Well I am only about two weeks late in wrapping up but I would like to thank all of you have have both brought us Project Play and participated. When I started the semester I had two main goals in mind. First I thought it would be nice to put the technologies I already knew about into I library context. Second I thought it would be a good way to get to know some of my new coworkers. While there weren't any sudden moments of clarity I think that I did learn a lot about some of the technologies out there and how we can use them. Me chief problem is that whenever I see something new and shiny I want to use it immediately and worry about how and why later.
I think there are a lot of things that we can use in the library setting to maintain the relevance that many people think we are losing. I think libraries are very relevant and are not in danger any time soon. That said, I don't think those that believe we can function as a brick and mortar entity only are correct. There is give and take and we need to take the resources we have and figure out the best ways to utilize them in the near future. We also cannot be afraid to try something new, even if it fails. Sometimes you need to go back to the well a couple of times before it starts to produce water.
I really enjoyed hearing peoples thoughts on various sections and I think that this will create a great jump off point for libraries and the consortium to develop new features for their libraries. I look foreword to working with everyone that is continuing on next semester.
As far as the section that I found the most fascinating that would have to be tagging. I still worry that tagging can lead to a herd mentality but the reality is that the benefits seem to outweigh the risks. I think it would be a great way for patrons to share their interests without exposing their privacy.
Well that is it for now. I hope to "see" you all next semester.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Wikis
I started out this one by checking out Appleton on Wikipedia and seeing that our library link was already there. No surprise since I am running behind.
I have to say that I find Wikipedia interesting in how it is received by the academic world. Pretty much to a person the professors I have had will say do not use Wikipedia. I find this outright dismissal kind of elitist. I have found many well written articles on Wikipedia. There are some really bad ones as well but isn't part of the library science program being able to determine the good from the bad? Keep in mind that I am not suggesting that Wikipedia replaces scholarly journals or should even be used as a primary source but if you are looking for general background or even different points of view Wikipedia can be a good secondary source.
Now on to wikis in general. I had to admit I have not really used any of the wikis until starting at the library. When I did use the wiki I found it pretty straight forward and easy to use. The only thing that I can see as a possible problem is that if you have a large and active group you could lose focus and ending up with people running in all sorts of different directions. This, though can be taken care of by having specific ground rules on how things are going to be done.
The positive is having the ability to communicate asynchronously and still be able to maintain an active working group.
There is one other problem that may or may not ever rear its ugly head. That is the possibility that the host you are using will either switch to a pay scheme or simply go defunct. There is some risk to not having control over the files. The option here would be to move to an open source content management system. You may lose support if things change but you can still maintain and retrieve what you have already done. Some of the better CMS frameworks out there offer many if not all the features found on wikis. The chief drawback here is that you need to have some knowledge to get the sites up and running and to maintain them - though it should be noted that it is not as daunting as it may first appear. I have worked with Drupal and played around with Joomla! and both offer many features freely (for now anyway).
I guess the use and how long you plan to maintain the site would also have an impact on which way to go. Either way you go you have more opportunity for communication and interaction than most people would expect from a free tool.
I have to say that I find Wikipedia interesting in how it is received by the academic world. Pretty much to a person the professors I have had will say do not use Wikipedia. I find this outright dismissal kind of elitist. I have found many well written articles on Wikipedia. There are some really bad ones as well but isn't part of the library science program being able to determine the good from the bad? Keep in mind that I am not suggesting that Wikipedia replaces scholarly journals or should even be used as a primary source but if you are looking for general background or even different points of view Wikipedia can be a good secondary source.
Now on to wikis in general. I had to admit I have not really used any of the wikis until starting at the library. When I did use the wiki I found it pretty straight forward and easy to use. The only thing that I can see as a possible problem is that if you have a large and active group you could lose focus and ending up with people running in all sorts of different directions. This, though can be taken care of by having specific ground rules on how things are going to be done.
