Six of us traveled down to Athens, GA, for the first ever Evergreen Conference. About 150 people from as far away as Armenia made the trek. Many people were checking things out, asking lots of really great questions, gathering facts, before deciding whether to enter the forest.
Truth be told, my mind was all over the place. We go live on May 28th, and I was thinking about data, data, data. However, I was doing a lot of listening, and asking copious questions as well.
We arrived in time for lunch at DocSuey's, a noodle restaurant. From there we headed over to the conference center to register and attend two afternoon pre-sessions. This time we skipped the hackfest; we'll save that for next year. LaBon and I attended the SysAdmin Survival Skills, and Laura and Rob went to the Documentation and DocBook demo.
LaBon said he enjoyed the sysadmin survival skills. I enjoyed the last 45 minutes. To me, it was like a high level engineering design class; I just wanted to learn to how to tune up my car and keep it running efficiently. I can't seem to find a happy medium with the sysadmin training I've had so far. Of course there is a solution for that: it does involve more work for me, though. Well, what else is new. I just luv a challenge.
Laura and Rob, on the other hand, said they enjoyed their session. I believe it... I heard laughter coming from their room. I'm just a curmudgeon.
The vendors hosted a very nice reception. Thank you! SC had a great showing. There were at least 21 South Carolinians there. About seven of us ended up at the Globe, a decent tavern, for dinner and a few. Later another large group came in, including Bob Molyneux, aka Dr. Data. Good conversation all around...
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
'Ware dissing the website goddess!
If there is a website goddess, I must have indeed dissed her bigtime! The story...
March 4th I received an email about one of the websites; it just wouldn't load. So I went in to take a look... Still don't know what the problem was. The database looks good. Of course, server tech support was NO help. I'm so spoiled, and don't like having to use a hosted server, although there are distinct advantages. Tech support: reload Joomla! I smile sweetly, (ok, I didn't), muttered a long string of epitaphs, (colourful ones), and started looking at how to migrate to Joomla! 1.5. Might as well. No time like the present.
So, I needed to test it on something. Note to self: in spare time, set up a test server. I decided to test it on my personal, and seriously neglected, website. Of course the migration went well. Sigh of relief. Don't go looking... I haven't reloaded my templates yet.
Time to try it on the downed site. Ha. Migration did not go well. No. Not at all. Why should it? Obviously I haven't placated the goddess appropriately. Grumph. But I'm not totally dejected; I still have the content.
As I have no time during the week to work on this, I wait and think about the changes I'd like to make to the site. No time like the present. Plan, plan plan...
On my birthday, no less, to add injury to insult, my DH brings me the phone, with such a message... I'M SO SORRY! I HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD BACKUP! What? What??!!?
Yes, gentle readers. On another server, a different website. Gone. LOL, maniacal shrieking. (Not quite. I did in fact have an excellent backup.)
What have I done to receive such negative attention from the goddess?? Could it be the fact that I have purchased patterns and fabric for new SCA garb? Fabric and patterns still in the bag? It must be.
So website number 3 is restored. 20 minutes, natch. The rest should go so well...
If someone can tell me how to appease the website goddess, I'd be forever grateful. In the meantime... I no longer have to wonder when I should migrate to Joomla! 1.5. And I can make the changes I've been thinking about.
I think the whole thing has to do with the lack of time to devote to playing WoW. Maybe I should quit sleeping...
March 4th I received an email about one of the websites; it just wouldn't load. So I went in to take a look... Still don't know what the problem was. The database looks good. Of course, server tech support was NO help. I'm so spoiled, and don't like having to use a hosted server, although there are distinct advantages. Tech support: reload Joomla! I smile sweetly, (ok, I didn't), muttered a long string of epitaphs, (colourful ones), and started looking at how to migrate to Joomla! 1.5. Might as well. No time like the present.
So, I needed to test it on something. Note to self: in spare time, set up a test server. I decided to test it on my personal, and seriously neglected, website. Of course the migration went well. Sigh of relief. Don't go looking... I haven't reloaded my templates yet.
Time to try it on the downed site. Ha. Migration did not go well. No. Not at all. Why should it? Obviously I haven't placated the goddess appropriately. Grumph. But I'm not totally dejected; I still have the content.
As I have no time during the week to work on this, I wait and think about the changes I'd like to make to the site. No time like the present. Plan, plan plan...
On my birthday, no less, to add injury to insult, my DH brings me the phone, with such a message... I'M SO SORRY! I HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD BACKUP! What? What??!!?
Yes, gentle readers. On another server, a different website. Gone. LOL, maniacal shrieking. (Not quite. I did in fact have an excellent backup.)
What have I done to receive such negative attention from the goddess?? Could it be the fact that I have purchased patterns and fabric for new SCA garb? Fabric and patterns still in the bag? It must be.
So website number 3 is restored. 20 minutes, natch. The rest should go so well...
If someone can tell me how to appease the website goddess, I'd be forever grateful. In the meantime... I no longer have to wonder when I should migrate to Joomla! 1.5. And I can make the changes I've been thinking about.
I think the whole thing has to do with the lack of time to devote to playing WoW. Maybe I should quit sleeping...
