Look (and Listen)

A recent discovery of mine is Miro, a vodcast player. It is open source, utilizing code from Firefox and VLC. Its also a bittorrent client. I really like the fact that it has nice browser functionality that can be configured in a similar fashion to Firefox. Another thing that drew me to this player was the amount of HD channels it listed out-of-the-box. Shows I enjoy watching include: Tekzilla, CNET, Earth-Touch and the now-defunct Food Science.

I know iTunes can do podcasting, but if there are things I can use that don't have Microsoft or Apple associated with them, I usually try to use them. For instance, I use QuickTime Alternative, Real Alternative, and VLC with various free codecs instead of Windows Media Player. I don't need to sync to a mp3 player and rarely encounter wmv or wma files (even if I did I'd transcode 'em).

It's the Holidays

One of the messages in one of the seasonal cards I'm sending says:
"Joy, Hope, Peace, Faith, and Love. I wish all this and more for you during this holiday season and throughout the new year". I'm modifying that to say to each of you,

Joy, Hope, Peace, Faith, and Love.
I wish all this and more for you
throughout each year.

Have a safe and and positively eventful holiday!

12/20/08 puzzle embedded ap

Future Trends and Shepard, part 2

There was discussion about lifestyle trends, ethical consumption(voting your dollars, monetization (time is more precious than money)and work trends.

LIFESTYLE TRENDS
Simply, a commodity identity continuum. That is, does this (or any) product define me? It's probably why people brand shop.

ETHICAL CONSUMPTION: VOTING WITH YOUR DOLLARS
Causes people are willing to spend money to support: bloodless diamonds, free range poultry and beef, oil free products, dolphin free tuna, etc.


MONETIZATION: TIME IS MORE PRECIOUS THAN MONEY
services and entrepreneurs who provide a way for others to save time. There was a reality series on Fine Living Channel that covered this. Simply, someone picks up and delivers back your dry cleaning; Merry Maids; personal shoppers. While they are doing these things, you can be doing something else.


WORK TRENDS
This category was divided into three areas, recruiting, retention and leadership development.

Under RECRUITING they listed five categories of potential employees:

• Creative Class -those who are motivated to a job based on being able to work with other cool and talented people
• From Ethical Consumption to Ethical Careers - for them it's not about the money
• Free Agents - project-based contracts and talent scouts
• Recruiting the Network people are looking for teams, not just individuals.
• The "Retired" Workforce was as interesting to me as the first group. They said that 75% of boomers do not plan to retire but move from "had to do" to "want to do" jobs in retirement.

There were two books mentioned as must reads: A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink (of which we own 64 copies) and Thinking About The Future, by Andy Hines ( the actual presenter) of which we own none. There was also a web site mentioned about value surveys.

These two blogs just about cover my notes from this ninety minute session, so you can see we heard a lot during that time.

Again, questions and discussions are expected.

Future Trends and Shepard

Aaron and I attended the “Future Savvy: Trend Impacts and Organizational Readiness”, audio seminar in the Carnegie Room yesterday afternoon. It was the first time I’d done this, although I’d participated in webinars before. This was interesting because I had the feeling that it was a new experience for the panelists as well. It also seemed as if the panelists were hearing the information presented for the first time with the listeners, even though it was stated that the material in its entirety had been available for review prior to the broadcast. That being said, here are my notes.

The first slide (handouts), “Values Change Over Time in a Predictable Way”, used Maslow’s* needs hierarchy as the basis using poor (*survival), middle income (*belonging) and affluent (*self-actualization) as the groups, and the values associated with these groups as traditional, modern, and post modern, in the same order. So poor countries have traditional values, middle class countries have modern values and affluent countries have post modern values.

The second slide had “Three Clusters of Values” which were too numerous to list here – ask me for my handout.

Now these slides can be used with economic classes within a country as well. Looking at the clustering of values within each economic class is designed to help us market to, adapt to, customers within these clusters, and perhaps predict what they would like. Yes, there are things not considered here like the age of the people within the clusters. Yes it is very possible for a 70-80 year old affluent to have traditional values if he/she was raised by parents or grandparents of the pre-post depression era. Yes, it is possible for 30-20 year old poverty people to have affluent values based on what they have been exposed to – so there is a lot of fluctuation here. The bottom line though is to keep in mind how values can affect behavior, needs and wants.

