I came across this a couple of weeks ago and have been meaning to post: Muxtape is an online service that lets you create playlists of mp3 files. Sadly, it looks as if you can only post one playlist per account. But, I’ve found that it’s a great way to browse for new music.
The March issue of First Monday is a special issue, focusing on critiques of Web 2.0. In the preface, Michael Zimmer writes:
But Web 2.0 also embodies a set of unintended consequences, including the increased flow of personal information across networks, the diffusion of one’s identity across fractured spaces, the emergence of powerful tools for peer surveillance, the exploitation of free labor for commercial gain, and the fear of increased corporatization of online social and collaborative spaces and outputs.
I’ve only just started the first article, but so far it looks like there is a lot of good stuff here.
For this exercise, we were asked to read several perspectives on Web and Library 2.0 and offer our thoughts. I was struck with what Rick Anderson, Director of Acqusitions at UNR) had to say about how we educate (or don’t) our patrons:
Libraries are poorly equipped and insufficiently staffed for teaching. Ask yourself what your patron-to-librarian ratio is (at the University of Nevada it’s about 680 to 1) and then ask yourself how you’re going to train all those patrons. We need to focus our efforts not on teaching research skills but on eliminating the barriers that exist between patrons and the information they need, so they can spend as little time as possible wrestling with lousy search interfaces and as much time as possible actually reading and learning.
I think Mr. Anderson is right here. The only people who enjoy searching for information are librarians. Everyone esle only enjoys finding information. But I also wonder how we are to “eliminate the barriers” between patrons and information. While I think it’s true that our students are coming to us with a strong awareness of and competence in some technologies, often it is not a technological skill set that is academically useful. They are great at Facebook, online gaming, text messaging, etc. But these are not, as such, skill that are going to help them write their papers. Librarians, I’m finding, are often way ahead of the curve when it comes to “useful” technologies. As we found in our Freshman technology survey this year, RSS feeds and social bookmarking are not things that are on our student’s radar, but these are tools (as these 23 things attest to) that librarians are using in very creative ways to try make content more accessible. But, if we cannot expect our patrons to learn new technologies such as RSS feeds, what are we to do? Mr. Anderson suggest we use “one-button commands, such as Flickr’s ‘Blog This,’” as a model for the types of services we should be offering, but creating those types of techonologies is not a skill set that most libraries have access to. And the more libraies need to create new techonologies to deliver services, the more we are going to be needing skills that are not taught in library school. I wonder if there will be a time in the not so distant future where library staffs will need in house web programers and usability specialists.
Something that has been influencing my thoughts on technology lately is the book Everyware, by Adam Greenfield. “Everyware” is the term that he has assigned to ubiquitous computing, and he postis 81 theses about the future of computing, one in which there are no desktop computers as we know them today. I recommend that everyone check it out, as not only does he talk about the technological aspects of a world that is completely wired and interconnected, he aslo talks about the ramifications of living in such a world.
For Thing 13 of the 23 Things, we were to explore tagging and social bookmarking. I’ve had a delicious account for a couple of years now, and have found it to be invaluable. It’s so nice to have access to my bookmarks from any computer, and being able to browse other people’s tags and networks has helped me to find some resources I might not otherwise have found. My latest discovery is newpages.com, a resource for literary journals and writing resources.
My problem with using delicious is my own laziness: it’s too easy for me to just add a link without a) commenting on it and b) without bundling my tags. Not only does this create a big tag mess, it also means I don’t fully participate in the social part of the social networking experience.
As part of our staff development, our library is doing the 23 Things for Library Staff, modeled after the program at PLCMC. I’m going to be using this blog to participate in this initiative, and will be makein periodic posts about the 23 Things as I get around to them.
Our first “assignment” is to listen to the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Life Long Learners podcast, and to comment about which of them is the most challenging for us. For me, it’s definitely the first one: Begin with the end in mind. Often when I start out learning something I just dive right in and let the process take me where it will. This can be good some times, as it allows me to explore tangents that I might not have othewise. But, it can also mean that I get distracted from what I orginally set out to do.
Techcrunch reviews the new release of the Flock browser, which now has direct integration with Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. At first blush, it looks pretty sweet. You can download PC and Mac version here.
The LibrarianInBlack has links to what I think is a great idea for getting students to make the most of Web 2.0 technologies. Scholastici.us is publishing a five part series for Student Productivity Week. The first installment is called “Beyond Wikipedia: 20 references you can’t do without.” Following topics include “Books on the web” and “The 10 Best Facebook Apps for Students and 3 to Avoid.” What I like about this is that it focuses on things they already use, rather than teaching them something new, which they are less likely to incorporate into what they do. I can also envison an in-person presentation on this, or an module of an instruction session or reference appointment that incorporates these types of lessons.
Infodoodads has a post on BrainReaction, a site that allows you to post a question for which you are looking for ideas and solicit suggestions from, well, anyone. I can see this being used in a class, either by a professor as a way of continuing a discussion outside of class, or for students (especially distance students) to use to work on a group project. Of course, that type of collaboration might be better done through other technologies (such as forums or IM) but the possibilities are interesting. Especially if you are curious about what others outside of your group might thing. (Private brainstorms are available, but for a fee)
DigitalKoans has a list of links to how schools are using RSS feeds.
