So how do we has libraries keep up with the ever changing navigation of social networking?  It’s sometimes a hard sell for people using the “good old fashioned way of having a conversation”, because change is a constant and that can sometimes mean a lot of learning.  In Rosenfeld’s article (2008) “Facebook and and MySpace having millions of registered users, social networking sites have quickly become a ubiquitous part of our culture. (Rosenfeld, 2008, p. 60).  But no matter what, you can not turn your back on a revolution, and the new millenials are our new customers, they want to use Twitter, and Facebook, and Shelfari, they want to share, collaborate and change the way we do business.  Much like Stephens (2007) compares the web to what libraries do, “Libraries do well at providing access to materials (“books n stuff”).  We also have librarians and staff eager to serve users (“people”). (Stephens, 2007, p. 11).

Library 2.0 includes all the things that make libraries great, the conversation, the books, the information, and of course the people.  I think we need to actively participate and engage our patrons they way they do in the everyday lives, such as a presence on Facebook, and Twitter, and Stephens (2007) says it best, “trust”…”This concept is key thinking for social computing.” (Stephens, 2007, p.11).  The trepidation associated with change is the pivotal point of any growth for one organization or oneself.  Rosenfeld (2008) highlights, “These sites provide ways for users to interact in online communities using blogs, discussion groups, e-mail, video and audio, and file sharing.” (Rosenfeld, 2008, p. 60)  My comment is that although, changes can be difficult and challenging we all know its’ the only constant.  And even more, it is another way in which we can expand not only our personal growth, but the growth of the library community.

Works cited:

Stephens, M. (2007).  The ongoing web revolution. Library Technology Reports, 43(5), 10-14.

Rosenfeld, E. (2008). Expanding your professional network with nings. Teacher Librarian, 35(3), 60.

Attitude

Eventhough, I generally perceive myself as an enthusiastic learner, when I completed my first Graduate Level Web 2.0 course, I experienced for the first time some initial feelings of being overwhelmed and under-prepared.  I had some serious doubts about both my ability to complete the course and the level of knowledge that I lacked, it was a real eye-opener in terms of attitudal adjustment.  I was most certainly not an “enthusiastic learner” at the beginning of the term…gadzooks, it was a real challenge for me to get the work done.  I felt the impending dread, as I navigated through the RSS feeds, the blog posts, and the uploading of podcast…I can only describe it as “panic” as Dr. Haycock describes in the stages of team developement. As I reviewed these lectures in this lesson section, I reflected on the necessity of learning and exploring the new technology tools(such as SKYPE and elluminate) in order to be at my opitmum as a team member.  That’s when I first discovered that asking for help from my colleagues during our online time, was the best process for me to overcome these panic attacks.  By the end of the course, I not only gained some valuable self-awareness, but some really great mentors that I still keep in touch with on my RSS feeds.

Conflict

A word often felt but never expressed, I gained some valuable advice about conflict from Dr. Haycock’s webcast, when he stated quite clearly “conflict should never be avoided”.  So often, I find myself thinking well, if I just ignore that it will go away, well, I am sure we can all agree it rarely if ever goes away on its own accord.  Dr. Haycock, states “consequences keep people together, and clarity of ground rules are a critical piece of team building”.    I learned about meeting the goals and common performance goals by meeting all participants respectfully at the table.

Teamwork

Both of the lectures emphasized the importance of building effective teamwork skills, because the majority of our business/work environments will involve team and teamwork experiences.  Collaboration is a huge part of any successful company.  The age old saying “two heads are better than one” has been proven time and time again.  Professor Irwin, describes teamwork, as a balanced combination of “attitude and planning”, it gives people a chance to develop mentoring skills, a huge component of the library world.  Professor Irwin, mentoring as taking many different forms, from the grade 5 student’s research project, to “leaving no teammate behind” mentality as a conquering of the barriers to success of a team.  I especially, gained knowledge about the dichotomy of the “responbilities to the team” and to the “teammates” in Irwin’s elluminate slideshow.  And above all else, “participation is the key”.  Teamwork will not only enhance my personal skills but build on my applicable skills in the workforce, it will help keep me current and give me many opportunities for success and growth.

Libraries and Open Education: Opening New Doors for 21st Teaching and Learning

This was interesting as I am embarking on a journey with the homeschoolers in Beaumont.  This workshop highlighted some great web sites for free open source education links for educators.  As we move forward, we continue to work collaboratively with the schools in our area, and this was a great workshop to outline some very accessible, FREE curriculum material for people in education. 

Open Source Resources:

http://moodle.org/

“Moodle is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a Free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites.”

Even MIT has courses offered online for open education. http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

http://cnx.org/ So much like wikipedia these sites are NOT static, they create a community of learners and content is added and constantly evolving.

Plus, we also got to vote and use the “iclicker” to register our responses!  Very cool!

That’s Not My Job: The Changing Nature of Reference and Public Service

Technology problems can be extremely difficult for staffing issues.  The technology support is usually done off site and can be challenging to get staff on board with the newness of everything.

PreConference: “Get Your Game On”

Gaming and the Library this was an amazing preconference information session.  I have attached in my delicious site all the conference handouts and information.  The two presenters have extensive experience with gaming in the library, Eli Neiburger wrote a book entitled “Gamers in the Library?!”  The preconference focused on the research and actual literacy connections of video games and the library patron.  The statistics indicate that the highest number of “gamers” is adult women at 72% of all video games are bought by women in the USA.  Children who play Pokemon or any RPG (role playing games) are able to process visually, as well as acquire literacy through symbols at 200,000 lines of text!  Pokemon has over 500 characters that’s more elements than the Periodic Table of Content, children are able to solve problems in a social situation, their comprehension, memory and knowledge of abstract reasoning are the 21st Century skills the work force is looking for.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/walkingpaper/full

The games that we tried out were Big Fish Games for the Wii and Big Brain Academy.  National Gaming is on November 13th and I am planning on collaborating with the Youth Centre and having a gaming tournament here at the library.

the website for registering your results is gtsystem.org

It Takes a Leader to Be Strategic

http://www.placonference.org/handouts/1560_Cervantes_Melinda__143555_Apr01_2010_Time_010117PM.pdf

This session dealth with the issue of analyzing data and statistics to take your library in a forward thinking direction.  The session was quite informative, however, the issues that many of the libraries in the states are facing is the closures of branches and libraries be amalgamated into huge regional districts.  The session talked about watching the behavious of your readership, and creating a knowledge base of these patterns.

http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty/jason.frand/teacher/technologies/palace/datamining.htm

Your Invited: A Feast of New Literature for Teens

50 new titles reviewed and discussed…lots of interesting new books for Young Adult.  We have ordered a dozen of the suggestions for the new release shelves in our teen area! 

http://www.placonference.org/handouts/1560_Battisti_Jerene__143678_Apr02_2010_Time_112551AM.doc

If you get a chance read NUMBERS by Rachel Ward – amazing book!!!

