Bye Bye Feevy (RE-Viewing what once worked)

I've been meaning to do this, to write about doing it, to stop dawdling and do it....

I'm saying goodbye to my Feevy.

Feevy has been a terrific tool for me. I loved adding it to my blog and enjoyed the dynamic roll/role is has played here. However, the way I use my blog and the way I follow blogs has changed. I can't remember the last time I clicked on something from my Feevy. My blog roll lives in my RSS. I follow peeps on the tweets. My way of handling information has changed. And I feel like my blog, my home base, should reflect that.

This gets at something I have been thinking a lot about as the school year begins, as our assessment cycle beings, as our teaching prep wraps up---reviewing. I'd even suggest we reconsider how we look at that word itself: RE-Viewing. Viewing again. To see anew. To see what we offer and if it aligns with where we are trying to go. That's a huge part of creating meaningful assessment but also a huge part of what makes instruction successful.

And also how technology is useful. Is it fulfilling a role or is just taking up space? Or time? How often do you RE-View your technology choices? On your blog? On your iPhone? How often do you RE-View your teaching? Your lessons? Your activities? Your assessment?

Funny how strands come together, isn't it.

Or rather, not funny at all. Fitting, really.

Finding the Sweet Spot

Funny the way Twitter takes over your media life.

When I look out on the blogosphere, there are some people that are full fledged, all the time bloggers. People that blog often and have a great deal on a regular basis. Steven Bell, Michael Stephens, Meredith Farkas.

I have never been like these people. I am an occasional blogger. I, like many bloggers, MEAN to blog more often. I have many blog posts I MEAN to share or thoughts on our profession that I share all the time with Andy and other co-workers but rarely do I find time to sit down and get it all out on my computer. And admittedly, I feel guilty about it. Lately, I even ask myself if I should maintain my blog at all. This, in part, is because of Twitter.

I've had an interesting path with Twitter. Initially, I didn't get it. I didn't see the point. And I was philosophically opposed to condensing communication to 140 characters or less. And I still do have reservations about encouraging communication to be so brief. But Andy, my partner in crime at Champlain and generally awesome soul that he is, as usual, helped me see it in a new light. My experience at ACRL and LILAC helped take me from observer in Twitter to participator. And now, I find myself in Twitter more than I ever expected. And not just Tweeting about the weather. But asking questions and getting responses within seconds. For example. yesterday I asked how librarians are teaching RefWorks? Five minutes, six tutorials and three info sheets later, I have some excellent ideas and templates for what could do at Champlain. Another example is keeping track of issues. Whether it be the Iran elections, Information Literacy, or what's shaking in Burlington, Twitter lets me track it easily, quickly, and instantaneously. And that has taken me away from my RSS feed.

Don't get me wrong. I still read many articles, blog posts, and journal articles that are through RSS, references, citations, or referrals. But the point I am making is that my input and my output is shifting. I get information in a new way and I share information in a new way. I tweet an awful lot more than I blog. Yes, a lot of that has to do with how much time it takes to construct a 140 character tweet. But, I find myself wanting to share and see. What interests other people? What gets re-tweeted? What gets a response? While I have never felt the need to blog for others, blogging can be a lonely endeavor while Tweeting is an amazing communal one. Increasingly I find I work well with both. I appreciate the quiet of my blog. I appreciate the opportunity to go back and review what I've said. Even as I've been writing this post, I look back at my blog and realize how long I've been blogging and how much I have thought through things here. But on Twitter, I appreciate the ability to share without the added pressure of annotating and reflecting, or at least doing so very briefly.

So where am I? Where does this leave me in terms of my blog and my media? Thinking about how they intersect and diverge more than before. Certainly thinking about how I can use them effectively and interestingly in teaching. But also realizing the purpose and importance they both have for me. It does not need to be one or the other. There is a sweet spot to be achieved. And I am just starting to sort that out for myself. It has taken me a while and some experimentation to even come to that space. But I think that's what the whole "Exploring New Technology" thread has always been for me. It's been a chance to roam through these new and exciting things for someone who doesn't experience a great deal of techno-lust but is just a generally curious person who wants to try new things and see what they can do. It's always been about finding the sweet spot.

Maybe I will keep the blog after all. I'd forgotten how cathartic it can be. How refreshing. How sweet.

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Exploring New Technology: Twitter 2.0

So, I am starting play a bit with Twitter again.

Admittedly, I have been under the gun in a lot of ways lately. Work is intense. Teaching is demanding a lot of thought, prep, response, and attention. And for once, I am trying to do things like go to yoga, read, write, and take care of the non-work me. So, the idea of yet another technology to play with was off putting.