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Why I Luv Web 2.0
As I was demonstrating Google Books to my dearly beloved late last night, I told him just how much I luv this era. All the things I dreamt of as a kid are right here, right within my reach... I was showing him the full text books available now that support our hobbies. By extension, I am also able to add to our library's offerings...
Okay, let me back up. I'm learning about heraldry for my persona in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). I've been using World Cat and Delicious to bookmark the necessary resources for onomastics and blazonry. So, as I was wandering around, I decided to put some items on my Amazon wishlist... and that led to, I wonder if these are available through Google Books? Sure enough, some of those prized resources are available to me through GB. Then I noticed that wonderful link: add to my library. One click and they were added to my Google Library.
And because I am a curious workaholic, I decided to type into Google Books those magic words, "south carolina". To backfill, we are digitizing our state documents collection; and we have this marvelous and sorely underused collection of books published prior to that magical year 1923. However, we don't have (and don't have the money for) a digitizer with a book cradle. (I know... time to write a grant or something.) I did a search in our catalog for items published in the 19th century. Then I did a search in Google Books for "south carolina", full view. Don't you know that many of our "rare" items have already been digitized by Google?? Quite frankly, I find that pretty exciting! We will now be adding an 856 field in our MARC records. Less for us to digitize... and more immediate access for our patrons. (Our cataloger is going to love me on Monday. LOL.)
I just luv this time (provided our elected officials don't FUBAR). I went into the sacred art (philosophy) -- naively, I might add -- because I was in luv with the art of wondering and of knowledge. I continued, some years later and no less naively, into library science, for the very same reason. I know we can't make people wise (not quite that naive), but I also feel we can provide the tools people need to discover knowledge, and hence to develop wisdom.
I still have the days when Socrates is buttonholing me, hounding me even, asking me exactly what is wisdom? what is the common good? ... and all those other questions he and Moses are so fond of asking....
Today, I can say. leave me alone, you old cherubed cheeked geek, and you bright horned prophet.... Just stop and look at how far we've come...
And yet, how far we have to go. Isn't it beyond thrilling??
Can they ever intersect? ...
I still think they can....
Okay, let me back up. I'm learning about heraldry for my persona in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). I've been using World Cat and Delicious to bookmark the necessary resources for onomastics and blazonry. So, as I was wandering around, I decided to put some items on my Amazon wishlist... and that led to, I wonder if these are available through Google Books? Sure enough, some of those prized resources are available to me through GB. Then I noticed that wonderful link: add to my library. One click and they were added to my Google Library.
And because I am a curious workaholic, I decided to type into Google Books those magic words, "south carolina". To backfill, we are digitizing our state documents collection; and we have this marvelous and sorely underused collection of books published prior to that magical year 1923. However, we don't have (and don't have the money for) a digitizer with a book cradle. (I know... time to write a grant or something.) I did a search in our catalog for items published in the 19th century. Then I did a search in Google Books for "south carolina", full view. Don't you know that many of our "rare" items have already been digitized by Google?? Quite frankly, I find that pretty exciting! We will now be adding an 856 field in our MARC records. Less for us to digitize... and more immediate access for our patrons. (Our cataloger is going to love me on Monday. LOL.)
I just luv this time (provided our elected officials don't FUBAR). I went into the sacred art (philosophy) -- naively, I might add -- because I was in luv with the art of wondering and of knowledge. I continued, some years later and no less naively, into library science, for the very same reason. I know we can't make people wise (not quite that naive), but I also feel we can provide the tools people need to discover knowledge, and hence to develop wisdom.
I still have the days when Socrates is buttonholing me, hounding me even, asking me exactly what is wisdom? what is the common good? ... and all those other questions he and Moses are so fond of asking....
Today, I can say. leave me alone, you old cherubed cheeked geek, and you bright horned prophet.... Just stop and look at how far we've come...
And yet, how far we have to go. Isn't it beyond thrilling??
Can they ever intersect? ...
I still think they can....
Sunday, November 02, 2008
New eee pc 1000
I was somewhat disappointed with the Asus eee pc 901-- mostly the issue with the shift key. And the keyboard was very small, although I was getting used to it. However, it really ticked me off that no sooner did I get the 901, the 1000 came out. As fate would have it, I was actually able to get the new 1000, because the 901 found a home with one of my sons. They are very happy together.... At least he doesn't have to feed it.
In the meantime, the 1000 still has the same shift key issue (issue in my book, at any rate). To ensure that I would not be bored, when I bought this one, I opted to get the Linux OS (Xandros). LOL. This can be very humbling... So, after struggling for an hour with the wireless, I finally made it onto the Internet. Next step... upgrading Firefox to version 3. While I was struggling with this, Joshua called in to inquire about voicemails about the wireless. He asked the most asinine question: have you read the manual? I mean, what kind of fun is involved with reading the manual... Have you ever actually looked at the manual that comes with a new PC? Really...
However, he did point me to the Eee PC user forums, which in turn pointed me to a wiki [Tweaking for] Absolute Beginners. So that's where I am now: back in Noobville-- what an adventure!
I'm going to go check my mail on WoW, see who's online, chill, and then come back to tweaking my new eee.
