Podcamp Perth07 - notes

This was an unconference held over 27 - 28 October 2007 in Central TAFE, Perth. I attended on Saturday 27th only, along with Nikki Haseldine, Julia Gross, Lutie Sheridan, Trevor Bennett, Rivka Niesten, and Mike Nodding from ECU. There were also a few other ECU lecturers and students.

The first session I attended was Podcasting in education, led by Tama Leaver (UWA) and Sue Waters (Challenger TAFE). It concentrated both on using podcasting as a method of delivery instead of common teaching methods, but also how to use podcasting and techology to engage students in a practical way. Tama uses blogs to supplement (replace?) face to face seminars. Examples of students' work were a play and a radio show. Tama made the point that the quality of work was good, as the students knew the work would be viewed by their colleagues. Tama uses Lectopia and Audacity whereas Sue uses her video iPod with recorder, and uses Belkin Tunetalk, Windows Moviemaker, Facebook, her PDA (using high quality sound 44100 Hz or multiple of 11,025), Skype and a quality recording. Sue advised us to think carefully before creating a podcast as it takes a lot of time - the podcast may already exist. However, if you are going to do it, then do it without too much worry! She used her presentation to show (with audio) what students thought and knew of podcasting. Not all young students were expert users! She also advised not to stray from the default settings nor buy expensive equipment unless knowledgeable about podcasting. She uses podomatic as a home for her podcasts. Think about background noise when recording, and be interesting.

I then attended the 'podcasting production campfire' led by Kerry Johnston. She uses Moodle and records podcasts, interviews, records events and meetings using relatively simple equipment. Her tips to working with a micorphone are to work close with volume down to decrease reflected sound, to speak up, to imagine you are speaking to a real person, to pad your space with cushions, egg cartons, foam rubber, to put the mike stand on some foam rubber to muffle sound, to use a speaker phone with a mike, to use a pop filter, or to use iRiver for recording.

I then attended the 'rant' session where we discussed the problems of training people at differnet levels and how to sell the technology to late adopters by equating it to webpage feeds.

I then attended a hands on session on podcasting using Garageband.

My final session was 'The social network in your pocket' by Nick Cowie. Here Nick stated that 50% of all mobile phones being sold now are internet compatible. By 2010, traditional internet usage is predicted to be dwarfed by mobile phone internet usage. He used some 'typical users' to describe various patterns of use of the internet and digital media. He said that users are now familiar with Facebook, MySpace, crikey.com, iPhones, Javascript and RIA, RSS bloglines, podcasts, Twitter (in US and Oz), Jaiku (in UK and Europe), mobilicio.us, wapedia, wink. Disadvantanges of mobile devices include the screen size and input methods, various OSs, Javascript and RIA, data cost and speed. He suggested that twitter feeds could be used for closed reserve, with users using SMS to get details of items, although we need permission from the student to send SMS messages. he also discussed the learnscope site, redcoal software for SMS which works through email and also keeps a copy of the message. Nick suggested that open APIs and mobile specific views are required for proper use.

University College, Dublin starts a presence in Second Life.

Hi all

Here is a link to an article about University College, Dublin, which has just started a presence in Second Life.

http://www.ucd.ie/news/june07/062707_second_life.html

Pictures of Innovative Users Group conference 2007

I have uploaded some pictures of this conference and the surrounding San Jose area to Flickr.

This is a picture of the San Jose Civic Centre, where we had our keynote address.

Search for iug2007 tag to see the other photos from several participants.

Lulu - publishing site - web 2.0 award winner

Hi all

I've chosen Lulu from the list of web 2.0 winners. It won 1st place in the books category, and allows authors to publish as many copies as are required. I had heard about his site previously, but have never visited it. There is no minimum order, and the author sets their own price.

A drop down list allows the user to search for books, music, etc. or everything. Users can also search for works that can be copied and distributed, used for commercial purposes, or even adapted and modified.I searched for 'nutrition' and got 251 hits. Searchers can read reviews, authors descriptions, product details, sales rank and ISBN as well as other details. There are also a list of keywords, allowing the user to see other similar books.

Books also have a rating, e.g., everyone. I couldn't get on to the page that explained the ratings, so don't know what else is there.

Thoughts about the Learning 2.0 program

Hi all

I've now completed all the weeks exercises in this programme.

