The timeliness of this RSS module and the Internet Librarian conference couldn't have been more perfect for me. I had the opportunity to sit in on a couple of presentations that clarified the concept of RSS and provided some fun links to share.
Google Reader and Bloglines are certainly the two most talked about aggregators. And once I got the hang of bloglines, I couldn't stop adding feeds. It's addictive and I'm sure I'll pay for it later!
Internet Librarian speaker, Steven Cohen, provided us with some great tips on RSS. And now that you have the hang of RSS... what if you discover one of your favorite websites doesn't have an RSS feed -- can you still get a feed??? Yes you can. Check out this cool website: Page2RSS. Take the URL of your favorite website, paste it into the page2rss URL text box -- it produces a URL for you to put in your aggregator. Now you can monitor updates on your favorite website. I did this with imdb.com
Another interesting site you might enjoy -- libworm.com "browse the latest librarianship items from RSS feeds by category." Check out how many librarians are blogging about "sopacs."
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Day Two: Internet Librarian Conference 2007
Truthfully, I post this on day three. Yesterday was so packed with great info that by end of the day I was weary. So, with a clear head and renewed energy, I give you a brief synopsis of the second day of workshops. Only the nuggets -- I promise.
Attendance to the 11th annual Internet Librarian conference reached record levels! The folks from Dysart and Jones, who organize this conference, are thrilled. Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, opened the conference with a fascinating and energetic presentation on the status of Internet usage inAmerica
Super Searcher Mary Ellen Bates delivered 30 search tips in 45 minutes! Here's a few you might want to check out: searchmash -- sorts results by images, blogs, videos, wikipedia results; Yahoo! Mindset -- allows you to emphasize whether you want more commercial or research sites in your results. Enter a search term then use the slider bar at the top to refine your results. Ask Maps -- not only driving directions but walking directions too!
Cranky -- the first age-relevant search engine for that 50+ generation. Allen Kleiman, ALA chair to Library Service to an Aging Population, says this one is a keeper. Also, social networking is not only for the younger generation -- boomers like to blog too. Check out the The Ageless Project where blogs are sorted by birth year. Plenty of boomers have posted their blogs here. What a good way to share old and new memories.
Now -- what's a SOPAC? Ever heard that term? Think Social and OPAC. What happens when patrons collaborate with staff to build an online, readers advisory site -- you get bookspace.org put together by Hennepin County Library in Minnesota. Browse reading lists contributed by patrons and staff, read reviews posted by librarians, sign up for email alerts on new titles, post comments to other patron's reading lists. Award winning and very cool!
And finally... what happens when patrons actually get to "tag" items in the catalog and then use these tags to search for other items? You get a "psuedo-SOPAC." Take a look at what the Ann Arbor District Library in Michigan is doing with their catalog. In the right menu click on any one of their Top Ten Tags and see where you end up.
Okay -- hope you found these interesting. Try them, you might just like them :-)
Attendance to the 11th annual Internet Librarian conference reached record levels! The folks from Dysart and Jones, who organize this conference, are thrilled. Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, opened the conference with a fascinating and energetic presentation on the status of Internet usage in
Super Searcher Mary Ellen Bates delivered 30 search tips in 45 minutes! Here's a few you might want to check out: searchmash -- sorts results by images, blogs, videos, wikipedia results; Yahoo! Mindset -- allows you to emphasize whether you want more commercial or research sites in your results. Enter a search term then use the slider bar at the top to refine your results. Ask Maps -- not only driving directions but walking directions too!
Cranky -- the first age-relevant search engine for that 50+ generation. Allen Kleiman, ALA chair to Library Service to an Aging Population, says this one is a keeper. Also, social networking is not only for the younger generation -- boomers like to blog too. Check out the The Ageless Project where blogs are sorted by birth year. Plenty of boomers have posted their blogs here. What a good way to share old and new memories.
Now -- what's a SOPAC? Ever heard that term? Think Social and OPAC. What happens when patrons collaborate with staff to build an online, readers advisory site -- you get bookspace.org put together by Hennepin County Library in Minnesota. Browse reading lists contributed by patrons and staff, read reviews posted by librarians, sign up for email alerts on new titles, post comments to other patron's reading lists. Award winning and very cool!
And finally... what happens when patrons actually get to "tag" items in the catalog and then use these tags to search for other items? You get a "psuedo-SOPAC." Take a look at what the Ann Arbor District Library in Michigan is doing with their catalog. In the right menu click on any one of their Top Ten Tags and see where you end up.
