I really enjoy podcasting and the many varied ways it can be used. I enjoy listening to them in my spare time, and they're also a great tool for libraries to use. The fact that they're so transportable really helps, because so long as you have a computer, an MP3 player, a smartphone or a tablet, you can access podcasts. iTunes carries a wide variety, many of which are free. One link that they have is to TEDtalks. TED, which stands for "Technology, Entertainment, Design", is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Sharing. It started out as a conference to bring together those three worlds mentioned, but it has grown to include a much wider scope. They have two annual conferences, and they post all of the videos of the speakers on the site. TEDtalks allows users to subscribe to the audio casts of the conferences for free. It's a wonderful way of disseminating fascinating information from well-known and innovative speakers.
Subscribing to a podcast like that in a high school library would be beneficial to the students. It would allow them access to current and innovative information, and since they're our future, they should have this type of information at their fingertips. It could inspire them as to what direction they want to take in life, as well as helping them with school assignments and projects. Creating podcasts would be a great tool for them as well, teaching them how to create and broadcast. For younger students it would also teach them research skills, writing and speaking skills.
Academic libraries use podcasting to allow their students and other interested persons access to lectures given. This is extremely helpful, especially if a student has missed a few classes and they need to catch up. It's also great for revision, because the student can download the lecture and review it as many times as they need to, revising their notes as they go. Which would be really helpful when exams came around. The academic library can also use podcasting as a way of disseminating information about the library itself. For example, Cornell University has "Libecast" which features "audio and video recordings about Cornell University Library and its exhibitions, events, lectures and services, offering the world a glimpse of life inside one of the nation’s best research libraries." The library also has the Oral History Project, which is a collection of oral history recordings contributed by their alumni and friends.
So not only are podcasts great for learning, but they're a wonderful tool for preserving history. If a student is doing a project on WWII and they could access podcasts of interviews with veterans, they would have a much more visceral experience as opposed to just reading about their experiences. And I think the more tangible information is, the better it can be used when teaching and informing others.
It's also a rather simple technology for a library to implement. Most of the equipment needed for basic podcasting can be downloaded for free. All that would need to be bought would be a microphone and headphones. Audacity is a recording program that is free for download, and it allows users to record and edit their recordings. I've used it myself and it's pretty easy to use. I haven't used it to record any podcasts, but that was the intent when I downloaded it. Another great site that podcasts is Revolution Radio, a fan site which posts podcasts of members reading high quality Chronicles of Narnia fanfiction. Their podcasts can also be found on iTunes, and on their RSS feed, which I have added at the side. They are always looking for staff to read the stories, and some of the staff they already have are amazing.
Which is more than I can say for some of the podcasts I had to listen to for this blog. From our selection I listened to Clayton Public Library- The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, Los Angeles Public Library- Author Interview with Children's Book Author John Scieszka, and Duggan Library Instructional Podcasts- Book Reviews.
I didn't care for The Raven podcast: the speaker spoke far too quickly and had a rather monotone voice. I found it unsuitable for such a poem, especially when I could easily hear a preferred pace and diction in my own mind. The overall volume of the podcast was far too low as well, I had to turn my volume up rather high to hear it properly.
The interview with John Scieszka however was very well done. I thought it was a good interview: the volume was perfect, the speakers had clear voices and used a moderate pace. My only con for this podcast was the length. I found it a bit long, and just sitting there listening to it, my attention started to wander. But that could be just because I don't know who the author is, and I haven't read his books. I'm sure if it was one of my favourite authors, then I would definitely listen with rapt attention all the way through.
Finally, the Duggan Library. I found the volume and pace of this podcast to be good, but the speaker's voice was somewhat annoying. It seemed a little raspy and I found that slightly distracting. But other than that, the content itself was great and very helpful.
Overall, I think podcasting, both in general use and for library use, is a wonderful tool that can be used in a variety of creative ways. You don't need a whole lot of expensive equipment to make it work. Just a little technology know-how and some spare time. And of course, creativity. That's really the key, because nobody wants to listen to a boring podcast when they are better things they could be doing with their time.
So get out there and let your voice be heard! Anybody and everybody can do it, and they can have fun doing it! With that in mind, I'm off to play with Audacity and maybe submit an application to Revolution Radio as a reader. Cheers!
Friday, 2 December 2011
Friday, 18 November 2011
Don't Be Anti-Social Media
Social media is an ever growing facet of the technological age, and libraries are not immune to it. But that doesn't mean they have to jump on board with everything that is presented to them, or even that it's a good idea to use certain sites.
