Leigh's LIS753 Blog

The Best Job in the World

2008-03-19T08:06:00.001-07:00

The Best Job in the World

2008-03-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

Blog Post #6: Web Page

2006-08-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to my web page:

http://domin.dom.edu/students/radnleah/753/librarywebpage/libraryhome.html

Thanks for a great class!

Blog Post #5: Library 2.0: The Challenge of Disruptive Innovation

2006-07-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading the above entitled Talis white paper by Paul Miller. Talis is a UK/Ireland company that provides "the leading library management systems to the UK and Ireland library marketplace" and Miller is its "Technology Evangelist". There's also an interesting podcast on the Talis website where you can hear the "Library 2.0 Gang" talk about the importance of mashups to libraries. "In the latest Library 2.0 Gang podcast, distributed freely online as part of our Talking with Talis programme, Gang members talk about the increasingly significant role played by 'mashups' of library data and services. These mashups, including those eligible for submission to the current Mashing up the Library competition, are being used by library vendors, staff, and members to present library resources in new and engaging ways. Third parties from beyond the library sector are also recognising the benefits offered by this access to rich library data, and new businesses such as LibraryThing are emerging." Now, obviously this white paper is also an advertisement for Talis' Platform System Software which is supposed to support Web/Library 2.0 initiatives but, it also does a good job of wrapping up/reinforcing our discussions in class and, even though Talis is trying to sell its "goods", Miller makes important points about where libraries should be going.

The basic ideas that Miller puts forth in this paper are ones that we have heard over and over again, because it is what we need to be heairng over and over again, since it will be up to some of us to lead our libraries into and through Library 2.0. First, that the information environment is changing faster than ever. Second, that we need to go where our users are and, third, we need to be transparent, allowing our users greater control over content, letting them use the library whenever and however they choose, essentially, adding value to library services and making them reflective of our users needs.

According to the paper, there are three major factors driving changes in the information revolution. They are:
1. Connectedness - More people are connected and integrate the internet into their lives without question. Libraries must compete for attention by using their own web presence, including going to where the users are, not expecting them to come to the library physical or web site.
2. The Internet inside and Web 2.0 - as part of the connectedness, the web has become our window to the world. The mashing up of data and services is influential.
3. Changing Economics. - Trends are changing the computer industry, open source is changing software economics. All of this simply means that, once again, libraries should adapt and innovate, adjust to the evolution of the information revolution in what appears to be a significant shift.

And, finally, a couple of my favorite quotes from the paper, but not necessarily from Miller: "Web 2.0 is an attitude, not a technology." (Talis' Ian Davis) and "Information services from others do not threaten resopnsive and adaptable libraries." I think that sums it up.

Blog Post #4 - blog!

2006-07-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading blog!: How the Newest Media Revolution is Changing Politics, Business, and Culture by David Kline and Dan Burstein. It includes essays by Kline and has interviews with several A-list bloggers including Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (DailyKos), Ana Marie Cox (Wonkette.com, a really fun interview), Robert Scoble (Microsoft) and once celebs Wil Wheaton and Adam Curry, to list a few. I thought it was a very thoughtful look at this moment in time and how we have gotten here (and certainly provokes thought about where the phenomenon of blogging and the internet will take us). Even though it was published in 2005, its focus is such that it doesn't seem at all dated, which sounds pretty funny since it is just 2006, but we are talking about the internet.

I especially appreciated Kline's essay in Part Three, "I Blog, Therefore I Am". While pulling in many statistics about the mainstream media, the internet and blogs, he captures an important idea - that blogging gives everyone a voice and supports the ideals of democracy. He calls it "a revolt of the voiceless".

He also brings forth a very important point - that this is not the first time people have "blogged". Citizens have been creating their own media for quite some time, but now it's in a great new form. This is the first time it has been done in such an instantaneous, readily accessible, powerful way that is sure to have a major impact on our society.

I think it's pretty obvious that something that has commanded the mainstream media to sit up and take notice, is something that libraries should be not only taking notice of, but participating in.

Blog Post #3 - The Great and Powerful Wiki

2006-07-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

Before this class the only wiki I knew was Wikipedia and, although I knew how Wikipedia was created/maintained, I never thought about other uses for a wiki.

After a little research, reading a few articles and a brief look at "Library Success" a best practices wiki created by Meredith Farkas, I have so many ideas for using a wiki! I think I have found my mission for the upcoming school year!

