I must say that for sometime I have been curious about wikis. Obviously not curious enough as I never struck out on my own discovery adventure. Today's lesson on wikis was exciting in that I now know what a wiki is, I know how simple it is to edit and save, and I think I know how easy it is to create a wiki.
I was frustrated by a number of blocked wikis which always seemed to be the ones I was most interested in. The wikis I explored were intriguing, some baffling, some quite interesting. I can't say that I found a favorite but I did get some ideas to kick start my brain into planning a wiki for my students.
There are two ways I hope to use wikis. I would like to begin a site for teachers for curricular planning and one for students to respond to literature that grades 3-5 are reading as a whole.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
thing #15 - Web 2.0, Library 2.0
After reading all of the articles I've decided to respond to "Away from the "icebergs." Although I must say that several of the articles truly stirred my librarian emotion.
I agree with Mr. Anderson that librarians have been heroically rowing the library boat, even at times when it felt like bailing might be a more appropriate response. I disagree with Mr. Anderson in his comment that librarians/libraries are not paying enough attention to potential disasters, "just in case" collection, user education, "come to us" library service. I would like to believe/hope that many libraries/librarians are working hard to keep up with the challenges that Web 2.0/Library 2.0 have brought to us. Isn't challenge and change supposed to be positive?
The "just in case"collection has been morphing to meet the current demands however grudgingly and possibly a bit slower than hoped for. Attitudes of librarians have had to change regarding collection development and will need to continue to be open to change as we move further into Web 2.0/Library 2.0. What I'm not seeing change are the attitudes of teachers. Many/most are not familiar with nor have a desire to become familiar with Web 2.0/Library 2.0 offerings and demands. Until curriculum is written to include these there will not be a change.
Libraries have been poorly equipped and insufficiently staffed for teaching forever. The cry has been going out for more staffing for years but continues to fall on deaf ears. However, librarians have not thrown in the towel due to the short fall of staffing. We continue to find ways to do more with less. Not a perfect world or solution but we have to work with what we've got. I disagree that we need to move away from teaching research skills and move to nothing but succinct information delivery. Our patrons need and deserve both. How will we do it with our current constraints, I'm not sure but as in the past we will continue to strive for the best for our patrons by educating them and delivering to them the best that we have.
The "come to us" model has been in jeopardy for a few years as we are forced to deliver information via the web. But why must we be forced? Rather we should be more than excited to jump on the Web2.0/Library 2.0 bandwagon. We must meet users where they are rather than expecting them to come to us.
No profession can survive if it does not conform/morph/shift to meet the fundamental changes and demands of its changing community. Our information world is changing rapidly and libraries must change right along with the rest of the world if we wish to survive.
I agree with Mr. Anderson that librarians have been heroically rowing the library boat, even at times when it felt like bailing might be a more appropriate response. I disagree with Mr. Anderson in his comment that librarians/libraries are not paying enough attention to potential disasters, "just in case" collection, user education, "come to us" library service. I would like to believe/hope that many libraries/librarians are working hard to keep up with the challenges that Web 2.0/Library 2.0 have brought to us. Isn't challenge and change supposed to be positive?
The "just in case"collection has been morphing to meet the current demands however grudgingly and possibly a bit slower than hoped for. Attitudes of librarians have had to change regarding collection development and will need to continue to be open to change as we move further into Web 2.0/Library 2.0. What I'm not seeing change are the attitudes of teachers. Many/most are not familiar with nor have a desire to become familiar with Web 2.0/Library 2.0 offerings and demands. Until curriculum is written to include these there will not be a change.
Libraries have been poorly equipped and insufficiently staffed for teaching forever. The cry has been going out for more staffing for years but continues to fall on deaf ears. However, librarians have not thrown in the towel due to the short fall of staffing. We continue to find ways to do more with less. Not a perfect world or solution but we have to work with what we've got. I disagree that we need to move away from teaching research skills and move to nothing but succinct information delivery. Our patrons need and deserve both. How will we do it with our current constraints, I'm not sure but as in the past we will continue to strive for the best for our patrons by educating them and delivering to them the best that we have.
The "come to us" model has been in jeopardy for a few years as we are forced to deliver information via the web. But why must we be forced? Rather we should be more than excited to jump on the Web2.0/Library 2.0 bandwagon. We must meet users where they are rather than expecting them to come to us.
