Took a break from technology for the day

“There’s no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves” - Frank Herbert American science fiction Author and Writer 1920-1986

One must have balance in life. Today we went to Matagorda Bay for my daughter's birthday. It was a lovely day.

Checking Out Tomorrow's Library

The World Digital Library is being developed by the Library of Congress in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Librarian of Congress, James H. Billinfgton says, "The site 'has an enormous educational potential'... noting that its content is being designed particularly with children in mind. 'It has the capacity both to inspire respect for other cultures and their histories and stories, but at the same time to establish critical thinking.' Go to the complete article as published in the Washington Post and the World Digital Library website for complete information. Until WDL is ready remember the American Memory Web site which is the general model for the WDL is the Library of Congress's National Digital Library Program, launched in the mid-1990s and offers 11 million digital files culled from U.S. historical records -- from the Declaration of Independence and Civil War photographs to early Thomas Edison movies and recordings of interviews with former slaves.

Parents, Teens and Technology

As a parent of two teenagers and a iHCPL learner I found this research interesting.

You can check out the entire article at PewResearchCenter Publications.

I need one (or more) of these today

Thanks to technology or should I say lack of technology I feel pretty useless. I was able to find some books for some people but for me, when there is even one for whom I am unable to help it gets under my skin. I think most people are understanding.

Voice Thread

The idea is that you build a conversation around an image or group of images. The audience can chime in with voice comments or with text messages. The picture, which is the centerpiece, will be in the middle, with everyone's avatars and comments clustered around it. There's a demo if you go to the site. Take a look!

Week 7 - #17 Blog about Technology

I hope this isn't cheating by not writing myself but posting a link to this awesome YouTube Video Information R/evolution. It is worth taking the time to watch.

Week 7: #16 So what's in a wiki?

"Wikis can essentially be used for anything where collaboratively developed content or easy Web editing is desirable." This definition from Using Wikis to Create Online Communities By Meredith Farkas says it all. Of the discovery resources, I think this one and Wiki, wiki, wiki! were the most helpful. Wiki, wiki, wiki especially, mentions the disadvantages as well as the advantages of wikis. For the exercises I checked out all the examples and I added two of my favorite restaurants and my favorite animal to the iHCPL sandbox wiki.

Ball in the House

Saturday night my family and I went to The Centrum to see Cypress Creek F.A.C.E's (Foundation for the Arts and Community Enrichment) presentation of Ball in the House. We thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Ball in the House is a 5 man band from Boston, Mass. You have to see them to understand what they do. You can check them out on Youtube. For a listing of all F.A.C.E events held at The Centrum check out their website.

Week 6: #15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

I do not agree with much of anything that Rick Anderson had to say in his article Away from the “Icebergs” He says "As a Web 2.0 reality continues to emerge and develop, our patrons will expect access to everything – digital collections of journals, books, blogs, podcasts, etc." In my, allbeit brief experience, our patrons think though digital is nice and sometimes convenient, print information and information not retrieved from the internet is requested first and foremost. With regards to Reliance on user education I would just like to once again point to a previous post of mine about a workshop at the Cy-Fair College library branch which was all about how wonderfuly equipped and expertly staffed we are when it comes to servicing our patrons. And finally his third iceberg, the “come to us” model of library service, which he says means placing library services and content in the user’s preferred environment (i.e., the Web). Who says this is the user's preferred environment? It is an environment that is used more and more by more and more people but it is by no means in my opinion the preferred environment for everyone all the time. I promise you I will never read a book for entertainment on a computer screen.

In "Into a new world of librarianship" I am reminded of my days in library school. In theory "Librarians 2.0 plans for their users , Librarian 2.0 embraces Web 2.0 tools, Librarian 2.0 controls technolust , Librarian 2.0 makes good, yet fast decisions , Librarian 2.0 is a trendspotter , Librarian 2.0 gets content, however, in the real world we: don't involve "users from the get go in planning and launching services based on their needs", we have managers come in and tell us we are moving our reference desk to the circulation desk; we don't have to worry about buying technology for the sake of technology, we don't have a budget for that; we are certainly embracing Web 2.0 tools, iHCPL is an example of that, but the majority of my patrons don't understand me when I say "right click", so I don't think they are living in the thriving online communities of Weblogs, wikis and MySpace. I am however ready, willing and able to use Instant Messaging to meet users online should they decide to come.

All this said I do however agree with Chip Nigles in his statement that "the principles of Web 2.0 can help libraries collaborate in new and powerful ways". It is just not as imminent as some would have us think it is.

John Riemer says, "Expanding and enriching metadata will give libraries a competitive advantage and will support the bibliographic services of the future. " Agreed, the future and yes we should start now so when our users get "there" we will be ready.

Dr. Wendy Schultz says it best when she says, "But let’s be clear: Library 4.0 will not replace Libraries 1.0 through 3.0; it will absorb them."

Finally, adopting A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto as a personal strategy is a good way to make sure we are ready for the transition from Libraries 1.0 forward.

Week 6: #14 iStar Challenge

The Kaiser Family Foundation has created an interactive online tool to compare the health care proposals of presidential candidates. The tool summarizes positions in four overall categories including access to health care coverage, cost containment, improving the quality of care, and financing. Users can customize side-by-side comparisons by selecting as many as four candidates for comparison that can then be formatted into a printer-friendly format. Documents comparing all the Democratic candidates and all the Republican candidates are also available. Information will be updated regularly as the campaign unfolds. The new tool is part of the health08.org, a website operated by Kaiser providing analysis of health policy issues, regular public opinion surveys, and news and video coverage from the campaign trail.

health care presidential election