The positive is having the ability to communicate asynchronously and still be able to maintain an active working group.
There is one other problem that may or may not ever rear its ugly head. That is the possibility that the host you are using will either switch to a pay scheme or simply go defunct. There is some risk to not having control over the files. The option here would be to move to an open source content management system. You may lose support if things change but you can still maintain and retrieve what you have already done. Some of the better CMS frameworks out there offer many if not all the features found on wikis. The chief drawback here is that you need to have some knowledge to get the sites up and running and to maintain them - though it should be noted that it is not as daunting as it may first appear. I have worked with Drupal and played around with Joomla! and both offer many features freely (for now anyway).
I guess the use and how long you plan to maintain the site would also have an impact on which way to go. Either way you go you have more opportunity for communication and interaction than most people would expect from a free tool.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Tagging and such
When it comes to tagging I am a torn. I like the idea and what it can do but at the same time I think that it can prevent people from discovering new things. More on that later.
First let me start off with the concerns of the information profession with uncontrolled vocabulary. I think that it is simply unrealistic to think that we can have a controlled Internet the way we try to control our libraries information. First off we do not have as much control in the library as we would like. It seems like people are constantly coming up with things that do not fit into the tidy boxes that we would like them to. Keep in mind that this is with collection that are tiny compared with the overwhelming amount of info on the Internet. The other problem is the amount of user generated content, this further removes that control we would like to have.
I think that it would be more realistic to develop a thesaurus that covers most tag terms and then is able to apply the controlled language that goes with it. Some work is being done in this direction by the folks working on semantic web research.
For retrieval of all the user generated content tagging is one of the best tools we have going. When you look at all of the blogging accounts out there and sites such as You-tube they rely on the user to add their own tags to the entries. That and the title are really all they have to go on when it comes to retrieve the queries you enter.
In the library we can use it to draw attention to various collections and even use it as a marketing tool to draw in patrons. The down side is that if you put too much focus on any particular item you run the risk of drawing complaints because you will not have enough copies to meet demand.
Like I mentioned earlier my only worry is that it could prevent some people from expanding their horizons. When tagging is used to create the "More like this" or "if you enjoyed XYZ click here..." This can be a great help to find things that you know you will enjoy but where is the motivation to go out and find something new? Maybe this isn't a problem because you know what you like and all you want to do is find more like it. But when it comes to things like politics I think it is good to look at the other end of the spectrum and challenge yourself to at least consider other view points, this doesn't happen if you are limiting yourself to those who already think the way you do.
The flip side is that there are some really good examples of tagging that can lead you to something new. The best one I can think of now is a site called Pandora.com. This is an online radio station that customizes the play list to the user. You start by entering some of your favorite songs or bands which at as tags to guide the play list. As each song comes up you can give it a thumbs up or down and the further refines your "station." What happens is that the program will throw in new artists from time to time that match the characteristics of the music you have already said you like. I have to say that it works pretty well if you are willing to work with it and I have actually found a couple of new bands this way.
So all that just to come back around and say that tagging can be an incredibly useful tool to us in the library and in the general public but you want to be mindful of how it is used.
First let me start off with the concerns of the information profession with uncontrolled vocabulary. I think that it is simply unrealistic to think that we can have a controlled Internet the way we try to control our libraries information. First off we do not have as much control in the library as we would like. It seems like people are constantly coming up with things that do not fit into the tidy boxes that we would like them to. Keep in mind that this is with collection that are tiny compared with the overwhelming amount of info on the Internet. The other problem is the amount of user generated content, this further removes that control we would like to have.
I think that it would be more realistic to develop a thesaurus that covers most tag terms and then is able to apply the controlled language that goes with it. Some work is being done in this direction by the folks working on semantic web research.
For retrieval of all the user generated content tagging is one of the best tools we have going. When you look at all of the blogging accounts out there and sites such as You-tube they rely on the user to add their own tags to the entries. That and the title are really all they have to go on when it comes to retrieve the queries you enter.
