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June 29, 2008
eBooks and Students
At ALA ebrary announced the results of the 2008 Global Student E-book Survey, completed by nearly 6,500 college and university students and designed by more than 150 librarians, is now publicly available at no cost. To receive a digital copy, you register at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=V6KfjUjiRPtGyJYmHINDRg_3d_3d
Key findings of the 2008 Global Student E-book Survey include the following:
• On research or class assignments, e-book usage is on par with print books, with almost equal
numbers of students using each type.
• Fifty-one percent of students would “very often or often” opt to use electronic versions of books
over print versions, compared to 32% who “sometimes” prefer e-books and 17% who always use
the print version.
• E-books rank among the top resources students consider trustworthy, along with print materials
such as books, textbooks, reference (dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps), and journals.
• Google and other search engines are indicated by the highest number of students for use in
research or class assignments. Other top resources include e-books, print books, e-reference
resources such as online dictionaries, encyclopedias and maps, and Wikipedia.
• Fifty-seven percent of students view instruction in information literacy as very important,
compared with 38% who consider it somewhat important and only 5% who find it not important.
An interesting addition to the research as we watch the variant ebook adoption rates in different markets, in various genres, and in different topical domains and geographies. All we know is that it's growing.
Then again, Seth Godin as an interesting perspective, or at least 18 questions, too. Read it here. Question number one is: "Let me see the percentage of people who have bought a book and actually finished reading it. (The Kindle knows, right?) Even better, let me see Kindle books that are finished by people who finish books that I finish! "
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:51 PM
Happy Birthday Sydney
Twenty years ago today my daughter Sydney Claire was born. Here she is at SLA with me last week along with her boyfriend, Andrew, at the top of the Space Needle. (Thanks for the photo Peggy)
I've learned something from her every day for 20 years.
I, for one, will miss having a teen in the home.
Happy Birthday Sydney!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:19 AM | Comments (2)
June 25, 2008
Heading to ALA
Well, I am in the airport heading off to ALA in Anaheim..
I hope to see quite a few people there.
I am sitting on a panel at The Future of Libraries pre-conference on Saturday.
I am doing a session at the Resource Sharing pre-conference on Friday.
I am participating in the LITA Ultimate Debate again on Saturday afternoon. That's fun with Roy Tennant, Karen Schneider and Joe Janes.
I plan to be in the SirsiDynix booth often and I am invited to quite a few receptions and the Monday opening as SLA president.
I'll see some of you there.
I'll be running on Starbucks lattes.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:47 AM | Comments (1)
June 24, 2008
What's the difference between 1.0 and 2.0?
First Monday had a nice article a few weeks ago:
Key Differences Between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0
by Graham Cormode and Balachander Krishnamurthy of AT&T Labs
ABSTRACT: "Web 2.0 is a buzzword introduced in 2003–04 which is commonly used to encompass various novel phenomena on the World Wide Web. Although largely a marketing term, some of the key attributes associated with Web 2.0 include the growth of social networks, bi–directional communication, various ‘glue’ technologies, and significant diversity in content types. We are not aware of a technical comparison between Web 1.0 and 2.0. While most of Web 2.0 runs on the same substrate as 1.0, there are some key differences. We capture those differences and their implications for technical work in this paper. Our goal is to identify the primary differences leading to the properties of interest in 2.0 to be characterized. We identify novel challenges due to the different structures of Web 2.0 sites, richer methods of user interaction, new technologies, and fundamentally different philosophy. Although a significant amount of past work can be reapplied, some critical thinking is needed for the networking community to analyze the challenges of this new and rapidly evolving environment."
Contents
1. Introduction
2. What is Web 2.0?
3. Analysis issues
4. Web 2.0 substrate and enabling technologies
5. Measurement issues
6. Technical and external issues
7. Summary of metrics of interest
8. Beyond Web 2.0
A nice simple explanation of a sometimes confusing topic. By the end of it you wonder why some folks think it's controversial!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)
7 Things You Should Know about Second Life
Another useful report from Educause:
7 Things You Should Know About Second Life
What is it?
Who’s doing it?
How does it work?
Why is it significant?
What are the downsides?
Where is it going?
What are the implications for teaching and learning?
The usual good work at summarizing a difficult topic.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)
2008 Library Budget Predictions
You can get a free research report entitled Library Budget Predictions for 2008 (30 Page PDF) from Publishers Communication Group.