Shortcuts to Greatness or 10 things that great libraries know and maybe you don’t…

1. Great libraries have great leadership.

2. Visionary leadership relies on wonderful staff.

3. Visionary leadership and great staff can create a great culture.

4. The library belongs to the customers.  Visionaary leadership and great staff are there to make the experience that the customers love.

5. Great libaries practice rapid recovery.

6. Great library seize opportunity.

7. Great libraries have heart and soul.

8. Great libraries have a sense of humour.

9.Great libraries look cool.

10. Great libraries don’t wait to be great.

check out:

http://www.tscpl.org/

http://issuu.com/houstonlibrary/docs/houston_public_library_annual_report

Reinventing Circulation Jobs

This session has been very useful to our staff – we have discussed at the last staff meeting issues around repetitive injuries due to check-in and check-out motion.  We have started to adopt a roving circulation model, meeting and greeting people at the place of their need (ie the catalogue stations and in the stacks).  Our circulation has increased since we have adapted to this model.  More and more people are leaving the library with books in hand.  It has given the front staff more freedom and opportunity for dirversity in their jobs.

Be a Good Boss

This one was really a treat to myself.  I thoroughly enjoyed this session!  CAN NOT WAIT UNTIL HER BOOK COMES OUT AT THE END OF APRIL!

The speakers talked about the three types of bosses:

1) Newbie

2) Know but Don’t have time

3) Don’t know what they don’t know

“How can you treat other people?” TONE set by the boss, I want to make other peoples’ jobs easier.

What is needed to be a good boss?

1) Commitment

2) Time

3) A Plan

http://www.alastore.ala.org/

What an amazing conference, so many great ideas and people.  I have spoken with a local homeschooler in Beaumont and I am going to set aside the use of the computers in the back, along with speciality programs for the homeschoolers to network and connect with each other. 

Also, I am looking forward to putting in motion the gaming tournament and am on my way to make this happen.  I am thinking about “branding the library” making a real signature icon for our patrons to recognize.

It’s all very exciting!!!

Once upon a time in a place not far from here, there lived a newbie Library Manager, this Library Manager was a bit scared and nervous about the new technologies taking over her precious book lovers’ with their shiny new gadgets, widgets, and templates!  This Library Manager decided to go out on a quest to seek what all this fuss was about, in a galaxy named Web 2.0…

She had many reservations about this new world, would it be a friendly or hostile environment, would her personality be a good match with the makings of a digitized world of wonder, would she make new friends, would she connect with people, places and things.  What if this new world evaded her old world, and started taking over her printed stacks with avengeance, would she be frightened, fearful, where would she look to find answers to these questions.  She had three magical inquiry quests for her to obtain an awareness or knowledge in these new tools along with the amulet of awesomeness in the Web 2.0 world.  Here’s her beginning instructions for her to achieve her enlightened Library Manager state in the technologically advanced blogosphere.  With only these three questions, and her wits to guide her would she become the superhero we were all looking for or would she return in defeat and retreat to the comfort of  her snuggling bed and curl up with a good book for the rest of her days?

Inquiry Quests for the Library Manager

1) How can Web 2.0 applications and tools help and support my patrons coming into the library that may have some resistance to the whole technological advances?  For example, seniors that have limited access to computers, or people that are technologically phobic?

2) How can I continue to support the growth of technology in the public library without denying our patrons of that sense of human connections?  Where does my role as a librarian (technologically savvy) and community minded person (the greeting everyone by their name) meet in order to support each aspect of my personality?

3) What kinds of collections do I need to focus on in order for our technologically literate patrons to continue to feel supported in at same time as keeping our excitement for our print collections?  What directions do I think Web 2.0 is taking the public library, what does it mean to be a digital librarian in the public library?

Land of the non-lost: Photosharing

Pictures, memories and stories lined the walls of this land, from as far as the eye could see there were epic slide shows, photos, and albums.  Which was the tool of choice for this newbie library manager?  Would she go with smugmug(http://www.smugmug.com/), photobucket (http://photobucket.com/), flickr (http://www.flickr.com/) - so many pics (picks) so little time!  The land of photosharing was a rocky start for the little library manager (known now as the LM), the walks down memory lane where spectacular, and the views were amazing, but she missed some special requirements in the quest.  How could the patrons use this tool in the public library?  How would this new technology improve the library’s patronage or enhance their library experience?  The LM knows that community building is extremely important in her little village, she knows that many of her patrons travel to distant locals and are interested in sharing their photos with the world.  So she learned from Eric Schnell, in Library 2.0 and Beyond, that “The emergence of photo hosting and social networking sites like Flickr has also lead to a variety of interesting applications.  Since many photo sites encourage the input of metadata, designers can mash photo with other information that can be associated with the metadata.  One such result is what has become known as Geotagging.” (Courtenay, 2009, p. 64).

from wikipedia:

Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification metadata to various media such as photographs, video, websites, or

RSS feeds and is a form of geospatial metadata. These data usually consist of latitude andlongitude coordinates, though they can also include altitude, bearing, accuracy data, and place names.