In the library we can use it to draw attention to various collections and even use it as a marketing tool to draw in patrons. The down side is that if you put too much focus on any particular item you run the risk of drawing complaints because you will not have enough copies to meet demand.
Like I mentioned earlier my only worry is that it could prevent some people from expanding their horizons. When tagging is used to create the "More like this" or "if you enjoyed XYZ click here..." This can be a great help to find things that you know you will enjoy but where is the motivation to go out and find something new? Maybe this isn't a problem because you know what you like and all you want to do is find more like it. But when it comes to things like politics I think it is good to look at the other end of the spectrum and challenge yourself to at least consider other view points, this doesn't happen if you are limiting yourself to those who already think the way you do.
The flip side is that there are some really good examples of tagging that can lead you to something new. The best one I can think of now is a site called Pandora.com. This is an online radio station that customizes the play list to the user. You start by entering some of your favorite songs or bands which at as tags to guide the play list. As each song comes up you can give it a thumbs up or down and the further refines your "station." What happens is that the program will throw in new artists from time to time that match the characteristics of the music you have already said you like. I have to say that it works pretty well if you are willing to work with it and I have actually found a couple of new bands this way.
So all that just to come back around and say that tagging can be an incredibly useful tool to us in the library and in the general public but you want to be mindful of how it is used.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Library Thing
I like the concept of Library Thing as a community building tool. I could see it being used for book clubs and even for library patrons to recommend books to other patrons. That said, as a beta product it still has a way to go.
Was anyone else annoyed that they had to keep redoing an author search to add multiple books by the same author. I can't speak for anyone else but when I happen upon an author that a like I usually end up steaming through their entire works. What Library Thing needs there is radio buttons that allow you to go down and select multiple items from a list. I know it is a picky point but one that slowed things down quite a lot versus who quickly I could have added items.
The other part that needed work was the suggest a book section. It was clear that the search was not very deep. When I did a search for I, Robot I got more books by Asimov and books with the word robot in the title. I imagine this may improve as the tags are added by users but again it is something that will need to be fleshed out to really take Library Thing to the next level.
Was anyone else annoyed that they had to keep redoing an author search to add multiple books by the same author. I can't speak for anyone else but when I happen upon an author that a like I usually end up steaming through their entire works. What Library Thing needs there is radio buttons that allow you to go down and select multiple items from a list. I know it is a picky point but one that slowed things down quite a lot versus who quickly I could have added items.
The other part that needed work was the suggest a book section. It was clear that the search was not very deep. When I did a search for I, Robot I got more books by Asimov and books with the word robot in the title. I imagine this may improve as the tags are added by users but again it is something that will need to be fleshed out to really take Library Thing to the next level.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Flickr
"Digital cameras have changed how we take and store our photos."
Truer words were never spoken. Up until my oldest daughter turned 3 or so we shot through rolls and rolls of film. For a while I think that we kept Fuji and Ilford in business. Of course as a first time parent of the cutest child ever born we felt the overwhelming need to document every single move she made. Hell, we probably have a pic of her first dookie somewhere.
Then came digital, more importantly, high quality digital. The pictures are easier to shoot, do not need to be developed and can be stored on your computer. They can be altered with software. More importantly they could be organized and easily retrieved. They can be copied and emailed. Now here we have Flickr and other sites like it. We can now easily share every photo we take, with the world if we want (provided that they want to see it).
Okay, wait; we are supposed to be talking about libraries here I think. So what can Flickr and the like to for us in the library? Well, the easy answer is that they can host our pictures. The fact is that photos take space on our servers and use up bandwidth as they are transferred to the viewers computers. So why not allow someone else to share the burden.
More important than taking away from the hosting load I think that the ease of use on these sites allows novice users to do what it would have taken someone experienced in web design hours to do. This allows you to save that expertise for more important projects yet always you to develop that all important bound with your patrons and the community.
