I've already added a few new bookmarks to del.icio.us and can see how handy this one is going to be - I use bkmks a lot and have felt the pain from losing them recently following a very nasty hard drive tragedy. Knowing my newly created ones are all safe and sound at del.icio.us is reassuring - or it will be once I find the time to post them all.
Beyond my personal prediliction for saving and categorising, I can see possibilities for highly customised research sharing & support services in a library setting.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Itube, Youtube, we all tube together
So, as usual it took me the longest time to create my account - like everyone else, I'm compiling a list of usernames, account names, emails and passwords - and trying to keep track of them all.
I love youtube - can waste hours there but can also see some serious uses for libraries. The examples given in the lesson all seemed appropriate and there's a couple more internal uses, I think. I was speaking to a colleague today who has to do a series of short briefing sessions on the impact of some recent legislative change. He's dreading it as it will take a lot of time and he's uncomfortable as a public speaker. How about he videos the pres - loads it - has set groups of staff view it at a particular time and then opens a chat session to respond to questions and comments. Alternatives for the Q and A could be a discussion board. Second internal use could be capturing staff explaining/training new staff in a particular procedure, especially if it has a signifcant manual dimension. This could then be an intro for new staff, with additional personal training available for those who needed / wanted it.
But a little niggle - when watching he clips on the web, all kept stopping continually - intensely irratating and for someone with limited attention span, a total turn off.
I love youtube - can waste hours there but can also see some serious uses for libraries. The examples given in the lesson all seemed appropriate and there's a couple more internal uses, I think. I was speaking to a colleague today who has to do a series of short briefing sessions on the impact of some recent legislative change. He's dreading it as it will take a lot of time and he's uncomfortable as a public speaker. How about he videos the pres - loads it - has set groups of staff view it at a particular time and then opens a chat session to respond to questions and comments. Alternatives for the Q and A could be a discussion board. Second internal use could be capturing staff explaining/training new staff in a particular procedure, especially if it has a signifcant manual dimension. This could then be an intro for new staff, with additional personal training available for those who needed / wanted it.
But a little niggle - when watching he clips on the web, all kept stopping continually - intensely irratating and for someone with limited attention span, a total turn off.
Prangstgrup Library Musical - Reading on a Dream PRANK!!
This vid called to mind some of the brilliant Chaser skits - also enjoyed the impact on those watching, both during and after - wonder if informed consent was given? Another plus for it as far as a potential for awareness raising was the mainly positive comments.
Perhaps we could have Mathew Flinders - the Musical - Mathew meets a current Fellow who is researching him - Mathew disapproves of what's being written about him ...
Sunday, May 4, 2008
"We expected to banish paper, but we actually banished thought"
At last, access to rss feeds - but oh my gosh, there's so much info piling in to the reader.
Came across this today: “In the information society, nobody thinks. We expected to banish paper, but we actually banished thought” – Michael Crichton.
How true - today I also read of an grad student who's written an applet that prohibits him accessing his computer for a set period (set by him, depending on how much thinking time he feels he needs).
Re some of our 'set questions': What I love is having it all come to me rather than go out looking for it - though for most of what I get now, I get via email alerts anyway. And now, G Reader is just another place I have to check.
I subbed to several of the suggested sites, and added a few blogs of people who always make me think - and then I got carried away creating folders so I could keep like feeds with like - what this does though is limit how much you see since the latest feeds display for each folder - must see if I can change this so just the latest of any folders shows up and I just use the folders if I want to go back and check something.
Came across this today: “In the information society, nobody thinks. We expected to banish paper, but we actually banished thought” – Michael Crichton.
How true - today I also read of an grad student who's written an applet that prohibits him accessing his computer for a set period (set by him, depending on how much thinking time he feels he needs).
Re some of our 'set questions': What I love is having it all come to me rather than go out looking for it - though for most of what I get now, I get via email alerts anyway. And now, G Reader is just another place I have to check.
I subbed to several of the suggested sites, and added a few blogs of people who always make me think - and then I got carried away creating folders so I could keep like feeds with like - what this does though is limit how much you see since the latest feeds display for each folder - must see if I can change this so just the latest of any folders shows up and I just use the folders if I want to go back and check something.
Wikis - what do they offer?
I've been using wikis in another role for about 4 years now so was familiar with what they're all about and am falling in love with Google notebook as a way of capturing all that important stuff from the web and contextualising it for me.
Still it was fascinating to see how they're being used in libraries.
I noticed that most of the library ones we were alerted to permitted 'authorised' editing, either by library staff or by 'community' members - think this is essential. If readers are not permitted to edit, is it really a wiki?
Though I also like the idea of using a wiki to set up a low cost website.
So, at the library ... although one of my colleagues has her/his doubts, I can see some real benefits - suspect the family historians would take to an fhwiki like ducks to water and scholars drawing on the Mitchell collections ... I guess as the 'doubting dog' says, it comes down to whether or not there is a need driving the collaboration rather than collaboration going in search of a need.
Still it was fascinating to see how they're being used in libraries.
I noticed that most of the library ones we were alerted to permitted 'authorised' editing, either by library staff or by 'community' members - think this is essential. If readers are not permitted to edit, is it really a wiki?
Though I also like the idea of using a wiki to set up a low cost website.
So, at the library ... although one of my colleagues has her/his doubts, I can see some real benefits - suspect the family historians would take to an fhwiki like ducks to water and scholars drawing on the Mitchell collections ... I guess as the 'doubting dog' says, it comes down to whether or not there is a need driving the collaboration rather than collaboration going in search of a need.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)