Everyday-Democracy has an Issue Guide Exchange for folks who write deliberation guides. There is also a forum for discussion. And there is an online tool to walk you through creating a guide.
And while I'm on the topic, ALA has a blog on Civic Engagement and a listserv called Deliberate and a Member Interest Group.
I highly recommend this community engagement role for libraries. I think I can guarantee no Google will come along to bump us out of it. Moreover, by nurturing the civic capacity of our communities, we create a better climate for support of libraries and understanding or their value.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Testing a new gadget
Nicole alerted me that Blogger offers a voting gadget so I've added it. Please vote so I can see how this works! Also, Google Gadgets offers a polling gadget, but it is many screens in so use search to find it.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
still here, with new goodies
I have found some fine new toys: Many Eyes and Wordle. Many Eyes offers ways to visualize data sets. Some of the graphs would probably strike Edward Tufte as having too much ink, but they are a definite step above the hideous 3-D bar graphs that come out of Microsoft products. Wordle is a word or tag cloud maker and it can be used on Many Eyes. And Many Eyes is definitely a social network for people who like to look for patterns in numbers.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Flickr refinished
I had to get a Yahoo account for something else entirely, so it seemed foolish not to set up a Flickr account too. Have a look at my photos. Here's a place I'd like to be right now:
Saturday, March 15, 2008
certified 2.0 genius
Got my certificate, button, MP3 player. But stopping now would invalidate the learning, right? Let me recommend Halting State by Charles Stross. Set about 10 years into the future, it is a mashup of IT security risks, infowar espionage, and ARGs. Imagine that people participating in a sort of role-playing game are being used unwittingly as tools by a foreign government.
The book got me thinking about other possible uses of ARGs, so I did some surfing and found World Without Oil. Don't know how I missed this last year. But maybe before Learning 2.0 I wouldn't have appreciated it? Anyway, it integrates many of the tools from L2 to create a simulation of a social policy crisis and invites everyone to play along. It calls this wisdom of crowds but I think it is closer to civic engagement. I think the wisdom of crowds is simply Adam Smith's invisible hand - the cumulative effect of the self-interest of many. World Without Oil, however, invites imaginative participation with no advantage to self interest - in other words, what's good for the community. I am thinking this may be a better model for civic engagement in the future than sitting around in deliberation groups, National Issues Forum style. It seems like there ought to be some sort of game that would cultivate information skeptics as well.
The book got me thinking about other possible uses of ARGs, so I did some surfing and found World Without Oil. Don't know how I missed this last year. But maybe before Learning 2.0 I wouldn't have appreciated it? Anyway, it integrates many of the tools from L2 to create a simulation of a social policy crisis and invites everyone to play along. It calls this wisdom of crowds but I think it is closer to civic engagement. I think the wisdom of crowds is simply Adam Smith's invisible hand - the cumulative effect of the self-interest of many. World Without Oil, however, invites imaginative participation with no advantage to self interest - in other words, what's good for the community. I am thinking this may be a better model for civic engagement in the future than sitting around in deliberation groups, National Issues Forum style. It seems like there ought to be some sort of game that would cultivate information skeptics as well.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
freebees for working groups
I read Michele Boule's "Changing the Way We Work" in Library Technology Reports. It was less than I'd hoped for. All her examples are software/applications development workgroups. She does review some interesting free applications.
One of the case studies is http://about.scriblio.net/ "open source OPAC with faceted searching and browsing features based on WordPress." See http://tamworthlibrary.org/ for a public library application.
http://www.dimdim.com/ claims to be "web conferencing service which is free to consumers and extremely easy to use, as there is no software to download or maintain." More web comferencing hosts are http://www.yugma.com/, http://www.zoho.com/ and http://vyew.com/site/.
http://www.37signals.com/ has free project management tools: Basecamp, Campfire group chat, Backpack, and Whiteboard.
In addition to pbwiki and wetpaint, she reviews http://www.seedwiki.com/. A booktalk use is http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/hallahan_library_book_talk/hallahan_library_book_talk.
One of the case studies is http://about.scriblio.net/ "open source OPAC with faceted searching and browsing features based on WordPress." See http://tamworthlibrary.org/ for a public library application.
http://www.dimdim.com/ claims to be "web conferencing service which is free to consumers and extremely easy to use, as there is no software to download or maintain." More web comferencing hosts are http://www.yugma.com/, http://www.zoho.com/ and http://vyew.com/site/.
http://www.37signals.com/ has free project management tools: Basecamp, Campfire group chat, Backpack, and Whiteboard.