In the meantime, the 1000 still has the same shift key issue (issue in my book, at any rate). To ensure that I would not be bored, when I bought this one, I opted to get the Linux OS (Xandros). LOL. This can be very humbling... So, after struggling for an hour with the wireless, I finally made it onto the Internet. Next step... upgrading Firefox to version 3. While I was struggling with this, Joshua called in to inquire about voicemails about the wireless. He asked the most asinine question: have you read the manual? I mean, what kind of fun is involved with reading the manual... Have you ever actually looked at the manual that comes with a new PC? Really...
However, he did point me to the Eee PC user forums, which in turn pointed me to a wiki [Tweaking for] Absolute Beginners. So that's where I am now: back in Noobville-- what an adventure!
I'm going to go check my mail on WoW, see who's online, chill, and then come back to tweaking my new eee.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Participation and Power
Combining Community Features with Existing Metadata in NextGen Public Interfaces
Kelly M. Vickery, University of Kentucky; Dinah Sanders, Innovative Interfaces
Encore is an Innovative development. Uses community tags to flesh out marc records.
Example one item that deals with DRM does not have any subject headings indicating DRM; community tags did describe the item with DRM. so they went back to the item record and added a subject heading for DRM. Encore 2.0. patron is authenticated, which also adds a level of policing... gets very few trash tags.
Though administration module, can view recent tags and approve them. Can build a thesaurus of tags which are also whitelisted. Also whitelist at record level... A page for patrons so you can track who is actually tagging. Can block patrons or patron type.
Rapid, iterative developmnet and the partnership approach. Large group of development partners. 100 libraries are currently involved, and about 3 dozen development partners.
U of Ky. is the latest partner. Integrating Encore with Voyager.
Had looked at Aquabrowser, Endeca, Primo.
Another case of datadump to III. Marc/serial holdings; item information; item circulation status; location/collection; patron records. Kentucky made the decision not to include circ status as it was 24 hours behind. In order for tagging to work, need to have LDAP communicating with Encore. (LDAP for patron authentication)
academic tags: groupings for courses
syllabus readings
impromptu course project reading lists
course reserve lists
collaborate tagging for group projects
animal names: bovine - cow; equine - horse
tagging can help institute new terminology or changing terminology (plutoid for dwarf planet)
public library examples of tagging: shared tags
bookclubs can tag their reading lists and meeting times
informal vocabulary, disambiguation. acts like a see-also reference
emerging vocabulary: gitmo, podcasting - fills gap between common usage and inclusion in LCSH.
encore 3 will include reviews and ratings
Pre-coordination vs. iterative "berry-picking"
Patrons are significantly less familiar with index searching compared to keyword searching. Only 4% of searches at U of Glasgow used the subject search.
2/3 encore users reported using the tag cloud, prior to the addition of community tags.
Collection development => conversation development => collaboration development
I was disappointed that this session was about a proprietary system, but I did learn quite a bit. Vickery's presentation provided much food for thought.
Kelly M. Vickery, University of Kentucky; Dinah Sanders, Innovative Interfaces
Encore is an Innovative development. Uses community tags to flesh out marc records.
Example one item that deals with DRM does not have any subject headings indicating DRM; community tags did describe the item with DRM. so they went back to the item record and added a subject heading for DRM. Encore 2.0. patron is authenticated, which also adds a level of policing... gets very few trash tags.
Though administration module, can view recent tags and approve them. Can build a thesaurus of tags which are also whitelisted. Also whitelist at record level... A page for patrons so you can track who is actually tagging. Can block patrons or patron type.
Rapid, iterative developmnet and the partnership approach. Large group of development partners. 100 libraries are currently involved, and about 3 dozen development partners.
U of Ky. is the latest partner. Integrating Encore with Voyager.
Had looked at Aquabrowser, Endeca, Primo.
Another case of datadump to III. Marc/serial holdings; item information; item circulation status; location/collection; patron records. Kentucky made the decision not to include circ status as it was 24 hours behind. In order for tagging to work, need to have LDAP communicating with Encore. (LDAP for patron authentication)
academic tags: groupings for courses
syllabus readings
impromptu course project reading lists
course reserve lists
collaborate tagging for group projects
animal names: bovine - cow; equine - horse
tagging can help institute new terminology or changing terminology (plutoid for dwarf planet)
public library examples of tagging: shared tags
bookclubs can tag their reading lists and meeting times
informal vocabulary, disambiguation. acts like a see-also reference
emerging vocabulary: gitmo, podcasting - fills gap between common usage and inclusion in LCSH.
encore 3 will include reviews and ratings
Pre-coordination vs. iterative "berry-picking"
Patrons are significantly less familiar with index searching compared to keyword searching. Only 4% of searches at U of Glasgow used the subject search.
2/3 encore users reported using the tag cloud, prior to the addition of community tags.
Collection development => conversation development => collaboration development
I was disappointed that this session was about a proprietary system, but I did learn quite a bit. Vickery's presentation provided much food for thought.
Website Redesign: perspectives from the field
Ohio: creating the team. (Ohio State, Black and Shelby.)
150 people with ftp access to server. In developing the team, they recruited for specific skills and competencies. Used a leadership tool to help develop the list of competencies. They used Bruce Tuckman's model of team building. All web developers in the same office. Weekly meeting. Wrote a mission statement as a team. Technical standards: developed a set of standards, including security (#1); user centered design; maintainability; data preservation. Also worked on staging environment version control. Made a commitment to a standardized platform. Used LAMP, hosted on university hosted machines. Use OSS packages whenever possible. Perform regular software updates. Applications need to be longstanding (10 years); therefore needs solid documentation. Secure password repository. Committed to a toolbox mentality for users.
