I love Wikipedia and use it all the time. That's not to say that it doesn't need to be used with a good deal of care. It is to say that for a lot of routine information it is a useful, reliable, and (most important) massively comprehensive resource.
Other wikis I've seen also have their uses, even library wikis. For instance, I could easily see the Howard County Library and the Howard County Historical Society collaborating on a wiki that focuses on the history of Howard County.
However, there is a catch.
Anybody who sets up a wiki has to look beyond how cool the end product can be and take a cold hard look at how much work is involved in creating and maintaining a wiki.
A good rule of thumb is to set up wikis when you're going to have to do the work anyway. For instance most libraries need a staff procedures manual. Since you need this anyway a wiki is a good way to create it. Once created, it is also much easier to update and disseminate than a paper manual could ever hope to be.
Another catch, though. Make sure you always keep and disseminate a paper based manual that will tell you what to do when the computers go down.
Friday, November 2, 2007
#15 Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0...
I read Away from the “icebergs” and Into a new world of librarianship and took a quick glance at the others.
They're all about what Web 2.0 is, what this new iteration of the web will mean and how librarians need to adapt to the changes we see around us.
As far as it goes, this is all very good. The catch is that we are now in the very early stages of what will probably be the wildest professional roller coaster ride of our lifetimes.
Each of the writings in this group of writings tries to nudge in the "right" direction. The observations they make and the advice they give are useful. The catch is that none of us knows our ultimate destination - including the writers of these articles, You cannot really know "the way" unless you know where you are planning to go. Still, you've got to start somewhere and these articles are helpful as far as they go.
The web, including Web 2.0 is a profoundly transformative technology. It's up there with the invention of printing and the development of the steam engine. Can you imagine that, when people were tinkering with the earliest steam engines back in the 18th Century, they had any way of imagining a civilization run by electricity that is generated by steam turbines?
They hadn't a clue - and neither do we.
Transformative technologies create new industries and institutions. They also destroy old ones. Will libraries as we know them survive what's coming? Not a chance. Will libraries, vastly changed by the new technologies, survive at all? Interesting question.
They're all about what Web 2.0 is, what this new iteration of the web will mean and how librarians need to adapt to the changes we see around us.
As far as it goes, this is all very good. The catch is that we are now in the very early stages of what will probably be the wildest professional roller coaster ride of our lifetimes.
Each of the writings in this group of writings tries to nudge in the "right" direction. The observations they make and the advice they give are useful. The catch is that none of us knows our ultimate destination - including the writers of these articles, You cannot really know "the way" unless you know where you are planning to go. Still, you've got to start somewhere and these articles are helpful as far as they go.
The web, including Web 2.0 is a profoundly transformative technology. It's up there with the invention of printing and the development of the steam engine. Can you imagine that, when people were tinkering with the earliest steam engines back in the 18th Century, they had any way of imagining a civilization run by electricity that is generated by steam turbines?
They hadn't a clue - and neither do we.
Transformative technologies create new industries and institutions. They also destroy old ones. Will libraries as we know them survive what's coming? Not a chance. Will libraries, vastly changed by the new technologies, survive at all? Interesting question.
#14 Discover Technorati
I started my search for Learning 2.0 with the typical boneheaded Google approach. I put Learning 2.0 in the search window. Bad idea. I got well over 5,000 hits. Though a scattering of them were on target I pulled up more junk than I wanted.
Then I put Learning 2.0 in quotations marks. The results were much better - only 400 plus hits - and many of them mentioned (and even linked to) Learning 2.0. Finally I added the word "Maryland." My results here were actually too narrowly focused, since I only located a few blogs that contained links to Learning 2.0.
I then went into the Advanced Search mode and put Learning 2.0 into the Tag Search Box. I got about 625 hits. I did pick up a fair amount of junk. On the other hand, I also picked up a bunch of videos which (I am sure) I would never have located without tags.
A Blog Directory search raised the number of hits to nearly 750, though the quality of the hits was erratic.
When I went on to look at the Top Favorited Blogs, it was interesting to note that intellectual navel contemplating seemed to be a common thread running through them. Most seemed to address the interests of techno dweebs.
Looking at Top Searches, I found that few of them interested me. That's not surprising, actually. The whole thrust of the web is to satisfy the interests and needs of countless millions of people niche audience by niche audience. So a top search can be a top search without needing the ratings of a top network television show.