"As part of our service to the library community we are making this report freely available. In an increasingly competitive global market place, knowledge of budget change at international institutions helps provide context and will hopefully allow you to better position your institution in the coming year."
This might be a useful comparison tool.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)
100 Useful and Free Library Videos
Check out this list:
100 Awesome Youtube Vids for Librarians
Sections include:
Using Databases
Academic Librarians
Librarians and Technology
Outreach and Special Program Ideas
Skits and Cartoons
Library Etiquette
Spreading the Good News
Digging Through Archives and Public Records
National Library Week and Reading Campaigns
Library Tools
Just for Laughs
Showing Librarians and Libraries Some Love
Links on the original posting.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:59 PM
Narrowing the Digital Divide
A new study was released on June 20th about the digital divide. Here's the press release:
University of Minnesota study uncovers the educational benefits of social networking sites
Low-income students are in many ways just as technologically savvy as their counterparts
In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered the educational benefits of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The same study found that low-income students are in many ways just as technologically proficient as their counterparts, going against what results from previous studies have suggested.
The study found that, of the students observed, 94 percent used the Internet, 82 percent go online at home and 77 percent had a profile on a social networking site. When asked what they learn from using social networking sites, the students listed technology skills as the top lesson, followed by creativity, being open to new or diverse views and communication skills.
To watch a video about the study and a full interview with the lead researcher, visit:
http://www1.umn.edu/urelate/newsservice/Multimedia_Videos/social_network.htm
Data were collected over six months this year from students, ages 16 to 18, in thirteen urban high schools in the Midwest. Beyond the surveyed students, a follow-up, randomly selected subset were asked questions about their Internet activity as they navigated MySpace, an online forum that provides users with e-mail, web communities and audio and video capabilities.
"What we found was that students using social networking sites are actually practicing the kinds of 21st century skills we want them to develop to be successful today," said Christine Greenhow, a learning technologies researcher in the university's College of Education and Human Development and principal investigator of the study. "Students are developing a positive attitude towards using technology systems, editing and customizing content and thinking about online design and layout. They're also sharing creative original work like poetry and film and practicing safe and responsible use of information and technology. The Web sites offer tremendous educational potential."
Greenhow said that the study's results, while proving that social networking sites offer more than just social fulfillment or professional networking, also have implications for educators, who now have a vast opportunity to support what students are learning on the Web sites.
"Now that we know what skills students are learning and what experiences they're being exposed to, we can help foster and extend those skills," said Greenhow. "As educators, we always want to know where our students are coming from and what they're interested in so we can build on that in our teaching. By understanding how students may be positively using these networking technologies in their daily lives and where the as yet unrecognized educational opportunities are, we can help make schools even more relevant, connected and meaningful to kids."
Interestingly, researchers found that very few students in the study were actually aware of the academic and professional networking opportunities that the Web sites provide. Making this opportunity more known to students, Greenhow said, is just one way that educators can work with students and their experiences on social networking sites.
The study also goes against previous research from Pew in 2005 that suggests a "digital divide" where low-income students are technologically impoverished. That study found that Internet usage of teenagers from families earning $30,000 or below was limited to 73 percent, which is 21 percentage points below what the U of M research shows.
The students participating in the U of M study were from families whose incomes were at or below the county median income (at or below $25,000) and were taking part in an after school program, Admission Possible, aimed at improving college access for low-income youth.
Greenhow suggests that educators can help students realize even more benefits from their social network site use by working to deepen students' still emerging ideas about what it means to be a good digital citizen and leader online.
###
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)
First Year Student Expectations in University
JISC commissioned Ipsos MORI to undertake research among first year students studying in higher education to:
1. Understand first year students’ experiences of ICT use and provision in HEIs, particularly in light of the expectations which emerged from the first study in June 2007
2. Examine whether there is a mismatch between expectations and reality
Great expectations of ICT: How Higher Education institutions are measuring up
You can download a free copy [68 page PDF] here.
Some analysis is here as well.
It's a balanced report and offers some interesting things to consider.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:23 AM | Comments (0)
Facebook MySpace Global Cage Match
Michael Arrington is reporting that Facebook and MySpace are now almost equal globally. MySpace still rules in the U.S. and we'll see if their recent changes make a difference too.