But, my friend and mentor, Rob Williams, mentioned that he was going to give it a try. And the ever impressive Andy Burkhardt mentioned it too. Plus, social media guru Elaine Young was pulverizing her Facebook updates with Tweets. So I thought I would give it another go.

Need I point out that my Twitter name is thesheck?

So, I am tweeting. A little. Which got me thinking, why is it just a little?

Elaine asked me in Twitter the other day what the differences I saw between blogging and twitter. She asked the question in the context of protecting my updates. But I took the question to heart in a different way. Why is it that I am have a hard time embracing Twitter? What is it about it that does not spark my interest as much as other technologies and SNS?

Admittedly, I consider myself a selective adapter. I do not jump in to play right off the bat. I lurk. I try to think about what I might use a technology for. That is how the whole "Exploring New Technology" thread began for me.

Part of what put me off from Twitter initially was how it felt like a clique. My first experience with it was at Computers in Libraries conference in 2008. There was something about having the conference twittered that made me a bit uncomfortable, especially as a presenter. But, then I realized that a big part of that was old high school anxiety--"what are they saying about me?". CiL was one of my first conference presentations so I hadn't yet experienced how supportive, encouraging, interested, and collaborative the library community can be. I found out soon enough, that there was nothing to fear.

However, the clique bit still irks me. As I think about what differences I see between blogging and Twitter, it really comes down to writing for myself and writing for others. Here in my blog, I think thoughts through. I ruminate. I question. I work through an idea and share it with....whomever. No one, perhaps. I don't blog for others. I blog for myself. I blog as a way to get ideas out of my head.

Twitter, on the other hand....well, do you tweet alone? I don't think so. It doesn't seem so. It seems that Twitter is more in line with sharing information. The question, "What are you doing?" asks for instant, short answers. David Silver, in one of his typically terrific posts, points out that there are different types of tweets: think and thin. He says, "thin tweets are posts that convey one layer of information. thick tweets convey two or more, often with help from a hyperlink." So, while there might be short answers, they aren't necessarily superficial. Quite the contrary actually. That, is something, I did not really appreciate about Twitter until I read this.

David ends his post by saying that "i'm trying to teach my students how to craft creative, meaty, and to-the-point messages that attract other people's attention." As David points out, that is not the only way to use Twitter. Aaron Schmidt makes a great example of how Twitter can teach us about our own institution in this blog post. Twitter, it seems to me, is about joining in on a conversation and/or attracting attention to what you are doing and/or sharing information. It is quite remarkable that 140 characters can achieve so much. But there are certain rules that seem to apply. Michael Sauers points out with his Dr. Phil example that there are certain things about using Twitter that are essential: participating on both sides. MIchael makes a great point in this post but that interactivity requires something else: time.

This gets me thinking about Greg Schwartz and his decision to put Uncontrolled Vocabulary on hiatus. He explains that part of his decision comes from how much is involved in preparing for the show: “It’s the never-ending involvement: the slave-like attention to my feed reader, the setting up of blog posts, the reading and re-reading of proposed conversation starters. All worthwhile activites that I enjoy, but that require a certain constant level of engagement which forces me to make compromises with the rest of my priorities.” When I put everything together here, it means that being involved “thickly” in Twitter means not just following someone but following them and what they are doing beyond Twitter. And that is a huge investment of one’s time. And that is worth recognizing.

Clearly, I am still playing with and developing my thoughts on Twitter. And I find myself asking a lot of questions about how I want to communicate with my network of friends and colleagues, which is always a good thing. As David Silver points out, there are a myriad of ways to use tools on the web. I am trying to be intentional and experimental as I play with this tool. In the meantime, I will keep playing and reading all the posts out there that talk about your experiences with Twitter.

Exploring New Technology: I love Chat Ref

School started last week. I forget how different campus becomes at the start of the school year. Perhaps it's also because it really was different this year. The library didn't just feel busy but actually WAS busy. Perhaps part of that was our new website and the influx of chat ref questions. Putting chat ref front and center was a bit of a contentious issue given our severe staffing constraints but frankly, I love it. I love the ability to address needs right away, with a few well chosen words. I love the little sound Pidgin makes when we get a message. It makes me feel loved. I love how the librarians are using chat ref to ask one another questions while one of us is at the desk. It just feels like it will work. Like it is working. Admittedly, we have some concerns about how it will compete for F2F questions once classes pick up but I also feel confident that we can manage it. That it's not nearly as difficult to manage as we might have thought.

And that gets me to an overarching theme that seems to be recurring in my course, my workplace, and my personal life. Technology is not as hard as we sometimes make it out to be. I think that those of us that are immersed in technology or teach it to others are often so deeply immersed in it that we don't hear ourselves talk. Or we want to show the uninitiated how incredible a tool technology can be that we cast our technologist shadows over the new user, hoping to bring them under our wing, when in reality we make them feel...well, cloudy. Shaded. In the dark.