The patrons could network, share and inform each other through the sharing of their pictures on the flickr site, where other people could access their information, see photos of places they may want to visit or other interesting facts.  The land of photosharing was not to be feared, it was to be embraced and explored for everyone’s entertainment.  The LM also found that she could use images for her library website that acknowledged the artist, photographer, and people taking the pic by using a site entitled: http://compfight.com and flickr together.

The land of adventure: Videosharing

The LM was determined to meet her next challenge in her quest, videotaping a library tour onto the hand-held sony camcorder with HD capabilities.  The process was arduous, and time consuming!  Fifteen hours later the 5 minute video was born and the LM could rest easier now that she saw the end result in the world of http://www.youtube.com/.  The LM used the video for a Board presentation, and received much congratulations and salutations!   She was beginning to see her way clearly in these strange lands of Web 2.0.

“Some institutions use YouTube to promote their courses, and a number of academics have been using it to disseminate new ideas”. (Davies, 2009, p. 63).  The LM found the adversity is met in the land of videosharing did not last for long as she used the tools she learned just last week in the library for a patron trying to complete a video assignment for his homeschooling project.  Yay! Yay!  the LM shouted as she downloaded the video and sent the YouTube link to the patron to forward to his instructor.  All was not lost in the journey through the videosharing land.

Delicious the fruit: Land of Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking sites for the LM were knew and she found them to be like biting into the apple from the tree of knowledge.  Social networking is to libraries as apples are to apple pie, the two go together like peas and carrots!  http://delicious.com/, the social bookmarking site that has helped many a librarian on the go in the Web 2.0 world.  ”Traditional library web products, whether online public access catalogs, library databases, or even library web sites, have long been rigidly controlled and difficult to use. Patrons regularly prefer Google’s simple interface. Now social bookmarking and tagging tools help librarians bridge the gap between the library’s need to offer authoritative, well-organized information and their patrons’ web experience.”(web cited: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6476403.html).  The tagging, organizing and patron interaction has much to offer the LM on her continuing saga into the Web 2.0 world and its new streamlined tools to help patrons along the way.  The ability to access sites, blogs, and other media that you need to find on any given computer is efficient and less time consuming.  The LM decided right then and there to continue to keep her little bookmark up and running for all to use and share!

The Land of the Shared Stories: Podcasting

The little LM had some familarity with this tool (albeit back in the day when she listened to CBC radio late into the night) and she felt confident that the telling/sharing of stories is always an important feature of any library!  She had heard some tall tales in her day, and enjoyed a good story like the best of them.  From Library 2.0 and Beyond, “Just as podcasting rose out of blogging, it first attracted attention in the library field through the biblioblogosphere.  This loose yet interconnected network of technologically aware librarian bloggers routinely discussed and debated developing issues and trends in the profession”(Kretz, 2009, p. 35).  Podcasting can be used in the new library world as book talks, interviews with authors, links to serials or book reviews from around the world!  This LM quickly discovered the joy of podcasting downloading author talks from BBC and CBC, enjoying the interviews on her way to work in the morning – feeling like she wasn’t missing out on any important stuff (like the Garner Andrew radio show on sonic 102.9-www.sonic1029.com/onair/morning/).

The Land of Learning & Sharing with Each Other: Wikis

A wiki is a difficult tool to maintain, sustain and gain momentum…now the LM knew what it must have been like for Snow White to organize and coordinate the knowledge of her workers!  The wiki land is strife with inertia.  ”

The simplest online database that could possibly work.

Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly.(web cited: http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki.  When they work, they work fantastically, but it can be a real challenge to get people involved.  However, the wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org/, is one of the best first stop shop for online information, for any library!  It provides pretty much up to date information, and allows the access to information easy to navigate, and explore.  The LM felt that she would accomplish much with this handy tool at her fingertips, helping not only her patrons but her family when a need to search for information was of the utmost importance!  Like the terminology and origin of the word “emo” (an actual wiki search performed with 12 year old daughter!)

Emo (pronounced /ˈiːmoʊ/) is a style of rock music typically characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement ofWashington, D.C., where it was known as “emotional hardcore” or “emocore” and pioneered by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace. (web cited: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo)

The Land of the Hip & Happening: Multimedia Sharing Sites

The LM knew that she had made many friends of this last land of Web 2.0 tools, she made a video with her step daughter to celebrate their family tradition of the Edmonton Folk Festival, she had made a believer of a skeptical circulation desk worker with her slick presentation of social networking at the library!  Animoto, voicethread and others are fun to explore said the LM!  She loved the ability to share her videos on facebook, youtube, and broadcast high quality shorts of pictures of family, friends and good times.  

The LM decided right then and there that voicethread would be the tool of choice for the upcoming Seniors’ photo history project at the library.  http://voicethread.com/blog/.  Thinking back to this land, the LM knew that these tools would be a constant go-to tool for fun, sharing, and sending out information to both family, friends, and patrons!

The Land of Getting to Know You: Facebook, Twitter

Sometimes the world of the LM was a lonely one, one of inward contemplation and she wanted nothing more than shut off the noise of the twittersphere, the facebookers, the constant checkers of the happenings of other peoples’ lives.   Although, she still found comfort in the company of old friends, on facebook, and the newness of the twittersphere.  Most of the libraries websites that she visited had those common icons of the twitter and facebook…she knew that everyone was doing it.  Heck even her recent update about the Edmonton Public Library bibliocommons came to her in a twitter.  She knew the importance of this tool and has every intention of continuing her learning with these tools, knowing that they will be a huge benefit to the library’s new website!

The Land of Plenty: Blogs, Blogging for PD, RSS

Her biggest fear turned out to be her greatest reward!  She tossed and turned at the start of her journey worrying about the RSS feeds, the knowledge of this tool is amazing to her now!  The new literacy skills that are gained using this tool are invaluable to her and her patrons.  She will continue to check her feeds, feed up on the latest technology news and keep updated on the new books coming out for her collections, and keep her patrons informed.  ”RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a convenient way to keep up with new content on your favorite website. Instead of having to click through the various sections of CincinnatiLibrary.org to see what’s new, you can have that information pushed directly to your computer! RSS has been adopted by many news services.”(web cited: http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/feeds/.