What have you personally learned from this program?
I've had a chance to explore and use many technologies that I hadn't used before, and consider how they could be used in the library. Specifically, reading other people's blogs, wikis and looking at the variety of videos on YouTube gave some ideas as follows:-


blogs - could be used for 'news' in a particular subject area, or alternatively general library news of interest to all library users. Of course there are already several blogs of interest to library staff - I subscribe to the Shifted Librarian.


RSS feeds - these could be used for information on the latest new items in the library, library notices to an individual, preset subject searches in the catalogue, library courses, library news, or new articles added to journal databases (as currently available).


Wikis - could be used for library FAQs (in a similar fashion to wikipedia), discussions between subject librarians and their students, discussions between library staff on a specific topic (much like we used it to discuss the 'Welcome to the library' brochure). I'm not yet convinced that it could replace the library's website, but this may change with technology advances.

Flickr - I can't think of any direct applications of this in the library, except that we could have a 'group' on Flickr to show pictures of the library, and thus have a presence in Flickr.

Second Life - We could have a presence on Second Life. As stated in a previous post, some research has shown that due to 'everyone being equal' in Second Life, some students may feel happier about approaching a virtual librarian for help. In addition, it is another method of 'meeting the students where they already are in cyberspace'. If our users are already using Second Life, then we should have a virtual library there. There are issues if access, though, as it is difficult to use with a dial up connection.

Del.icio.us - This could be used as an addition to our lists of reviewed websites. We could set up a list of bookmarks, and students studying a specific subject area could use these as a reference set of bookmarks.

Podcasting - We've already started to use these in the Library for tours and quick guides to a specific issue. I believe that they are great for instruction, as users can choose the specific topic on which they want help (e.g. types of journals). and don't have to listen to (or read) a lot of extra irrelevant information.

YouTube etc. - these sites could also be used in a similar manner. When I searched YouTube, I found several small videos on "library instruction". We could do something similar. However, I think that the videos would need to be run on technology within the library as well, e.g., our information screens. Thus students in the Library would see the videos on the screens, and remote students could watch the video on YouTube. In this case, the videos would need to be relevant to remote students (e.g. how to use electronic resources).

What have you learned about yourself, others and the organisation in which you work?

I have found that using blogs is a great way to communicate, and that my colleagues are always willing to help (although I knew that already). It has been an interesting experience supporting each other through the programme.

What was the most important skill you have learned and why?

I would agree with Klickety and JMCG that blogging was very important. Other than that, I've enjoyed using all the applications, and can see library uses for almost all of them. I will certainly use Del.icio.us, Flickr, wikis and RSS feeds further for work and also outside of work.

What action will you now take if any?

I'll keep my skills and knowledge of these resources, and try to learn more about them. In my role I'm already using wikis to communicate with colleagues in toher libraries. Many may also be included in the library website - this can be progressed in the Web Advisory Group (or elsewhere)

Would students use these technologies as part of the library’s online environment?

I think they would use most of them, as described above.

Is there some specific technology that you would like to see the library adopt ?

RSS feeds are available in the webOPAC, and we can include external RSS feeds for free. We can add other (chargeable) modules which will allow us to send advisory messages to users (e.g. laons are due to expire, or items available for pickup) as well as creating RSS feeds from predesigned searches and new items receied in the library. These can be put in any webpage. Many databases also include RSS feeds.

I would also like to see Del.icio.us and YouTube used as above.

I have really enjoyed this programme and would like to thank Elle and JMCG for putting it together.

Yahoo and YouTube videos

I've had a look around the Yahoo video site, and there are a lot of library instructional videos listed there. Unfortunately, when I clicked on them many were no longer available.

However, I've also had a look at YouTube, and found this video about 'Taking on a Second Life'. It shows the Info Island, but has no speech, just background music.



I also found a short video that defends the Dewey Decimal system (humourous)

Blog 'claimed' on Technorati

Hi all

I've just added my blog to Technorati. It seems easy to use.

Cheers

Lisa


Technorati Profile

Thoughts on Del.icio.us

Hi all

Just finished looking at this site, and I'm impressed with how easy it is to use. I've imported my bookmarks from both Internet Explorer and Firefox, and also added a few webpages directly.

I agree with JMCG that this may be of most use to us for research assistance - it could replace the list of useful websites for each Faculty that are currently on our website. I'm also going to use it on a personal basis, as it seems very useful for accessing bookmarks from any computer.