So what is a wiki? According to Wikipedia, a wiki "is a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit and change most available content, sometimes without the need for registration. The first wiki, WikiWikiWeb, is named after the "Wiki Wiki" line of Chance RT-52 buses in Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii. It was created in 1994 and installed on the web in 1995 by Ward Cunningham. "Wiki-wiki" means "hurry quick" in Hawaiian."
The real power of a wiki is its ease of use as a collaborative writing tool. According to Darlene Fichter in her article "Using Wikis to Support Online Collaboration in Libraries" it is "an excellent tool for building knowledge bases that are dynamic and fluid" and "are an excellent means of moving quickly from discussion to publication". Now imagine what this could mean for libraries. Working off of the idea that the library is its patrons, (without them a public library would not exist - would it?) think about how powerful their collaboration could be. Many examples of the knowledge bases that could be created by library patrons have been given - library planning, catalog input, community resources information, neighborhood history projects. If one of the goals of a public library is to be a hub of the community, what better way to achieve the goal!

Additionally, a prevailing idea in my reading was that a wiki is a project tool and, like any other project tool, its use should be well planned, implemented and maintained. "Unstructured wikis with no guidance seem to fail." (Daniel Gelaw Alemneh, University of Texas Digital Projects Unit, TechTalks/Wikis in Libraries).

There is so much out there about wikis and their uses (I feel like I have barely touched on it in more than 200 words). For additional reading I suggest "Using Wikis to Create Online Communities" by Meredith Farkas (WebJunction, Sept. 2005), "Blogs, Wikis, and IM: Communication Tools for Subject Specialists" by Chad F. Boeninger, Reference and Instruction Librarian at Ohio University, and, very intersting in The Chronicle of Higher Education, "Wikipedia Founder Discourages Academic Use of His Creation" (June 12, 2006).

Blog Post #2 - Librarian Trading Card

2006-06-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

Photo taken on Ogunquit Beach, Maine, June 2006.

Blog Post #1 - Ramblings on the history of the Internet

2006-06-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

When I began my first school library job in 1993 the Internet, as we know it today, was in its infancy. I was lucky enough to have an administrator who was as interested in the Internet, and its potential for educators, as I was. He was also fairly well connected professionally and soon we were working with Ameritech and had four Internet connected computers in my library. The amount of work that it took just to get the computers connected seemed monumental, as well as the bundle of phone lines that was used (and is still tucked away in the closet of my library as a sentimental reminder). We have come such a long way since then! T1 lines, wireless connections, laptops on carts.....

Even though we have traveled a remarkable distance as far as our acquired technology is concerned, I wonder how much progress we have really made as educators in the use of the Internet. I see some classroom teachers that are no more excited about the possibilities of the WWW today as they were years ago when I first showed the Internet to them! Which, believe it or not, leads me to what I find most interesting on the subject of the history of the Internet which is, how has the Internet and its development affected our world and our lives, how has it changed us and how will that "history" shape our future?

When I read about the development of the Internet I realize how it is absolutely nothing short of amazing! Really, how much more amazing does it get? When you step back and consider other milestones in communication history (telegraph, radio, telephone, television) you may think that those were just as amazing - and I am sure they were to people then. But, there is that "something" about the Internet that has transformed our world again, in a unique way, and to consider its transformative power and the impact on our future is mindboggling.

I found a very interesting site on the Librarians' Internet Index (lii.org) that addressed the history of the Internet, chronicled its development and developers, and offered predictions for the future (you can even post your own prediction). The site is "Imagining the Internet: A History and Forecast" http://www.elon.edu/predictions/, a project of Elon University in Elon, NC and the Pew Internet Project. Of great interest is the "Early 90's" page which tells the story of the people of the Internet in their own words, the "Top 20" Information Highway Quotes of 1990-1995 and the "Forward 150/Back 150" page which goest back 150 years in communication history and forward 15o years to predictions for the future. From Eisenhower and Sputnik to TCP/IP, Berners-Lee to 2150, its all there. There is even a teachers and kids zone.

Needless to say, the Internet has had a huge impact on all of our lives personally, professionally and socially and its potential is limitless for individuals, educators, librarians.

You have to wonder if a bunch of men working for the government ever imagined eharmony!

Welcome to My Blog

2006-06-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

My name is Leigh Radnitzer. I am a student at Dominican University. This is my LIS753 blog!