In addition to pbwiki and wetpaint, she reviews http://www.seedwiki.com/. A booktalk use is http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/hallahan_library_book_talk/hallahan_library_book_talk.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Rollyo back again
Helen asked me how I did it. So, of course I had to redo it to figure out what I'd done. Sigh. This time I have amalgamated dictionaries. Let's see if that's any more useful than my other Rollyos.
twice more, actually
Cindy convinced me to put the book list over on the side instead of in the post. It has been done, O Great Peer!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Library Thing try again
Aha, gotta go to my Library Thing Profile to get the right code. Ha. But when I added some books, my old blog entry updated, Now that is truly slick!
Will this work any better?
Will this work any better?
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
gonig back over stuff now
Using pictures from flickr makes me antsy about copyright, so I found this in the library photo archive and flikrtoyed with it.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Classic Czech Cartoons
Decades ago, back in Cleveland, I used to show Mole cartoons to kids in the library. I don't know how legal this is, but I am glad to find them on YouTube!
Monday, January 28, 2008
A Suitable Timepiece
I got curious about all the countdown gadgets on other people's blogs so I decided I needed one too. Didn't know what I was going to count down to, but gotta keep up with the bloggers.
But I found something better! Scroll down to the bottom and see the clock I prefer to use.
But I found something better! Scroll down to the bottom and see the clock I prefer to use.
IM catchup
Well, I just had a nice exchange with the IM person. You may remember that when I did the IM thing it was too late in the day and I left a message that seems to have gone to Im-m-m-land. So now I have gone back and experienced IM as a website user. I don't have an account and don't really want one. I really truly would rather email.
Now, my conscience is clear.
Now, my conscience is clear.
30 means "that's all" in journalism
Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I did not realize how much signing-up there would be and I find this the most off-putting aspect of Web 2.0. I really hope for a shift to more seamless embedding, with less joining and accounts.
The trend from asynchronous to activities that require people to be on at the same time distresses me. I always thought that the great virtue of the Internet was that it didn’t matter what time it was somewhere else or whether the other person used his computer on a different schedule. I see 2.0 as getting too time-bound (as well as too time consumptive), and yet something as simple as stating the length of a podcast is neglected.
And we are still ignoring the shortening lifespan of technology. We are far too focused on details that will change, rather than on creating a process of adaptation/adoption that can keep up.
Too many 2.0 services push a superficial fear of html which dis-empowers users, but html exists to create that seamlessness and put content creation in everyone's grasp.
I want to learn more about tag clouds - I think they could be as transforming as keyword searching has been for libraries. Tag clouds have potential as a knowledge management tool.
I am imagining a library that gets better the more its customers consciously participate in its development. We need to collaborate with our public and channel their impulse to share. Reader advice is particularly suited to social networks. "Collective wisdom" is really self-correcting wisdom, but wiki manners for correcting need to be explicitly stated. What gets appropriate participants to self-select? Would it help us to think of our customers as online volunteers? We need to recruit & trust our self-correcting collective and we need structures that do this automatically 24/7.
Wise organizations will consciously create a self image in the networks, as they have in architecture. However, while we need to be reachable through each person's preferred communication channel, this is not the same as trying to create separate self-images in each channel. For one thing, fresh is more appealing than polished. And trying to be cool is pathetic. Moreover, cool moves on constantly, especially when corporate and middle-aged presences arrive. I believe preferred communication channels are a reflection of learning styles, not just generations.
The public may finally be ready to recognize the bias inherent in all human records, not just online or collaborative, and acknowledge that critical thinking is a vital skill, not a threat.
What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? Definitely need to recalculate the necessary time for learning. I would say each thing took me between one and 3 hours, depending on how involving I found it. Smaller bites than 30 might encourage more people to participate. I know we don’t want to spend MP3s on less than a large effort, but the SRP has shown the need for little incentives along the way. Also, possibly some way of verifying that the participant understood the thing. I know I did not understand pods for the longest time. Maybe that’s just me, but sometimes one can do stuff by rote and still not “get it.”
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate? YES! I really like self-paced experiential learning, especially with hand-holding available so my anxiety doesn’t get loose and run around shrieking. Thank you Cindy for creating this! And thank you Diane for your repeated encouragement. Now I have to figure out what to do with an MP3. (I really did this for the learning, not the reward.)
The trend from asynchronous to activities that require people to be on at the same time distresses me. I always thought that the great virtue of the Internet was that it didn’t matter what time it was somewhere else or whether the other person used his computer on a different schedule. I see 2.0 as getting too time-bound (as well as too time consumptive), and yet something as simple as stating the length of a podcast is neglected.
And we are still ignoring the shortening lifespan of technology. We are far too focused on details that will change, rather than on creating a process of adaptation/adoption that can keep up.
Too many 2.0 services push a superficial fear of html which dis-empowers users, but html exists to create that seamlessness and put content creation in everyone's grasp.
I want to learn more about tag clouds - I think they could be as transforming as keyword searching has been for libraries. Tag clouds have potential as a knowledge management tool.