Lisa

Article on social networking use in libraries

Hi
Those of you who get 'Library Link of the Day' will have seen the article "Libraries woo patrons on the Web - Plug in to social networking sites". It discusses Amanda Werhane from the University of Wisconsin Wendt Library.

The article states "Amanda Werhane, liaison librarian and marketing coordinator at Wendt, runs the library's blog (wendt-library.blogspot.com), which features a collection of links and notes about useful research tools and journals. She's also set up a Wendt Library page on Facebook, MySpace and Friendster and posted library pictures on Flickr, the photo-sharing Web site." They use instant messaging and chat reference to answer questions.

You can read the complete article at http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/index.php?ntid=168453

Cheers

Second Life

Hi all

I'm several weeks behind on this project due to pressure of work.

However, I've just had a look at the Second Life information on the ABC site. I did see this program when it was broadcast, and wondered at the time how it could be incorporated into library services.

It reminded me a bit of a previous employer's intranet, where they had created a moving image of a librarian who could answer questions. She was sitting within a virtual library, and one clicked on reference books to see a list of the available references, computer screen to search the catalogue, etc.

However, Second Life is very much more sophisticated than this. I was interested in the link to a list of educational institutions using Second Life http://simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Institutions_and_Organizations_in_SL, but couldn't get this to work. I'll try again later.

In the article "Second-Guessing Second Life: Is this Virtual Playground Worth Your Marketing Dollars?" http://www.adotas.com/2007/03/second-guessing-second-life-is-this-virtual-playground-worth-your-marketing-dollars/ it states that "Second Life jives heavily with the Web 2.0 mentality. It’s community-based and gives users control of just about everything. " This may be what makes a virtual library a success - that many of our users will like to interact in this manner. It seems an extension of 'meeting the users where they are'. Of course, some will not, and will still prefer to phone, email or visit us. The article "The Online Disinhibition Effect"
http://www.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/disinhibit.html also states that in cyberspace we are all equals. This could encourage some students to approach a library avatar for help where they may not approach a Reference Librarian in the library. However, I think we are fairly approachable.

Second Life MAY be one way to offer a reference service without staffing a Reference Desk, but we would need to also have a method of helping users who physically visit the library, not just tell them to log onto SL!


Lastly, the San Jose University video on YouTube was interesting - we could see the Reference Librarian typing the answer to a query!

Flickr - interesting features

I've had a look at Flickr Services, and the Profile Widget (under fd's Flickr Toys in Flickr Services) is particularly interesting. This "create a customized image that you can paste into your profile page (or any other web page) that will automagically update itself throughout the day. It shows a selection of ten of your photos and some statistics about your Flickr usage." I have to upload at least ten photos and will then try it out.



The Calendar view and the Map search feature are also pretty cool!

Brief article about use of Second Life by libraries

This article discusses an exhibition of materials from The Belle Brezing Photographic Collection at University of Kentucky which is available in Second Life.
http://news.uky.edu/news/display_article.php?artid=2255

I know we have not looked at Second Life yet, but thought I would post this now!

Another library blog

Just found another blog - http://www.aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/04/16/an-iraqi-woman-and-her-library/ - which was sent to me via the 'Library Link of the Day' email. It's about a librarian in Bagdhad, and her daily work.

Fun with blogs

Hi all

I've just tried setting up a Bloglines account, and have added 12 feeds / blogs to it. I got a bit carried away with adding these, and I expect that some of them will be removed later, depending on their content.

One that I have been receiving in my email is Lorcan Dempsey's weblog. I can recommend this one (at least I find it good). It is very chatty but has some excellent posts. He works at OCLC, and as far as I can find from his blog, his title is Vice President and Chief Strategist.

I did find that I had to try and add some of the blog / feed links more than once, as it didn't work the first time, so this may be of use to others who experience the same problem.

Personalised Google page

Hi

I have also set up a personalised Google page (go to www.google.com.au, and click the link in the top right corner to set up).

Once set up, you can add news feeds, Post-It notes (electronic), to do lists and more.

You can also add several tabs - e.g. one for general ECU business, one for article feeds,... I downloaded the Google toolbar for extra functionality.

Cheers

Lisa

First posting

Hi all

It seems very easy to use blogger, and I'm going to try out the features shortly. The 23 things course seems interesting, and not too much work to do each week. Of course, we can do extra reading and investigation if we want to.

Lisa