By Jen, on February 11th, 2011%
Welcome to this week’s installment of interesting links! Coming soon, another post on file management – naming conventions (I’m about halfway through a draft.)
Credit where it’s due: Do you use Creative Commons materials? Do you get frustrated figuring out what you need to cite and how? The OpenAttribute project is designed to help: it’s a browser add-on that looks for information on the page to formulate the citation.
What should people know about dinosaurs? Ok, I admit, I never entirely outgrew the “dinosaurs are neat!” phase of my childhood, but I’m actually equally fascinated by the question of “What *should* people know about a particular subject, and how do we figure that out?” So, imagine my delight in getting a pointer to a post that combines the two. Tom Holz (a paleontologist who focuses on the tyrannosaurus rex) has written a guest post about that very topic, with both general and specific things he thinks people ought to know about the field and why they matter.
A follow-up from last week – namely the bit about BitchMedia’s 100 Best Feminist YA list removing some titles. This week, I bring you Scott Westerfeld on the topic (author of many things, including the Uglies/Pretties/Specials series, and more recently Leviathan
On the issue of diversity, there was a fascinating article from a professor, Margaret Price, about the ways that academic hiring processes are particularly challenging for people with particular learning styles, or disabilities. The article also makes some interesting points about how a gruellingly lengthy interview day (of 8+ hours with very limited breaks) is not actually showing you someone at their best – or as they’d be during a regular teaching day. As more and more schools recognise the importance of diversity and pluralism in all directions, I hope that some of these ideas will become more common.
I know that I’ve deeply appreciated interviews that pay attention to these things, including sharing names of the people on a committee in writing before or during the interview (so that I can match the name and the person and their role as we go rather than try to sort out names and their correct spelling afterwards), and that give reasonable breaks to collect my thoughts and remind myself of what I want to focus on for the next conversation.
As a librarian, how I talk about things with faculty is often different than what and how I want to talk about things with technology staff, for example – and both are definitely different than how I interact with kids.) Obviously, I’m good at changing modes on the fly (that’s part of the job, really), but I do better at it with a moment to get a drink of water, gather my thoughts, look at my notes, and take a deep breath (all things that I’d plan into a typical workday on the job.)
Looking for a good guide to Facebook settings? Mashable has just come out with a really nice, new summary of settings to be aware of. I like to keep an up to date (last month or three) in my bookmarks because they do tend to change things, don’t they?
What technology changes: Henry Jenkins has a great post about how open book exams must change in a wired educational setting - all excellent points. Personally, I’m convinced that it’s possible to design exams (and other projects) such that online resources are helpful – but only if you already know the subject pretty well. This does mean moving away from simple identification questions (which are trivial if you have online access to resources), and moving into questions that require you to understand those terms, but which focus mostly on doing something else with them.
Joyce Valenza is also thinking about this general topic, but from a different direction, in her post about creating a new Research Tools resource online (as she’s moving her materials to LibGuide)
By Jen, on February 4th, 2011%
Short list today: this week has been full of job stuff – last week was sending out lots of applications, this one has been visiting Boston mostly for a hiring conference today and tomorrow which has so far gone well (I liked all three of the interviews I’ve done so far, and I think they’d all be interesting jobs with great kids, but they’re rather different settings, which is also cool.)
Tech literacy:
LG, a maker of various electronic gadgetry, have combined forces with Jane Lynch (of Glee and various other TV fame) to do a series of short videos about various aspects of texting behavior. They’re funny and informative. Their website has links to the videos, but also other resources for parents looking to talk to their kids about texting and electronics-mediated behavior.
Mashable has a nice guide to creating a Facebook engagement policy that’s aimed at businesses, but just as applicable to libraries and other organizations.
Tools:
A discussion on one of my library boards pointed out a great resource for people taking over archives as a project – particularly apropos for me, because one of my interviews had just asked about my experience with it (I have some, in fact, but more tools are always great.)