Final Reflection

Has the LM returned to find her much needed inquiry quests fulfilled?  Will she set out for another adventure?  Are there more even more terrains to map, more explorations to play with?  Yes, to all of the above the LM gratiously accepts.  There are always more lands to explore, more peaks and valleys to explore, more to learn with these Web 2.0 tools.  The LM feels more confident that these web 2.0 tools are here to enhance her library, to guide her patrons to information more quickly, and to access information when a patron needs it!  They are not to be feared but embraced and considered a friendly guide through the world of literacy.  Never one to shy away from new opportunities, the LM vowes to update her blog, begin the building of a new website and community link for her patrons in her little neck of the woods.

And so concludes the epic tale of a little Library Manager that had much to gain, and many adventure to partake in and many friends to meet along the way.  Until next time…happy trails to you she sang as she surf out of sight!!!

Works cited:

Courtenay, N.  Library 2.0 and Beyond.  Innovative Technologies and Tomorrow’s User.  2007.

Davies, J & Merchant, G. Web 2.0 for Schools. Learning and Social Participation.  2009.

Farkas, Meredith. Social Software in Libraries.  Building Collaborations, Communication, and Community Online.  2007.

Richardson, R.  Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. 2009.

Sauers, M.  Blogging and RSS A Librarian’s Guide.  2006.

Tapscott, D.  grown up digital.  how the net generation is changing your world.  2009.

I have to be completely honest with everyone on this post – this assignment has been looming over my head since the beginning of the term.   I had no idea what a RSS was nor did I realize the potential of this awesome tool!  I thought at the time oh no, I have to have at least 15 feeds coming into my blog…OH NO!!!  I am happy to report that the process has worked itself out and I feel more satisfied and “fed up” (pardon the pun) with my feeds.  Here’s how the process went…

Wikipedia definition: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS)

“RSS (most commonly translated as “Really Simple Syndication” but sometimes “Rich Site Summary”) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.^[2] An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed”,^[3] or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically.”(web cited: 11/29/09)

First, I asked a colleague about RSS feeds, how do they work, where do I find them, and what’s it all about.  He was very helpful explained it to me in terms that I could understand, he said “remember when you used to get e-newsletters (www.enewslettersonline.com)?”  To which I replied, yes, I still get e-newsletters!  It’s a way of keeping up to date and informed in an organized and efficient way. In the words of Will Richardson, “There are also a few tools aimed at helping you consume all that information in more efficient and relevant  ways.   Meet RSS.  RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication and if you’re an educator, I think it’s the one technology that you should start using today, right now, this minute.  And tomorrow, you should teach your students to use it”. (Richardson, 2009, p. 71)  I felt a bit like an RSS bottom feeder to begin with, gathering up bits of information, cleaning my thinktank, and subscribing to every blog I visited.  I must have been a bit overzealous at first, as I felt inundated with feeds that I could possibly keep up with – “just another wafer thin mint, sir?”.  The organization part of this journey is the most challenging for me, as I am at best a pack-rat extraordinaire!  I keep everything, and am afraid to throw anything out, a teacher friend of mine told me a long while back when I first starting teaching, that’s the only reason I have an attached garage, to keep all my teaching supplies.  Well thankfully, times have changed and we can organize and keep up to date with online tools and Real Simple Syndication can do that for you.

Organizing and Using Time Efficiently

An Organized Desk is the sign of an Organized Person

I enjoy my e-newsletters from the various local designers, or artists that I have added myself to their email list at their shows, but let’s face it people are busy and not everyone will have the time to track me down to let me know what’s happening or what’s coming up that I need to be aware of.  And that’s when RSS can really help busy people find useful information, and read updates on blogs that they are subscribed to, like an online magazine without the hassle of forest destruction, or renewal forms.  The renewal forms are a bit of a sore point right now, as I am in the midst of renewal time for our magazine subscriptions at the library, it’s a bit of a nightmare as it appears easier than it really is!  Subscribing to a blog is very simple, look on the blog and click on the RSS icon to subscribe, you can delete a subscription, share a subscription, or give it a whirl and then decide, lots of flexibility, adaptability and quasi-commitment (these are all things I can get behind?!).  The blogs I follow right now are mostly work/course related although, I am still on the e-newsletter for the Running Room (www.runningroom.com), as I am always running from something, hence the reference to quasi-commitment.  I keep up to date with this feed as I am always thinking about my next big race, so I check out what is coming up and training schedules that I may want to try out.  But that’s a subject for another blog post, onwards and upwards as they say.   RSS subcriptions allows you to keep up to date with your feeds, it keeps everything fresh and new!  Like a ziplock bag of ideas for daily grind.  

Although, on a personal note, the daily word  from (http://www.wordthink.com/)and its definition is not going to gain a person any ground at a dinner party as I found out at my last social outing, nobody really wants to know, but perhaps I am hanging with the wrong crowd for that adventure…stuff for me to think about anyways.Time is of the Essence

The time efficiency factor comes into play when you realize that time is of the essence.  I am a big supporter of the “slow down movement”- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Praise_of_Slow, the unfortunate part of it is that not a lot of bosses or curriculum, or administrators, or Boards are really into the movement as much as we may be.  So, RSS lets you read more efficiently, and cover more ground effectively when time is of the essence and once again, I am going to straight shoot here, when isn’t it?!! Richardson describes, “So, the reason number one to get your brain wrapped around RSS?  Your can read more content from more sources in less time.   In fact, you may even be able to cancel the subscriptions you have to paper versions of magazines and newspapers that come to your nondigital mailbox.” (Richardson, 2009, p. 72).  For me personally, RSS has helped me to keep informed in a relaxed but efficient way.  I like to skim and scan, learned this trick at a very young age, as my Dad was in the newspaper industry, he said “Pal, read the headlines and if the writer hasn’t captured your attention by the headline, move on and return after you’ve read the good stuff!”  Thanks, Dad – this advice hasn’t steered me wrong yet!  From Web 2.0 for Schools, ” RSS feeds have proved to be particularly useful feature in keeping track of multiple sites as they update.  Feeds provide you with sortened “headline” information from sites (blogs, wikis, etc.) that you are watching.  So rather than having to regularly check a newsblog, for example, you can keep track of its feeds.” (Davies, 2009, p.118).  The RSS feeds allow you to do just that -read through your feeds then return to any others that may catch your eye upon second reading.  This reading practice is perhaps not the best for studying for your LSAT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_School_Admission_Test) but I can agree that if I were back in the throws of substitute teaching I would definitely take a look at my “Freshbrain Feed” (http://www.freshbrain.org/explore or http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/forum/topics/inquiry-circles-book-group) or my Unquiet Librarian feed or book suggestions in an impromptu library visit!  I can see how effective using RSS feeds, and keeping up to date on blogs and technology but for me the initial stages were just about not knowing what to do or where to go with the technology.