A Merged Website: triumphs and compromises. (Amelia Brunskill, Dickenson College.)
Usability testing: used Camtasia to capture users use.Students participated in these tests. Documentation is an issue.
Communications: LIS blog created in Drupal. Minutes and timelines posted. Liaison to units. Usability reports were posted. Users were a neutral party. Most content was at the unit's discretion. Pages were consistent across all units/sites. Internal technical blog created for suggestions, updates, etc. Editorial team built from all units that meet quarterly. Soft rollout. Sites ran in tandem. Hard rollout in July. Impressive amount of lack of negative feedback. All units had ownership.
Website Redesign: perspectives from the field. (Robin Leech, Oklahoma State University Libraries.)
Usability testing. Teams were created, each of 5 people. Needed to stay within the university's style sheets. The entire team read Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think. Had a one day workshop led by Beth Thomsett-Scott. Aligned mission with the library strategic goals. Reviewed log files. Wanted to look at the bottom 1/3 and bottom 1/2. Staff surveys. Developed an Excel timeline. All staff at library could get to the timeline. They used Morae (Techsmith) to do recorded task testing. Continued to use Survey Monkey as the site developed. Card sorts. Students were used in beta testing, and later another group of students were recruited for additional testing.
Edward M. Corrado,Binghamton University, (but he was at the college of new jersey when they redesigned their site.)
Collected lots of data; looked a two years worth of logs. They were also tasked with redesigning the opac at the same time. Lots of usability studies. Looked at a lot of peer academic websites, but focused on sites that were known to do good usability studies. Developed 32 revisions. Started with the home page and then a few top level pages. One problem was that everyone thought a revision was the final version... Confusion with pig latin text, etc. Ultimately, the website was a success, due to the team, the university webmaster, the usability studies, etc. The one thing that was a problem was no mission statement for the library-- it was a big hurdle. This actually helps when you get conflicting user feedback... are you focused on the library mission? Communication is a big key. About 7 people on the committee. Need to make sure that at the last revision, people understand that this is going up... Also did usability studies a few months after the launch and tweaked the website based on results.
Question: Are there best practices emerging from the usability studies that can benefit other sites? The panelists mentioned 2 tools: www.rosenfeldmedia.com and John Kupersmith's Webspace.
150 people with ftp access to server. In developing the team, they recruited for specific skills and competencies. Used a leadership tool to help develop the list of competencies. They used Bruce Tuckman's model of team building. All web developers in the same office. Weekly meeting. Wrote a mission statement as a team. Technical standards: developed a set of standards, including security (#1); user centered design; maintainability; data preservation. Also worked on staging environment version control. Made a commitment to a standardized platform. Used LAMP, hosted on university hosted machines. Use OSS packages whenever possible. Perform regular software updates. Applications need to be longstanding (10 years); therefore needs solid documentation. Secure password repository. Committed to a toolbox mentality for users.
A Merged Website: triumphs and compromises. (Amelia Brunskill, Dickenson College.)
Usability testing: used Camtasia to capture users use.Students participated in these tests. Documentation is an issue.
Communications: LIS blog created in Drupal. Minutes and timelines posted. Liaison to units. Usability reports were posted. Users were a neutral party. Most content was at the unit's discretion. Pages were consistent across all units/sites. Internal technical blog created for suggestions, updates, etc. Editorial team built from all units that meet quarterly. Soft rollout. Sites ran in tandem. Hard rollout in July. Impressive amount of lack of negative feedback. All units had ownership.
Website Redesign: perspectives from the field. (Robin Leech, Oklahoma State University Libraries.)
Usability testing. Teams were created, each of 5 people. Needed to stay within the university's style sheets. The entire team read Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think. Had a one day workshop led by Beth Thomsett-Scott. Aligned mission with the library strategic goals. Reviewed log files. Wanted to look at the bottom 1/3 and bottom 1/2. Staff surveys. Developed an Excel timeline. All staff at library could get to the timeline. They used Morae (Techsmith) to do recorded task testing. Continued to use Survey Monkey as the site developed. Card sorts. Students were used in beta testing, and later another group of students were recruited for additional testing.
Edward M. Corrado,Binghamton University, (but he was at the college of new jersey when they redesigned their site.)
Collected lots of data; looked a two years worth of logs. They were also tasked with redesigning the opac at the same time. Lots of usability studies. Looked at a lot of peer academic websites, but focused on sites that were known to do good usability studies. Developed 32 revisions. Started with the home page and then a few top level pages. One problem was that everyone thought a revision was the final version... Confusion with pig latin text, etc. Ultimately, the website was a success, due to the team, the university webmaster, the usability studies, etc. The one thing that was a problem was no mission statement for the library-- it was a big hurdle. This actually helps when you get conflicting user feedback... are you focused on the library mission? Communication is a big key. About 7 people on the committee. Need to make sure that at the last revision, people understand that this is going up... Also did usability studies a few months after the launch and tweaked the website based on results.
Question: Are there best practices emerging from the usability studies that can benefit other sites? The panelists mentioned 2 tools: www.rosenfeldmedia.com and John Kupersmith's Webspace.