I am imagining a library that gets better the more its customers consciously participate in its development. We need to collaborate with our public and channel their impulse to share. Reader advice is particularly suited to social networks. "Collective wisdom" is really self-correcting wisdom, but wiki manners for correcting need to be explicitly stated. What gets appropriate participants to self-select? Would it help us to think of our customers as online volunteers? We need to recruit & trust our self-correcting collective and we need structures that do this automatically 24/7.
Wise organizations will consciously create a self image in the networks, as they have in architecture. However, while we need to be reachable through each person's preferred communication channel, this is not the same as trying to create separate self-images in each channel. For one thing, fresh is more appealing than polished. And trying to be cool is pathetic. Moreover, cool moves on constantly, especially when corporate and middle-aged presences arrive. I believe preferred communication channels are a reflection of learning styles, not just generations.
The public may finally be ready to recognize the bias inherent in all human records, not just online or collaborative, and acknowledge that critical thinking is a vital skill, not a threat.
What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? Definitely need to recalculate the necessary time for learning. I would say each thing took me between one and 3 hours, depending on how involving I found it. Smaller bites than 30 might encourage more people to participate. I know we don’t want to spend MP3s on less than a large effort, but the SRP has shown the need for little incentives along the way. Also, possibly some way of verifying that the participant understood the thing. I know I did not understand pods for the longest time. Maybe that’s just me, but sometimes one can do stuff by rote and still not “get it.”
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate? YES! I really like self-paced experiential learning, especially with hand-holding available so my anxiety doesn’t get loose and run around shrieking. Thank you Cindy for creating this! And thank you Diane for your repeated encouragement. Now I have to figure out what to do with an MP3. (I really did this for the learning, not the reward.)
Sunday, January 27, 2008
obligatory cute animal picture
I thought this little rascal would be ideal for a motivational poster or a lolcat poster. But I cannot think of a good caption - I guess the photo says it all. It was a thirsty summer here in Virginia Beach. So, if you want to interact, leave me a caption suggestion.
Note, this too is not one of the 30 things. A freebee!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
My Fellow Bloggers
2. OK, OK! I do not own a cat. Clearly if you don't post cat pictures you are chopped liver. Or Whiskas or something. On the other paw, I do pun. I enjoyed looking at what others have done. And I don't think I suffer so badly in comparison. EVEN IF NO ONE READS THIS!
Deep breath.
1. I enjoyed the solitary play. I am not sociable enough for 2.0 I fear. The parts I liked least were the interactions with people. The parts I liked best were playing with images and things. (Hmmm, could it be that? No, it's the !#$% cat pictures!) I know Ms Boule believes it is a generational thing - "you just wouldn't understand" - but I think at this end of 2.0 that learning styles and extro/introversion may be better predictors of comfort with the new technology. And time. When I got intrigued, hours just flew. And I don't have all that many hours left.
I really resented the need to keep joining/subscribing. I mean, I understand the business plan, but it is tiresome.
How was I affected? Well, there are plenty of online activities to pursue if I ever stop working.
Deep breath.
1. I enjoyed the solitary play. I am not sociable enough for 2.0 I fear. The parts I liked least were the interactions with people. The parts I liked best were playing with images and things. (Hmmm, could it be that? No, it's the !#$% cat pictures!) I know Ms Boule believes it is a generational thing - "you just wouldn't understand" - but I think at this end of 2.0 that learning styles and extro/introversion may be better predictors of comfort with the new technology. And time. When I got intrigued, hours just flew. And I don't have all that many hours left.
I really resented the need to keep joining/subscribing. I mean, I understand the business plan, but it is tiresome.
How was I affected? Well, there are plenty of online activities to pursue if I ever stop working.
Monday, January 21, 2008
what goes in a Rollyo?
I made 2 of them, one very general with search fields on each site, and one very specific to interesting views of the Periodic Table. However, when I search on them, the results seem to come from elsewhere. I don't get it. I'm pasting the code for them below, don't know if this will work...
Well, it looks like it did work, sort of.
I suppose we could set up topic-specific search boxes for reference, but truthfully, I like the serendipity of a broader search and I am not sure that "librarian approved" is going to make a big difference to most users. Hmmmm, might this provide quick reference for those staffing IM?
Well, it looks like it did work, sort of.
I suppose we could set up topic-specific search boxes for reference, but truthfully, I like the serendipity of a broader search and I am not sure that "librarian approved" is going to make a big difference to most users. Hmmmm, might this provide quick reference for those staffing IM?
cloud from library thing
I just put together some possible books for a discussion of why we have government.
I picked the tag cloud instead of the titles, in part because tag clouds fascinate me and in part because it illustrates what I'm getting at. Now let's see how it turned out.
I picked the tag cloud instead of the titles, in part because tag clouds fascinate me and in part because it illustrates what I'm getting at. Now let's see how it turned out.
generating trouble
I played with this one at home and wasted lots of time. Here are the ones I found that I like.