Part 2 dealt with moving your organization to where you want to be in the future. This is something we can use here. Shepard. What do we want to be really good at as far as internal and external customer service is concerned? How can we be more involved in system wide initiatives (serving internal customers)? How can we be more involved with customer service:

Using the matrix presented (my handouts will help with this) let’s see how the job help center fits, or the homework help center fits.

To be really good at the job center, how much staff time do we need to commit to preparation and actual customer time? Should we participate if we have a pattern of small group (1 or 2 people) participation or is it ok to do 1-on-1? How to get everyone up to speed so that even if we are not in the class mode, we are capable of providing better job seeking tips/help to impromptu customers?

We will be working on these issues for the next few weeks. It will be interesting to see how this process helps to get us all to the next level as a team and as customer service leaders.

PS, I expect you all to have a whole bunch of questions about this post, not the least of which would be, What are you talking about?!? Bring them on and let the dialog begin! (G)

Who Said Librarians Don’t Have A Sense Of Humor?

While reading an article in the Chronicle of Higher Learning titled, “Librarians Want to Out-Google Google With a Better Search Engine”, one of the comments attached suggested this blog. On a more serious note, I think this is something that we (at CML) should weigh in on. Since the working group is soliciting input from all librarians, we should help them out.

Thoughts on Innovation

(Perhaps I should preface this by saying that this was a really good conference, but it led me to think that we are still hiding our light under a basket. I heard a lot of what is considered to be innovative, yet, was somewhat old news to some of us.)

Change, or innovate. That is the question. What are we really doing? Changing or innovating? I found several definitions of change all of which implied to alter or modify something that already existed. Innovate was a little different. Initially it meant to renew or alter. Now, it means to introduce something new; make changes in anything established. There’s that change word again.

I think because we are pretty innovative we do not realize it. For us, maybe innovation and change are close cousins and whereas change may generate fear and uncertainty, maybe innovation generates giddiness and impatience (which may lead to fear and uncertainty). What’s next? When is next coming? Why are we still here? How come others are just now trying things we’ve pretty much perfected? Who can we learn from? What else should we be looking at? Are all questions that could be exciting (leading to impatience and giddiness) or scary (akin to fear and uncertainty). Innovate or change.

Maybe we should avoid using either word and just do it – let’s not refer to “it” as being innovative or making a change – staff and customers can come to their own conclusions – if it’s good, they may just call it a great idea and if it’s not, well, they may call it something else.

Notes from the Innovative Environments Conference

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Kalamazoo Promise – any youth who attends school in Kalamazoo, graduates and meets the basic requirements for acceptance at a public college/university in Michigan, will get their tuition paid. This is innovation. A group of people got together to plan for the future of the Kalamazoo area way in to the future, because the fund for this will be supported in perpetuity. It is about the future of the area because it generates an educated population that generates an interest in the area for jobs as most employers want an educated population base with which to work. This stimulates the economy in that area. It brings stability. Communities from all over will be watching Kalamazoo for the next 20 or more years to see how this promise perpetuates long lasting change in the community.

Dr. Brad Mitchell of Battelle spoke about a lot of things besides the STEM program during the opening address, but the items I wrote down were thought provoking (for me): “Are we up to the thrill of our days?” and “Strategy of re-invention”. He was speaking too fast for me to take notes, but I figured I get the notes off the website when they were posted. I also figured I’d visit the STEM site (http://www.osln.org/about-osln/faces-of-osln.php). This led me to the term Systems Engineering which is an interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realization of successful systems. It focuses on defining customer needs and required functionality early in the development cycle, documenting requirements, and then proceeding with design synthesis and system validation while considering the complete problem.

While touring the STEM site, I decided to visit the lounge and thought this was really a great use of transparency. Here you have the opportunity to weigh in on what they are doing. They want you to. We could do this for the 20/20 vision and levy projects.

Anyway, this was a great example of how one thing leads to another.

Stephen Abram’s Trendspotting: Weak Signals for the Future talk was seeded with things I knew and things I did not know about. I had to check out Now Public, Mozes, Webkinz, TechCrunch, and he reminded me to check to see what’s happening with Bibliocommons. He also talked about Google-caching.

Google-caching is their new service. You may notice when you do a search on Google it now says “customized for the Columbus region”. If you did the same search in LA or NY you would probably get a different mix of hits. I thought this was great for us because they left the door wide open for us to find those nuggets that they decided our region would not want, or for us to show customers how to navigate the web better – beyond Google.