Rochelle Mazar makes a good point in her article "Libraries and Social Media", that, just because you might implement a social media tool such as Facebook or Twitter, it doesn't mean your users are necessarily going to follow it. Some Facebook users may be against adding institutions to their friends list because they feel that particular for of social media is for connecting with friends and family, not for following a news feed from an institute. Twitter, on the other hand, could be very useful in that sense, as Rochelle Mazar showed in her article. Using Twitter as away to post small updates about the library is an easy way to keep users informed about sudden closures, machines that aren't working/available, and anything new that might have been added to the library. This could be especially useful in an academic library, where harried undergraduate and graduate students would definitely appreciate the news that the wet carrels on the fourth floor aren't working.
But that just focuses on social networking. There is other social media that could be far more effective in libraries, such as social bookmarking. Using a site like Delicious or Digg would allow students to access articles and information online, helping them complete projects and assignments on time even if they are unable to physically meet up with their groups, if they have one. I especially like Digg, and the way it has divided its topics into separate links. So if you want to just read about science, you can click on the science tab. Or if you want to know about the politics of the day, or what's happening around the world. Reddit is similar, but the layout isn't as visually appealing; it seems clunky and haphazardly thrown together.
I've been to sites that use Delicious as a way of archiving. Some of the fan sites that I visit will host fan fiction competitions or challenges that get hundred of challenges and responses, making the topic thread overwhelmingly long. So instead, they post a link to a master list on Delicious, where you can sort through the topics by using the tags. So if you want to read only fulfilled challenges, you can click on that tag and only complete works will be shown. And of course, people can still post comments and fave the works, keeping the social element to it.
The idea of social cataloging is an interesting one as well, because it allows users to connect with other users who have similar tastes and collections. Take LibraryThing for instance. The groups that are hosted there can be very, very topic specific such as Hogwart's Express, which is an all ages group for discussing Harry Potter. A single series out of hundreds of others. Or there are groups about fantasy, or crime, or mystery. The list goes on. A library could use this as a way to connect its users without needing their physical presence. Creating a catalogue for the library's book club, for instance, could allow those who are home bound or unable to meet at specific times to still participate in their community. They can add to online discussions and not feel so isolated and alone.
Social media is the new wave in technology, but it is also a new wave in community building and fostering a global connection. It's not always for everybody, but libraries everywhere should start taking a good look into its practical applications and how they can apply it. It could open up a whole new world.
Rochelle Mazar makes a good point in her article "Libraries and Social Media", that, just because you might implement a social media tool such as Facebook or Twitter, it doesn't mean your users are necessarily going to follow it. Some Facebook users may be against adding institutions to their friends list because they feel that particular for of social media is for connecting with friends and family, not for following a news feed from an institute. Twitter, on the other hand, could be very useful in that sense, as Rochelle Mazar showed in her article. Using Twitter as away to post small updates about the library is an easy way to keep users informed about sudden closures, machines that aren't working/available, and anything new that might have been added to the library. This could be especially useful in an academic library, where harried undergraduate and graduate students would definitely appreciate the news that the wet carrels on the fourth floor aren't working.
But that just focuses on social networking. There is other social media that could be far more effective in libraries, such as social bookmarking. Using a site like Delicious or Digg would allow students to access articles and information online, helping them complete projects and assignments on time even if they are unable to physically meet up with their groups, if they have one. I especially like Digg, and the way it has divided its topics into separate links. So if you want to just read about science, you can click on the science tab. Or if you want to know about the politics of the day, or what's happening around the world. Reddit is similar, but the layout isn't as visually appealing; it seems clunky and haphazardly thrown together.
I've been to sites that use Delicious as a way of archiving. Some of the fan sites that I visit will host fan fiction competitions or challenges that get hundred of challenges and responses, making the topic thread overwhelmingly long. So instead, they post a link to a master list on Delicious, where you can sort through the topics by using the tags. So if you want to read only fulfilled challenges, you can click on that tag and only complete works will be shown. And of course, people can still post comments and fave the works, keeping the social element to it.
The idea of social cataloging is an interesting one as well, because it allows users to connect with other users who have similar tastes and collections. Take LibraryThing for instance. The groups that are hosted there can be very, very topic specific such as Hogwart's Express, which is an all ages group for discussing Harry Potter. A single series out of hundreds of others. Or there are groups about fantasy, or crime, or mystery. The list goes on. A library could use this as a way to connect its users without needing their physical presence. Creating a catalogue for the library's book club, for instance, could allow those who are home bound or unable to meet at specific times to still participate in their community. They can add to online discussions and not feel so isolated and alone.