It's hard for someone like me, who is genuinely excited by technology and genuinely loves sharing it with others, to step back and see it in the light that many of the people who approach me see it. But I can't stress enough how important I think that is while also striking a balance with people's nervousness about technology. So many faculty members I work with think that blogging or Facebook is not for them. In truth, once we've worked with it a bit, many of them come to admit that they just didn't know how to use it and therefore inferred its lack of utility. Isn't that quite the same as students and the databases? Students don't really know how to use these more complicated interfaces so they just assume it isn't useful? Creative approaches to solving that problem has many lessons that are applicable to a less academic setting as well.

All this from just loving Chat Ref....I better get out to the Ref Desk.

Twisting a Tag Cloud, or, Exploring New Technology: Wordle

So, as I was leafing through my Reader this morning, my tired eyes were drawn to the plethora of tag clouds wafting through the inter-air. I saw Meredith's. Then Jenica's. Then decided I wanted one too.

So I hopped on over to Wordle, put my del.icio.us tags in and WOW...there I was, a pretty little cloud of libraries, technology, web 2.0, vermont, sustainability, activism, innovation, and media. I was beautiful. Except that I couldn't seem to get it off of the webpage and onto my blog post.

So, I went exploring how to do that. The first thing I did, was look in Wordle's FAQ, assuming that it was something easy that just didn't come to me right off the bat. However, I was disheartened to read that no, it was not so easy. You could save your wordle as a screenshot but since it is a Java Applet, you cannot save it as a jpeg. Hmm. You could save it as a pdf, but how am I supposed to get a pdf into my blog post?

Breathe. Think. Try something else. Let's see what someone else did.

So, I hopped back over to Meredith's blog, since she is a bit of a guru. And I started copying things like "firefoxscreensnapz" and googling it to see what it is, and how did she do this, and GRRRR.

And then...sigh, I realized I could just copy my screen shot into the Paint accessory, crop it, and save it as a JPEG. Thank goodness.

Is this the most tech-savvy way to do this? Probably not. But that's what I came up with and I have to get back to work pretty soon here. It's not exactly the size I want, but as both Jenica and Meredith point out, you can see an awful lot from very little.

And that got me thinking: what could this be good for? Tomorrow, I am speaking at a course for educators about using 2.0 technology in the classroom. So, what might I do with this in my classes?

Hmm. For a number of semesters before I was blessed to design a course of my own on technology and society, I taught five semesters of freshman writing. The number one problem first years have with writing is that they don't know what their papers are really about. They meander across multiple topics, losing track of their thoughts, let alone the thoughts of others. What if students pasted a few paragraphs or even their whole paper into Wordle so they could see what their paper was really about? It might be a great way of helping students see the direction their papers are headed, whether they know it or not. Bringing 2.0 to students to help them become better writers? Whoa.

Or, what if we used it in online education? What if the week's discussion threads were pasted into Wordle as a way to capture the key points of the week? Or within a lecture? I know that my students would be grateful for a more aesthetically pleasing and accessible method of keeping tabs on key points in a week's discussion. Using 2.0 to expedite masses of information for deeper reflection? Whoa, again.

And what about in the library? Perhaps as a way to market ourselves: let's put a print out of a Wordle tag cloud out this year's "Come to the Library" flyer. What words pop up the most? Might it attract students attention as they are scanning the kiosks and bulletin boards more than just a picture and some text? Perhaps.

These are just a few thoughts right off the bat. I'm sure you've got others. I hope you will share them.

Exploring New Technology: Facebook

I've been wanting to write about my new infatuation with Facebook for a while now. But it wasn't until I read this article in the Chronicle, that I started to wrap my head around a post.

For quite some time, I have been debating with myself and colleagues about the role Facebook can play in Library service. The most esteemed DR. Elaine Young always makes convincing arguments as to how Facebook has not only augmented her class's participation but also the quality of that participation. And now that I am on Facebook, I can see how it is a far more adaptable and engaging venue for class interaction than the god forsaken WebCT.

Oh, and yes...I now have a profile on Facebook.

But it is a personal profile.

And that returns me to my ceaseless debate on where Facebook belongs. As the Chronicle piece pointed out, there are some hefty consequences to "friending" a student on Facebook. For both of you. For students, it brings you closer to faculty than you might ever have been. It makes them into a real person, with real interests, real friends, real humor, real friends. But there are reprecussions to that. Faculty, who are people too let's remember, can only show their faculty face to students.