When I went to the Netspeed Conference (http://www.thealbertalibrary.ab.ca/netspeed/index.html) I went to a workshop entitled “Do Consumer Information Technologies Need to be Taught? The RSS Example” and the presenters (Dale Storie, http://www.phs.ualberta.ca/dale_storie.cfm & Thane Chambers http://blogs.library.ualberta.ca/rx/)  talked about how email, facebook, and other technologies almost slipped into the subconscious of the mainstream, but unfortunately RSS hasn’t reached that level.  I have spoken about this before, but when I left to teach in Taiwan I signed my Mom up for email, I am not really sure why it seemed so easy at the time, but I mostly think it was because “everybody was doing it” theme that I figured it wasn’t all that difficult to accomplish.  I could also experience the usefulness of the tool right away – it kept me in touch with my Mom and the homesickness somewhat at bay on the okay days in Taiwan (few and far between let me tell you!).  The main barrier for me is that it seemed complicated when I first heard about this tool, I didn’t know what the acronym stood for, I didn’t know the first thing about “feeds” and I didn’t really understand the significance of the tool itself.  In order to fully understand the whole web 2.0 tool known as RSS feeds, one has to do a bit of research into the wonderful world of aggregator.  An aggregator is “from Sauers’ book “Blogging and RSS A Librarian’s Guide“, “a news aggregator is a software or a remotely hosted service that periodically reads a set of news sources, in one of several XML-based formats, finds the new bits, and displays them in reverse-chronological order on a single page” (Sauers, 2006, p. 143).  At the beginning of the course, because I had the most anxiety about this tool, I signed up for Bloglines, (http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs)- a web-based aggregator and then I added google reader, another web-based (http://www.google.com/reader/view/#overview-page) to my subscription account.   The process was absolutely painless, free and everything is well organized and laid out for me.  Most of my popular reads are the library job postings, this directly reflects my own personal vice of thinking about traveling when I actually am not really going anywhere – but a girl can dream can’t she?  However, having said that, and reflecting on my personal experience of learning how to use the tool, I know that RSS feeds are an effective way to feed yourself right up on current news of the day from your blogs and the web.  Eventhough, I have the complete links on my blog of most  of the blogs, wikis, and news of the day, I am now in the habit of checking my feeds first and reading through the headlines and then visiting the site if I need to gather more information from the online source itself.  It’s quick, efficient, and easy to use!  As an outsider to the classroom environment and an advocate for parental involvement in children’s education, I will quite often use my bloglines for a starting place for thinking about how this can happen, or perhaps even as a bonding moment for my step-daughter and I as I download a coupon for Banana Republic.  I think once a person becomes acquainted with the tool it makes sense to use it, and it can become habitual when you incorporate it into your routine of updating!  That’s the biggest advantage for me, because the more I become habitual in my organization, the better I become at it, it’s like the habit I got my daughter into when she was very young.  She takes her shoes off at the door, no matter what, the practice was a bit of a work in progress as it was the first time she went into the bank with me, she took her shoes off at the front door of the bank!

Professional Learning: RSS Feeds for the Hungry Librarian

The picture above accurately describes my desk at work, my inbox seems to be overflowing on my good days, and on my bad days, I can’t see my inbox!  So how is the RSS world, web 2.0 tool going to help me with my information overload, and feelings of post Christmas dinner lethargy.  RSS is like a pair of turkey eating pants, (http://www.tv.com/friends/the-one-with-the-rumor/episode/89343/summary.html), it gathers holds, stores and maintains your important feeds without slowing you down.  For example, bloglines has a toolkit that allows you to go up to the turkey buffet over and over again, subscribing to multiple feeds once you have gone through the process once.  Like so many of the social networking tools, in the Web 2.0 world it plays well with others, sharing, embedding (an interface with podcasting could be one option), interfacing and sending you on related feeds without too much confusion. “This link takes you to a list of feeds that Bloglines considers topically related to the feed you were just viewing.  From here you have options to read a description, view the feed, and subscribe to the feed.” (Sauers, 2006, p. 160).   One always has to keep in mind the importance of gluttony, because it may lead to the above cartoon!

The web cite “RSS the latest Feed” (http://www.ucd.ie/wusteman/lht/wusteman-rss.html) has the following as examples of the ways in which libraries can use RSS feeds.  I mean I can not reiterate this enough, libraries are about getting the information out to our patrons, increasing our patronage, and promoting literacy to as many people as we can.  Short of dropping newsletters from the sky, a RSS feed on a library’s website is a very effective, low cost and efficient way to get information out to patrons and the community. I have a RSS feed that I use for work quite a bit, the Education Institute Partnership (http://www.thepartnership.ca/partnership/bins/index.asp) , it keeps me informed about upcoming online training or webinars that I may be interested in or colleagues may be interested in.  The part of RSS feeds that I have some challenges with at work, is that I am usually the RSS feed, meaning I have to keep everyone informed, I just wish sometimes that my co-workers would take a vested interest in these digital resources in the Web 2.0 world!  I read Joyce Valenza’s blogs quite frequently, eventhough the blog is more geared toward school libraries, I still like the way she writes and I find her subject matter interesting!  I just joined the wiki she’s reviving from her research days.  I keep my eye on Buffy Hamilton’s as she quite often tweets about something that is on her blog, her Classroom 2.0 sessions for example.  And of course, I read my groups’ blogs, too, a great source of inspiration for me!