As for Top Blogs, some are favorites of mine and have been for a long time. Most I've never heard of.
Then I put Learning 2.0 in quotations marks. The results were much better - only 400 plus hits - and many of them mentioned (and even linked to) Learning 2.0. Finally I added the word "Maryland." My results here were actually too narrowly focused, since I only located a few blogs that contained links to Learning 2.0.
I then went into the Advanced Search mode and put Learning 2.0 into the Tag Search Box. I got about 625 hits. I did pick up a fair amount of junk. On the other hand, I also picked up a bunch of videos which (I am sure) I would never have located without tags.
A Blog Directory search raised the number of hits to nearly 750, though the quality of the hits was erratic.
When I went on to look at the Top Favorited Blogs, it was interesting to note that intellectual navel contemplating seemed to be a common thread running through them. Most seemed to address the interests of techno dweebs.
Looking at Top Searches, I found that few of them interested me. That's not surprising, actually. The whole thrust of the web is to satisfy the interests and needs of countless millions of people niche audience by niche audience. So a top search can be a top search without needing the ratings of a top network television show.
As for Top Blogs, some are favorites of mine and have been for a long time. Most I've never heard of.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
#13 del.icio.us
I started to set up an account with this tool but (breaking the rules) I did this exercise from home and wanted to go through the button setup phase on my work machine rather than my home machine. Some of these programs only let you do a setup in one place. So it is best to do the setup in the place where it will be most needed.
Anyway, this is a tool that I SERIOUSLY LIKE.
Is this why:
"Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere?"
To a point, you bet! Having all your bookmarks at your fingertips is a little bit more than "just an easy way...." For instance, this tool gives you an easy way to get a new computer without risking the loss of all your bookmarks in the process of switching machines.
More important from the Howard County Library standpoint, each information desk in the system has a collection of bookmarks - relatively few of which are shared. Not only are they not shared from branch to branch. It can be iffy that they will even be shared by information desk machines that sit two feet away from each other. del.icio.us gives us a WONDERFUL way of making sure that all the nifty stuff a branch manager (or other august personage) wants his/her staff to have at their fingertips will actually be at their fingertips.
Anyway, this is a tool that I SERIOUSLY LIKE.
Is this why:
"Or just as an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere?"
To a point, you bet! Having all your bookmarks at your fingertips is a little bit more than "just an easy way...." For instance, this tool gives you an easy way to get a new computer without risking the loss of all your bookmarks in the process of switching machines.
More important from the Howard County Library standpoint, each information desk in the system has a collection of bookmarks - relatively few of which are shared. Not only are they not shared from branch to branch. It can be iffy that they will even be shared by information desk machines that sit two feet away from each other. del.icio.us gives us a WONDERFUL way of making sure that all the nifty stuff a branch manager (or other august personage) wants his/her staff to have at their fingertips will actually be at their fingertips.
#12 - Rollyo
While I have known for years that institutions could make use of commercial search engines to search their own web sites, this one was a new one for me.
It should be extremely useful. At work, I can use it (in some cases) to group vendors together and search their products. At home, I can search a group of my favorite cabinetry sites all at the same time. This is the Rollyo search roll I created. It's called Wood Finishes Tools and is located at:
http://rollyo.com/mchughj/wood_finishes_tools/
It should be extremely useful. At work, I can use it (in some cases) to group vendors together and search their products. At home, I can search a group of my favorite cabinetry sites all at the same time. This is the Rollyo search roll I created. It's called Wood Finishes Tools and is located at:
http://rollyo.com/mchughj/wood_finishes_tools/
#11 Library Thing
I learned about the Library Thing this past spring. It's got it's uses. In particular I'd love to be able to see library users supplement our LC Subject Headings in the online catalog with tags. Hopefully, when Koha comes up they will be able to do this - eventually, if not immediately.
Anyway, I set up a Library Thing account and stuck the first five books I could think of into it, adding a bunch of tags for each. Here is the URL:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/mchughj
Anyway, I set up a Library Thing account and stuck the first five books I could think of into it, adding a bunch of tags for each. Here is the URL:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/mchughj
#10 - Image Generators
This was a new one on me. The only thing that puzzles me about it is why our employers ever let us see these things. Don't they ever want to get any work out of us?
Anyway, I played with the magazine cover image generator at http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/magazine.php. What I generated was a magazine with myself and my wife Linda on the cover. It was taken at Evening in the Stacks - just last winter, I believe.
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