Other amusements and news:
Most of you have probably already seen links about the hawk trapped in the Library of Congress’s main reading room, but they managed to catch it on the 26th. (It’s getting checked out by raptor rehab folks, and will be released in a more natural location.)
John Scalzi has a post about an interesting issue - the inclusion or removal of titles from a “100 best titles” list – in this case, a list from BitchMedia of 100 best YA titles for feminist readers. (I do sort of wish he’d left comments open, because his comment space is a very different place from that thread, and I’d have liked to see both approaches to discussion.)
And Jessamyn West, of MetaFilter, had an essay on the NYT about the recent news that only 15% of Wikipedia contributors are female. (MetaFilter, where she is a moderator, takes several steps to make the site a space that is more inclusive of women.) The comments, however, are pre-101 level on this issue: for further reading on related topics, I recommend the Geek Feminism blog.
Me, I think it’s a complex issue, but I’m fascinated by the question of how the choices we make in online settings create places people do or don’t feel comfortable contributing. I don’t think every space has to have the same goals (and in fact, don’t want them to – that’d be boring), but I think more sites being more deliberate about their choices and particularly what those choices mean is never a bad thing.
By Jen, on January 21st, 2011%
Welcome to the return of the links posts! I’ve got an interesting collection again, so here we go:
Continue reading Links of interest: January 21, 2011
By Jen, on January 19th, 2011%
I got to thinking recently that there are a whole lot of information literacy skills we’re really not teaching at the moment – many of which are actually quite useful (or potentially so.)
[edited to add: I did get a question about 'we' in the above, so it's probably worth noting here that when I write on this blog, I'm writing from the general perspective of a librarian with strong experience in the secondary school setting, and a general background in formal educational settings (high school, college). I certainly know individuals who are teaching some or all of the things I talk about below, but I know of very few where all of these things are clearly a part of the structured learning expectations, or taught/discussed in any sort of clear way (maybe beyond a few minutes of "Remember to back up your files" kinds of things.
Also, because I've had about three people go "I wish someone would talk about that" I'm going to make it a priority to write up some of how I do these things (and why I do them that way) in the near future.]
Tagging and other folksonomy issues:
Tagging is a lovely thing – being able to put labels on things, so you can find them again later. However, it’s also painfully easy for a tagging system to get unwieldy, especially after a year or two. What would happen if we talked about the process of creating a system (figuring out which tags are likely to be useful to you later), and also about maintaining a system (reviewing it every so often to make sure it’s still working well.) Plus, things like how they work on different systems: tagging someone on Facebook, for example, has different implications than tagging a particular book on LibraryThing.
File management:
I don’t know about you, but how I manage my files continues to change and grow. I’m still prone to organizing things in folders, and to creating quick links (via aliases, my dock, and other options) to the files I use most frequently. But at the same time, I also know that there’s some powerful search tools built into my computer these days (that weren’t there in the dawn of time, when I started using an Apple IIc, way back when.)
Searching is great, but like all searches, it involves some knowing what you’re looking for (for example, when the file was last edited, the name, a reasonably unique search term.) If I search on my computer for files containing the word ‘librarian’ or ‘book’ or ‘writing’ for example, I get hundreds, sometimes thousands of files, so I have to pick different terms. There’s also the question of maintaining different versions of files, and keeping them straight. And when we start sharing files – either by emailing an attachment, uploading to a central server (or something like GoogleDocs), it gets even more important to pick meaningful file names.
There are all sorts of techniques for these – but I know a lot of people don’t really know about them. We should change that, somehow.
Making thoughtful choices about time:
One of the real challenges of the online age is .. well, there’s so much to do. It’s so easy to get distracted by some interesting link, and lose track of time. I’ve been thinking a lot about how we can build the pattern of self-awareness into more of our online interactions, but I think talking about it is a good start. Where do we spend time online? Why?