Check out his analysis here.
It looks like libraries need to continue to play in both arenas and throw LinkedIn for good measure. Internationally you'd need to keep up with Mixi and Bebo too. Phew.
Of course, throw in language and mobile compliance . . .
Know your market.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:16 AM | Comments (0)
2007 Canadian Internet Use
The 2007 Canadian Internet Use Survey was released on June 12th.
Statistics Canada reveals new 2007 data from the Canadian Internet Use Survey. Interesting findings include:
"Almost three-quarters (73%), or 19.2 million Canadians aged 16 and older, went online for personal reasons during the 12 months prior to the survey. This was up from just over two-thirds (68%) in 2005 when the survey was last conducted. For the first time, the survey covered young people aged 16 and 17. They accounted for almost one of the five percentage point increase in Internet use between 2005 and 2007."
"Among people who used the Internet at home, 68% went online every day during a typical month and 50% for five hours or more during a typical week. On average, men were online more often and for longer periods than women."
"High-speed connections are becoming far more prevalent. An estimated 88% of people who accessed the Internet at home did so with a high-speed connection in 2007, up from 80% two years earlier. This growth was driven by new users and by existing users switching from a slower service.
Over 9 in 10 urban home users reported using a high-speed connection, compared with just over 7 in 10 home users in rural areas. More than one-half of rural and small town residents using a slower service reported that a high-speed telephone or cable service was not available in their area."
Digital divides in Internet use persist, specifically on the basis of income, education and age.
High-speed connections are becoming far more popular.
The vast majority of Internet users aged 16 or older, 94%, reported personal Internet use from home during 2007, while 41% said they used it from work, 20% from schools and 15% from libraries."
More Canadians are participating in blogging, chatting and downloading.
Internet use rates are highest in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:05 AM | Comments (1)
June 23, 2008
15 Turning Points in IT History
I thought that this article from CIO.com was interesting. Read it and you can survive small talk at a geek cocktail/beer/jolt cola party.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Predicting Adult Literacy in Canada
A new report on literacy in Canada was released by the Canadian Council on Learning on June 12th.
“Reading the Future is the first report of its kind in Canada. It provides: Canada's first projections of adult literacy levels, through to 2031; an unprecedented look—more detailed than ever before—at the “face” of low literacy; and effective approaches to improve literacy among six identified groups.”
Full text available at:
Reading the Future: Planning to meet Canada’s future literacy needs
http://www.ccl-cca.ca/CCL/Reports/ReadingFuture/?Language=EN
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)
Paul Otlet
A colleague sent me ths article and I found it very interesting. I had never hard of Paul Otlet, "precursor to the internet". I thought you might enjoy it:
The Web Time Forgot
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/science/17mund.html?th&emc=th
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:16 PM | Comments (1)
Serials Solutions
SirsiDynix has a very good partnership with Serials Solutions. I was lucky to have the time while I was in Seattle to visit their newly expanded offices and talk to staff.
Here's the PPT.
They're doing an amazing job there.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 2:00 PM | Comments (0)
The SLA Conference last week
I had a wonderful time at the SLA Conference in Seattle.
Highlights for me were:
1. Vint Cerf giving his views on the development of the inter-planetary internet to us and Charlie Rose
2. Machinima at the Opening Session
3. Meeting Seth Godin
4. The 23 Things song from Tim and Richard
5. David Snowden showing story collection in Iran and use thereof.
6. Eugenie Prime updating her No Puny Visions talk from SLA Seattle in 1997.
7. The IT/LMD Dance
8. Having my daughter there.
9. Seeing the SLA Second Life site develop
10. Having over 200 attendees Twitter the conference from the SLA Innovation Lab.
11. Launching the SLA 23 Things and getting sign ups right away
12. Soft launching the SLA Innovation Lab with beakers and lab rats!
13. Giving out awards to cool folks
Here's a link to my President's session on Reality 2.0
Here's a link to the slides from my opening remarks
6 more months to go as president of SLA.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 1:50 PM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2008
Personal SLA Highlights
There are some perqs to SLA leadership. In the past few days:
- I got to meet and shake hands and chat with Vint Cerf. OMG - he invented the Internet! (What's he done lately? Invented a way to spread the interplanetary internet. Really!)
