their innovation.

Congratulations to all.

Stephen.

Posted by stephen at 8:02 PM | Comments (0)

Online Newspaper Audiences

I've always been interdested in online newspaper audiences since I think they're an indicator of behavioural change. There has been some research to show that people retain more when they read short articles online than when they read print. Also, I have seen research that people will read up to three pages online before they print it out (or buy it) and prefer paper for longer items.

Anyway, this recent repoort from the Newspaper Association of America appears intereastingpite having more than a little self interest.

"As NAA releases two new ads highlighting the value of the newspaper audience to advertisers as part of its 2007 industry trade campaign, efforts to attract a diverse set of readers across a growing portfolio of products are paying off. Recent data indicates that more than 59 million people (37.3 percent of all active Internet users) visited newspaper Web sites on average during the second quarter of 2007, a record number that represents a 7.7 percent increase over the same period a year ago."

It claims that newspapers’ online audiences are rising at twice the rate of the general internet audience, according to research by Nielsen//NetRatings for the Newspaper Association of America.

Now, what is the rate of general internet audience and are library website audiences (as measured like these are and not just circulation or hits) rising faster too (or slower). I wonder.

My gut tells me we're doing great. It would be nice to have that soundbite like newspapers have created.

The quote from Sturm on the website is “Engagement is an important factor that reflects the value of online news products, and the amount of time users spend enjoying a newspaper's digital content further establishes these sites as premier online destinations for a demanding and sophisticated audience.”

Our audiences are no less demanding and sophisticated?

Is it time for library website engagement measures?

Can we move beyond transaction statistics to transformational measurements of community impacts?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 5:00 PM | Comments (0)

Innovation Killers

Joyce Wycoff of the Innovation Network has listed the top 10 "innovation killers":

1. Not creating a culture that supports innovation
2. Not getting buy-in and ownership from business unit managers
3. Not having a widely understood, system-wide process
4. Not allocating resources to the process
5. Not tying projects to company strategy
6. Not spending enough time and energy on the fuzzy front-end
7. Not building sufficient diversity into the process
8. Not developing criteria and metrics in advance
9. Not training and coaching innovation teams
10. Not having an idea management system

Read the full article for solutions. "The Big Ten Innovation Killers and How to
Keep Your Innovation System Alive and Well by Joyce Wycoff"

Dr. Lauchlan A. K. Mackinnon at Idea Managemnt Systems blog here, rephrases them so:

"1. Not removing fear of doing something new or of failing.
2. Not making innovation performance part of everyone's review performance review process, with innovation targets and KPIs
3. Not documenting, communicating and getting buy-in to the innovation process
4. Not allowing flexibility to explore new possibilities and collaborate with others inside and outside the organization.
5. Failing to ensure that everyone understands the corporate strategy, and that all innovation efforts are aligned with it - while still catching ideas from the left field
6. Not scanning the environment for new ideas and stimulation
7. Not honouring a diversity of thinking styles, experience, perspectives and expertise.
8. Not finding a balance between good focal criteria that can focus ideation and restrictive criteria can stifle ideation and perpetuate assumptions and mindsets from the past.
9. Not treating innovation teams differently to “regular” project teams: Innovation needs different tools and different mindsets, different training and a different mix of skills and personalities.
10. Not buying or developing an idea management system that captures ideas in a way that encourages people to build on and evaluate new possibilities."

I wonder how many libraries maintain an idea management system? Do we respect new ideas enough to write them down and return to them and prioritie them, make choices,...? If they're 'before-their-time" can we put them in a holding pattern or parking lot until they're cooked?

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:46 PM | Comments (0)

How to say no

Sound familiar:

"No is not an option at my company.
If I say no, my boss will think I'm not a team player.
You just don't say no to your boss!
I don't want to disappoint my boss.
I feel mean when I say no.
I don't want the confrontation. I say yes, then if I wait long enough, my boss will forget he asked me.
I feel nicer when I say yes.
My boss will be upset if I say no."

I liked this article at CIO magazine on "The Benefits of No".

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:40 PM | Comments (0)

University of Alberta's OPAC

More good innovation at the University of Alberta Libraries with their OPAC and creating a new user experience. Lorcan Dempsey at OCLC comments on it here.

"We [UAL] are pleased to announce the University of Alberta Libraries Facebook application. This new application allows access to our library catalogue, Ask Us Services, RefWorks and Get It Citation linker from within the Facebook platform. [Library News » Library Services Available Through Facebook]"

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:37 PM | Comments (0)

Top EduBlogs

Dangerously Irrelevant blog has a thoughtful post on discovering the top edublogs. Here's a link to it here.