(An aside – it strikes me funny the number of PowerPoint presentations I’ve seen at a conference on innovation. I guess I expected to see new applications of Flickr or Slideshow.com or other new technology. I think I may tie innovation to technology too much). Innovation can incorporate attitudinal change – CHUH (Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library) suggested the BUS concept. The bus is headed in the right direction because the passengers are the staff and the driver is the customer. That’s an attitudinal shift.

They also:

• Have a drive up pickup window.
• Are using the lockers for retrieving reserves 24/7. These are also drive up.
• Have phones on the wall for customers to use to page staff on that floor (Georgetown U. had this back in the early 70’s. I guess this is the renew part of the definition of innovation).

I heard the term Search Ohio and I thought it was some sort of alliance between 23 public libraries and OhioLink, so I tried it as a web site. I discovered two new sites, neither of which had anything to do with libraries, but may be good to know about – www.searchohio.com and www.searchohio.org.

Priority Design. I’m glad I stayed for the entire program because in the beginning it was hard to understand what his goal was. I thought his message was to provide the appropriate environment to get the results you want. Don’t worry about conventional or traditional themes. Do what your customers (internal and external) want – aka the ends justify the means. In this case, this is physical space design 9rock wall, foose ball, the latest tools of the trade, etc, ability to personalize work areas). The cultural aspect of business is also different. Roles change and the staff s pretty equal with project based design – today you are the leader and tomorrow you are the doer, but it all works well as everyone shares responsibility. This reminded me of the Geese V formation culture.

· Mistakes are learning opportunities

· Everyone is a salesperson – they find clients and own them

· Life balance is important

He also spoke about the Universal Archetype (Jung) and its applications to define the categories for each type of product or where your company fits into the categories. This helps you fine a niche in your market. For instance in the Hero category you will find Nike, the U.S. Army, etc. We, like them, fall in the Caregiver category. “Build your reputation by helping others build theirs”, was one of his quotes that made me think of us – we do this everyday.

Bucking the Status Quo

I've been reading articles here and there touting the technological wonder of carbon nanotubes. But this article is the first time I've heard of 'buckypaper'. Of course, all of the old-school industries built on steel aren't going to be happy with these breakthroughs. Wouldn't it be cool if the library could beta-test some shelves made of this material?

Know It Now

This is an appropriate label/title for anything related to the library. We are officially a Know It Now (KIN) site for the third Thursdays of the month from 3:00 - 4:00 pm. So far I am the only one trained but by the end of the year Grace and Wilbert will be as well. This Thursday, we will be sequestered in my office at a little before 3 so we can log on and they can watch and ask question while I become KIN friendly. In preparation for this I visited Janis Blades at Gahanna to watch her log in and perform KIN duties. It is very confusing at first and there are several places to look at at once, but that's not why I'm writing this. I also decided to get familiar with the OPLIN site since that is the major source of our KIN answers. While flipping through the site, under communications I discovered Laura. This is a down to earth site that tries to explain why certain things are important to us, like tinyurl.com or YELP. See what you think.

Here is another informative and thought provoking article from Multimedia & Internet@School Magazine.

Adapting Social Networking to Address 21st-Century Skills

From using Twitter to encourage short story writing to utilizing Delicious to organize professional development tips and favorite articles, the number of social networking tools and websites is increasing exponentially. We know educators use these 21st-century tools with students in all grade levels. The question remains, how­ever, whether and how these tools might be used to positively affect student understanding and achievement. "Yes," says ePals' Tim DiScipio, "these tools, when chosen thoughtfully, implemented appropriately, and combined with innovative pedagogy through internet-connected communities, can teach students the skills necessary to thrive in the 21st century and expand their ability to communicate and collaborate in a global marketplace." Read on, learn more!

[ http://www.mmischools.com/Newsletters/MmisXtra.aspx?NewsletterID=695#1 ] [Back to Contents...]

Kindling?

Oooooo....aaaahhhh....the new Kindle design. Check out the gallery on Boygeniusreport.

via Geek.com

Pics on the Web Getting You Down: Smush It!

Smush It is a brand new tool from the purveyors of Yahoo! that's supposed to help you create a better web-ready image to post on your site or share with other folks. I haven't tried it yet, but the fact that it has a Firefox add-on means I'm going to test it soon. Check out the Geek.com article link below for more details.

via Geek.com

Secure Your Browser

I just read a post on Michael Stephens' Tame The Web blog that dealt with browser features, in particular, Mozilla Firefox versus Google Chrome. One of the things he mentioned dealt with securing your browser while surfing the 'net. The page he linked to has quite a bit of useful information on it. The article is probably longer than you'd like it to be, but not nearly as long as it could be. It has nice step-by-step tutorials with screenshots that will make configuring Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari a breeze. Highly recommended.