- I got to meet Charlie Rose. I am still deeply upset abut Tim Russert but I was heartened to meet another excellent and balanced and intelligent interviewer / newsie.
- I got to launch the SLA Innovation Lab, 23 Things and Second Life. The teams are soooo WOW.
- My daughter is with me in Seattle and I had a nice Father's Day. My son sent me a nice e-mail.
- We actually had machinima at the SLA opening. How awesome is that?!
- We debuted the 23 Things song. It was toe tapping funny!
- We have hundreds of SLA'ers twittering at SLA and beyond. Amazingly fast take-up of ths experiement. The tag is #sla2008
- I got to open the Info-Expo with the cast of the Wizard of OZ! Toto too but I can tell you that Dorothy doesn't stoop and scoop. We skipped down the yellow brick road to open the hall. Too funny.
- I got to give away a bunch of awards to some awesome people.
Today I am looking forward to David Snowden's talk (He has been a highlight of the conference for everyone associatin I've been president of...!) He was a little delayed at Heathrow on his way from Singapore because Air Force 1 got in the way! I guess they're upping security because I walked under AF1's wing once with no incident. Then again I have to take my shoes off everywhere else in the airport!
It's also the Canadian and International reception tonight. Whee.
It's only been less than one day and it's a great conference already!
Having fun and learning,
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:27 AM | Comments (2)
June 14, 2008
I'm at SLA in Seattle
Well I've been in Seattle for a few days. SLA Board meetings and dinner before the grand opening on Sunday. It's pretty exciting. I am looking forward to giving a few awards on Sunday night and hearing Charlie Rose and Vint Cerf. Cool. I am especially excited to launch the SLA Innovation Lab, the 23 Things / Learning 2.0 program and our SLA Second Life presence. Loads more (free management, leadership, HR and KM eBooks, weekly book summaries and free database access, etc.) too.
It's fun to be president with GREAT board, staff, volunteers and membership.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:40 AM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2008
A great commencement address
Doug Johnson at the Blue Skunk blog has shared his latest commencement address and I love it. He shares, in 15 minutes, five principles for education and change learned over 30 years as an educator, and these are:
1. Be subversive.
2. Understand and honor the characteristics of today's learners.
3. Do not be content with superficial change.
4. Become a co-learner.
5. Take responsibility.
Not a bad list!
Read the whole thing. It's inspiring.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:34 PM | Comments (2)
Social Technologies Hierarchies
I found this graphic very interesting. The post "The Hierarchy of Social Marketing" from Duct Tape Marketing blog is interesting too.
I like to think that libraries and librraians play an important role in self-actualization processes.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:30 PM | Comments (0)
Nashville Public Library
I visited Nashville Public Library last wek and had a wonderful time. The tour was great. This library does puppets better than any I've ever seen or heard of - theatre, museum, artifacts, posters, books - the works. It was puppet month too.
It was also Country Music Association fest in Nashville the days I was there. Talk about costume dressing! Loads of fun.
Anyway, my laptop died - full blue screen of death stuff - just five minutes before my speech in front of a large audience. Arrghhh. Luckily there was another similar PPT on my thumb drive so I only started a minute or two late. (And Kathryn in the SirsiDynix IT group recovered my hard drive in record speed - wow. She's a goddess.)
Anyway, here are the slides I would have used. There are a few SLA slides in there too since there were SLA members there as guests at the event.
The Open Door: Libraries in the 21st Century
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:05 PM | Comments (1)
SLA Innovation Laboratory
OK, it's a bit of a soft launch for SLA members. All you need is your member ID and password and SLA members have access to the SLA Innovation Laboratory online. (and if you forget your member ID and password, it's easy to get them here. Of course, you can always join SLA too here.)
Join the SLA Innovation Laboratory and become an SLA Lab Rat!
SLA members should have received the email below June 10. As SLA President, one of my initiatives is to increase the free learning opportunities for SLA members. One of these is the SLA Innovation Lab! A small team of wonderful SLA members and staff have spent months creating a fantastic resource for SLA members. I can't thank them enough.