Social media is the new wave in technology, but it is also a new wave in community building and fostering a global connection. It's not always for everybody, but libraries everywhere should start taking a good look into its practical applications and how they can apply it. It could open up a whole new world.
Friday, 28 October 2011
Wiki-WHAT?
Ahh wikis. Containing within them a plethora of information, some useful, some completely inane. The most popular wiki is Wikipedia, the world's largest encyclopedia. Anybody, anywhere, can add information to or create an article on any given topic. Part of what makes a wiki so user friendly is that it doesn't require users to be knowledgeable about HTML. On the other hand,public ones don't require them to be knowledgeable about the content they are adding to either. Which makes Wikipedia, and public sites like it, a great source for information but unreliable at face value. So you have to be careful in deciding which wikis to use to gather information from.
An internal wiki, however, is a great resource for companies to share and collect information from its employees. In a library setting, it could be used to brainstorm ideas, plan and coordinate events, even implement training programs. Every employee can voice a thought, an opinion, and get feedback from their colleagues.
After looking at three different wikis (Wikia, WetPaint and PBwiki) I have to say I preferred the set up of Wikia. It was very user friendly, and was like an EBSCOHost of wikis. I could enter a search time for a certain subject and it would come back with the most relevant sites. It also gave suggested wiki links, which a person might not have thought to look for, but found interesting anyways.
The WetPaint site seemed altogether too cluttered for my liking. It was also not as easy to navigate. When I entered search terms, it didn't always come back with the relevant topic. Instead, it just seemed to give me any site that had those words found anywhere within it. Which meant instead of getting wikis on that topic specifically, I was getting sites that made a one line, off hand reference to the topic.
And finally PBwiki. Which had a nice layout overall, and easy navigability as well. But it was limited to only Business and Education information. Helpful for somebody in those fields, or for somebody needing information about them, but not relevant to general searching. I liked Wikia best, but PBwiki is a close second.
Overall, I enjoy using wikis. Especially fan run ones, like Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki. Most of the time when I'm using a site like Wikipedia I take the information with a grain of salt, and search for other sites that will confirm the information is correct. But with a fan run site for something as prolific as Star Trek, you're almost guaranteed the information will be correct. If a rabid fan saw something that was incorrect, it would be immediately fixed, and the wrong-doer most likely chastised for getting it wrong in the first place. But for anything important, like a medical condition or your Masters thesis, a wiki might no be the best place to get information from.
We still love you, wikis. Live long and prosper :)
An internal wiki, however, is a great resource for companies to share and collect information from its employees. In a library setting, it could be used to brainstorm ideas, plan and coordinate events, even implement training programs. Every employee can voice a thought, an opinion, and get feedback from their colleagues.
After looking at three different wikis (Wikia, WetPaint and PBwiki) I have to say I preferred the set up of Wikia. It was very user friendly, and was like an EBSCOHost of wikis. I could enter a search time for a certain subject and it would come back with the most relevant sites. It also gave suggested wiki links, which a person might not have thought to look for, but found interesting anyways.
The WetPaint site seemed altogether too cluttered for my liking. It was also not as easy to navigate. When I entered search terms, it didn't always come back with the relevant topic. Instead, it just seemed to give me any site that had those words found anywhere within it. Which meant instead of getting wikis on that topic specifically, I was getting sites that made a one line, off hand reference to the topic.
And finally PBwiki. Which had a nice layout overall, and easy navigability as well. But it was limited to only Business and Education information. Helpful for somebody in those fields, or for somebody needing information about them, but not relevant to general searching. I liked Wikia best, but PBwiki is a close second.
Overall, I enjoy using wikis. Especially fan run ones, like Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki. Most of the time when I'm using a site like Wikipedia I take the information with a grain of salt, and search for other sites that will confirm the information is correct. But with a fan run site for something as prolific as Star Trek, you're almost guaranteed the information will be correct. If a rabid fan saw something that was incorrect, it would be immediately fixed, and the wrong-doer most likely chastised for getting it wrong in the first place. But for anything important, like a medical condition or your Masters thesis, a wiki might no be the best place to get information from.
We still love you, wikis. Live long and prosper :)
Friday, 14 October 2011
Oh So Simple
This week's blog covers RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. An RSS feed allows for you to subscribe to a web site and get information and updates delivered to you. This allows you to scan the information more easily by just giving you brief summaries, so you don't have to go through so much information to find what it is you were looking for or are interested in.