What a trip!

I'm in Chicago. Zach - let's just say you and Austin would have had eyebrow strain. Somethings are best told verbally, so remind me to tell you all about the train to Chi-town.

Ramblings of a Budgeting Manager

One of the many advantages of working in a public library is that you have the opportunity to broaden your horizons. Whether it be because you have to or because you want to, the opportunity is there. One of the things I like is connecting with customers and learning from them. I've been given books to read and websites to visit. Other staff have really connected with our 'tweens, teens and even our younger customers via games, gaming and website show and tell often learning from them as well. And if you are around long enough, you get to develop a real rapport with some and watch others grow up. We get to play around with sites and technology (not that everyone is into that, but if you are - you get paid to do it) and that is cool, too.

Sometimes, however I find that I am at a loss. Chat rooms lost me. I remember investigating them back in the early 80's (Commodore 64!) and even then could not figure out why to do it (socially) or even how to do it well. I understood it when I was looking for an answer (does anyone know where to find X in Columbus? for instance) but the general chat baffled me and still does - but I never was much for phone chat either so I guess that explains that.

But this generation seems to want to connect to everything - chat room while talking on a cell phone, for instance. This makes me wonder if they are not just bored and have no idea what other opportunities are out there that could be just as much fun, take up just as much time, but are beneficial.

The site Foldit (Foldit is a revolutionary new computer game enabling you to contribute to important scientific research.) allows chat, news, etc, but you also are able to create something by playing a game. This made me think about another use for us. Maybe we could develop webchats/blogs for social issues or community issues. Maybe we should design a page for each of our sites (adult, teen and kids) and call it if I ruled the world, or if I ruled my city. I wonder what type of useful contributions we'd get. Maybe we could combine it with some SIM software so it could be interactive. Maybe it could be a tool for social/community design. Suppose we could post a general problem in a SIM world that allowed people to play around with it within the confines of known social constraints. It could be fun, it could be beneficial and it could be educational - and it may be useful to the community. Maybe we could mine our customers for information, gather, catalog and store it for future users. Maybe that is one thing future libraries will do. What do you think?

No Child Left Alone

Normally I do not read this, but something made me check it out today.This is a very timely cartoon.Perhaps the sticker should read, “This was put on your child when you weren’t looking.What else could have happened?” It could be marketed to any public place – grocery stores, malls, parking lots, stadiums, parks, libraries, churches, airports, bus and train stations…..

Learning to Play at Work!

The things are beginning to come together! Check out this link under LOOK IT UP on CMLsi (Learn and Play)

Learn & Play @CML

Playing and Learning Together

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Coming Soon!

July 22, 2008 by Joy

Join the Columbus Metropolitan Library on August 12th for the beginning of an exciting program: Learn & Play @CML! This online program is designed to expand your knowledge of the Internet and Web 2.0. CML staff, along with members of our community, will all be learning together! So look to this space for all the information you’ll need to LEARN and PLAY!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged learning 2.0 | No Comments »

• Search for:

• Learn & Play @CML

  • About the Program
  • The 23 Things
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Finding Innovation Anywhere

Continuing on the FOLD It theme, here is an excerpt from the latest URBAN Library Council's Digest:

---

MORE ABOUT THE ELEMENTS

OF OUR ONLINE COMMUNITY

---

INNOVATION CONVERSATIONS

“The future is already here. It's just not very evenly distributed”

-William Gibson

This quote was recently brought up at ULC’s Fast Forward event and reminds us that our future could be someone else’s present.

In the SCENARIO PLANNING process, it is important to be aware of the rich and diverse innovation going on all around us. People all over the world (and not just in libraries) are constantly coming up with new methods of service and pushing the creative envelope into the future. But not all innovation is successful. This element strives to open up the conversation to not only what has truly worked, but what has been a miserable failure and why.

Fold it may be an example of this type of innovation. Hopefully it will be successful. Please keep looking around at other sites, libraries or wherever for innovations that may be useful to us.

Fold it Like a Pro, Or Outsourcing Life's Problems

For those of you who have not played around with this, do. I think it is an exciting entry to a new way of solving things, somewhat aligned with the idea of the wisdom of crowds. Just think about this. There are millions of diseases that need cures and only so many researchers and money to go around. But suppose we narrow down the search path so that we are only looking at folding proteins as the cure for many diseases. Now let's computerize it and make a game out of it that ANYONE can play, and let's see if anyone out there comes up with a solution that we can use. That is the premise of FOLDIT. If this works, I wonder what other problems will be gamed for the masses to play and maybe solve? Talk about outsourcing! Anyway, I think it is a fantastic concept. I just wonder if someone does solve the problem, do they also get credit for it?

