1) I was drawn to the Frekfly mashup (http://www.frekfly.com/) - perhaps because MLA is coming up. This is really practical and easy to use. You enter your departure and destination points and it pulls up maps for each city, weather information, and additional information about the destination including hotels and local currency.This site was a good illustration for me personally of what a good mashups can do -- quickly bring together useful information from disparate sites in a clean, easy to use display.
2) Privacy on librarian blog. I'm proud to be a member of a profession that still respects and guards privacy in an age in which it is so often threatened. It's interesting to read the diversity of postings on privacy issues: technological, political, social, etc. I didn't notice any postings in this search result regarding privacy of medical records, but I think that is, will, and should be a big issue of interest to medical librarians.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
week 7: online hosted video
When YouTube first came out I thought - there's a way to waste a lot of time! It's also the premier tool for everyone to get their "fifteen minutes of fame". I still think that, but have also found uses for it beyond sharing jokes and such (much as I love a good laugh). For example, the sharing of Prof. Randy Rausch's "last lecture" from Carnegie Mellon has been a cultural phenomenon - in a very positive way. Some of the educational videos I've seen are very good. It's a wonderful way to share visual arts. Michael Wesch's work in "digital anthropology" is extremely interesting.
At our library we are hoping to begin putting up videos or podcasts of some of the speakers we host at special events. In this way, we hope to broaden the audience beyond those who can attend in person. We may experiment with some for instruction, though I am skeptical as to whether students would bother to watch them. I am willing to be proven wrong on this!
At our library we are hoping to begin putting up videos or podcasts of some of the speakers we host at special events. In this way, we hope to broaden the audience beyond those who can attend in person. We may experiment with some for instruction, though I am skeptical as to whether students would bother to watch them. I am willing to be proven wrong on this!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
week 6: Online Photo Sharing
I can see how online photosharing would be personally fun and useful so you don't have to clog friends' email with attachments.
Our library has a flickr account. We put up photos from special events we host. We also put up some of the unique and clever posters that one of our librarians creates, and some of our local ALA-style "READ" posters. This is all more for PR than practical use, and I wonder if most of the viewers and people who leave comments are not our patrons, but rather other librarians elsewhere.
Our Archives is putting up historical photos - useful for researchers. Also, they plan to put up unidentified photos and ask our alums to help identify them. It will be interesting to see how much they get used for real research. I think having the LOC pictures online is a wonderful resource. As the saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words"!
Our library has a flickr account. We put up photos from special events we host. We also put up some of the unique and clever posters that one of our librarians creates, and some of our local ALA-style "READ" posters. This is all more for PR than practical use, and I wonder if most of the viewers and people who leave comments are not our patrons, but rather other librarians elsewhere.
Our Archives is putting up historical photos - useful for researchers. Also, they plan to put up unidentified photos and ask our alums to help identify them. It will be interesting to see how much they get used for real research. I think having the LOC pictures online is a wonderful resource. As the saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words"!
Monday, April 7, 2008
week 5: web office tools
Q. Is this the future of all software products?
I hadn't tried these before this class. I was impressed by their ease of use, and ease to share. I can definitely see advantages in having, for example, a conference presentation you want to share widely available in this format. However...
I was surprised to not see mention of privacy/confidentiality concerns mentioned in any of the software reviews I read. I just don't trust those boilerplate "your privacy assured" statements from any free online web service. Even when intent is good, the technology for maintaining privacy over the web has been known to fail abysmally.
Zoho has a new Human Resources function. Imagine having employee records including payroll and performance reviews potentially exposed. Not to mention proprietary information companies would want to protect, and of course patient information.
So do I think this is the future? Probably yes. Do I think it's a good idea? Not in many instances where a business or institution would want more assurance of sole ownership, access and privacy for its records.
I hadn't tried these before this class. I was impressed by their ease of use, and ease to share. I can definitely see advantages in having, for example, a conference presentation you want to share widely available in this format. However...
I was surprised to not see mention of privacy/confidentiality concerns mentioned in any of the software reviews I read. I just don't trust those boilerplate "your privacy assured" statements from any free online web service. Even when intent is good, the technology for maintaining privacy over the web has been known to fail abysmally.
Zoho has a new Human Resources function. Imagine having employee records including payroll and performance reviews potentially exposed. Not to mention proprietary information companies would want to protect, and of course patient information.
So do I think this is the future? Probably yes. Do I think it's a good idea? Not in many instances where a business or institution would want more assurance of sole ownership, access and privacy for its records.
week 4: social bookmarking
I knew about del.icio.us, but hadn't really thought about it much for library applications. I can definitely see it being handy for having bookmarks available from anywhere. I was intrigued by some of the readings that gave examples of more sophisticated uses for library settings. I'm especially interested in learning more about "bundles". Our library has a del.icio.us account set up by one of the librarians, but it's just a random list without annotations, and no bundling. I think that making use of those features, in addition to the tags, could make a really useful guide. Or perhaps we could use our del.icio.us account to store websites before we vet them for our existing research guides. This definitely is worth exploring more.
Of course the biggest problem with the tags, as noted by others, is the lack of any controlled vocabulary or authority control even for basic spelling and synonyms. This could lead to a "tower of babel" and limit retrievability as the number of links grows. I think it would be good in a library setting to try to develop some simple rules for tagging so it doesn't get entirely random.