Announcing
The SLA Innovation Laboratory
a place to explore & learn
Inside you'll find:
The Innovation Homepage
A large Application Suite of free and licensed software
SLA's Twitter Gude
Technology Links
23 Things for SLA (More on ths later)
SLA in Second Life
The SLA Innovation Wiki
Volunteers
SLA Blogs & Wikis
Atomic Learning
The SLA Innovation Laboratory is designed to be a place where you can play, learn, and discover uses for the latest emerging technologies. It's a unique resource exclusively for SLA members to discover, and get comfortable with, new technologies. The Laboratory offers a wide variety of Web 2.0 software learning tools to help you become more business savvy and technologically adept.
The SLA Innovation Lab also provides tools to SLA units (chapters, divisions, committees, councils, caucuses, task forces, etc.) to build and implement useful services for members. The initiative adds deep value to acquiring and retaining SLA membership.
Join us in the Laboratory
SLA has a long tradition of successful education initiatives. Learning opportunities abound, but the SLA Innovation Laboratory differs from traditional continuous learning in that it does not necessarily require a course, conference or event. It is something members -- you -- do for yourself, independently or in small groups. By offering the SLA Innovation Laboratory for members to discover, play, and learn, we have the framework for 24/7 independent learning opportunities. This is an expansion of SLA's learning programs, and is designed for you to invest the time and have fun learning.
So, join us in the laboratory! Enter your SLA userID and password and you're on your way to becoming an Innovation Lab Rat!
We will be formally launching this initiative in Seattle at our annual conference starting ths weekend. Of course there will be dozens of other exciting announcements that heartily increase the value of an SLA membership ($160.00 - a bargain) there too.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 8:04 AM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2008
Faces of SLA Project in Seattle
For those attending the SLA2008 in Seattle.... and I am looking forward to seeing many of you there!
Please come have a professional picture taken to be used in a super cool initiative for SLA's centennial celebration in 2009!
The "Faces of SLA" project will feature pictures of SLA members, attached to quotes from them about how great SLA is...as well testimonials from their employers about how important and critical information professionals are to the success of organizations!
SLA has been collecting pictures of members over the last two years and you won't want to be left out of this important historical project for the association!
YOU are the Face of SLA...and we want to showcase YOU! Come on over to room 309 in the Washington Convention Center next week on Monday 12:30 -3:30, and Tuesday from 1:30- 3:30 and have your picture taken!
I am looking forward to projecting the real faces of special librarianship throughout 2009!
For those members that are not attending SLA2008, there will be another opportunity to participate at the Annual SLA Leadership Summit in January 2009 in Savannah Georgia (Details to come...)
NOTE: We will ask you to sign a release form, these photos will also be used on the Website, in Ads and other promotional materials for the association.
Cool.
Stephen
President 2008, SLA
Posted by stephen at 9:25 PM | Comments (0)
Web Sites for Reporters
The Specialized Information Publishers Association has suggested that these are web sites to add to your ‘Must See’ List for reporters... which has a lot of use for libraries to know where these folks hang out. It's an interesting view into the research world of other information pros.
UCG Editorial Director Lisa Getter suggests these Websites as part of the Internet reference file every reporter should keep:
Social Networks
Search Engines
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=links
Blog Searches
http://www.lawprofessorblogs.com/
Court Records
http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/
http://www.virtualchase.com/video/pacer/pacer.html
http://www.ncsconline.org/D_KIS/info_court_web_sites.html
Sites Every Reporter Should Know
http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp (inmate locator)
http://www.archive.org/index.php (old web site pages)
http://numbrary.com/ (statistics)
http://www.switchboard.com/ (phone numbers)
http://www.info.gov/phone.htm (government phones)
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stats.html
http://www.guidestar.org/ (non-profits)
http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm (SEC info)
http://www.reporter.org/desktop/tips/johndoe.htm (backgrounding guide)
http://www.pipl.com/ (great people finder)
http://indorgs.virginia.edu/portico/home.html (everything you need)
http://www.statelocalgov.net/50states-secretary-state.cfm
http://www.allwhois.com/ (domain lookup)
http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp (domain lookup)
http://publicrecords.netronline.com/ (property records)
http://www.virtualchase.com/ (research site)
E-tools
http://alphabetizer.flap.tv/index.php (alphabetize your lists)
http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl (inflation calculator)
http://www.indo.com/distance/ (distance calculator)
http://www.scribd.com/word/full/1036413?access_key=key-1o0zlyyepyqnp269to1c (social networking and other Web 2.0 sites)
Training Sites
http://www.businessjournalism.org/
http://www.notrain-nogain.org/
http://www.knightnewmediacenter.org/
***
See the original post here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:14 PM | Comments (2)
June 9, 2008
Shanachie Tour
I didn't have time to do a video with the Shanachie guys on their tour that ended at Internet Librarian in Monterey in November. I did get to catch up with them in Jamaica at ACURIL in Montego Bay. Here's part of the video from that event:
Videos from Shanachies: ACURIL 2008 - Stephen Abram interview
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)
Latest SirsiDynix OneSource Article
Part one of my latest column in SirsiDynix OneSource is out today. Here's the provocative title:
So You Say Your Library is Really about Books, so “Who needs anything 2.0?”