So to spin it back to my kids I have thrown up some pics for all of you to view and adore. You will notice I do not appear in any of the pictures (this way you can all keep your appetites). My wife does not appear in any of the pictures because she is usually taking them. So above is one to start things off and the link to the rest. Click here to see all the pics.
Truer words were never spoken. Up until my oldest daughter turned 3 or so we shot through rolls and rolls of film. For a while I think that we kept Fuji and Ilford in business. Of course as a first time parent of the cutest child ever born we felt the overwhelming need to document every single move she made. Hell, we probably have a pic of her first dookie somewhere.
Then came digital, more importantly, high quality digital. The pictures are easier to shoot, do not need to be developed and can be stored on your computer. They can be altered with software. More importantly they could be organized and easily retrieved. They can be copied and emailed. Now here we have Flickr and other sites like it. We can now easily share every photo we take, with the world if we want (provided that they want to see it).
Okay, wait; we are supposed to be talking about libraries here I think. So what can Flickr and the like to for us in the library? Well, the easy answer is that they can host our pictures. The fact is that photos take space on our servers and use up bandwidth as they are transferred to the viewers computers. So why not allow someone else to share the burden.
More important than taking away from the hosting load I think that the ease of use on these sites allows novice users to do what it would have taken someone experienced in web design hours to do. This allows you to save that expertise for more important projects yet always you to develop that all important bound with your patrons and the community.
So to spin it back to my kids I have thrown up some pics for all of you to view and adore. You will notice I do not appear in any of the pictures (this way you can all keep your appetites). My wife does not appear in any of the pictures because she is usually taking them. So above is one to start things off and the link to the rest. Click here to see all the pics.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Good day to all who read this.
I have fallen a bit behind and as a result this posting takes place after WLA, so I will start there.
This was my first WLA meeting and as a library newbie I found a lot to catch my interest. Most everyone was very nice and welcoming though I still felt a little like a fish out of water. I especially enjoyed the seminars on training. In my pre-library life I spent about ten years training in various forms and positions so much of what was being talked about was a rehash of what I had already done with a library spin on it. The seminar on Training 2.0 did give me some very good ideas that I am hoping to implement in the coming months, so stay tuned ...
Okay, lets get back on topic now. In regard to surveys I have always felt they are useful for catching the things you missed. What I mean is that we all have a pretty good idea at the things that we excel in and the things we need work on but surveys can sometimes pick up specifics that get lost in the big picture. Those little things are obviously important to someone and the nice thing is that many of those "little" things are easy to implement. I do not need to pass it through three committees to implement greet patrons when they come through the gate I can just suggest to the staff that it is something we may want the work on.
I am speaking mainly of open ended questions in surveys because I have found that these really give me a chance to see what people are thinking and feeling. Sometimes you get someone that will take a survey as their turn on the soap box but even in these cases there is usually something that you can pull out to reflect on.
With online surveys you get two things. One, the person completing the survey has some level of anonymity so they are more likely to speak their minds (this could be good or bad). They are typically not rushed for time and they are not obligated to do it, so you can assume they are completing your survey because they care and have something to say. The second benefit is that because they are typically doing this in their home there is time for them to simmer down if they recently had a less than positive experience in the library. You may still get a negative review of your work but it should be more on topic than your typical angry rant.
So that is it for now. I'll type to you later.
I have fallen a bit behind and as a result this posting takes place after WLA, so I will start there.
This was my first WLA meeting and as a library newbie I found a lot to catch my interest. Most everyone was very nice and welcoming though I still felt a little like a fish out of water. I especially enjoyed the seminars on training. In my pre-library life I spent about ten years training in various forms and positions so much of what was being talked about was a rehash of what I had already done with a library spin on it. The seminar on Training 2.0 did give me some very good ideas that I am hoping to implement in the coming months, so stay tuned ...