Putting the Library Website in Their Hands
The Advantages and Challenges of a Homegrown Content Management System
Rachel Vacek, University of Houston Libraries
Virtual searches; new books from the catalog. Uses libraryfind for federated search.
Advantages: rapid prototyping; know the system intimateely; can add upgrades quickly; modular; miccroformats. Always looks fresh with rss feeds.
Disadvantages: for infrequent users, rapid prototyping can be a problem. Documentation is hard to keep current. Web developers are constantly working on it. Backend works with Firefox, not IE. Built with coldfusion, which costs $$$. Lots of flexibility means sometimes librarians go off in unexpected directions.
Future plans:
-api with worldcat and book jackets
-search engine with metadata
-new layout engine
-add other media
-create platform for user contributed content and personalization
-integrate with digital library and other library systems
-try to make it open source by summer 2009.
Third-party applications: Uses flickr to find creative commons images. libraryfind. wordpress. librarything. serialssolutions. digitool (ex libris), archon, worldcat.
For more info: www.librarywebchic.com Karen Coombs; www.rachelvacek.com Rachel Vacek
Rachel Vacek, University of Houston Libraries
Virtual searches; new books from the catalog. Uses libraryfind for federated search.
Advantages: rapid prototyping; know the system intimateely; can add upgrades quickly; modular; miccroformats. Always looks fresh with rss feeds.
Disadvantages: for infrequent users, rapid prototyping can be a problem. Documentation is hard to keep current. Web developers are constantly working on it. Backend works with Firefox, not IE. Built with coldfusion, which costs $$$. Lots of flexibility means sometimes librarians go off in unexpected directions.
Future plans:
-api with worldcat and book jackets
-search engine with metadata
-new layout engine
-add other media
-create platform for user contributed content and personalization
-integrate with digital library and other library systems
-try to make it open source by summer 2009.
Third-party applications: Uses flickr to find creative commons images. libraryfind. wordpress. librarything. serialssolutions. digitool (ex libris), archon, worldcat.
For more info: www.librarywebchic.com Karen Coombs; www.rachelvacek.com Rachel Vacek
Five Minute Madness
This session consisted of a series of 5-minute presentations of projects. The time limit forced the participants to distill each project to its essence. Great session; I was able to glean a few kernals I might have missed had these been full-length sessions.
Incorporating ICT into a New Vision for Caribbean Libraries. Delivers library and information support for education for the libraries in West Indies. Grace traveled around the West Indies to study how technology is being used... She found that libraries were eager for dialogue. UWI Initiative. MEDCARIB and CARDIN. Already have good videoconferencing in place. Vision: increased use for OSS. Can LITA help? Visit the West Indies during the winter...
Using Delicious to Select Medical Resources.
Sakai. Wanted to include more multimedia in LMS. Host Defense/most significant aspect. Recipient choses own point of entry bundles. Decided to use Delicious... easy to share. Faceting with tags. 2 other modules have been added. emerging workflow: split searching and organization. Recipient involvement varies. Known issues... sharing passwords is bad. for:username is too limited-- Tags are stripped when sending Urls. Faceting is flawed.
Help system based on Solr.
Discovery tool for digital collection. Service oriented architecture. OSS. XML/HTTP. Users need to search help. Nontechie staff members needed to update, add and delete pages easily. Using tools to support tools. They developed schema and webforms for editing pages. User can search using keywords. Solr doc returns as xml, which is converted to html.
RFID self checkout user interface redesign. Started in June 2008. 6 steps in all. Problems: busy interface; text cues small and lots of it; distracting animations; patrons walked away without printing reciepts, which hung their record. After... larger clear text. Only 3 steps. No animations. Voice prompts. Clear and concise. 10% increase in adult self check... 30% in children's self check.
Endeca project at triangle research libraries network. Catalog allows search across combined collections (11 million). Circ updated every 30 minutes. Cataloging updated daily. Facets. Syndetics. RSS. Indexing on nightly basis. Indexes tables of contents. Integrated Google book search. Interfaces with Illiad. Future: search and relevance rank tuning, adding new indexes, shopping cart, nonMarc data. [syndetics can provide xml for indexing TOC]
Handheld Project Scope. PennState. iPhone lust. Wrote a grant for using iphones in academic settings. Libraries using them for roving reference. Testing done by IT and librarians. 6 use cases developed. 3 roving reference; faculty liaison activity. how different products display on handhelds. Mapped use
cases to requirements. Mapped requirements to mobile devices. Tested with 4 devices. Found holes in their wireless, but no clear winner among devices.
Unmanned technology projects. Big plans, big user expectations. Consortial pressure, but limited staff. There was a lack of coordination, resulting in frustration for the small staff. The solution was a library technology work group, made up of key players in key projects. Mixed group of techies and nontechies. Meets monthly. Uses a wiki to set up timeline. There is a page for every project. Meeting minutes are posted, and what's new. All stafff can read that wiki. These seemingly minor changes work great and had unforseen positives. They've created another wiki specificly for documentation; training will happen at a mini-conference.