Okay -- hope you found these interesting. Try them, you might just like them :-)
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Internet Librarian Conference 2007
Hello from sunny Monterey where the seals bark constantly and the boardwalk beckons! I'm attending the annual Internet Librarian conference and feeling incredibly lucky to be here. Bob asked if I wouldn't mind "blogging" about some of my experiences this week -- I said I'd be happy to. I hope you find my ramblings interesting and potentially helpful.
Today (Sunday) was filled with pre-conference workshops. I attended a workshop on "Training Adults: Getting and Keeping Attention." Given my role as the click! Coordinator and trainer of the public, this workshop had my name all over it. Our facilitator, Rebecca Jones, was personable and energetic -- she created a comfortable, safe, and interesting atmosphere where we could share ideas, practice strategies, and laugh about the challenges of training adults. Below are some useful tips that trainers AND trainees can benefit from.
Okay -- hopefully that took no longer than 10 minutes :-) For those of you who would like more reading on this topic, Rebecca provided us with an article by Professor Richard Leblanc titled, "Good Teaching: The Top Ten Requirements." I enjoyed it, I hope you do too.
More to come...
Today (Sunday) was filled with pre-conference workshops. I attended a workshop on "Training Adults: Getting and Keeping Attention." Given my role as the click! Coordinator and trainer of the public, this workshop had my name all over it. Our facilitator, Rebecca Jones, was personable and energetic -- she created a comfortable, safe, and interesting atmosphere where we could share ideas, practice strategies, and laugh about the challenges of training adults. Below are some useful tips that trainers AND trainees can benefit from.
- Establish, up front, guidelines/rules for the training session. Such as -- one person speaks at a time and use a "parking lot" for questions that need answers but are a bit off topic -- that way everyone is aware and respectful of their fellow participants and the learning atmosphere.
- SOT -- start on time, stop on time, stay on topic
- Try to keep each new concept or skill to 10 minutes then provide pauses for questions, note-taking, and discussion. This allows opportunity for clarification and crystallization of the information AND breaks up a potentially long and tiring lecture.
- Provide opportunity for your participants to engage and interact. Adult learners are typically invested in the outcome (they have a reason to attend) and they have plenty of experience from which to draw -- their knowledge can be a valuable resource to the trainer and fellow participants.
Okay -- hopefully that took no longer than 10 minutes :-) For those of you who would like more reading on this topic, Rebecca provided us with an article by Professor Richard Leblanc titled, "Good Teaching: The Top Ten Requirements." I enjoyed it, I hope you do too.
More to come...
Thursday, October 25, 2007
20 Reasons
I like number six -- definitely number six.
6. Experimenting gains skills. It’s like Solitaire when Windows first came out. People needed to learn how to use the mouse interface - and this was the fastest, most efficient way to educate the workforce. Some seemingly pointless sites (yes, I’m looking at you boomshine, and you, Second Life) teach us new interfaces.
Yes, we definitely need to keep up with these emerging technologies -- for many reasons -- some we can't even fathom yet. Experimenting helps us see how these technologies might be useful to us and the people we interact with everyday. The reason my kids are so far ahead of me on some of this is that they are willing to play.
Over breakfast the other day my son and his girlfriend taught me the finer points of text messaging. I asked them how they figured all this stuff out (I'd already checked the manual and it wasn't there!) and they just shrugged their shoulders and said that they just play around -- but they also ask each other. We can learn a lot from these computer natives.
What I love about the krl2pt0 program so far is the amount of playing and sharing that's going on. We're doing a lot of laughing in my department.
6. Experimenting gains skills. It’s like Solitaire when Windows first came out. People needed to learn how to use the mouse interface - and this was the fastest, most efficient way to educate the workforce. Some seemingly pointless sites (yes, I’m looking at you boomshine, and you, Second Life) teach us new interfaces.
Yes, we definitely need to keep up with these emerging technologies -- for many reasons -- some we can't even fathom yet. Experimenting helps us see how these technologies might be useful to us and the people we interact with everyday. The reason my kids are so far ahead of me on some of this is that they are willing to play.
Over breakfast the other day my son and his girlfriend taught me the finer points of text messaging. I asked them how they figured all this stuff out (I'd already checked the manual and it wasn't there!) and they just shrugged their shoulders and said that they just play around -- but they also ask each other. We can learn a lot from these computer natives.
What I love about the krl2pt0 program so far is the amount of playing and sharing that's going on. We're doing a lot of laughing in my department.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