Catching Up

Wow! So much has happened since my last post. Suffice it to say, typing one handed left much to be desired. Typing with 1.33 hands in just a little better! Ok, on to the update.

Grace and I are participating in the BOP – Business of People management training program (separate classes). Since this is training and not philosophical course work, be prepared to be guinea pigs! You should begin to notice subtle (and maybe not so subtle) shifts, tweaks or newness in our management styles. I would like feedback.

I believe I heard that there will be an opportunity for everyone to do the 23 steps of Learning 2.0 real soon. If you have not tried this or want to get a head start, go to http://plcmclearning.blogspot.com/ and click on 23 steps. Or if you want to skip the first few lessons, contribute to our staff blog (once you visit the site you will understand this). This is an excellent opportunity to discover new things, refresh your memory of things you’ve been doing/using and have forgotten why, or to dream up applications for web 2.0 tools.

Something came up during my last BOP that made me think about how our cultural climate has changed over the past, say, 40 years. Ok, I know that’s a stretch for some of you. But for the rest of us, you’ll understand. It used to be that literature was tightly written, with layers of depth. Books like My Name Is Asher Lev come to mind. When it came out I could not put it down. Thirty years later, I tried to read it again and was shocked by how frustrating it was to read – too dense – too slow and actually kind of boring. There used to be a big chasm between business writing, technical writing and…literature. Now they seem to have merged. We want good literature but on a business level – fewer words on a page, concise, crisp. And we want this in our day-to-day verbal communication as well. It seems as if in the era of technology and catching the nanosecond sound bite, we have lost the art of patiently listening. The funny thing is, one of the major components to good management, conflict or otherwise is – listening; seriously listening not thinking a head about what you are going to say, or thinking a head as to the solution of the issue, but empty minded listening - hearing and processing what the speaker is saying without forming rebuttals.

Although this is “a managerial” training, I think it is something that each of us can use at work and at home as it may really foster positive relationships. So – I may drop a BOP on you once in awhile if I think it is something we can all consider.

Powerset:Search & Read Wikipedia Articles

Powerset is a really useful tool utilizing a keyword search that unearths all of the entries within Wikipedia where that specific search term appears. This should prove useful for all of those student reports where the instructor doesn't want Wikipedia used a a reference source.

via Marylaine Block's Neat New Stuff On The Web

IsThere a Ford In Our Future?