Part two will be in the Dec. issue followed by part 3.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:01 PM | Comments (1)
June 7, 2008
Scaffolding the New Social Literacies for K-12
My Multimedia and Internet @ Schools Pipeline Column for the Mar. / Apr. 2008 issue addresses some of the questions around teaching K-12 learners how to handle the social world online.
Scaffolding the New Social Literacies
"OMG – reading literacy and numeracy, civic literacy and all the rest. Now we’re hearing that schools must expand the teaching of information literacy, computer literacy, media literacy, critical literacy, health literacy, technacy and transliteracy. And, do it all across the curricula. Dozens of types of literacy are discussed on websites and Wikipedia. How can we possibly keep up with another one!? Sometimes it seems that getting everyone through the 3 R’s is challenging enough."
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 7:04 PM | Comments (0)
June 5, 2008
Another Gartner Top 10 Disruptors
The Gartner Group have revealed the top 10 technologies that they believe will change the world over the next four years:
1. Multicore and hybrid processors
2. Virtualization and fabric computing
3. Social networks and social software
4. Cloud computing and cloud/Web platforms
5. Web mashups
6. User Interface
7. Ubiquitous computing
8. Contextual computing
9. Augmented reality
10. Semantics
These are the top 10 disruptive technologies before 2012. Are we ready? Have we dealt with the last 10? Are we done with mobile, streaming media, e-content, SaaS, . . .?
Time for another Valium.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 12:17 PM | Comments (2)
Playing the ALA Game
">Win Prizes Playing the Big Game at Annual
ALA (via Jenny Levine) is seeking new and innovative ways to help ALA Anaheim conference attendees connect with friends, friendsters, colleagues, and future friends at the conference. This year ALA is experimenting with a new concept that they hope will also expose librarians to the concept of “big games".
What’s a “big game?
We’re all familiar with games - usually we play boardgames on tables, and more people than ever are playing videogames on screens. Both can be very social experiences, depending on the game and the players, but “big games” force you to interact with your surroundings and usually with other people. These are games that take place out in the physical world, and the everyday objects we take for granted are the playing pieces.
They use city blocks as grids for the playing field, and the game is usually a variant of capture the flag, tag, a scavenger hunt, or hide and seek. They often involve using cell phones to send or receive information, but not always. For examples of big games see Jenny's post on ">Marginalia.
You can learn more about big games there, and especially why they may be a good fit for some libraries, or by listening to Greg Trefry’s talk at the 2007 ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium. In his slides, he notes that libraries are ideal venues for this type of activity because we have things like tools (photocopiers, computers), secret codes (think Dewey Decimal System), a building for the game’s headquarters (sometimes multiple buildings if there are branches), and referees (librarians).
What does this have to do with Annual Conference?
Just as some libraries may want to use big games to interact more with their communities, ALA is experimenting with using a big game to help conference attendees interact more with each other during our biggest deal of the year - Annual Conference. Many of us will be in California next month, and there’s so much history around the state’s books, authors, and popular culture that it seemed like a natural fit to try a big game around that theme.
The style will be an information scavenger hunt, and the game is called California Dreaming. It’s being designed by Come Out & Play Productions, a company that specializes in these types of events. Anyone attending Annual can play for free, and though you could play on your own, you probably want to sign up for a team because the clues will be spread out across the entire convention center campus. Plus, the game will be played over two days (Saturday and Sunday, June 28-29), and you can’t be everywhere at once! You’ll find clues in conference materials, in sessions, on the exhibit floor, and elsewhere. You’ll be looking for questions about the history of California pop culture, and you can bring your answers to the Game HQ in the new Gaming Pavilion on the exhibit floor or you can text them to us.