Library blogs   Announcements    Web resource announcements   Search resource   Books   Portals     Newsgroups       Search results      RSS-based search engines    Journals

The Millet Public Library had a great web resource about RSS feeds attached to their library homepage (http://www.milletlibrary.ca/uploads/files/0004/6491/RSS_Feeds.pdf) that explains RSS and how they work, what they are for, and how to use this tool in your everyday life!  They were mostly getting the knowledge out there for the genealogy group, indicating to people that there news would come to them, instead of looking for it themselves.  The Vancouver Public Library is providing RSS feeds to its patrons, “RSS feeds are now available from www.vpl.ca. The feeds are provided free of charge for use by individuals and non-profit organizations for personal, non-commercial uses”. (web cited 11/29/09).  Edmonton Public Library uses its RSS feeds to inform about job openings, and events happening at the library (http://www.epl.ca/RSSFeeds/EPLRSSFeeds.cfm).  I can see how important the tool is, and the most important component to this adventure into RSS for the patrons is having the proper support system for them to be guided in the tool itself, and clearly outlining the exact how to involved with using RSS feeds.  You can lead a horse to water, but you can not make him drink.  It has to be accessible, easy and straightforward for patrons or they are just going to end up feeling frustrated and “fed up” with the process. So keeping this in mind, I can see how I can incorporate this tool into my professional life, but I have to remain mindful about making sure the instructions are there, as well.  Blogging for the library can sometimes mean rewinding and resetting a patrons’ outlook on how a library operates and RSS and blogging allow libraries to accomplish this by refreshing their updates, blogs and information.  RSS feeds give a library fresh ideas to blog about, they help maintain their search engines, and allow some freedom for the evolution in a patrons’ interaction with the website.  I know that I will look to my RSS feeds for fresh ideas when it comes to my biweekly blog writing for our library!

Libraries and librarians need to connect with customers and potential customers in their worlds.

Blogging is a quick and easy way to do this and participate in the Web 2.0 world. (web cited: 11/29/09)

(http://sharynheili.wordpress.com/2006/12/18/to-blog-or-not-to-blog/)

Works cited:

Courtenay, N.  Library 2.0 and Beyond.  Innovative Technologies and Tomorrow’s User.  2007.

Davies, J & Merchant, G. Web 2.0 for Schools. Learning and Social Participation.  2009.

Farkas, Meredith. Social Software in Libraries.  Building Collaborations, Communication, and Community Online.  2007.

Richardson, R.  Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. 2009.

Sauers, M.  Blogging and RSS A Librarian’s Guide.  2006.

Tapscott, D.  grown up digital.  how the net generation is changing your world.  2009.

It takes just 1 + 1 + 1 to start a revolution and that’s just what happened in 2006 with three key players in this social networking messaging site.    The trio based out of San Francisco decided they needed something to break out of their “creative slump” and  after a “daylong brainstorming session” a short, new SMS system arrived! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter#History)  The birth of the twitter revolution.   From wikipedia:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known as followers. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. While the service itself costs nothing to use, accessing it through SMS may incur phone service provider fees. (web cited: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter)

Mastermaq (http://twittercounter.com/mastermaq?manual_update=1)

Twitter currently has over 6 million users (http://www.blurtit.com/q9327977.html)

PERSONAL LEARNING - PREPARE TO BE TWITTERPATED, TWISTED, AND TWIRLED

Twitter Language, Twitter Rules, Twitter Social Mores

So from the little think tank of three rub-a-dub-dub three three men in a TWUG, comes that worldwide phenomena of over 6 million users and rising!  Many people have debated, questioned and even resisted the twitter revolution and one may ask why?  When I first heard of twitter, I was most certainly NOT twitterpated with it!  No sir, I really didn’t think that hearing that Ashton Kushner had taken a picture of Demi Moore’s butt was a) all that interesting OR b) I have better things to do with my time.  I have a three year old for pete’s sakes…however, having said that, did you ever get the feeling that you were missing out on something, like everyone’s having this really great party and you are too busy rushing from one place to another and never finding it.  Well, twitter sort of solves all of that because it’s real time, real life, real funny sometimes, too, communication.  It’s very easy to sign up,  + it’s FREE!!! and once you have an account you can find some people in your area that are tweeting and connecting.  Finding people to follow is a relatively easy endeavor, using sites such as search twitter.com, wefollow.com (http://wefollow.com), friendorfollow.com (http://friendorfollow.com/), twellow.com (http://www.twellow.com/), that’s twitter’s own yellow pages.  You can follow people whom you admire or are interested in getting to know better, I signed up for a couple of “mentor” type people.  One of them is Meredith G. Farkas (http://meredith.wolfwater.com/), after reading her book “Social Software in Libraries”, I wanted to keep updated on her real time technological ideas for libraries, and I attended the library conference in Jasper last April, I started to follow ALA (Alberta Library Association, and Edmonton Public Library).  I just recently added Michael Sauers (http://travelinlibrarian.info/)after I participated in the Webinar Web 2.0 as a Reference Tool.

Some people have described twitter as:

haikutwaiku@coachDeb Twitter is like the love-child of blogging and haiku.

Roberto63@CoachDeb Best description I’ve heard is that Twitter is a National Watercooler. (http://twitterhandbook.com/blog/what-is-twitter)  One of the overwhelming lure and magnitism of twitter is that not only is it in real time, it’s in real life you can literally meet up with other people that twitter in a real live social scene.  Here in Edmonton, there is a great “tweetup” website that makes the social online scene in the real world.  (http://edmontontweetup.wik.is/).  What’ s a tweetup?  

From wordspy (http://www.wordspy.com/words/tweetup.asp) n. A real world meeting between two or more people who know each other through the online Twitter service.   Now being a woman, we all have to use our common sense when meeting someone in a real live situation, take a buddy if you feel more secure that way, or better yet go to a organized “tweetup” with lots of people attending and do NOT go anywhere without your buddy.  Just a word of caution from the Mom/Woman perspective!  It’s just best practice to adhere to these rules, I think, I have always keep them in my mind when entering into ANY new unfamiliar territory, and for the most part I can say it’s kept me safe.

