Monday, October 20, 2008
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Reflections
Well...
Good for KCLS. This was fine. My satisfaction is primarily due to :
- renewed sense of currency with technology and lingo to better understand the public
- fun interaction with fellow staffers at learning new things together. As a team building event - this was great.
- new knowledge of what skills are needed for us to become an educational starting point for these tools for the public - a role I think is a good one. We'd have to fully invest ourselves as an educational institution to do that successfully and i'd embrace it.
For next time, I'd suggest:
-Pairs or learning teams be offered or suggested. This would further bond fellow staff members.
-Themes be offered and learning objectives be framed so that sites, activities, efforts be directed toward something from the start. It is not too much to learn a new tool and try to create something useful- in fact that creates greater purpose and caring. For example- hooking teens, supporting Talk Time volunteers, helping parents - any of those domains would have focussed the activities and lead to something potentially useful.
-A logical extension of this activity would be encouragment to offer classes to the public re; some of our favorite new tools. What KCLS book group, for example, wouldn't like to know more about LibraryThing or using a Wiki for planning next quarters readings. Teaching is learning cemented.
I hope that all scale learning will continue. I'd suggest we all learn a new language, have an online book club, and create local promotional materials. Each cluster could maintain a carbon load log.
ttfn, thanks.
Good for KCLS. This was fine. My satisfaction is primarily due to :
- renewed sense of currency with technology and lingo to better understand the public
- fun interaction with fellow staffers at learning new things together. As a team building event - this was great.
- new knowledge of what skills are needed for us to become an educational starting point for these tools for the public - a role I think is a good one. We'd have to fully invest ourselves as an educational institution to do that successfully and i'd embrace it.
For next time, I'd suggest:
-Pairs or learning teams be offered or suggested. This would further bond fellow staff members.
-Themes be offered and learning objectives be framed so that sites, activities, efforts be directed toward something from the start. It is not too much to learn a new tool and try to create something useful- in fact that creates greater purpose and caring. For example- hooking teens, supporting Talk Time volunteers, helping parents - any of those domains would have focussed the activities and lead to something potentially useful.
-A logical extension of this activity would be encouragment to offer classes to the public re; some of our favorite new tools. What KCLS book group, for example, wouldn't like to know more about LibraryThing or using a Wiki for planning next quarters readings. Teaching is learning cemented.
I hope that all scale learning will continue. I'd suggest we all learn a new language, have an online book club, and create local promotional materials. Each cluster could maintain a carbon load log.
ttfn, thanks.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
You Tube
Well...
I find You tube a wonderful mirror of society. The downside is it remains a playground of vanity. The upside is that it leads to some creativity, displays the breadth of people, capitalizes on the immediacy of the visual. In short order I could find Monty Python, a live birth of humans or animals, building a canoe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MstyFwhLy4
I didn't encounter sites that were trying to fool me or sell me anything; in that way it may be a more sincere and honest place on the web and it gives me hope.
I find You tube a wonderful mirror of society. The downside is it remains a playground of vanity. The upside is that it leads to some creativity, displays the breadth of people, capitalizes on the immediacy of the visual. In short order I could find Monty Python, a live birth of humans or animals, building a canoe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MstyFwhLy4
I didn't encounter sites that were trying to fool me or sell me anything; in that way it may be a more sincere and honest place on the web and it gives me hope.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Docs, Labs and Awards
Well....
Google docs are great. Still necessitates all the knowledge and passwords and intelligence of a popular computer user..and .. a great tool. I worry about too much reliance on such a distant cache of my stuff; the need for backing up remains greater than ever. These simple and basic ideas remain too distant for many public library users whose lenses I am adopting to try these tools. Also public library access is always going to be risky- crashes, kicked plugs, no toner - so we can only try to make it all work the best as possible. As stated before this is a great opportunity for educating our public on google apps.
Google lab is better than the Batcave and Q's place- found all doughnut shops in my zip code, tracked a yellow cab along I-90 and tried the 800 # to get connected to a voicemail for free. Google remains the premier portal for info finding. It is a triumph of mission control to not have pretty women and pop ups allover the site.
The Awards site made me sad that my friends video startup was not included but now I have a dynomite list of recommendations for future endeavors. The wetpaint wiki didn't seem so great. Got to go back to see if any travel/reservation tools are listed.
Google docs are great. Still necessitates all the knowledge and passwords and intelligence of a popular computer user..and .. a great tool. I worry about too much reliance on such a distant cache of my stuff; the need for backing up remains greater than ever. These simple and basic ideas remain too distant for many public library users whose lenses I am adopting to try these tools. Also public library access is always going to be risky- crashes, kicked plugs, no toner - so we can only try to make it all work the best as possible. As stated before this is a great opportunity for educating our public on google apps.
Google lab is better than the Batcave and Q's place- found all doughnut shops in my zip code, tracked a yellow cab along I-90 and tried the 800 # to get connected to a voicemail for free. Google remains the premier portal for info finding. It is a triumph of mission control to not have pretty women and pop ups allover the site.
The Awards site made me sad that my friends video startup was not included but now I have a dynomite list of recommendations for future endeavors. The wetpaint wiki didn't seem so great. Got to go back to see if any travel/reservation tools are listed.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Docs!
Well....
On first pass it seems the simplicity of Google Docs would be my preferred site to Zoho. Their nowegian snowstorm look and user familiarity is hard for me to move beyond.
Also, though I didn't find it, I'd imagine a way - now or in the near future that one could tie into their google mail address book to share access and authoring privileges.
In general this seems great. And it'll necessitate setting settings, creating access, syncing up to blog sites and other publish sites. Ergo it is still involved enough that the public can't just start using it at our suggestion or when the p drive fails. Effort required.
On first pass it seems the simplicity of Google Docs would be my preferred site to Zoho. Their nowegian snowstorm look and user familiarity is hard for me to move beyond.
Also, though I didn't find it, I'd imagine a way - now or in the near future that one could tie into their google mail address book to share access and authoring privileges.
In general this seems great. And it'll necessitate setting settings, creating access, syncing up to blog sites and other publish sites. Ergo it is still involved enough that the public can't just start using it at our suggestion or when the p drive fails. Effort required.
Web 2.0
Well...
To prepare to remain relevant for a wired society I agree with some pundits in several ways :
-need to make it all easier eg, can't we have shockwave more easily loaded for Rosetta Stone users in the library ? Had a torturous discussion today with a patron wanting to get into downloading audio books; so involved.
- opportunity to become educators. There is a shift from finding good info to using that info in the best ways. How about some Social Network classes or offering a version of Library 2.0 for the public. This is a shift back to the future where librarians see themselves as educators- a move I welcome!
-a knowledge spa sounds nice. I applaud the eco film series at N Bend for being relevant. Certainly there will be a wiki created for participants to share their later ideas of how the community can remain active and informed, followed by a Google Doc site for a shared authored manifesto or pamphelet.
To prepare to remain relevant for a wired society I agree with some pundits in several ways :
-need to make it all easier eg, can't we have shockwave more easily loaded for Rosetta Stone users in the library ? Had a torturous discussion today with a patron wanting to get into downloading audio books; so involved.
- opportunity to become educators. There is a shift from finding good info to using that info in the best ways. How about some Social Network classes or offering a version of Library 2.0 for the public. This is a shift back to the future where librarians see themselves as educators- a move I welcome!
-a knowledge spa sounds nice. I applaud the eco film series at N Bend for being relevant. Certainly there will be a wiki created for participants to share their later ideas of how the community can remain active and informed, followed by a Google Doc site for a shared authored manifesto or pamphelet.
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