If you want to sign up to play, you can join one of six teams:
Academic librarians
Library Society of the World
Public librarians
School librarians
Special librarians
Students
There will be some cool prizes (from companies such as The Cartoon Network, Electronic Arts, and Microsoft), so you’ll want to form teams ahead of time in order to hit the ground running when the game begins on Saturday morning (June 28). You can still sign up when things start on Saturday, June 28, but why not get started now? Watch for more information to appear from the California Myth Authority soon!"
Sounds like great fun!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)
Are You Polling Cell Phone Users?
In your user surveys, who did you poll. When you poll your community of neighbours, scholars, studnets, etc., is your sample representative?
It is unlawful in the U.S. to poll people's cel phones without expliicit permission. The peril of this was learned in the early days of the current U.S. primaries and straw polls where years of amazingly accurate polls flew out the window when Millennials, hispanics and blacks started to vote in historically larger numbers in New Hampshire and Iowa.
Our friends at Pew have studied this issue and give us some data to think about.
Polling in the Age of Cell Phones
"Pollsters are wrestling with the issue of how to do telephone surveys in an age where more and more people cannot be reached on traditional landlines. The National Center for Health Statistics has just released new data showing that 14.5% of all American adults live in households with only wireless phones. They have no landlines.
Furthermore, certain segments of the population are even more likely to be "cell only." Some 30.6% of those ages 18-24 and 19.3% of Hispanics are cell only.
The Pew Internet Project has included cell-phone samples in several recent surveys and found notable variance in technology use by those we reach in our surveys who use cell phones and those we reach on landlines. Our colleagues at our polling firm, Princeton Survey Research Associates International, reported on the results of the comparison of different types of sample at the recent conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research."
The paper they presented can be accessed Does Cell Phone Interviewing make a difference?href="http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/Cell_Sampling_AAPOR_May08.pdf"> below.
View PDF (12 pages) of Report here
I suspect that if we're not being careful about our sampling techniques we'll be as surprised as John's, Hillary's, and Barack's advisors.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 11:10 AM | Comments (1)
Library eBook Acquisitions Growing
The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting (May 30, 2008) the following:
Research Libraries Embrace E-Books
"Sixty-nine percent of university research libraries plan to increase spending on e-books over the next two years, according to a recent study published by Primary Research Group Inc. This finding and others were based on a survey of 45 research libraries in countries around the world, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, and Japan."
Also, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL is the Canadian academic research libraries, the Library of Parliament, Library and Archives Canada, and CISTI (Canadian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information) Task Group on eBooks recently published a study entitled E-Books in Research Libraries: Issues of Access and Use.
The report includes:
• A literature review; a useful bibliography
• A review of e-book licenses and comparisons with print;
• An examination of differences between access and use of print books and e-books and impact on scholarship;
• An outline of the issues of access and use of e- books in Research Libraries including recommendations for the CARL Copyright Committee.
The report concludes:
"There is a danger that research libraries are adding e-books to their collections using agreements that significantly reduce users’ rights. There is some urgency to improve this situation before it becomes a de facto standard. The Task Group on E-Books makes two recommendations to the CARL Copyright Committee: to create or endorse a statement of principles for licensing e-books, and to create a model license for Canadian research libraries."
The principles must include, at a minimum:
1. a guarantee of user rights as permitted under Canadian copyright law;
2. no digital rights management, or limited DRM with circumvention permitted to exercise non-infringing user rights under the Act;
3. the governing law must be Canadian;
4. the ability to audit for price comparison (limited confidentiality/nondisclosure clause);
5. detailed user information and analysis to gauge impact on scholarship;
6. removal of content clause; and
7. permanent copy provisions.
Read the full report here.
Canadian Association of Research Libraries
Copyright Committee & Task Group on E-Books
E-Books in Research Libraries: Issues of Access and Use
(17 page PDF)
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:55 AM | Comments (1)
UK Study on Children and Social Networks
An Ofcom study from the UK shows these data:
49% of children 8-17 have an online profile
22% of 16+ have an online profile
On average adults have profiles on 1.6 sites
63% of 8 to 17-year-olds with a profile use Bebo
37% of 8 to 17-year-olds with profile use MySpace
18% of 8 to 17-year-olds with a profile use Facebook
59% of 8 to 17-year-olds use social networks to make new friends
16% of parents do not know if their child's profile is visible to all
33% of parents say they set no rules for their children's use of social networks
43% of children say their parents set no rules for use of social networks
Source: Ofcom
See the report here.