The twitter world has its own social codes, mores, and subcultures.

A hash tag is simply a way for people to search for tweets that have a common topic. For example, if you search on #LOST (or #Lost or #lost, because it’s not case-sensitive), you’ll get a list of tweets related to the TV show. What you won’t get are tweets that say “I lost my wallet yesterday” because “lost” isn’t preceded by the hash tag.(http://www.techforluddites.com/2009/02/the-twitter-hash-tag-what-is-it-and-how-do-you-use-it.html)

#hashtags facilitates on-the-fly groups on Twitter … follow @hashtags and seehttp://hashtags.org/(http://twitter.com/alexdc/statuses/515002812)

Such as hashtags:  Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They’re like tags on Flickr, only added inline to your post. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol: #hashtag. (http://twitter.pbworks.com/Hashtags) I must admit when working with twitter it becomes so layered, I feel like I am entering into the “twilight zone” (http://www.syfy.com/twilightzone/)

ha! ha!  A twiny bit of twitty twimes!  That’s the other part of twitter that’s really interesting, it puts “tw” in front of everything and it becomes its own linguistic hemisphere!  Mastermaq (MacK Male) has been twittering since 2006, and he states, “that he just tries to be himself, he likes that twitter is real and authentic…” (http://bit.ly/6yrKm password: twitter) and I believe that’s a  lot of what you experience in the twittersphere, a lot of real people.  Just regular people saying regular things,  #youknowtheusual.  There’s trending topics on everything from “OPRAH” today to “I like you but…” and last month the big topic was balloon boy.  The trending topics are located on the right hand sidebar and if you click on a link you get a live feed of tweets as they happen.  I clicked on “New Moon” yesterday, and I stayed on the trending topic page for a couple of seconds and while I read 81 more live tweets as I viewed the page!  ”New Moon” is such a popular trending topics if you hover over the topic it practically has its own separate COUNTRY!  (http://twitter.com/#search?q=%22New%20Moon%22).

Some of the other handy dandy lingo to be familiar with...

tweet – 140 characters of basically saying what you are up do…where you at…and what’s on your mind!

twoosh – an exact 140 tweet…right after the tweet it says twoosh!  I have only managed ONE twoosh so far – it’s a bit more difficult than it sounds!

retweet – you can retweet something you feel newsworthy, or significant!

followers – not to be confused with stalkers! I have had a few people sign up to follow me, I have no idea who they are and when I read the bio on the right hand side decided not to follow them eventhough, it is recommended that you should follow your followers.  I think it’s your own discretion here, and judgement.  From “Grown Up Digital” by Don Tapscott, “Obama and Clinton used Twitter, …You could sign up to follow messages from both candidates, but only Obama repaid the favor by signing up to follow your messages.”(Tapscott, 2008, p. 252)

Professional Learning and Twitter as a Reference Tool for the Public Library

When I was searching for public libraries using twitter as a tool for social media, and connecting with patrons I was not surprised by the numbers or the reasoning behind using twitter as a marketing tool.  Twitter represents many things that public libraries hold dear to their hearts, community connection, promotion of literacy, and interaction with the public.  These ideals are what many of us take part in a very regular basis at the public library.  The part of twitter is that it is a micro-blogging tool so it uses proper english and full text words, it doesn’t look like the abbreviated junk on SMS.  (Sorry, I think that was my outside voice, but I just think that if I have to spent 10 minutes figuring out what “ttyl” means I think you should just pick up the phone and call me!)  I think if I had to argue for getting my stepdaughter an account on twitter, I would argue this point on the foundations of literacy skills.  Joel Comm agrees with me, “That means the language needs to look more like real words than the usual SMS-style abbreviations.  It goes without saying that typing in uppercase letters looks like you’re shouting, but in addition to avoiding all uppercase, you should spell out words completely and avoid using numbers instead of letters whenever possible.  (ie “late” not “18″). (Comm, 2009, p. 94).  I think professionally right there so be fodder enough to convince the nay sayers that twitter is an excellent tool for promoting literacy!

On Thursday, I participated in an Education Institute Webinar, http://www.thepartnership.ca/partnership/bins/calendar_page.asp) where the topic was Web 2.0 as a reference tool. I found it very interesting that he compared an iphone as our direct competition in the reference librarians’ position.  But it made a lot of sense when you can speak into your phone and ask it a question about where to find a good sushi joint close enough to walk there, really amazing stuff  to think about.   He pointed out we may as well start using these tools, keep your enemies closer, eh?  From webinar notes, “We like to talk to our patrons, but ultimately it’s about getting them the information as quickly as possible”.  So if twitter can promote your services, and I can get information about the lights being out on 50th Street to my patrons because I got an update from twitter, I am going to do the librarian thing and get that information out there and let them know when they check out their books.  Twitter is such a wonderful search engine for current affairs, you can search a key word on the right hand sidebar and then keep your searches, too.  A patron may ask about “New Moon” and the lineups at South Edmonton Common movie theatre,  you can search it, and then return to the saved search the next day when and give them a current update on the lineups.  Perhaps, the wait isn’t two hours the next day!

Twitter is about keeping your finger on the pulse, it’s about getting the information out there to as many people as you can by linking them to your website or blog.  Edmonton Public Library uses twitter to promote their events, highlight books, and open discussions to their patrons.  It’s an ever evolving interaction with their patrons.  It’s way more social and keeps everyone way more informed.  I think it’s unrealistic for one person working in a public library at the reference desk to know everything but with twitter at your finger tips it’s far more reasonable for you to be better informed.  Giving patrons an opportunity to follow you on twitter gives you the updates, that’s exactly how I first found out about the http://www.bibliocommons.com/ catalogue at the Edmonton Public Library!  It’s more personal than a web page and because it’s changing and its real than it gives a real face to the library.  ”It’s that blend of the professional and the personal that makes Twitter such a cool tool on so mnay levels.  Some people have described it as a “Sixth Sense” in terms of the network; you feel more a part of the larger conversation, more a part of the community.  And, as  with all good Read/Write Web networking tools, you can smarter.”  (Richardson, 2009, p.86).   Now, who doesn’t like that idea?!!!