Doing something because it’s fun is often fine, but sometimes we stay in online spaces that are no longer fun, because we’ve got the habit. What happens when we change that? All these questions – and many more – are conversations I very much want to see in broader conversation, not just with current students, but with everyone. (And it’s in my list of topics to blog more about here…)
Productivity tools:
One thing I kept pointing out in discussions about the 1:1 laptop initiative at the previous job was something that seems like a small change, but can be huge. What happens when every student in the class has reliable access to class resources? When a teacher could, say, create a calendar with deadlines and reminders, and have every student sync to it, so they’d know about deadlines or other details?
We’ve taught students about analog calendars for years – but what happens when students can tap into the wide range of productivity and task management tools out there, and use them to manage their assignments? Not only will they be better off now (and hopefully, a bit less stressed), but they’ll be learning great skills for the future. (Even though the tools will certainly change, the basic process of getting used to entering it somewhere, managing lists of tasks, etc. will probably still be there.)
(There will be a return of the links posts on Friday: over the holidays, I was getting many fewer links I really wanted to share, but I’ve got a nice collection again.)
By Jen, on December 17th, 2010%
Good afternoon! Links today – and links sometime in the next two weeks, but precisely when will depend on what I find, since I suspect many of my regular sources may slow down a little over the next two weeks.
Today’s links include a lot of discussion about social bookmarking tools, changing how we look at doing things, and a hippo.(Actually, a hippo, a loris, a hydra, and an infinite string of elephants and camels. But who’s counting?)
Continue reading Links of interest: December 17th, 2010
By Jen, on December 6th, 2010%
(Yes, I try to do these on Fridays, but last Friday I had an interview, and the Friday before was Thankgiving. This week is busy too, so I’m doing this now.)
Last Wednesday and Thursday, I took part in a free WebJunction conference that focused on 21st century librarianship. There were lots of great ideas and discussions (and the WebJunction staff and software worked very smoothly). You can now see all the conference materials (including the presentations and the simultaneous chat sessions) online. I particularly liked Pat Wagner’s presentation on staying committed to great customer service, but there were lots of other good conversations.
On the topic of learning more, how had I missed the site fivebooks.com until now? They ask experts in a field (anything from architectural history to political satire to mysteries to .. well, anything) to recommend five books that would give someone a solid understanding of the topic. And why, which is in many ways the more interesting bit.
And Discover Magazine has an intriguing article about using a simple writing exercise to vastly improve student achievement in a challenging class.
What’s the goal of being online?
Several links I’ve come across in the past week or so have talked about both the powers and perils of online interaction.
Doug Johnson revisits an old post of his from 2005 that talks about why restricting online access in schools is problematic. What I find interesting is how much is still like that – but also how much things have changed in some schools.
And I love Scott McLeod’s post about the things we’d be doing (differently) if we truly supported educational technology. (I’m glad to say I’ve done more than a few of them.)
Common advice to authors these days is to be involved online – but how? A post from Betsy Lerner (an agent) looks at a few of the complexities.
I’m very fond of Common Craft’s explanations of media and technology – and they’ve got a new one about social media and the workplace. Particularly great if you know people in smaller businesses trying to figure out where to get started with the subject.
And BoingBoing shared a presentation that makes one think about the power of online tools, and the importance of teaching evaluation skills – and common sense. (The actual combination of events is, as commenters point out, unlikely, but at the same time, I think it’s an interesting case study in looking at other ways to send a situation.)
For librarians and library geeks:
By Jen, on November 19th, 2010%
Still mulling over some of the other posts I want to do, but this week there are lots of lovely links!
Bullying and other relational aggression problems.
danah boyd has a great piece on how talking about bullying with teens might not be working because many teens don’t see relational aggression as bullying – they don’t call it that, but instead, as danah says, “They’d be talking about “starting drama” or “getting into fights” or “getting into my business” or “being mean.”
And, related, Tor.com just published a chilling and powerful short story about the costs of seeking acceptance: “Ponies” by Kij Johnson.