I can't help but think about the role of the librarian in this in two ways. First: librarians are not viewed the same as faculty, even if we have faculty status. Librarians are guides, friendly faces that students choose to interact with rather than are forced to face in a class environment. We are less threatening. We are there to help, not to grade. So perhaps the role librarians face in Facebook is slightly different than faculty. That said, librarians today are charged with helping their entire college community, not just the students. We are there to help faculty too. My talk at Computers in Libraries this spring (really excited about that, by the by) focuses on the role of the librarian in teaching faculty about technology that students and librarians are quick to embrace. Facebook is one of the highlights to the show.

As librarians try to help faculty face 2.0 technologies, it is just as important to educate them about the implications of their participation in that technology as it is to incite their interest and enthusiasm for it. If we do not present a balanced view of the technology, if we do not look at what we can gain but also lose in using it, than we are only feeding faculty into the same flames from which we are trying to rescue our students. THIS IS ALL ABOUT INFORMATION LITERACY. Making edcuated decisions about how to use technology is having a clear understanding of all that technology brings with it.

This is where I get on my high horse and encourage librarians to get out there and work with their faculty to help them navigate these murky waters. Let's help faculty embrace new things but also help them avoid pitfalls that cause embarrassment, uncertainty, and a rejection of the power of collaborative computing.

There are a lot of amazing applications of Facebook in the classroom and in the library without having to put yourself in an uncomfortable position for you, your faculty, or your students. With the vast number of applications and groups out in Facebook, chances are that there is a group that you could encourage your students to join that deals with issues you are studying in your course. Liven it up a bit!

But I feel like faculty need to hear that it is okay to keep their personal lives to themselves. It is okay to not friend your students. It is okay to play in Facebook for your own good. I found friends that I went to camp with when I was 12. We are just as entitled to having a space to ourselves as students are.

Something missing in Wiki-dom

Lately, I have come to think slightly differently about wikis. Initially, as a devotee of the Common Craft show's explanation of wikis, I touted wikis as the ultimate collaborative tool. I can even think back to reading an article by James Fallows in the Atlantic months ago about the lack of collaborative software and thinking, "Come on, James Fallows! It's called a wiki!"

But actually, I think that there is something missing in wiki-dom: collaboration. Over the last few months, I have set up wikis for a slew of projects with other people and no matter how much I encourage them to use it, show them the Common Craft video, or remind them that it's available...it sits. It gets forgotten.

Why is this?

I have a theory. It's called Academic Touchy Feely. Frankly, I think that there is something in the academic culture that stops us from writing over someone elses work or discarding text without making sure it is ok first. I think that if I were in a more corporate, business culture, people wouldn't hesitate to edit the wiki to create a cohesive, comprehensive, collaborative document. But in academia, or at least in my case, people don't want to type over someone else's work. So they post their ideas/corrections/additions/edits beneath it. And the wiki takes on a very untidy, unfinished, informal appearance.

So while I think the wiki has its uses, I am starting to wonder whether those uses are purely dependent on audience.

When I say it like that, it seems obvious. Perhaps you are saying, "Come on Sheck. Isn't it just like everything else?" Well, yes, I suppose so. But I thnk it is a new phase for me in my technological life. The excitement for technology is evening out (not to be mistaken for waning). I am reviewing, rethinking, rediscovering the utility of some technologies and really trying to get a sense of what works when and for who. And to consider those questions independently of exploring the technology. I am pretty excited by it, actually. It's the same, but new.

Second Life is so funny...funny "odd" or funny "ha ha"?

A programming professor on our campus is writing his dissertation on Second Life so the Professional Development Committee offered a luncheon for him to introduce it to any faculty or staff member who might want to have a peek.

It's interesting to sit with a group of 25 people who are new to or haven't really heard of Second Life before: what they ask, what they find funny. Perhaps what I find most interesting is just how funny they find it. How they find the fact that there is prostitution in 2nd life funny. That "newbies" being ostracized or exploited is funny.

I wish I could say that they found it funny "odd". But it seemed to me, and I emphasize "seemed", that they found it funny "ha ha".

What exactly is it that's funny?

Is it just new? Is it the avatars that you can make into almost anything you want what causes them to laugh? That notion that their sense of physcial self can be altered or self created?

I am still new to Second Life and I am still trying to figure out what I think of it. I am still awed by it. I read a lot about it, I play in it, I try to think creatively about it. But I also spend a lot of time trying to think critically about it. And that's what I felt was missing from this presentation. It was just a show and tell and people just looked on and laughed.

Need I say that I wanted a whole lot more?

And that got me thinking about how technology is presented. What are the implications of throwing technology like this at people? Often times, people are so concerned with "keeping up" or "adapting" that I wonder if they defer their critiques and considerations of it. This is a dangerous place to be in, especially with so many technologies being introduced, one might never have the time to critically examine the place of the technology in their lives or the impact of the technology on society. There is no decision making, just complacency.