Texting at the reference desk. Implementing an sms reference for mobile patrons. Single service desk. SMS is a growing communications medium. Phone number can be added to contacts more easily. Upside wireless. Pros: local phone number; integrated with reference email; familiar technology. The service is somewhat expensive. Started with a soft rollout in late spring to be followed with a harder rollout in the fall. They've seen a huge spike in usage in the fall. [On the road? Have a question? SMS the library] New model: AIM hack.
www.digitalpast.org Ten years and growing. Cooperative project for local history digitization. Uses oclc contentDM platform. (Time.)
Questions from the floor.
Incorporating ICT into a New Vision for Caribbean Libraries. Delivers library and information support for education for the libraries in West Indies. Grace traveled around the West Indies to study how technology is being used... She found that libraries were eager for dialogue. UWI Initiative. MEDCARIB and CARDIN. Already have good videoconferencing in place. Vision: increased use for OSS. Can LITA help? Visit the West Indies during the winter...
Using Delicious to Select Medical Resources.
Sakai. Wanted to include more multimedia in LMS. Host Defense/most significant aspect. Recipient choses own point of entry bundles. Decided to use Delicious... easy to share. Faceting with tags. 2 other modules have been added. emerging workflow: split searching and organization. Recipient involvement varies. Known issues... sharing passwords is bad. for:username is too limited-- Tags are stripped when sending Urls. Faceting is flawed.
Help system based on Solr.
Discovery tool for digital collection. Service oriented architecture. OSS. XML/HTTP. Users need to search help. Nontechie staff members needed to update, add and delete pages easily. Using tools to support tools. They developed schema and webforms for editing pages. User can search using keywords. Solr doc returns as xml, which is converted to html.
RFID self checkout user interface redesign. Started in June 2008. 6 steps in all. Problems: busy interface; text cues small and lots of it; distracting animations; patrons walked away without printing reciepts, which hung their record. After... larger clear text. Only 3 steps. No animations. Voice prompts. Clear and concise. 10% increase in adult self check... 30% in children's self check.
Endeca project at triangle research libraries network. Catalog allows search across combined collections (11 million). Circ updated every 30 minutes. Cataloging updated daily. Facets. Syndetics. RSS. Indexing on nightly basis. Indexes tables of contents. Integrated Google book search. Interfaces with Illiad. Future: search and relevance rank tuning, adding new indexes, shopping cart, nonMarc data. [syndetics can provide xml for indexing TOC]
Handheld Project Scope. PennState. iPhone lust. Wrote a grant for using iphones in academic settings. Libraries using them for roving reference. Testing done by IT and librarians. 6 use cases developed. 3 roving reference; faculty liaison activity. how different products display on handhelds. Mapped use
cases to requirements. Mapped requirements to mobile devices. Tested with 4 devices. Found holes in their wireless, but no clear winner among devices.
Unmanned technology projects. Big plans, big user expectations. Consortial pressure, but limited staff. There was a lack of coordination, resulting in frustration for the small staff. The solution was a library technology work group, made up of key players in key projects. Mixed group of techies and nontechies. Meets monthly. Uses a wiki to set up timeline. There is a page for every project. Meeting minutes are posted, and what's new. All stafff can read that wiki. These seemingly minor changes work great and had unforseen positives. They've created another wiki specificly for documentation; training will happen at a mini-conference.
Texting at the reference desk. Implementing an sms reference for mobile patrons. Single service desk. SMS is a growing communications medium. Phone number can be added to contacts more easily. Upside wireless. Pros: local phone number; integrated with reference email; familiar technology. The service is somewhat expensive. Started with a soft rollout in late spring to be followed with a harder rollout in the fall. They've seen a huge spike in usage in the fall. [On the road? Have a question? SMS the library] New model: AIM hack.
www.digitalpast.org Ten years and growing. Cooperative project for local history digitization. Uses oclc contentDM platform. (Time.)
Questions from the floor.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sleepless in Cincinnati
I should not be allowed to touch a computer after 10 pm (but just try to stop me...)! So, instead of sleeping so that I can be up bright, early and packed (ok, packed), I decide to figure out how to use LibX. Such a geek. The plugin is installed, it works, there's more to do, BUT: to sleep, perchance to dream....
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Libraryman Michael Porter - LITA Keynote
Hi-Fi-Sci-Fi-Library: Technology, Convergence, Content, Community, Ubiquity and Library
Michael "Libraryman" Porter, WebJunction
320 attendees. Librarians from all over the US, Canada, Switzerland, other European counties, Ghana, several African countries. And they've arranged for late checkout for tomorrow! What great forum organizers.
Technology, community & training. Presentation is powerpoint and video clips. Michael does NOT stand still, and he talks fast. As a matter of fact, frenetic would be a good word to describe him. LOL.
A basic Star Trek vocabulary is useful.
Fidelity implies a truthful connection to the source.
Some of the technologies Michael will be speaking about don't exist yet...
Content + Community = Libraries
Access Granted: LCARS - Library Computer Access and Retrieval System
PADD He showed a hack of an iphone with a PADD display.
Environmnetal Scan... decreased costs, increased computing power. Software. Increased energy efficiency and battery life.
New methods of content creation. Playing well with others.
Content Provision: Competition Abounds.
Technology enhanced performance - pedometers that upload info to your computer.
[I have GOT to get an iRobot for my floors...]
Chumby.... based on OSS.