Web design:
The San Jose Public Library system launched a brand new website this week, and it’s been getting a lot of attention. They’ve made some very deliberate choices.
Sarah Houghton-Jan, the Digital Futures manager at SJPL talks about the project at her blog Librarian in Black. And of course, links to the new site.
Emily Lloyd, at Shelf Check, highlights one very cool thing, where Sarah says in that post “Every single staff member at SJPL has been asked and empowered to create blog posts for the new site. That means everyone. No limiting by classification, specialization, or degree-holding nonsense. We’re all smart. We all have things we know about and want to share with our library users. We currently have over 300 staff set up to create content and I couldn’t be happier.” They’re also not pre-moderating either posts by staff or comments by library users.
Their posting and commenting guidelines are over here, for the curious, and seem pretty solid.
And Brian Herzog has a great roundup of web design links and tips – focused on libraries, but with lots of general application.
Intellectual integrity:
The Chronicle of Higher Education ran a piece on the 12th from someone who says he’s had a quite lucrative business writing papers for pay. The article itself is interesting, but I also recommend the extensive discussion at Making Light that goes into various aspects in more depth (especially since the regular comment base includes a number of educators at various levels.)
Facebook news:
One of the big pieces of news on Monday was Facebook’s new messaging system. TechCrunch has a summary. And there’s another piece from Business Insider about how the complexity of the system might not be so useful. But if you’re still curious, Boy Genius Report has screenshots and other details of how it actually works.
There was also a bug which disabled a number of user accounts – apparently, all of women. SFGate has an overview and ReadWriteWeb has more. Boy Genius Report has some commentary, and also asked about the problematic request to submit government ID to get the account reinstated. Gawker has a bit more. I’m seeing mixed reports about whether accounts have been reinstated, and will be keeping my eyes open for more this week.
One of the things I’m mulling about Facebook is their assumption that everyone uses the technology and tools and resources the same way. Which is. .. erm, not so much true. Even without getting into the topic of fake accounts, what about authors and artists who create under pseudonyms, those who use a maiden name professionally and a different name socially (or vice versa), people in the midst of name changes for any and varied reason. Any system that fails to allow for this is going to have problems. Ditto the thing about how people use different kinds of messaging for different reasons and with different people, and combining them might not actually work for a number of people.
General links:
The Carl Brandon Society (focused on authors and characters of color in speculative fiction) is holding a drawing for five e-readers.The funds raised will benefit the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship, a fund that sends two emerging writers of color to the Clarion writers workshops annually. The e-readers come pre-loaded with an amazing array of reading material from writers of color in the speculative fiction field. More details and the link to buy ($1) tickets at their site.
Iris at Pegasus Librarian has a great post on being a guest lecturer in a class rather than a librarian. I had another conversation this week that reminded me how powerful being there, being flexible, and not trying to do everything can sometimes be the most powerful learning experiences.
And Jenica has a wonderful post about what good service actually looks like.
Ideaplay has a detailed commentary on Nicholas Carr’s new book: The shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains. (Haven’t read the book yet, but it’s on my reserve list at the library.)
WebJunction has a brief (5 minute) video with David Lee King from the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library system on 5 Tips for Dealing with Difficult Patrons on the Web.
In the comments on danah’s post below, I discovered a new blog: Beyond Netiquette, which focuses on how we actually behave while using all these technology things, with some thoughtful posts and specific ideas.
The New York Times had a great piece on how digital resources and tools are deepening our understanding not just in the sciences, but also in the humanities, with links to some specific projects.
The EduBlog awards are out, with some great links to educational blogs asking great questions and sharing wonderful resources. Related, Doug Johnson has a really interesting post on what kind of value librarians and technology staff offer compared to, say, a slightly smaller class size. (He is a passionate advocate for libraries and technologies, but he’s also looking at the budget challenges.)