I am advocate for play. I am an advocate for experimentation. But I think there is a lot of effort to include people in something without giving them the tools to evaluate it. Second Life offers a great many opportunities to a wide variety of people with a wide variety of purposes. But there are also a number of issues it presents that warrant examination.

As the technologically literate or experienced bring people into this world, we have a responsibility to those that believe us or trust us to show them more than one side of the coin. In the academic world, as Second Life, and other technologies, take root, should libraries be working with faculty and the institution to shape the presentation of these new and exciting worlds. How do we create a culture of adaptability that emphasizes critical examination? And how do we do that without putting a damper on the thread of exploration and play?

Exploring New Technology: Technorati

At conferences, in library and technology literature, in blogs...you hear it, you see it, but what is it? What is Technorati?

As usual, the first place I try is their About Us. For such a popularly quoted resource, I guess I expected some concrete information as to their mission, purpose, resources, etc. They do present a resounding statistic:

Currently tracking 97.7 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media. Technorati is the recognized authority on what's happening on the World Live Web, right now.

But why is it the recognized authority? What exactly do they do? Once I reread their About Us, this popped out at me:

On the World Live Web, bloggers frequently link to and comment on other blogs, creating the type of immediate connection one would have in a conversation. Technorati tracks these links, and thus the relative relevance of blogs, photos, videos etc. We rapidly index tens of thousands of updates every hour, and so we monitor these live communities and the conversations they foster.

So what exactly are they tracking? At first I thought they meant that when I reference Meredith Farkas or David Silver, Technorati keeps track of it. Not exactly. Looking again at their homepage, I started to see that they are just creating an indexed blogosphere. From the looks of their tag cloud, there seems to be more references to what is written about (You Tube, famous folks, politics, etc) than to whom is referenced. But then again, you can search for people or blogs and find out when they have been mentioned, referenced, linked to. I searched for Meredith and saw people's posts referencing her blog. I searched for my own blog and found myself referenced even.

Wow...sit back and take that in. Better yet, try it. It's astounding.

I have no doubt that there a multitude of way to use Technorati, as a blogger, as an interested web user, as a person. But as a librarian, I immediately think about all the times students want to use public opinion to start out a paper. For example, when their research papers start out with, "People say that..." What if we gave them Technorati? Instead of "people say," they could try "According to Technorati, there are 18,658 blogs posts related to Second Life and Higher Education," to qualify people saying? Good idea? Bad idea? I'm not sure yet...but I will think about it and share those thoughts with you.

One last thing I noticed, Technorati picked up an amazing number of MySpace blog posts. Hmmm.

Getting a Second Life

How can we know what we think about games, virtual worlds, and technologies unless we play, right? That was the overarching theme at TechSource and since every other session discussed the importance of Second Life, I thought I would give it a go.

I spent two hours getting my avatar dressed.

Seriously.

And frankly, that was enough for me. I decided to be a buff, black woman with purple hair. And I loved making that decision.

And while I still haven't made it off the Orientation Island yet, and honestly am not sure if I will have the time to do so over the next week, I think my experience dressing my avatar touches on the very essence and purpose of this virtual world. It was empowering to decide how I would appear in this world. It was a chance to try something new, to experiment, to imagine, to be something other than me. I can understand the attraction, especially to teens who are struggling to identify who "me" is in this world.

But that is the part that continues to bother me. The idea that more time is spent being someone you wish you were rather than developing or working on who you actually are, or are becoming, is disconcerting, especially among young people, but also for adults. I fully support exploration, reinvention, dreams, wishes...anyone who knows me, knows that I am a dreamer. But the creation of an alternate reality seems self indulgent, at least at first glance. Perhaps one might argue that you will be more extroverted in SecondLife than you are in real life. But if you aren't taking that forthrightness and bringing it out into the real world, then so what?

Perhaps my perspective on Second Life will change once I figure out how to get off the Orientation Island. But I must admit, I am skeptical and feeling like it is a great procrastination tool. Frankly, I barely have time to enjoy or maintain my first life, why do I need a second one?

iPhone

I saw it.
I touched it.
I played with it for half an hour...
yup, an iphone.

I'm at TechSource, which is crazy good and has me thinking way to many thoughts to process and therefore blog about so instead of theorizing and responding to the likes of Jim Gee and Henry Jenkins, I am decompressing my day of theorizing about and constructing implementation strategies for gaming in libraries with this tactile moment.

Perhaps this is nothing new to you city folk but the iphone is not available in Vermont because we don't have AT&T. So this was my first experience with this phenomenon.

And it was cool.
Very cool.

I loved that YouTube is an automatic part of the main menu. I love that you can scroll across the weather in your and other cities of your choice. I just love the finger scroll instead of pressing buttons. It's so simple. So elegant. So Apple.