Have you noticed the Ford commercial about the onboard device that acts like Mapquest or Google Maps? You speak to it (“find nail salons”, for instance) and you see all of the nail salons in your area. Well something about that commercial made me wonder how this technology well effect the way customers will want to use our virtual services in the future. Could I be driving along (or just near a computer or cell device with Internet access) and say, “ask the library which branch has in a copy of Jewel, by Beverly Jenkins”, and be told, “Shepard at fifth and Nelson. Do you want to pick it up there or somewhere else?”, and whatever the response, it is done? That is, I am connected to the branch to have it held, or an express reserve (pops up on the staff screen in its own window – just like regular pop-ups) is placed so that the item is pulled and placed in the next delivery.

~~~Jazz All Day~~~

Found on CMLsi:The Inconvenient Truth

Why do folks fight over Wikipedia so much? Just like so many other things, its not as bad or as good as the experts or masses make it out to be. Its just another resource, and if anyone is using any source as the end-all and be-all of information, they need to seriously consider 1) cultivating a little more patience and 2) un-learning at the hands of skilled mentors. Of course, requiring substantial research skills be taught from the elementary school level on up would help a lot for the latter.

The Washington Post recently posted an article by Monica Hesse titled "Truth: Can You Handle It? Better Yet: Do You Know It When You See It?" A couple ideas she talks about are the two aforementioned items above, but that's only part of it. Like so many articles I read today, the online discussion/comments are more interesting and more vital to the various citizens around the globe than the published piece itself. If we look back on pre-web times, public discourse based on newspaper articles was taking place face-to-face at the dinner tables, barbershops, and churches instead of in the digital realm, so is it just a case of the mode changing more than the message? Is more in-depth investigative journalism always better than creating a fact-based conversation starter? Is Beck_Childs on the right track with these points in the comment section?:

1) Kids aren't taught critical thinking, and they're generally dumb as a result. This is a broad problem, not one specific to the Internet.

2) When the paper books you keep referring to are replaced with electronic versions, as they will be, the "problem" you posit will go away.

3) What's even lower on the brain-food scale than wikipedia and blogs? The lazy, self-serving anecdotes you use in this piece. Perhaps you should tell us how many books you researched and how much time and money was spent to do your little paid-for homework assignment here?.....

Check out the article and the other comments and spout your "information" about any and all these topics, please.

Again, thanks Chuck for the heads up.

Sustainability

Back in 2003 I came across and read an article entitled, “The Sustainability Challenge: Taking Edtech to the Next Level” which was published by the Benton Foundation and the Education Development Center’s Center for Children and Technology. It is a 43 paged document that covers stats on the percentages of schools connected to the Internet, and the importance of public libraries in aiding the connection for those youth without computers in the home. While looking for something else in my desktop files, I came across it again and in light of Helene’s post about sustainability, I thought it was a good time to review this document and see how far (or not) we have come and what, if any, implication there still are for libraries.

I also checked the link to the Center for Children and Technology and not only found it viable, but found it chocked full of interesting tidbits for working with youth. Here is a link to their “Digital Literacy: Skills for the 21st Century”. Read the blurb and then use the Create A Story tab to do just that. It give insight into the types of skills being taught or needed and may be something that we can use for afterschool/SRC periods of boredom.

I will be posting more on this subject (sustainability) so consider this a thick thread.

Geek.com Newsletter: Pick O' The Letter

Dell to continue Windows XP sales post June 30 - When will Microsoft learn that eye candy at a premium price does not an operating system make?

RIAA “making available” piracy argument rejected in the courts - When will the record industry learn that continually ripping folks off (see above topic) or accusing them of stealing doesn't win customers to their side?

There’s gold in them there chips! - Significant recycling goin' on!

Military receives first flexible OLEDs with green and infrared - Specially-designed to bring out the inner-Predator.

Verbatim drops tiny 500GB HDD - Pocket-full of data.

Build your own multitouch surface controller - Watch the video! It's ill!

Via Geek.com

Found On CMLsi:Stop You're Killing Me

For those folks who don't read CMLsi, Stop You're Killing Me is a site made especially for mystery lovers. Yes, it is a coincidence that the one person at the branch who will utilize this the most says this phrase often. The site features read-alikes, award winners, and diversity and historical indexes. This won't replace Novelist, but it is a little easier to remember.

Thanks Chuck

No Clue

As we all know there is so much stuff on the web. I was playing around with Firefox and came across a free download called Interclue. Here is what it says it does, and it's a free download.
"Before you click the link Hover your mouse pointer over the link, and a Linkclue icon will appear. Rest your mouse on the icon, and up pops an enhanced summary of the linked page.
Interclue can give you:A text content summary A small snapshot of the page Sizes and dates of linked files Useful stats and metadata Next actions - save, e-mail...And more. Check the options!"

Maybe you all knew about it, but it's news to me. I wondered if this is what Helene and others use on their sites for their link popups?

What Else Is Going On In Our Profession?

