Welcome to the promised “links of doom” post – there’s 39 links in here. I am doing this before I acquire more. (I am also working on a set of job hunting resource links, and some other stuff.)
In other news, I had a lovely short hike in some nearby trails this morning. Maine remains gorgeous.
(here, have a photo I took on my walk: this is a maintained set of trails about a mile from my home.)
Why information literacy matters:
- Joyce Valenza has a really compelling piece about why being able to find and evaluate information really is a crucial skill – and why restrictions on access can be prohibitive.
- How ready access to information affects our memories – some interesting research.
- Jessamyn West’s commencement speech at Goddard College which is powerfully about taking control of our own lives. (I’m really looking forward to hearing her speak in person next month in Augusta at a tri-region meeting about ebooks and technology. Awesome way to spend my birthday.)
Instructional resources:
- Some interesting resources on teaching elders about online tools (especially around safety, financial scams, etc.) from a question on Ask.Metafilter.
- Joyce Valenza highlights SnagLearning, which provides open access to a range of documentaries for middle school students on up.
- A really nice outline for teaching about digital footprint issues from Alex Ragone.
- A DIY guide to making infographics
- A really interesting look at a university class discussion about plagiarism, using three online reading sources.
- A guide to keeping up with search tools from Joyce Valenza.
- Rosalind Wiseman has an interesting guide to facing educators who abuse their power – she gives some models for conversation to change what’s going on.
Academic libraries:
- A post from Andy at Information Tyrannosaur about how college libraries are making it easier for students to schedule an appointment with a librarian – and how that’s deepening conversations about research.
- Barbara Fister talks sensibly about searching, why it’s critical, and how libraries are handling aspects of it (quite badly).
- Patricia Aufderheide has a nice summary of myths about fair use (aimed at educational uses).
Access and assistance:
- Some fascinating thoughts from the Boston Python Workshop, an outreach event for women (and what being accessible and doing meaningful outreach might mean you should think about.)
Google+
First: I am currently really frustrated with Google’s approach to the pseudonym issue (which affects me and a number of people I know, for reasons elaborated in links in this section), and that’s making me not want to use the site, even with my legal name (which I use for work-related things). But I also wanted to highlight a couple of tools for people who do want to use it, or at least try it out.
- Brian at Swiss Army Librarian talks about Google+ as a learning tool.
- Social Media Examiner has a good getting-started guide.
- Doug Johnson has some thoughts about Google+ and schools.
- Sarah (Librarian in Black)’s outline of a Google+ class she taught at her library.
- A guide to Google+ privacy controls, from LifeHacker
Anyway, the approach to naming issues has been really problematic (the short version is that Google has been suspending people who use a pseudonym, what looks like a pseudonym, or nicknames that they use widely, but are not their legal name. After starting with a policy of “use the name other people call you.”)
Denise, co-founder of Dreamwidth, has a great post about name policies in general. She highlights something I really appreciate: why do some places insist on just one name and format of name?
Socially, it’s long been common that we might have a formal name, a family nickname, the thing our friends from high school call us but no one else does, the name we use at work, and much more. Why can’t we pick the one we want to use as long as we’re not using it to defraud?
Likewise, having volunteered under her management on the LiveJournal Terms of Service team for about 18 months, I agree with her notes about abuse from legal names vs. chosen names, and that in that setting, that some of the creepiest and most difficult cases were people using what were clearly their legal names on the site.
And she links to My Name Is Me, a project of people who use self-chosen names for a variety of reasons, about why they do that. (I agree with her that I like the term autonymity for that…)
danah boyd also has a great post on “real names” policies are an abuse of power.
GeekFeminism has been closely tracking the issues with Google’s ban of pseudonyms (and other names they don’t think are ‘real’). Some of the most awesome posts include:
- Who is harmed by a real name policy? (Which looks at the many reasons someone might wish to use something other than their legal name in online – and offline – settings.) There’s a editable wiki with a long list of reasons for pseudonym use, too.
- “real”/legal name communities behave better asks for research and evidence that that’s actually true.
- And their two most recent link roundups are here and here, with some more really awesome conversations.
And finally, Skud (one of the co-founders of the GeekFeminism blog and widely known as a presenter by that name) had her Google+ account suspended and has been documenting the process. (As she notes, she was a Google employee until shortly before this happened before leaving for other reasons, so she had some contacts within the company.)
- I’ve been suspended from Google+
- More comments on Google+ and names
- Preliminary results of my survey of suspended Google+ accounts
- Google is gagging user advocates
- An update on my Google Plus suspension
Ebooks:
- David Lee King summarises the difference ebook vendors at ALA.
- Sarah at Librarian in Black has a great introduction to the Open Library project, which is working on making free ebooks available to libraries.
Living online:
- Somewhere along the line, I got linked to an interesting argument made much earlier this year by Paul Ford, in which he argues that the Web is a customer service medium, and takes on the question of how we answer “Why wasn’t I consulted?”
- There’s an interesting Canadian site, Digital Tattoo, aimed at older teens (and college students) about online privacy and digital footprint issues.
And other tidbits:
- Ways to socially reward library patrons.
- How to create the online community you want from Anil Dash (Note for strong language)
- Draft horses bringing fiber optic cable to rural Vermont towns.