How many edublogs are there? Over 50,000. How many are in this analysis? Over 3,600. The visual ranking the top blogs is especially interesting.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:31 PM | Comments (1)

The Pew and Online Video

Online Video: 57% of internet users have watched videos online and most of them share what they find with others (released July 25, 2007 by Mary Madden) (PDF 28 pages)

"The growing adoption of broadband combined with a dramatic push by content providers to promote online video has helped to pave the way for mainstream audiences to embrace online video viewing. Fifty-seven percent of online adults have used the internet to watch or download video, and 19% do so on a typical day. Three-quarters of broadband users (74%) who enjoy high-speed connections at both home and work watch or download video online.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project's first major report on online video also shows how many video viewers have contributed to the viral and social nature of online video. More than half of online video viewers (57%) share links to the video they find with others, and three in four (75%) say they receive links to watch video that others have sent to them.

Video viewers who actively exploit the participatory features of online video, such as rating content, posting feedback or uploading video, make up the motivated minority of the online video audience. Young adults are the most active participants in this realm."

So, for our broadband connected customers at home and at work (admit it - how many have watched YouTube at work...?), we're seeing some real market acceptance.

Here's a few questions:

1. What will it take to find the videos our patrons want, without having to come into the library?
2. When, (not if) will this dominate DVD the way DVD dominates VHS, Beta and film?
3. What are the eduational uses of video and how will we support them?
4. Beyond viral ads, what are the business uses of streaming media and online video?
5. How many author videos do you link to on your library website? Do you exploit those in the Syndetics feed already?

Hmmmm. Tough questions but lots to play with to be ready.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 4:25 PM | Comments (0)

Broadband Commentary from the Pew

The Pew releases another study that's of interest to us in libraryland.

Why It Will Be Hard to Close the Broadband Divide (released Aug. 1, 2007 by John Horrigan)

"When you look at the data on Americans without broadband at home, it suggests that it will take time to get these holdouts off the digital sidelines." It discusses thje issues of the US lagging behind somewhat other industralized nation on this ciritcal foundation piece of the new and emerging knowledge-based economy.

Ranked Broadband Subscribers Worldwide and Subscribers per 100 inhabitants

Denmark 31.9
Netherlands 31.8
Iceland 29.7
Korea 29.1
Switzerland 28.5
Norway 27.7
Finland 27.2
Sweden 26.0
Canada 23.8
Belgium 22.5
United Kingdom 21.6
Luxembourg 20.4
France 20.3
Japan 20.2
United States 19.6
Australia 19.2
Austria 17.3
Germany 17.1
Spain 15.3
Italy 14.8

Source: OECD, 2006

While it's discouraging that Canada and the US aren't leading here, it also implies that there is still a lot of life left in the roles libraries of all stripes play in closing the digital divide.

Of course, we also have to be cognizant that many people choose to not have broadband at home if there needs can be met at work, school or the public library. Being without home broadband does not in any way also mean being without the internet at all.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:54 PM | Comments (0)

How many MP3's on your computer?

"The typical computer in the U.S. contained 880 MP3 files in April [2007], internet measurement company comScore said." as reported by the CBC.

Hmmmm. I am waaaayyyy above average. Then again, this is one new technology without a speed of diffusion issue. Now if only we had a common standard and iPods and MP3 players wet al played well together.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:46 PM | Comments (0)

Kids and Teens - Globally

PR Newswire is reporting on the New Global Study From MTV, Nickelodeon and Microsoft which challenges assumptions about the relationship between kids, youth & digital technology. It claims to be the largest ever study with over 18,000 'tech-embracing' kids and youth surveyed in 16 countries.

There are lots of nuggets here for good conversations:

"The report found:
-- Technology has enabled young people to have more and closer
friendships thanks to constant connectivity.
-- Friends influence each other as much as marketers do. Friends are as
important as brands.
-- Kids and young people don't love the technology itself -- they just
love how it enables them to communicate all the time, express
themselves and be entertained.
-- Digital communications such as IM, email, social networking sites and
mobile/sms are complementary to, not competitive with, TV. TV is part
of young peoples' digital conversation.
-- Despite the remarkable advances in communication technology, kid and
youth culture looks surprisingly familiar, with almost all young
people using technology to enhance rather than replace face-to-face
interaction.
-- Globally, the number of friends that young males have more than
doubles between the ages of 13-14 and 14-17 -- it jumps from 24 to 69.
-- The age group and gender that claims the largest number of friends are
not girls aged 14-17, but boys aged 18-21, who have on average 70
friends."

"The young people interviewed were in the UK, Germany, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, the US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. 21 technologies that impact on the lives of young people were featured: the internet, e-mail, personal computers, TV, mobile personal devices, internet messaging, cable and sattelite TV, DVDs, MP3s, stereo/hi-fi, digital cameras, social networks, on and off-line video games, CDs, high definition TV, VHS, webcams, MP4 players, DVR/PVRs, and hand-held game consoles."

"Digital communications -- from IM, SMS, social networking to email -- have all revolutionized how young people communicate with their peers."

The national differences that are highlighted are particularly interesting but kids seem the same around the world, as usual.

The article is worth a glance. It's not too long.

Stephen

Posted by stephen at 3:37 PM | Comments (0)

Global Digital Inclusion

Check out this Map of Glogal Digital Inclusion (August 4th, 2007 by Paul Lamb) by Maplecroft Maps.

Every year before I head to IFLA I surf a little to see what's going on worldwide and