A lot of sites use RSS feeds, and not just official sites, like ones for the government or the local newspaper. Many fan sites also use them, such as FanFiction. Net, allowing you to subscribe to a feed of your favourite fandoms. In order to read the feeds, you need an aggregator. Some web browsers allow you to read the feeds online. You can also purchase software that might give you more options than just a browser.
Before this blog, I had never used RSS feeds before, and wasn't really sure what they were for. Now that I have a better understanding of them, I think that they can be extremely useful tools. The feeds that I am following (found to the right -->) are all from the Library of Congress, and follow not just the general news from the institution, but more specific feeds. Such as the one for Collections Preservation, or Library of Congress: Web Archiving. I think this shows just how useful an RSS feed can be for a library.
The general news gives you an idea of what's happening at the library in general, such as events, closures, etc., and can target a very wide audience. Whereas a more specific feed might target a smaller,more select audience. In this age of information and "web surfing" however, a person might easily be looking for just general news, and notice a different, interesting looking feed. They subscribe to and find out that, hey, there's some really cool stuff out there. So then they go back and look for more feeds, until it snowballs into following multiple feeds and maybe getting their friends. family and coworkers to follow some of them as well.
It's like subscribing to three different newspapers, but only getting the comics and sports sections from each one. People don't want to waste their time sifting through information they aren't interested in, and an RSS feed allows them faster access to more relevant data. Which is really helpful for a library, a place where people come looking for information and expect to have it at their fingertips.
I'm looking forward to going out on a search for more feeds to follow.
A lot of sites use RSS feeds, and not just official sites, like ones for the government or the local newspaper. Many fan sites also use them, such as FanFiction. Net, allowing you to subscribe to a feed of your favourite fandoms. In order to read the feeds, you need an aggregator. Some web browsers allow you to read the feeds online. You can also purchase software that might give you more options than just a browser.
Before this blog, I had never used RSS feeds before, and wasn't really sure what they were for. Now that I have a better understanding of them, I think that they can be extremely useful tools. The feeds that I am following (found to the right -->) are all from the Library of Congress, and follow not just the general news from the institution, but more specific feeds. Such as the one for Collections Preservation, or Library of Congress: Web Archiving. I think this shows just how useful an RSS feed can be for a library.
The general news gives you an idea of what's happening at the library in general, such as events, closures, etc., and can target a very wide audience. Whereas a more specific feed might target a smaller,more select audience. In this age of information and "web surfing" however, a person might easily be looking for just general news, and notice a different, interesting looking feed. They subscribe to and find out that, hey, there's some really cool stuff out there. So then they go back and look for more feeds, until it snowballs into following multiple feeds and maybe getting their friends. family and coworkers to follow some of them as well.
It's like subscribing to three different newspapers, but only getting the comics and sports sections from each one. People don't want to waste their time sifting through information they aren't interested in, and an RSS feed allows them faster access to more relevant data. Which is really helpful for a library, a place where people come looking for information and expect to have it at their fingertips.
I'm looking forward to going out on a search for more feeds to follow.
Friday, 30 September 2011
To Blog, Or Not To Blog?
For most people, the answer is to blog. But what is a blog, exactly? Well, the short answer is: this page. A more informed answer is a site where a writer or group of writers can express their thoughts and opinions, share information and experiences, and connect with other individuals or institutions around the world. It is an online journal, and so much more. In this age of technology, a blog can be used not only by an individual, but by corporations and institutes as a marketing tool; a research tool; an information super highway.
So buckle in and head out.
I have been more of a follower of blogs for years and have only recently “de-lurked” as it were, to join the masses in making a contribution to the information world. Are my ramblings worldly and earth-shatteringly brilliant? Not very. But they don’t always have to be. And that is the beauty of a blog. It can be anything, to anyone, whether it is a discussion of super string theory, or the latest episode of Glee.
For a library, it could be a way of reaching a new generation of patrons. A blog could post information on upcoming events; generate discussions and interest in a variety of topics relevant to the library itself; it could also be used as a way to gather feedback on what patrons would like to see happening with the library. A library is a staple of any community, and a blog is just an extension of that into the online community. It would be especially effective when combined with other Web 2.0 technologies, such as Facebook and Twitter. Each could be linked to one another, so the users could follow it anywhere, at anytime, and could pass the information along to their friends and colleagues.
But as with any other technology, it must be kept up to date in order to stay relevant. A blog that has not been updated in a year will not be followed. The advantages of lightning fast technology are also a disadvantage. They have trained us to become used to receiving data immediately; we are no longer willing to be wait to be informed. It is a double edged sword, and it must be kept sharp.
The world is changing, and so the library must adapt. But a library has always been a place of information gathering; it is simply the formats and distribution methods that are changing.
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