I've been looking for other sites that we can use for library information and came upon Library Spot! This is like shopping at Meijers! Check out all (well, you know) the links, blogs, etc. found on the Librarian's page.While on this site, I came across this : Hab.la for libraries and wondered a lot of things! Is this something we could offer customers? That is, virtual users. I know we provide reference via email at Main, but what about customers working with us in real time? If this allows them to ask a question and follow our search as we gather the answer, or if it allows us to show them where to find something on our website, wouldn't this be a great service to customers? And what about Digsby? Have any of you used this? I will be searching for more fodder for the flock. If you find things like this, drop them on us!

Everything old is new again?

Helene's new post is on New Knowledge. It made me think, too. I've quoted the link and mused a bit about it out loud ( or whatever you call typing in the now). What's your take on this?

Quote of the Day: New Knowledge

From “Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace” (600+ page .pdf) comes this passage by Robert Steele in his essay “Creating a Smart Nation:”

Published knowledge is old knowledge: The art of intelligence in the 21st Century will be less concerned with integrating old knowledge and more concerned with using published knowledge as a path to exactly the right source or sources that can create new knowledge tailored to a new situation, in real time.”

While this is in the context of national security and intelligence, I think it’s applicable to the ways in which we think about networked learning, which is why we need to publish what we know and share it widely.

Publish what we know. So, how do we know what we know? Better yet, how do we know what we believe we know is factual (if that is important) and is worth publishing? How do we as disseminators of information assure our customers that what we are giving them is factual if our new definition of knowledge is this vague or unfounded? (Isn’t that the argument about Wiki’s and tagging-letting anyone add to a document? Is it fact or opinion; isn’t this how urban legends come about?) Who is the “we” in the above statement? What if “we” begin to make up what we know, or “refine” what we know (aka revisionism) or just slant what we know (like journalists?). What happens if this knowledge is passed on in real time but is later on discovered to be unreliable?

If published knowledge is old knowledge, and the art of intelligence in the 21st Century will be less concerned with integrating old knowledge and more concerned with using published knowledge as a path to exactly the right source or sources that can create new knowledge tailored to a new situation, in real time, doesn’t this mean that they are more concerned with using old knowledge?

Maybe taking ideas from other disciplines and trying to adapt them elsewhere is not always workable. Maybe it’s like what happened on the Island of Dr. Moreau…..

Geek.com Newsletter: Pick O' The Letter

Skype introduces unlimited calling subscriptions - $1.95 per month for unlimited (actually over 5 hours daily) calls within the US.

LockedEnvelope sends messages over the Internet securely - Got any emails you want to keep private? Also, look at the first comment for an alternative.

Murdoch open to Yahoo joint bid with Microsoft - Fox, MySpace, Wall Street Journal, and now this?!!??

Opinion: The dangers of subscription software - This sums it up nicely:

"There are alternatives. They offer real functionality for free. They do not require you constantly “phone home” and tell the software author/company what’s up about your usage patterns, your content, how often you do anything on your computer. In this author’s opinion, it’s absolutely none of their business. If they want to make better software, they can ask for volunteers to participate in those kinds of information-gathering programs. In the alternative, they can simply hire very clever people who use their computers to find out what the best offering is, the one that will give people the most bang for their buck."

Via Geek.com

How Do You.....?

Ever wondered how to do something? Here's a solution. Wonderhowto.com is a social how-to video aggregator that's much more valuable than the sum of its parts. Plus, the layout is logical and fairly easy to navigate. I thought ExpertVillage was on-point until I ran across this one...partially because WonderHowTo pulls in videos from ExpertVillage through its search (even giving you links for videos that are a part of a series). Not only does it display results from how-to sites, but it finds how-to videos on YouTube and various other websites and blogs. Trouble narrowing your search? WonderHowTo implements a nice refinement tool on the left-hand side of the screen.

Wanna learn how to cook soba noodles or chop up vegetables? What about cutting your own hair or cutting up a record? This is the place to visit.

Stupid Windows Trick: Opening Two Windows at the Same Time

Press 'Ctrl' while clicking on two or more items on the task bar. Then, you can choose how you want them displayed (side-by-side, cascading, stacked) by right-clicking and choosing the option you want.

Via How-To Geek

Doodling at its best and SRC

Here's another link from Helene. I think this will be of use the summer for SRC! Check out the monsters. Even though there is a book (we do not own it or anything by this author), watching how he does them may be instructive for anyone who likes this style of drawing, or wants to really doodle up a storm!

Site Seeing.

I went to a meeting today and Deborah Repogle mentioned the site Webjunction.org as a the portal to publib.org. Well I went to the site and never got to publib because there was so much on webjunction. I am recommending this site to you as it gives you a good place to see what other library staff on this hemisphere are doing.

Then there is the Rubye Payne article, Nine Powerful Practices written for teachers but still applicable to us as we interact with students in poverty and also try to establish rapport and teach a thing or two, too.

A Second Life for Cleveland

As you know I really am glad I escaped from Cleveland, so you may also understand why I thought that a virtual place called Cleveland Plus that makes the environment there really exciting was humorous. (This may be the only way that Cleveland will be exciting for a while--editors comment only).