And in follow-ups from previous weeks, Cooks’ Source has apparently called it quits, according to a local area newspaper (and in fact the site is now down.) I continue to be bemused by the fact that Griggs keeps focusing on the initiating event, while ignoring the fact that a number of other pieces (including from much larger organizations) were also copied and taken without permission. I don’t think it’s fooling anyone.
By Jen, on November 12th, 2010%
Back for another round of links. (I do have some other things in the works, but they’re not quite gelling the way I’d like yet. I hope for next week; topics include a post on tech I use and why, and on the broad question of being a good librarian.)
I came across the In the Library With A Lead Pipe blog/journal due to their posts on librarian workspaces, but I’m thinking even more about about their post “X”, which is about pseudonymity and anonymity in professional (specifically library) communities.
Living online:
Anne Collier and Larry Magid have released a new version of their (free) Parents’ Guide to Facebook. Doug Johnson has a nice summary, with links to the PDF book. It’s got some great advice on specific privacy settings and considerations, and is well worth reading whether or not you have kids, if you use Facebook.
I caught an interesting piece on Talk of the Nation yesterday on NPR as I was driving, on how much employers can limit worker’s behavior – in particular, in online settings. You can read the transcript or listen to the piece (about half an hour) at the NPR site.
danah boyd wrote a fascinating piece on teenagers choosing risk reduction behaviors for online interaction that seem really odd at first glance (in one case, deleting everything posted after a short period of time, in another case, disabling the account entirely whenever she’s offline.) And yet, as danah points out, they make perfect sense in context.
Followup on last week’s stories about Cooks Source:
- They’ve made a public statement that still misses the point in several ways.
- John Scalzi comments on their statement (and how it’s not precisely an apology), including where they’re still missing some important points.
- And there have been several NPR stories (especially intriguing since NPR was one of the sources whose material was used without permission.)
- The Wikipedia article has links to a bunch of additional commentary and news reporting pieces.
And other links of potential interest:
By Jen, on November 5th, 2010%
Today is Guy Fawkes Day which always reminds me of how people interact with information, and how what we know about an event can shift with bias. (And which, if you know some of the history, is a really fascinating example of how to evaluate information about an event.)
Anybody for…? Emily Lloyd at Shelf Check (one of my favorite library comics) has a fascinating post about creating a social physical library – allowing people in the building to connect with other people who are there doing similar things, or would be interested (a spontaneous story-time, a chance to practice a language, play a game of chess, etc.) Folks in the comments there mentioned a related conversation at thewikiman, with more ideas in the comments.
Let’s try that again. Related to some of the posts last week, Iris has a post about a discussion at her college’s Learning and Teaching Center about Harvesting Our Mistakes. Both some of the specific there – and a reminder to keep up with the process of reflection and adjustment – spoke to me.
First attempts: Scott McLeod (who focuses on technology in K-12 education, and who does a lot of work with administrators trying to figure out how to implement technology in their schools) has an interesting post on how to look at the first steps of technology practice.
More things we’re not teaching: His post made me realise that I missed something in my Things we’re not teaching post: how many schools are teaching students how to find a task management technology that works for them that goes beyond “Write it in your planner”. These days, kids with access to their own tech devices (whether that’s a phone, mobile device, laptop, or home computer) have a lot more choices in figuring out how to manage deadlines and assignments – and it might be good to talk about them, show off some options, and so on.
What’s getting asked: Brian Herzog has been writing about his experience at the NELA 2010 conference, and has a great post about changes in reference questions in public library settings, based on Pingsheng Chen from the Worcester (MA) Public Library presentation. Summary: libraries are getting fewer of the easy questions, but more of the time consuming or challenging ones. (Since people are tending to do their own searches for the simpler stuff, and only coming to the librarians when they get stumped.)
Community concerns: The Disruptive Student series at ProfHacker (a Chronicle of Higher Education blog) has an interesting post today on dealing with bullying in academic settings. While focused on teaching settings, there’s some interesting stuff in there for people in libraries to think about too.