The screen was so bright, as I know everyone has talked about. And so clear. Like David Pogue, pointed out, the keyboard is difficult at first to manuever...but even after a few minutes, my fingers naturally adjusted to amount of pressure and space of the screen.

And that's the thing....I adjusted so fast and immediately felt at home with it. Looking down at my regular, boring phone was depressing. And I tend not to be a gadget freak. But now, I want one.

It's a good thing they aren't available in Vermont or else Jon would be accusing me of reckless spending.

Yes, yes...TechSource stuff coming soon.

Exploring New Technology 7: You Tube

You Tube, where you are encouraged to "broadcast yourself," is not all that new to me. I have been enjoying snippets of skateboarding, ballet, whatever, for a while. But it was this article in C&RL that helped me connect some dots.

As Paula Webb's article rightly points out, YouTube could radically change how we deliver information and instruction to our students. I have heard from many librarians that they would rather provide all library instruction to students via the library web page or college websites. Why? Imagine a 19 year old student putting Champlain College in as a search term in YouTube and a video on how to use the databases comes up. Perhaps that student might discard it at that moment. But perhaps they realize that the library is there the next time they have a question at 4 in the morning and they can't find an article. The chances of them going to YouTube sounds greater than their chances of going to the library homepage, if for no other reason than out of habit, no?

Or, let's look at the really creative folks out there, especially the folks at Common Craft. I've highlighted their amazing video on RSS, which I have shared with our IT folks who loved it. They also offer a great one on wikis.

Rock on Common Craft! Not only are these great explanations of technologies whose names are thrown about frequently, but they are explained in an understandable and enjoyable way. YES!

But to return to YouTube...Common Craft shows us that YouTube doesn't have to be institution specific. General information that is valuable to everyone, whether it be technology, plagiarism, citations, search techniques, readers advisery, copyright clues...it all could be valuable and useful on YouTube and reach any audience.

And let's not forget the web 2.0 applicability here: YouTube is interactive. Perhaps student interns can create something that appeals to their peers, something like this video from the Undergrad at UIUC:


Granted, it's kind of hokey but come on! Digital pics, downloading music to your Ipod, group study, open til 3 am, career services, writing center...this video is hokey but awesome and all inclusive! And when students look up UIUC on YouTube, there it is! And we can rest assured that with so many students in the video, they shared it with their friends, spreading the word to their "social network."

YouTube offers libraries an amazing opportunity to expand our message and our image beyond traditional boundaries. Even if we didn't have the time or technology to make videos of our own, including YouTube videos in our instruction and website seems like a great way to share resources and information in a way that mirrors students' use of the web. So we continue to not only do our jobs, acheive our mission, but we look cool too.

Exploring New Technology 6: the Help Desk

This hysterical video demonstrates that the Help Desk is often still a new technology, or at least a new resource,to many.



And here, again, is that dichotomy between the technologists and the "rest of us." But if you notice the technologist in this video is fully connected to the user? Is it me, or is the "guy from the help desk" just helpful, not condescending?

This incredulous notion of the truly helpful helpdesk surfaces as well in Sunday's New York Times with a piece about what makes Apple's Stores so successful. Quite simply, it is the emotional connection users make with the help they are offered from the resident "geniuses" (Apple's helpdesk). According to the article, the help provided or rather, the feeling that help is just around the corner, results in an unprecedented retail phenomenon: “People can just walk in, absorb the fumes and feel like the smartest technophile in the world.”

Isn't it interesting that the library does not incite the same phenomenon? That a place where information is at your finger tips without requiring a purchase and help is ever present and always free is still often considered obsolete? Often I would suggest that we need an image change or need to represent ourselves better but in this instance, but not this time. Wouldn't it seem that the Help Desk model is based on the Reference Desk concept? Wouldn't it seem that even the Apple bar of Geniuses is based on help in human form, much like what you find at any library?

Exploring New Technology Rewind: Feevy and the Beginner's Mind

The Sheck Spot now rocks a dynamic blog roll! Feevy is in the house!

Many thanks to my personal help desk (otherwise known as David Silver) who gave me some pointers. And for those of you that are thinking Feevy is your cup of tea as well, David left me some helpful hints in the comments to my original Feevy posting.

Feevy will now allow me to keep track of other bloggers out there without having to spend so much time clicking in and out of pages. Efficiency, accessability, cool looking: is this not a mantra for web 2.0?

But more seriously, working with Feevy has taught me a great deal insofar as I experienced the kind of frustration that I think is most common among users who don't spend their free time playing with technology. I really wanted it to work and found myself getting really angry when it wouldn't. Yes, it happens to us all. But putting it my problems and questions out there brought me answers. And looking away from it for a few days gave me a clearer perspective.