Google Phone Android is a software package. The phone will be developed by the Open Handset Alliance, which is made up of 30 plus companies.
Pandora = opensource portable gaming device. BUG = It's a base that takes plugins that emulates other hardware.
iPhone projector.
Livescribe Pulse Smartpen.
What is our interface right now for our library communities?
Now for the videos...
Rickroller
The Time Machine at the NYPL
Star Trek IV and human computer interaction. Scotty tries to interact with a 20th century computer... But what about Dragon Naturally Speaking speech recognition software? Michael's mother uses it, and he plans to use it to write a large part of his book.
Scientists, intellectuals and writers envision androids such as Data(STNG) and the Doctor (STV) aspiring to be human. That the beauty of librarianship... we are human and we hold the keys to knowledge. We are still the pinnacle of what other humans need. The community and the library will still be there if we learn how to work with the technology.
Futurama...brain spawn attack defeated thanks to the books at the local library...
I, Robot..."ban the internet to keep the libraries open"
Futurama... getting physical things from the internet (download Lucy Lui)
How William Shatner Changed the World - documentary nominated for an Emmy...
Minority Report - human computer interaction.
Zardoz - (how did I miss this one?)
Making sure libraries stick around is going to take some strong action on our part. Futurama metaphor-- the actual person in power isn't who we think it is...
Concluded with the "hi-fi sci-fi library"
3 quick plugs: create a webjunction professional profile
world cat api... hackathon at NYPL to work on this
Michael "Libraryman" Porter, WebJunction
320 attendees. Librarians from all over the US, Canada, Switzerland, other European counties, Ghana, several African countries. And they've arranged for late checkout for tomorrow! What great forum organizers.
Technology, community & training. Presentation is powerpoint and video clips. Michael does NOT stand still, and he talks fast. As a matter of fact, frenetic would be a good word to describe him. LOL.
A basic Star Trek vocabulary is useful.
Fidelity implies a truthful connection to the source.
Some of the technologies Michael will be speaking about don't exist yet...
Content + Community = Libraries
Access Granted: LCARS - Library Computer Access and Retrieval System
PADD He showed a hack of an iphone with a PADD display.
Environmnetal Scan... decreased costs, increased computing power. Software. Increased energy efficiency and battery life.
New methods of content creation. Playing well with others.
Content Provision: Competition Abounds.
Technology enhanced performance - pedometers that upload info to your computer.
[I have GOT to get an iRobot for my floors...]
Chumby.... based on OSS.
Google Phone Android is a software package. The phone will be developed by the Open Handset Alliance, which is made up of 30 plus companies.
Pandora = opensource portable gaming device. BUG = It's a base that takes plugins that emulates other hardware.
iPhone projector.
Livescribe Pulse Smartpen.
What is our interface right now for our library communities?
Now for the videos...
Rickroller
The Time Machine at the NYPL
Star Trek IV and human computer interaction. Scotty tries to interact with a 20th century computer... But what about Dragon Naturally Speaking speech recognition software? Michael's mother uses it, and he plans to use it to write a large part of his book.
Scientists, intellectuals and writers envision androids such as Data(STNG) and the Doctor (STV) aspiring to be human. That the beauty of librarianship... we are human and we hold the keys to knowledge. We are still the pinnacle of what other humans need. The community and the library will still be there if we learn how to work with the technology.
Futurama...brain spawn attack defeated thanks to the books at the local library...
I, Robot..."ban the internet to keep the libraries open"
Futurama... getting physical things from the internet (download Lucy Lui)
How William Shatner Changed the World - documentary nominated for an Emmy...
Minority Report - human computer interaction.
Zardoz - (how did I miss this one?)
Making sure libraries stick around is going to take some strong action on our part. Futurama metaphor-- the actual person in power isn't who we think it is...
Concluded with the "hi-fi sci-fi library"
3 quick plugs: create a webjunction professional profile
world cat api... hackathon at NYPL to work on this
Portals to Learning
Nicholas Schiller and ?? discussed what we can learn about teaching from studying the structure of video games. Nicholas presented "theory", and ?? discussed her adventures in WOW and how the principles she picked up there can be applied to BI.
From their powerpoint:
Games are complex information systems. They must teach players to evaluate information and make informmed choices. Games that don't do this successfully fail to sell.
Lessons from WOW:
Collaboration and Apprenticeship:
Principle: You're never alone
Application: team exercises, self-selection, identifying critical skills as a group.
Deemphasizing Authority Distinction/Emphasizing Peer Knowledge:
Reputation in wow is based on a player's skills and knowledge.
Principle: No single authority; peer to peer; 32 seconds later...
32 seconds is the average length of time it takes to get a response from someone in WoW
Application: Not LMS-like; wiki; knowledgebases
Parsing Out Learning/Using the Level Concept
Principle: Scaffolding; not tempted to skip; you only see the part of the world you've mastered. [I disagree with what she says here. You see where you have EXPLORED, not what you've mastered. I think this is an important distinction.]
Cool.
Application: Focus on process; no right answer. She developed a teaching strategy where she focuses on 3 key things, not moving forward until students have mastered those.
Socializing/Community
Principle: "The real takeaway from a good swordfight session in World of Warcraft is its masterful community building" (econtent). Players build the resources, they are the resources; they belong to the community.