One final word, it can say a lot without saying a lot…I know that doesn’t really make a lot of sense but here’s the deal.  You have 140 characters to work with and if you can’t seem to get it all said, you can create a “bit.ly site” that does it for you.  It shortens your website into a little link where your patrons can access it.

My twitter follow feed at the sidebar has it, it’s a tiny slice of heaven for its users.  I think it’s only a matter of time before everyone will twinkle, twinkle twitter star, and become just a twitterpated as I am now!

Works cited:

Comm, J. twitter power.  How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time.  2009.

Davies, J & Merchant, G. Web 2.0 for Schools. Learning and Social Participation.  2009.

Farkas, Meredith. Social Software in Libraries.  Building Collaborations, Communication, and Community Online.  2007.

Richardson, R.  Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. 2009.

Tapscott, D.  grown up digital.  how the net generation is changing your world.  2009.

People, Places and Things

People (Facebook, MySpace)

Reflection on Learning about Facebook,  and MySpace

…hit link above – view voicethread image montage clips…

Voicethread is a Web 2.0 tool, that I was slightly aware of before I began my journey.  ”A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in 5 ways – using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.I had visited the site a couple of times, signed up for an account, and browsed their library.”( web cited: voicethread.com/about/) I used the word “unraveling” as a metaphor for the experiences I had while I played on voicethread, on how you pick one thread and follow it to its end only to find its really a new beginning of a sweater that connects us all.  I was pleasantly surprised that they allowed me to upgrade to an educator account without any red tape.  I believe that you can see that the site is passionate about education, using technology in the classroom and easy accessibility for our professions.  Wikipedia defines, “The technology allows individuals who are far apart to collaborate on-line. The use of these tools is increasing, however many teachers are still new to what tools are available on the internet and how to use them effectively. This article details some of the tools available and suggests ways to use them to promote online learning and the collaboration of students.”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=voicethread&go=Go) In general the voicethread social networking tool is more about collaboration.

Personal Learning

In the book, “Library 2.0 and Beyond”, chapter 7 by Brian S. Mathews, he describes, “Show Them the Library – A picture is worth a thousand words, and libraries should take advantage of both the photo and video features provided on social networking websites.”(Courtenay,2007,p.82)  In this way voicethread can add depth to your website, patrons can add their photos of their experiences in the library, special events could be commented on  and the possibility of conversations around a group of photos would be very interesting.  This concept is particularly interesting to me, as my Masters thesis in elementary talked about my use of visual texts in the ESL classroom.  Much as changed since then (only 2007) and I can now envision a social network of photos and people gathered around from all around the globe!  ”Voicethread adds video doodling – this is awesome – Group conversations service VoiceThread (review) has a great new feature called VideoDoodling, which as you can guess lets users draw on top of video clips on the fly”(web cited:www.news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-982) I thought that personally this is a whole new concept, and perspective on a book club or book review, not only can you submit a video clip of what you thought about a certain book, but other people can comment on it, too!  I think this was the biggest moment of personal learning for me, the collaborative nature of voicethread.  ”Voicethread – Interactive, visual, and collaborative learning spaces (web cited: http://www.slideshare.net/brocansky/voicethreads-interactive-visual-and-collaborative-learning-spaces) this sums up an opportunity that this unique web 2.0 tool brings to the table.  It reminds me of looking at a photo album with your family but BETTER, because you can do it anywhere at anytime plus you get to look at other people’s albums that you may never had a chance to see!  The features of a book review or book reading are definitely a great feature, and I really enjoyed Alex’s voicethread (http://voicethread.com/share/705740/) and I can see how Tatum would love to do that, too, she sat with me while I played it.  She’s very interested in the french immersion as I am trying to make sure she gets exposure to that language, too as she’s going to go to Ecole Campbelltown!  Not only is the web tool visually interesting, it’s also orally interesting, too.  ”So, say for instance you have an old family photo of your parents in the day. With VoiceThread, you could have your parents leave audio comments on the photo. You could then share the photo with others in your family, giving them a richer insight and context to that moment in time and they too, if invited, could leave comments.”(web cited: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/18/voicethread-oral-tradition-goes-web-2-0)

Professional Learning

My voicethread video clip that I produced, I tried to use it as a motivational video clip for people to get involved with the Friends of the Library, our not for profit organization that is lost a bit of its energy.  I thought this would be a great clip to show on the web site and get people to comment on the library, and perhaps add some photos of their own.  I really think that the possibilities of using voicethread are once again, limitless.  I have researched online about a few suggestions and I have thought of a few of my own for using voicethread.

• voicethread tutorials – how to video clips – then patrons can add comments to the pages on what helped them what didn’t (http://voicethread.com/#c28)
• book reviews, book readings, digital storytelling (http://www.slideshare.net/suziea/voicethread-examples-in-education-presentation)
• video montages of library experiences, meeting new people, a visual tour (http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2009/06/11/interesting-ways-to-use-voicethread-wordle-and-the-nintendo-ds/)
• great book suggestions (http://greatbookstories.pbworks.com/)

Most of these suggestions that I found were directly applicable for the classroom, but I could tweak them and make them an excellent fit for the public library!  I think this is a wonderful tool for literacy, libraries, and the visual arts.  I really enjoyed learning about both these tools this week so much fun, so creative (didn’t feel like “homework”) I really enjoyed the exploration and I would highly recommend it to anyone!  In the words of Wes Fryer, “One of the best ways to enhance student learning, boost student achievement, and improve student engagement is to incorporate digital storytelling as an instructional strategy. Students can demonstrate their knowledge of content, develop higher order thinking skills, improve their digital literacy skills, and harness the power of visual literacy in digital storytelling projects.”(web cited: http://handouts.wesfryer.com/voicethread)

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