I can't help but think about my friend Rob Williams' comment last week about my "beginner's mind." First of all, thank you. But I think it touches on the idea that for many of us who work with technology, we find "the rest of you" difficult to understand. I know that I often find myself annoyed or frustrated with friends or loved ones who get frustrated with technology (less so with students, I think because I am in a different mental space with students than with friends or family). "Sit down and play with it, figure it out," I want to yell at them. But not every one starts there. And as a librarian and teacher, I need to bring my beginner's mind to those situations and open my mind up to how to share technology with those around me. How can I share the playfulness, the eagerness, the opportunity with others? And how can I respond in a way that is constructive to those that don't take the bait?

Exploring New Technology 5: RSS...AWESOME

The Librarian in Black posted this AWESOME video that explains RSS feeds. I couldn't ask for a more easy to understand, accessible, fun to watch explanation of technology. What a great way to reach students in a way that they can enjoy. This video would also be an excellent way to reach faculty who are trying to get their feet wet in technology.

Check it out!

The only thing I wish was addressed a little more clearly is how to set up an RSS feed. I think that section might be a little confusing for new users. But that is when their friendly librarian steps in to assist!

Exploring New Technology 4: Feevy

Lately, I have been wishing that I had a dynamic blog roll to keep up with the news from other blogs. You know, a tool that lets me know that my favorite bloggers have posted. So, the amazing David Silver has been encouraging me to try out Feevy. I've read a lot of interesting blogs by looking at David's feevy (it sounds so voyeuristic or something). So why not get one going for myself, right? How hard can it be?

Well, it's harder than I thought. Feevy's website seems pretty easy to understand: "display content from other blogs at your website with just one simple html tag." Hey, if I've got this blogging thing down, and have even started people on my campus setting up blogs, I can do this, right?

Wrong.

But let's break it down.

First, I set up an account. No problem.

Second, I listed a blog I wanted to keep track of using Feevy. I entered the blog's URL and then it asks me to select an "avatar." I would like to side track here to say that the word "avatar" freaks me out. I think Sci-fi, basement, video games...it's just not my kind of thing. I am a sunshine, read a book, no tv kind of girl. Little did I know from looking it up in Wikipedia that the origin of the word is hindu, referring to the incarnations of the divine, such as Vishnu. Wow...that's a lesson in not judging a word by the sound of it.

But I digress.

So, I am trying to create an avatar for the blog I am trying to follow. Problem 1: I can only use images downloaded to my computer, not from the web. So I have to find an image, download it to my computer, and then upload it. Problem 2: once I download an image from the blog, I “encounter a problem” uploading the avatar. No further suggestions for how to solve the problem. Just the statement that there is a problem. That is a problem.

I appreciate their FAQ section, even though it doesn't address problems uploading avatars. I did especially like the part that explains how to add feevy to my blog. Except that it didn't work.

The verdict: While I like how Feevy looks on other people's blogs and I want to get it going, I think I need some help.

There doesn't seem to be a "contact us for help" section on the Feevy page to address some of these problems. So I turn to you in the blogosphere. Is there anybody out there to feevy me through?

Exploring New Technology 3: Flickr

Digital cameras have their pros and cons. Pro: deleting terrible shots with no cost attached. Con: remembering to have prints made of the good shots to make into an album. Pro: no need to make traditional albums anymore...just go online. Con: no need to make traditional albums anymore...just go online.

Up until today, I had been a Kodak Gallery kind of girl. My cousin uses Shutterfly. There are a many more sites that offer you space, tools to upload, organize, alter, and share your photos. But the one that has been interesting as of late is Flickr.

What does Flickr offer that the others don't? What makes it so special? That's what I wanted to know too.

So, as usual, I'll go step by step.
First, I downloaded my pictures onto my PC. I downloaded Flickr's Uploadr software so I would be able to drag my photos into a box rather than "browsing" for individual pictures. Kodak and Shutterfly operate similarly up to this point. It's a little cumbersom and can get a little frustrating, especially the first time around when you have to download the software, etc. But once you get the hang of it, no sweat.

So then I set out to alter my pics. The first thing I noticed is that I didn't have to turn my pics around. Apparently, Flickr adjusted the orientation of my photos automatically. Awesome. That's often terribly time consuming (read, annoying).

Then I started tagging my pics. I'm all about tagging. Now, any time I want pictures of Rigi (our pup), they are tagged and easy to pick up rather than having to open different albums to find the picture I'm after. Accessible, easy to use. Good stuff. The organizing feature is intuitive.

Then came to the sharing bit. Each of these photo websites asks you to share your pictures with an address book that is tedious to import. For those of you looking for then next great idea, how about mobile, importable address book so I can just download addresses safely and easily. But I digress...one thing Flickr did offer me was a link to my slideshow to send out to my choice of peeps. Good stuff. I wish they offered links for individual photos too.