Application: Collaboration as a communtiy building tool. Core kids hang together.
Intrinsic Motivation and Rewards:
Players choose to play the game. Activities are rewarded.
Students have choices too. Students are used to choosing. Choice can be workked into a classroom curriculum. Choice of partners; choice of "quests".
Persistence in Failure
When you fail in WOW, you know what to do. When you fail in the classroom, do they know what to do? Building expertise and community allows them to understand that keeping at it will result in success.
Nic: Other gaming examples: Portal
Gating: the problem: button mashing ==> problem solving by random input.
Game designer solution: Gating. Mandatory pause in the acgtion that requires demonstration of select application.
Classroom application: Design research assignments to require identifycation and reflection on research process. Annotated bibliographies (show your work!)
Valve's corporate culture is Playtest, playtest, playtest. (Eric Wolpaw on playtest/assessment.)
Gee's book: Why doesn't Lara Croft obey Prof. Van Crey?
Telling and doing. Which approach is the surer path to student learning? Learning from how game design teach players. Application: discovery based learning. Player who eventually ignores the professor's tutorial and begins exploring for themselves finds easter eggs...
New ideas as she has leveled up:
Need for a community of scholars; ie those with greater experiences. Experienced librarians vs. reference assistants. The jargon gets confusing again at each level.
Gaming literacy = information literacy
(?) Bloom's Taxonomy-- finishing on a fairly high level when they're playing game... need to translate/apply the game playing strategies to learning...
-30-
Great session! I don't think xxx followed through on her development. She focused on the guild experience to the exclusion of the solo experience. The important distinction here is that whether the student is working with classmates or is studying alone, they have access to the same set of resources, and needs to be just as familiar with the available resources at any time.
Gating was a new term for me... but i believe I recognize the process. Playing Zelda Twilight Princess is no fun for me... I get so frustrated when I can't get past certain areas. There's no way to stop following that thread, and change pace for a while; you have to complete that step the way the game designers determine... and I don't really learn that way. In WoW, if I can't do soemthing, I can focus on a different quest for a while, complete it, and then return to the problem.
From their powerpoint:
Games are complex information systems. They must teach players to evaluate information and make informmed choices. Games that don't do this successfully fail to sell.
Lessons from WOW:
Collaboration and Apprenticeship:
Principle: You're never alone
Application: team exercises, self-selection, identifying critical skills as a group.
Deemphasizing Authority Distinction/Emphasizing Peer Knowledge:
Reputation in wow is based on a player's skills and knowledge.
Principle: No single authority; peer to peer; 32 seconds later...
32 seconds is the average length of time it takes to get a response from someone in WoW
Application: Not LMS-like; wiki; knowledgebases
Parsing Out Learning/Using the Level Concept
Principle: Scaffolding; not tempted to skip; you only see the part of the world you've mastered. [I disagree with what she says here. You see where you have EXPLORED, not what you've mastered. I think this is an important distinction.]
Cool.
Application: Focus on process; no right answer. She developed a teaching strategy where she focuses on 3 key things, not moving forward until students have mastered those.
Socializing/Community
Principle: "The real takeaway from a good swordfight session in World of Warcraft is its masterful community building" (econtent). Players build the resources, they are the resources; they belong to the community.
Application: Collaboration as a communtiy building tool. Core kids hang together.
Intrinsic Motivation and Rewards:
Players choose to play the game. Activities are rewarded.
Students have choices too. Students are used to choosing. Choice can be workked into a classroom curriculum. Choice of partners; choice of "quests".
Persistence in Failure
When you fail in WOW, you know what to do. When you fail in the classroom, do they know what to do? Building expertise and community allows them to understand that keeping at it will result in success.
Nic: Other gaming examples: Portal
Gating: the problem: button mashing ==> problem solving by random input.
Game designer solution: Gating. Mandatory pause in the acgtion that requires demonstration of select application.
Classroom application: Design research assignments to require identifycation and reflection on research process. Annotated bibliographies (show your work!)
Valve's corporate culture is Playtest, playtest, playtest. (Eric Wolpaw on playtest/assessment.)
Gee's book: Why doesn't Lara Croft obey Prof. Van Crey?
Telling and doing. Which approach is the surer path to student learning? Learning from how game design teach players. Application: discovery based learning. Player who eventually ignores the professor's tutorial and begins exploring for themselves finds easter eggs...
New ideas as she has leveled up:
Need for a community of scholars; ie those with greater experiences. Experienced librarians vs. reference assistants. The jargon gets confusing again at each level.
Gaming literacy = information literacy
(?) Bloom's Taxonomy-- finishing on a fairly high level when they're playing game... need to translate/apply the game playing strategies to learning...
-30-
Great session! I don't think xxx followed through on her development. She focused on the guild experience to the exclusion of the solo experience. The important distinction here is that whether the student is working with classmates or is studying alone, they have access to the same set of resources, and needs to be just as familiar with the available resources at any time.
Gating was a new term for me... but i believe I recognize the process. Playing Zelda Twilight Princess is no fun for me... I get so frustrated when I can't get past certain areas. There's no way to stop following that thread, and change pace for a while; you have to complete that step the way the game designers determine... and I don't really learn that way. In WoW, if I can't do soemthing, I can focus on a different quest for a while, complete it, and then return to the problem.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