Useful:
Tufte sparklines
family tree
Dublin Core metadata
lorem ipsum layout text
Mindmaps but it requires a download!
Fun:
bird song
design a face
error dialog box
rebus maker
cartoon maker
Enough of this. Gotta catch up to thing 30!
Useful:
Tufte sparklines
family tree
Dublin Core metadata
lorem ipsum layout text
Mindmaps but it requires a download!
Fun:
bird song
design a face
error dialog box
rebus maker
cartoon maker
Enough of this. Gotta catch up to thing 30!
Saturday, January 5, 2008
extra edition - not one of the 30 things
OK, finally I do get podcasting. I reread Cindy's intro and this time I really thought about "AUDIO FILE + RSS FEED = PODCAST." I was so focused on the audio v video, I totally missed the RSS implications.
But, I have to say that I'm not thrilled with the idea of subscribing to audio feeds. In part, it's because I am so over-subscribed already. In part, it is learning styles - I am not an audio learner. I want the control print offers to skip and go back, to assess the length and quality without being immersed in the text. I can make the trade off for visual interest with video, but audio just doesn't do it for me. Also, I really prefer the dip-in feel of YouTube over the commitment of podcasting.
I am thinking that offering content to meet a variety of learning styles is as critical as meeting different generational expectations.
One other thing - I'm doing this post from home to see how that works.
But, I have to say that I'm not thrilled with the idea of subscribing to audio feeds. In part, it's because I am so over-subscribed already. In part, it is learning styles - I am not an audio learner. I want the control print offers to skip and go back, to assess the length and quality without being immersed in the text. I can make the trade off for visual interest with video, but audio just doesn't do it for me. Also, I really prefer the dip-in feel of YouTube over the commitment of podcasting.
I am thinking that offering content to meet a variety of learning styles is as critical as meeting different generational expectations.
One other thing - I'm doing this post from home to see how that works.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Why are vids easier than pods?
It was a little thing but it bugged me - the time was wrong on all my posts. I think I have fixed it. We'll see.
Now to the main topic. To me, it feels like viewing and mashing video are much, much easier than podcasts. I don't know why this should be, and history suggests that audio is simpler than audiovisual, but that's not how it felt. E.g. I had no trouble embedding a video two posts back. Therefore, I'd choose video over podcasting, even if I had to fake the visuals. Also, I think we have greater tolerance for amateurish image than sound. I found the voices doing book reviews unctuous and studied rather than fresh and sincere. I also really disliked not knowing the length of the podcast! If that information was there, I didn't see it. And it wasn't always clear to me what I needed to do to. For example Boulder teens seem to think I want to subscribe before I've even tried them out. Is it my age that I just don't get podcasting?
Now to the main topic. To me, it feels like viewing and mashing video are much, much easier than podcasts. I don't know why this should be, and history suggests that audio is simpler than audiovisual, but that's not how it felt. E.g. I had no trouble embedding a video two posts back. Therefore, I'd choose video over podcasting, even if I had to fake the visuals. Also, I think we have greater tolerance for amateurish image than sound. I found the voices doing book reviews unctuous and studied rather than fresh and sincere. I also really disliked not knowing the length of the podcast! If that information was there, I didn't see it. And it wasn't always clear to me what I needed to do to. For example Boulder teens seem to think I want to subscribe before I've even tried them out. Is it my age that I just don't get podcasting?
Thursday, January 3, 2008
2 peas in a pod
Since Websense sensed forbidden things on all the links that weren't broken, I just went off to google and tried "library + podcast." I found this http://podcast.denverlibrary.org/ which is a podcast version of dial-a-story. I notice they have a partnership with a specific publisher which seems like a great way to launch such a venture.
I'll try the Learning 2.0 links from home. I did set up DenverPL on my Bloglines.
I found YALSA's podcasts about teen library services by noodling around the ALA site rather than a pod directory. Overall, I'm thinking that "podcast" is a bit too focused on the medium rather than the message. Eventually, I expect it will all be more seamless like that YouTube video I embedded last time.
I'll try the Learning 2.0 links from home. I did set up DenverPL on my Bloglines.
I found YALSA's podcasts about teen library services by noodling around the ALA site rather than a pod directory. Overall, I'm thinking that "podcast" is a bit too focused on the medium rather than the message. Eventually, I expect it will all be more seamless like that YouTube video I embedded last time.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
buggy code
I put in "insect" as a search term. There are far too many people who want to watch someone eat a bug. Why don't they just have some shrimp? However, I found a pair of cute cartoons. Insect Rally and Insect Race. Enjoy!
Now let's see if I can embed one.
Hmmm, pretty easy.
Now let's see if I can embed one.
Hmmm, pretty easy.
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