No profession can survive if it does not conform/morph/shift to meet the fundamental changes and demands of its changing community. Our information world is changing rapidly and libraries must change right along with the rest of the world if we wish to survive.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Thing #14 - Technorati
Tecnorati, the great blog warehouse. I completed keyword searches, tag searches, blog post searches, can't remember blog directory searching but I'm sure I must have done it. Keyword search returned blogs with one or more of the keywords so many of the articles didn't exactly fit the search results desired. Blog posts results were very similar to keyword search but seemed a little more to the point. Tag searches revealed somewhat the same results but I found several blogs that no longer existed and many were blocked by me filter.
I liked the arrangement/management of the Blogger Central/What's Popular, helped categorize the voluminous number of blogs in a way that made them "seem" more manageable. I liked that they provided Popular Blogs by fans and Popular Blogs by authority. Found the most popular search tags interesting. Sort of gives us an idea what the majority are looking for and that I'm not generally in that group.
I'm not sure that Technorati is a tool I will use professionally. I've not ruled it out completely but I really need to dig deeper into its offerings. I do appreciate the tagging feature and feel there are great benefits for the consumer. However, I do feel some of the more commercial type blogs are going overboard with the number of tags they add. I realize the idea is for readers to find them but come on, 26 or more tags is ridiculous. When tagging for my own interests I try to keep my tags limited to the very obvious and necessary tags. That makes it easier for me to find what I want and cuts down on the proliferation of tags.
I liked the arrangement/management of the Blogger Central/What's Popular, helped categorize the voluminous number of blogs in a way that made them "seem" more manageable. I liked that they provided Popular Blogs by fans and Popular Blogs by authority. Found the most popular search tags interesting. Sort of gives us an idea what the majority are looking for and that I'm not generally in that group.
I'm not sure that Technorati is a tool I will use professionally. I've not ruled it out completely but I really need to dig deeper into its offerings. I do appreciate the tagging feature and feel there are great benefits for the consumer. However, I do feel some of the more commercial type blogs are going overboard with the number of tags they add. I realize the idea is for readers to find them but come on, 26 or more tags is ridiculous. When tagging for my own interests I try to keep my tags limited to the very obvious and necessary tags. That makes it easier for me to find what I want and cuts down on the proliferation of tags.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Thing #13 - Social Bookmarking
After digging through the three social bookmarking sites I decided to stick with del.cio.us as it seemed to be fairly intuitive and user friendly. The site itself was well organized, not too cluttered. I quickly added a large number of sites and tags with literally no effort. Furl looked interesting also, liked the highlight text feature and the choice of private or public page by page. I felt their page was a big cluttered or messy. Ma.gnolia was more of the same but had extra components that I wasn't interested in.
I feel this can be a good tool for teachers/librarians to use with their research classes. However, I still have questions about what it takes for students to access my tags in del.cio.us. I will explore this further. As for personal use it is excellent. I love that I can pile in all my desired sites and access them from anywhere.
I feel this can be a good tool for teachers/librarians to use with their research classes. However, I still have questions about what it takes for students to access my tags in del.cio.us. I will explore this further. As for personal use it is excellent. I love that I can pile in all my desired sites and access them from anywhere.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Thing #12.3
I must say I enjoyed this part of the activity immensely. I located a stain glass site that is superb and will hopefully get me back into the art of stain glass creation. About two years ago we moved my mother-in-law into our home, so I located a site on home care for the elderly. I found it to be quite informative. My attitude towards searching out blogs of interest has now improved greatly.
Thing #12.2
Okay, this was a stretching exercise for me. I find I'd rather lurk than write only because I feel I do not have anything to add that's truly valuable. However, as I venture to comment on two outside blogs I hopefully will find blogs that will inspire me to speak up.
Thing #12.1 - Important Points About Commenting
Be polite, be polite, be polite, I truly cannot tolerate people that are rude in conversation whatever the mode of delivery. I've witnessed horrendous comments on listservs and blogs to well meaning individuals and rudeness from the same individuals when politely asked to correct their behavior. I read the final post of a blogger just the other day due to the rudeness of some participants. She decided it best to close her blog, how sad.
Contributing something of worth to a blog/conversation seems obvious to me however I find many folks just like to talk. Think before you speak/blog adding value rather than just words on a page.
Contributing something of worth to a blog/conversation seems obvious to me however I find many folks just like to talk. Think before you speak/blog adding value rather than just words on a page.
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