Of course the biggest problem with the tags, as noted by others, is the lack of any controlled vocabulary or authority control even for basic spelling and synonyms. This could lead to a "tower of babel" and limit retrievability as the number of links grows. I think it would be good in a library setting to try to develop some simple rules for tagging so it doesn't get entirely random.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Week 3 Exercise: Social Networking Tools
How can social networking be used by MLA to connect members?
I've been on LinkedIn for awhile, and it's not amazing, but I have had some contacts with colleagues from institutions at which I used to work. I think it remains to be seen how useful this will be in the future. I cannot picture it replacing MEDLIB-L as a form of connection for medical librarians. I think the issue is having to check multiple sites. Short term use of blogs for special topical discussions might be of some interest. I personally like the "one-stop-shopping" of having things come to my e-mail. To have to check in at various social networking sites is likely to be forgotten or neglected in my busy life.
Should your library have a Facebook or MySpace page?
Our library does have a Facebook page. It's mostly used/maintained by our youngest (20-something) librarian. Even she thinks using library Facebook sites to "friend" potential users seems a bit like stalking. Lots of our students do use it, but do they really want librarians "poking" them? It think they go online to get away from education-related
Are there privacy concerns for individuals when using social networking sites.
Yes, I think there really are if you aren't careful. Identity theft does occur with information like birthdates, etc. Just today there was another news item about Facebook failing to protect supposedly private images on their site. It's amazing to me the trust people put in an online commercial enterprise in allowing it to have and store their personal information. And some things are just annoying. My spam has increased since joining the sites suggested in this course. A colleague who frequents these sites has had several computer virus problems this year. I do think professional information can be distinguished from personal information, though, and can see these sites having utility if used with care and common sense.
What did you like or not like about your experience with Facebook or MySpace.
I don't really see them being more useful to me than other tools I use now. I don't need to go to Facebook to use library catalogs and databases. And they don't really appeal to me personally as a form of recreation. I'm fine with using email and the telephone to keep up with friends. LinkedIn might have some potential for professional networking - remains to be seen.
I've been on LinkedIn for awhile, and it's not amazing, but I have had some contacts with colleagues from institutions at which I used to work. I think it remains to be seen how useful this will be in the future. I cannot picture it replacing MEDLIB-L as a form of connection for medical librarians. I think the issue is having to check multiple sites. Short term use of blogs for special topical discussions might be of some interest. I personally like the "one-stop-shopping" of having things come to my e-mail. To have to check in at various social networking sites is likely to be forgotten or neglected in my busy life.
Should your library have a Facebook or MySpace page?
Our library does have a Facebook page. It's mostly used/maintained by our youngest (20-something) librarian. Even she thinks using library Facebook sites to "friend" potential users seems a bit like stalking. Lots of our students do use it, but do they really want librarians "poking" them? It think they go online to get away from education-related
Are there privacy concerns for individuals when using social networking sites.
Yes, I think there really are if you aren't careful. Identity theft does occur with information like birthdates, etc. Just today there was another news item about Facebook failing to protect supposedly private images on their site. It's amazing to me the trust people put in an online commercial enterprise in allowing it to have and store their personal information. And some things are just annoying. My spam has increased since joining the sites suggested in this course. A colleague who frequents these sites has had several computer virus problems this year. I do think professional information can be distinguished from personal information, though, and can see these sites having utility if used with care and common sense.
What did you like or not like about your experience with Facebook or MySpace.
I don't really see them being more useful to me than other tools I use now. I don't need to go to Facebook to use library catalogs and databases. And they don't really appeal to me personally as a form of recreation. I'm fine with using email and the telephone to keep up with friends. LinkedIn might have some potential for professional networking - remains to be seen.
Week 2 Exercise: Wiki v. Blog
What is the difference between a blog and a wiki? Which is better suited for what?
A blog seems to me best suited to a running but somewhat ephemeral dialog. Yes, you can view older postings, but blogs seem best at highlighting whatever was recently posted. Older postings drop from ready view (although I have sometimes found needed info by searching a blog). It is good for announcements and information sharing. We have an internal blog at our library, and it's a great communication tool -- it gets a lot of information that needs to be shared widely out of individual e-mail boxes. And because everyone at all levels of staff can view the blog, no one accidently is left out of a communication because someone forgot to include them on an email.
A wiki seems to lend itself to a more organized way of presenting large amounts of information you would want to have ready access to, and use, later. We have started using wikis to develop research guides at our library. A blessing and a curse is the collaborative aspect. It's easy for more than one person to contribute to a wiki, but that can also cause trouble. For example, one minute after I posted my own contribution to the Web 2.0 course wiki, someone else went in and deleted it!
A blog seems to me best suited to a running but somewhat ephemeral dialog. Yes, you can view older postings, but blogs seem best at highlighting whatever was recently posted. Older postings drop from ready view (although I have sometimes found needed info by searching a blog). It is good for announcements and information sharing. We have an internal blog at our library, and it's a great communication tool -- it gets a lot of information that needs to be shared widely out of individual e-mail boxes. And because everyone at all levels of staff can view the blog, no one accidently is left out of a communication because someone forgot to include them on an email.
A wiki seems to lend itself to a more organized way of presenting large amounts of information you would want to have ready access to, and use, later. We have started using wikis to develop research guides at our library. A blessing and a curse is the collaborative aspect. It's easy for more than one person to contribute to a wiki, but that can also cause trouble. For example, one minute after I posted my own contribution to the Web 2.0 course wiki, someone else went in and deleted it!
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