Another nice feature is that I can blog pictures from Flickr, which I will try to implement soon. As for other web 2.0 features, there is are many opportunities to show pics to groups, map where pictures were taken (might be enormously useful for the annual Italy trip).

Verdict: pretty cool. Definately easier to upload, share, and organize than other photo sharing sites I've used. I will continue to try it. Assuming it maintains its ease of use, you can catch my pics on the blog.

Exploring New Technology 2: Digg

Main stream media has not been sharing the most positive news with us as of late and to be honest, I have been left feeling quite despondent: the killings at Virginia Tech, the Supreme Court's abortion decision, the continued arming in Sudan. Not a lot of good stuff out in the world, at least presented by the main stream media. It seems like the perfect time to get to know Digg a bit better.

My first understanding of Digg was incorrect: it does not rate websites, it rates news stories. Essentially, you submit a news story, podcast, etc., and if people like it, they "digg" it. As Digg puts it, they are a digital media democracy.

As usual, there are things I love about this and things that make me tilt my head to one side and say "hm." First off, the notion that individuals decide what is most important to them and there is no "editor" imposing their values or sense of relevance to the stage is exciting. I especially appreciate their efforts to keep us in the loop by recognizing how much information comes to pass on a daily, or even hourly, basis (check out their FAQ and read up on Cloud View).

However, when I showed this to my husband, he responded by saying, "Isn't it just a popularity contest?" Good point. For example, let's look at it from where we are right now, as I type. The top two stories on the New York Times this morning are the Supreme Court's ruling on banning partial birth abortion and another insight into the mind of the VA Tech killer. The top rated stories on Digg as of right now, 9:17 am, is "Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) has officially been released!" and "Woman sues after doctor mistake leaves her pooping out her vagina." (Graphic, I know but what is most popular...keep reading.)

It's hard to pinpoint what I see as the problem here. To be honest, I am disappointed in the main stream media's continuous attention to the killer of the Virgnia Tech community. The kind of attention this desperate and sick individual is getting, to my mind, gives credence in some way that to get attention, you have to do drastic things. I would much rather have attention focused on those that died, how the community is coping, and what the rest of us can be doing to ensure things like this don't happen again. But that's just me. And I guess that's the point. To me, both the Digg stories are superfluous and irrelevent (especially the story of the unfortunate lady). If we want to talk about unfortunate ladies, why not focus on the millions of women whose right to choose "their reproductive destiny", as Justice Ginsburg calls it, is now in jeopardy.

I guess that while I am sometimes dismayed by what the mainstream media presents or frustrated by what they don't present (is anyone ever going to give Africa the coverage it deserves), I do find myself in line with their value judgments more than I am in line with the "digg"-ers. I think that there are valuable lessons to be taught from looking at them together, as this morning shows. I know which media outlet best suits my needs and values: what about my students? And if it is a democracy, how do you make a difference? The call to action, to submit stories that they think are important and should be brought into the public eye would certainly be a way for them, or any of us, to participate in the creation of media and the education of the masses.

See what I mean: I like it and I still have my head tilted.

Exploring New Technology 1: Delicious?

So what's all this hub-bub about del.icio.us? After hearing so much about it, I decided I would be the killer librarian that I am and get out there to see what it is and what I think of it, at least on the surface.

The first thing I LOVED about it, and I think should be required reading for all newly initiated Web 2.0 users, was a clear, interesting, and funny description of tags. I appreciated their admission that it might not seem intuitive at first. That certainly was my take: what should I say? What is the "right" thing to say? Especially as a librarian, and a cataloger to part, how can I just describe sites how ever I want? Is there no order to the universe? I quake in my chair just thinking about it.

But that's the whole point: it is YOUR web, your bookmarks, your interaction with the web that makes it worthwhile. And I think that is what makes it slightly difficult for librarians and information scientists to wrap their heads around. The order is self imposed and self described. There is no hierarchy (interesting that they mention this on their site. Perhaps they anticipate librarians incredulity). There is no "right".

Okay, so I get the part about self-creating the web, etc. But still, I coudln't really see the point. I mean, why do I need to be tagging any of this stuff? Who cares?

And then we had a staff meeting. Paula, my fellow funky librarian, was mentioning, yet again, an awesome information literacy tutorial she had found. And it hit me. "Paula," I said, "you should use delicious to mark all these tutorials you love so I can find them. I can never remember all the sites you mention." Voila. Interactivity, purpose, innovation, learning: in the workplace, among librarians at a staff meeting!

This little expose on my interaction with del.icio.us also marks the first of a series of posts I will be trying as I delve into the myriad of technologies that I have been writing down on little post it notes to look at but never make time to check out. Here's my effort at depleting the number of post it notes I have around my computer!