Understanding other experiences: While browsing around ProfHacker, I found a couple of posts on dealing with students with disabilities or other access needs, with some useful information for anyone who teaches.
For another take on this situation, FWD/Foward has a post this week on how teachers and professors can help students with disabilities. (FWD focuses on an intersectional approach to disabilities.)
The problems with copying: Seanan McGuire, author of a number of books (the October Daye series, and as Mira Grant, the NewsFlesh series) made a post this week about Internet piracy and who it hurts. She has a follow-up post with a few clarifications and additional points, too.
In a related area, my reading lists have been full of people talking about a really blatant example of why copying is stupid. Author writes an article (a comparison of apple pie recipes.) A small local newspaper publishes it – without permission or recompense. Author writes politely, requesting a donation to a program of her preference, in lieu of payment. Editor responded that, well, it was online, so it was in the public domain – and oh, by the way, she should be grateful for publication and badly needed editing.
You can guess at the outcome, but John Scalzi’s blog, Whatever, has the best overview of it: The Stupidest Thing an Editor With Three Decades of Experience Has Said About the Web Today. (With links to the author’s original post about it, including a copy of the relevant email.) He has a follow-up post, too.
Dear people: stuff on the ‘Net is not automatically in the public domain. Please share with anyone who has not yet learned this.
By Jen, on October 29th, 2010%
Learning outcomes : Iris Jastram talks about an insight she had about using learning outcomes to do better user instruction, and Jenica Rogers has some more ideas about applying that to the work of the library as a whole.
Technology and the librarian : Michael Stephens, on the MLIS faculty at Dominican University, has begun writing a new column for Library Journal. His first column talks about the need for library students (and librarians) to be comfortable using (and use) online communication, beyond the closed systems of classes and workplaces. Various people, including Angel Rivera have commented about it. (I’ve got more thoughts about this one, but they’re still gelling.)
Steampunk considerations: Nisi Shawl has a great article at Tor.com on some of the issues of steampunk in terms of reflecting the experiences of people of color in that reimagined world. She talks about what she’s writing to explore that, and also links to a bunch of other fascinating resources.
When the library’s not handy: Hugo, Minnesota (a suburb of St. Paul) which has no town library has instituted a Library Express program: programmed lockers outside of City Hall which allow residents to pick up books they’ve reserved. A Wall Street Journal article talks about this and some other similar programs in other places, which also talks about the complications of shorter library hours due to funding cutbacks, and library patrons who still want to use resources.
Conference notes: Sarah Houghton-Jan of Librarian in Black went to the Internet Librarian 2010 conference and made lots of useful posts on presentations – everything on learning from failure to the community as center of the community, to great free tools for cash-strapped libraries.
Time-consuming reference: Brian Herzog talks about doing triage on reference questions in a public library setting. Not only having circulation staff handle some things, and then refer to reference librarians for more detailed needs (common if the reference desk is not obvious or as available as the circ desk) but also how to handle the much more complex questions that take 15 or 30 minutes to handle.
How much management is just right? Jenica Rogers has a great post on what she’s learned in her first 17 months as Director of Libraries. She focuses on the problems of micromanaging – or more specifically, how she doesn’t want to, but other people want her to give more direct guidance and direction on a day to day basis, and how that needs to be balanced against her own work.
Interesting resources:
- Two additional ways to search Flickr: FlickrStorm goes beyond your initial search by finding other items that might fit and Compfight makes it easier to find creative commons items and original images.
- OpenFolklore is a project of the American Folklore Society to make materials more widely available for study and learning.
- The Wisebaden Codex of Hildegard von Bingen’s work is now available digitally. Click the manuscript page image to get into the document reader. (Things that make the medievalist bits of my brain happy!)
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Hi, I’m Jen Librarian, infovore, and general geek, likely to write comments about books, link collections, and other thoughts related to how we find, use, and take joy in information.
Newly hired as the Information Technology Librarian at the University of Maine at Farmington.
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