Social Networking: A quantitative and qualitative research report into attitudes, behaviours and use (72 page PDF) April 2008
A BBC analysis is here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:49 AM | Comments (1)
Another Reason for the Third Way
I've been advocating for quite a while that libraries shouold create the third path - the one that rises above the issues of the web ownership, overly broad havests, biased search results and advertising.
This article is interesting:
U.S. Internet will shrink to 2 strong players: Thomson Reuters report
The theory is that the big winners are Google and Amazon. Other players are acquisitions or will fall by the wayside. Players such as Yahoo, eBay, IAC, AOL, Bebo, PayPal, Skype, etc.
The argument is that we are witnessing the end of the beginning.
Interesting. There an opportunity for libraries here. Some the big players in library land such as OCLC, consortia, ARL, ILS companies, publishers, OCA, CC and more could play a big roles here. Or bicker endlessly over the future of cataloguing ...
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 10:38 AM | Comments (1)
San Jose State University Commencement
A few weeks ago I had the distinct honour to address the graduates of the San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science as the commencement speaker - twice (Once in San Jose and once in Fullerton on Saturday and Sunday). We were lucky since it was approaching, 100 degrees F, to have an indoor event. It was fun to see and talk to all of these hundreds of fresh MLS's.
Anyway, they did a video of the event and my commencement address is part of it. (I start at about the 12 minute mark for about 14 minutes.) Here's a link if you're interested (requires RealPlayer):
http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/media/mediaURL.htm#gradSP08&menu_grad
SJSU is the largest library school in the world and has a large number of innovations. I have been lucky to sit on the intenational advisory board for a few years. Hire these folks. They're amazing!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:23 AM
Marketing Public Libraries
Hmmmm. A little more marketing needed. This is from one of my favourite humour blogs, the FAIL blog.
Just case you can't read this chat posting, it says:
"book rental service?
was just thinking. my sister does -alot- of reading, and spends like $1000 a year on just books alone. most of them she reads once then never looks at again. is there any kind of like…video rental store but for books? would make things alot cheaper, plus once one person had read one the next person can get enjoyment from it etc."
Hmmmm.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:16 AM | Comments (3)
Marshall Breeding on Beyond Web 2.0 at the SirsiDynix Institute
You are invited to attend the upcoming SirsiDynix Institute webinar – Friday, May 13 at 11 a.m. EST.
Please follow the link to register for this webinar:
http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com/register.php
June 13, 2008 - 11 a.m. EST
Marshall Breeding, Library Technology Consultant and Author
Beyond Web 2.0: Taking the social read-write Web to the enterprise level
Over the past few years, many libraries have eagerly embraced Web 2.0 technologies. Blogs, wikis and social engagement with patrons have become commonplace. These new approaches to the Web are no longer considered new and cutting edge and the Web is changing at a much faster rate. It's time to consider what comes next in the world of Web technologies.
Breeding will give his thoughts on how libraries can take Web 2.0 technologies to the next level and integrate these technologies into their core automation infrastructure to better support their strategic missions. Up until now, Web 2.0 technologies have been implemented mostly through informal processes. As the Web 2.0-inspired technologies mature, they need to become more central to a library's strategic mission and become integrated into its fundamental infrastructure. Tune in for Marshall Breeding's view of life beyond Web 2.0.
About the Presenter:
Marshall Breeding is library technology officer at Vanderbilt University's Jean and Alexander Heard Library and a leading library technology consultant. He is a prolific author who has written nine books and more than 100 articles on topics including library automation, Internet technology, networking, and library trends. As an accomplished speaker, Breeding has made more than 100 presentations to the library community through professional conferences and technology user group meetings. Online, Breeding maintains Library Technology Guides, a comprehensive resource and content site related to library automation, and lib-web-cats, a directory of libraries throughout the world.
Register today to receive your webinar log in information and to hear Marshall Breeding's presentation Friday, June 13!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 9:04 AM
June 4, 2008
ACURIL in Jamaica
I had a wonderful time presenting to the ACURIL conference in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Here are the PowerPoints.
There were sunny days but it also rained a lot!
Stephen
Posted by stephen at 5:31 PM | Comments (2)