Okay, lets get back on topic now. In regard to surveys I have always felt they are useful for catching the things you missed. What I mean is that we all have a pretty good idea at the things that we excel in and the things we need work on but surveys can sometimes pick up specifics that get lost in the big picture. Those little things are obviously important to someone and the nice thing is that many of those "little" things are easy to implement. I do not need to pass it through three committees to implement greet patrons when they come through the gate I can just suggest to the staff that it is something we may want the work on.
I am speaking mainly of open ended questions in surveys because I have found that these really give me a chance to see what people are thinking and feeling. Sometimes you get someone that will take a survey as their turn on the soap box but even in these cases there is usually something that you can pull out to reflect on.
With online surveys you get two things. One, the person completing the survey has some level of anonymity so they are more likely to speak their minds (this could be good or bad). They are typically not rushed for time and they are not obligated to do it, so you can assume they are completing your survey because they care and have something to say. The second benefit is that because they are typically doing this in their home there is time for them to simmer down if they recently had a less than positive experience in the library. You may still get a negative review of your work but it should be more on topic than your typical angry rant.
So that is it for now. I'll type to you later.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Okay, last things first. Do these pet tote people not realize that what they are doing flies in the face of everything good in the world? There is a reason why God and/or evolution or both gave dogs four legs - so they could walk on their own.I don't find this cute it is disturbing.
Okay, end of rant. I feel better now.
Now to get back on topic. You had asked on the PP wiki how we can use RSS in our personal lives. For one it gives us one stop shopping to all the things we may be interested in - and what kind of American doesn't like that idea.
In the case if other blogs I can see when something new is posted without having to pop in everyday. Even on news sites I can see immediately when new stories go up.
The draw back is that you have to worry about information overload. Even with ten feeds coming in there is a lot to digest. Thinking of sites like Slashdot it can be hard just to keep up with one site much less ten of them.
Last and probably least is the url to my Bloglines http://www.bloglines.com/public/bkopetsky
Monday, September 24, 2007
First Post
So alrighty than, here is my first post as a blogger. My wife used to blog all the time but I guess I never had much to say I figured anyone else would want to read. I know with this opening you will all be tuned in each week to see what comes next.
I did notice the life hacker extra at the bottom of this weeks information and I figured I could share my experience with a similar site called 43folders.com Maybe you have heard of it maybe you haven't but it is similar to life hacker but focuses on both tech and personal organization.
If you you are looking for a little life guidance you can also check out 43things.com (sorry its a 43 theme today). This is a social networking site (which I am sure we will learn much more about later) that lists peoples goals for the week, the month, the year and their lives. The site uses a techniques called links clouds which increases the font based on the number of people who have similar goals. As I look on the site today (9-22) it appears many of the users are hoping to get hitched this year. Anyway it is kind of like a shared New Year's resolution list, except that is posted so it constantly hangs over your head and anyone in the worked can see it, anytime. Okay, so maybe it is a bit different than a New Year's resolution but you get the idea.
Okay I am going to sign off now before anyone starts looking for a tall building to throw themselves from.
I did notice the life hacker extra at the bottom of this weeks information and I figured I could share my experience with a similar site called 43folders.com Maybe you have heard of it maybe you haven't but it is similar to life hacker but focuses on both tech and personal organization.
If you you are looking for a little life guidance you can also check out 43things.com (sorry its a 43 theme today). This is a social networking site (which I am sure we will learn much more about later) that lists peoples goals for the week, the month, the year and their lives. The site uses a techniques called links clouds which increases the font based on the number of people who have similar goals. As I look on the site today (9-22) it appears many of the users are hoping to get hitched this year. Anyway it is kind of like a shared New Year's resolution list, except that is posted so it constantly hangs over your head and anyone in the worked can see it, anytime. Okay, so maybe it is a bit different than a New Year's resolution but you get the idea.
Okay I am going to sign off now before anyone starts looking for a tall building to throw themselves from.
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