The link to Cleveland Plus ( see article "Case Keeps Expanding 3-D Vitrual Cybercity") is the portal to the new service from OLC. To keep up on news around the state and region, you may want to log on to this site from time to time.

Pictures are Worth a 1000 Words

Pacman strikes again!

I'm sure Proquest thinks its recent purchase is great, but how will it affect us? In the latest American Libraries there is an article about this and I found a link on the web to ProQuest Acquires WebFeat.

According to the AL article, "Webfeat will be under the leadership of Serials Solutions' general manager Jane Burke, the company said in a statement, and the strengths of Webfeat's and Serials Solutions' federated search platforms will be combined to create a single, market-leading solution. The new platform will debut in early 2009, providing libraries with more power and efficiency in accessing their data pools".

Hmmmm. Sounds like this is just over the...Horizon.......

There is a link on CMLsi to a Columbus Dispatch article about Central Ohio (Columbus in particular) that is interesting. "Data From Central Ohio Tells Two Tales" talks about the area in relation to other cities it may want to emulate (or not). I find the fervor created by Net Jet to be strange and the arts comments interesting. What do you think?

In the cml@pla blog, there is an entry for information 911.
In it, Christina Trecker says, " Yesterday I attended a session called "Information 911" that talked about diversity and the roadblocks that individuals sometimes face when seeking information or services from the library. Tracie Hall from Dominican University talked about the different facets of diversity--not just race and language, but things like education, age, gender, accents, and limitations based on lifestyle. All of these things affect how we are able to find information, and all of these things need to be taken into consideration when we think about our services.

What we at the library need to do is examine ourselves on a regular basis and determine whether we are looking at our services through different lenses so that we are not inadvertently creating more roadblocks for people. If an individual is illiterate, how do we expect them to read our signs to find out where things are? If an individual has been excluded from services in the past based on race or age or gender, how can expect them to feel safe coming to us for information if our staff does not reflect any bit of the diversity that we see in our customers? Awareness of these roadblocks is the first step, but not the only step. It is an ongoing process to constantly evaluate our services and how we are presenting them to different individuals."

Whereas these concepts may not be new to us, they are note and discussion worthy. I'd add fashion trends to the list of things that may set people apart. What other diversity issues have you encountered?

Hot Off The Blog

Here is the link to the CML-PLA BLOG. Take time to read it and check the comments. There are some themes we should talk about. For instance, what if we could help law enforcement with investigations of customers? (read it before you yell).

Here is another interesting site: Slacker. It's like Pandora only it is supposed to be better. Try it and see if you feel customers would like it. I found this in the latest online version of PC World's
101 Fantastic Freebies.

Music Trivia, scrapbooking, and lyrics

Playa Cofi Jukebox provides access to the top 100 songs from the golden years of popular music plus more of our musical heritage including lyrics. If you type in a song title, it lists performers and their lyrics for that song. In the case of "Can I Get A Witness", Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye (among others) were listed. You can look (compare) lyrics, or just print the ones you want. Scrapbookers may be interested for the top charts by weed, day, and year, as well as the lyrics.

Job related injury vs. injured on the job

Regardless how we phrase it, and regardless how small or simple it may seem, if you hurt yourself on the job, or doing the job, submit an incident report if not then, ASAP. If you decide or have to seek medical care and it is not a real emergency, use urgent care as CareWorks has told me they are WC compliant. If you prefer your doctor make sure they do workman’s comp. Wherever you go, make sure they know it could be WC.

Kindle Talk

I think the Kindle is a real nice invention, but I'm still holding out for an all-in-one portable solution; 1TB of storage/RAM, somewhat fast quadcore CPU, at least a 6in. OLED touch-screen, multiple-OS capability, internet capable w/multi-tiered subscription options, blah, blah, blah...... That being said, this review on Lifehacker is pretty balanced. I tend to agree with some of the comments, that the Kindle's design leaves a little to be desired and the cost is a little steep, not to mention the e-books themselves. Of course, this is coming from someone who doesn't buy many books, and the magazine subscriptions I have place their offerings online within a few months, if not immediately. Too bad Amazon hasn't seen fit to give one of these to each library system in America, although this might have something to do with that.

Google Tips, Tricks and General Info

Check out all the cool tips, tricks, and general info that Downloadsquad is compiling every other week for all you Google aficionados out there. Most people should be able to find at least one item per post that they're interested in. More up-to-date, but still not as useful as this or these (yet).

PS Ooooooo....look what I found.

Music Creation: Melodyne's Direct Note Access

Melodyne is the tool that's been used to pitch/time-correct vocals from many of the most famous so-so singers/pop icons in mainstream music. With Direct Note Access in the upcoming revision you'll be able to, for instance, take a recorded waveform of chords and break them apart into their component pieces. Then, you can adjust the pitch and timing of the individual notes.

Via Create Digital Music

Well it had been talked about, but now you can see it - GoLibrary or kiosk allows customers to "browse through the selection of books, music, movies, eBooks and audio books and receive the selected titles directly from the machine. Returns are done the same way". These devices may be found in malls, remote locations, etc.