I was really excited to hear Mark speak at our last class session. Honestly, I had no idea what I was getting into. I was totally impressed by all of the cool software out there that is completely free of charge. What I like most about the idea of open source is the philosophy behind it. These aren't people who just want to make a buck, they want to help. Sure, they might want a little recognition every now and again, but most consumers (myself included) would rather give recognition than money (I'm really cheap). I just find the concept really cool.
Just because I find it cool, doesn't mean that I am comfortable enough with my computer skills to install and use open source software.
This questioning of my own skill leads me to question the skills of others as well. Would OSS be useful in libraries? Would the average person be able to use a library computer that supported OSS? Or, would it just be something that the employees used? The Catch-22 here is that pretty much all people know how to use the software from the Evil Empire, which is why it is evil. Training an entire community/culture to use this new software would definitely be worth it in order to bring down the Evil Empire. But... are libraries/librarans/everyday people willing to put forth the time and effort to do so?
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Old School?
I am observing the reference desk at a public library for my Access to Info course. In doing so, I have had the opportunity to watch how several different librarians deal with questions that are being thrown at them. One lady, I'll just call her "Old School".... believes wholeheartedly that libraries are not moving in a good direction. She thinks that the use of the internet and computers in general is sort of turning the library profession into a laughing stock. "Old School" primarily uses print resources to answer questions and she tried her hardest not to use computers... "unless completely necessary."
I sort of had "Old School" in mind when I was searching the blogs for an interesting topic. Our very own "LibrarianInBlack" had something to say about this exact topic. She is responding to a book about how the internet is killing our culture. I thought she had some cool things to say in response to this book (and that I wish I could have thought of as I was talking to "Old School")...
"I will agree that the web is full of junk. Who wouldn't? But you know what? So are the shelves of any bookstore or library. The bulk of what humanity produces is junk. Just because it's published/printed doesn't make it not-junk. But there are a few lovely jewels out there, things we try to seek for ourselves, and the finding of which librarians make their life's work. The web is hard to sift through sometimes. However, the beauty of the web is that professionals do emerge on top, they do become more easily found, top of the search engines, listed in subject guides, linked to by countless individuals, and so on. People value, recommend, and highlight those works that are the best to them. That is how the diamonds rise toward the top of the heap (and I'm not just talking about search engine results here) and regular folks can find them more easily than they can find the junk. That's not to say there isn't still a bit of sifting going on...there is...but a lot of the junk gets self-filtered out because regular folks find it, disregard it, don't link to it, don't click on it, don't want to look at it. "
Maybe "Old School" should read this...
-Amber
I sort of had "Old School" in mind when I was searching the blogs for an interesting topic. Our very own "LibrarianInBlack" had something to say about this exact topic. She is responding to a book about how the internet is killing our culture. I thought she had some cool things to say in response to this book (and that I wish I could have thought of as I was talking to "Old School")...
"I will agree that the web is full of junk. Who wouldn't? But you know what? So are the shelves of any bookstore or library. The bulk of what humanity produces is junk. Just because it's published/printed doesn't make it not-junk. But there are a few lovely jewels out there, things we try to seek for ourselves, and the finding of which librarians make their life's work. The web is hard to sift through sometimes. However, the beauty of the web is that professionals do emerge on top, they do become more easily found, top of the search engines, listed in subject guides, linked to by countless individuals, and so on. People value, recommend, and highlight those works that are the best to them. That is how the diamonds rise toward the top of the heap (and I'm not just talking about search engine results here) and regular folks can find them more easily than they can find the junk. That's not to say there isn't still a bit of sifting going on...there is...but a lot of the junk gets self-filtered out because regular folks find it, disregard it, don't link to it, don't click on it, don't want to look at it. "
Maybe "Old School" should read this...
-Amber
Monday, June 18, 2007
Dogs and Communities
On my usual quest for my next blog subject, I was searching Michael Stephens' "Tame the Web." The first article that popped up was a picture of Michael and his dog, Jake.
Side note: I love dogs... love them. When we are talking in class about some people in this world being more comfortable communicating in a virtual setting... I relate that to my life and the fact that sometimes I wish I could just live my life surrounded by dogs and hanging out with them. People are so complicated and dogs are so simple. I love them.
Needless-to-say, I had to click on the link in order to read the article. Basically, Michael had to put his dog to sleep. After spending some 13 years with the dog, Michael found this difficult to do (big surprise there). So... he created a FLICKr page with photos and stories to sort of commemorate the dog's life. The really cool part is that other people have been leaving comments and stories of their own about their dogs.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsphotos/564463388/
I know that this is not really library 2.0 based, but it is an example of how library 2.0 technologies and ideas can help to create a community. All of these people know what it is like to love and care for and lose a pet... Michael Stephens is using that very personal experience to bring people together through this medium. I can just imagine this experience leading to a display, a book group, a virtual community, etc. in libraries based on this shared experience. It's really cool to me. Not just because I love dogs, but because communities are created and people are supporting each other. I dig it.
-Amber
Side note: I love dogs... love them. When we are talking in class about some people in this world being more comfortable communicating in a virtual setting... I relate that to my life and the fact that sometimes I wish I could just live my life surrounded by dogs and hanging out with them. People are so complicated and dogs are so simple. I love them.
Needless-to-say, I had to click on the link in order to read the article. Basically, Michael had to put his dog to sleep. After spending some 13 years with the dog, Michael found this difficult to do (big surprise there). So... he created a FLICKr page with photos and stories to sort of commemorate the dog's life. The really cool part is that other people have been leaving comments and stories of their own about their dogs.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsphotos/564463388/
I know that this is not really library 2.0 based, but it is an example of how library 2.0 technologies and ideas can help to create a community. All of these people know what it is like to love and care for and lose a pet... Michael Stephens is using that very personal experience to bring people together through this medium. I can just imagine this experience leading to a display, a book group, a virtual community, etc. in libraries based on this shared experience. It's really cool to me. Not just because I love dogs, but because communities are created and people are supporting each other. I dig it.
-Amber
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Patron Ownership
One of the coolest cultural changes that I am seeing in education lately is that of student ownership. Educators are trying their hardest to get students to take part in their learning. We want them to make their own decisions as far as what and how they learn best. We allow them to create their own projects, we let them do self-assessments, and we allow them to help create rubrics and even classroom rules.
An ideal situation where Library 2.0 is put into action should be similar, with librarians starring as the "teachers" and patrons starring as the "students." With a patron centered library, patrons should feel ownership in the decisions/choices the library makes. I found this article from a guy who calls himself "Superpatron." He has listed ten ways that a patron can make his/her library more useful. It basically encourages patrons to become a part of the decision making process. It makes sense to me.
http://vielmetti.typepad.com/superpatron/2007/05/ten_ways_for_su.html
Amber
An ideal situation where Library 2.0 is put into action should be similar, with librarians starring as the "teachers" and patrons starring as the "students." With a patron centered library, patrons should feel ownership in the decisions/choices the library makes. I found this article from a guy who calls himself "Superpatron." He has listed ten ways that a patron can make his/her library more useful. It basically encourages patrons to become a part of the decision making process. It makes sense to me.
http://vielmetti.typepad.com/superpatron/2007/05/ten_ways_for_su.html
Amber
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