#7 - Wikis & Social Networking

...or “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love MySpace”

Learning Objectives

• Learn about Wikis and discover some of the innovative ways they are being used as information sources.
• Learn about the ever popular world of online social networking.
• Take a look at the CommonCraft video, "Social Networking in Plain English."
• Take a look at the CommonCraft video, "Wikis in Plain English."

Skills Practice

• Browse Wikipedia or any other library related Wiki (hint: search Google with "library wiki" and check out the results).
• Be bold, be one with the collaborative masses - edit a Wiki entry!
• Browse MySpace and see how libraries are using it to reach out to its online customers.

Experience Sharing

• Discuss - by commenting on the hcplc=Lib2.0 blog- how Wikis and social networking Web sites could be used by the library as information resources.

Resources

1. Library Technology Reports (July, August, 2006) - "Wikis."
2. Pew Internet & American Life Project, “Wikipedia Users.”
3. Pew Internet & American Life Project, “Social Networking Websites and Teens: An Overview.”
4. Caroline Middlebrook, "The Big Juicy Twitter Guide."
5. OCLC Report: "Sharing, Privacy & Trust in Our Networked World." (2007)
6. Social Networking GOD: 350+ Social Networking Sites (at Mashable.com).
7. SirsiDynix Institute, "Wiki: The Ultimate Tool For Online Collaboration."
8. Marshall Poe, “The Hive, Can Thousands of Wikipedians be Wrong?”


9. "Learning 2.0: What's in a Wiki?" by Helene Blowers
   
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Boston Public Library on flickr

Boston Public Library has over 1000 historical photos for the world to see.

Why are we doing this? - part 2

David Pogue, tech columnist and blogger for The New York Times, asked this week, Are You Taking Advantage of Web 2.0?
The answer for THPL would have to be no, not really, not yet. But we are learning about it. And we are beginning to take advantage too, mostly through BookLetters so far.

2.0 Alphabet

is for Joost. Watch TV online and interact with friends (or complete strangers) while you do. This is another potential time sink.

Joost (pronounced /j ooːst/ "Juiced") is a system for distributing TV shows and other forms of video over the Web using peer-to-peer TV technology, created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis (founders of Skype and Kazaa).
Joost began development in 2006. Working under the code name "The Venice Project", Zennström and Friis assembled teams of some 150 software developers in about six cities around the world, including New York, London, Leiden and Toulouse. According to Zennström at a 25 July 2007 press conference about Skype held in Tallinn, Estonia, Joost has signed up more than a million beta testers and is on track for an end-of-year launch.[1]
The teams are currently in negotiations with FOX networks. It has signed up with Warner Music, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Productions (Indianapolis 500, IndyCar Series) and production company Endemol for the beta.[2] In February 2007, Viacom entered into a deal with the company to distribute content from its media properties, including MTV Networks, BET and film studio Paramount Pictures. [Wikipedia]

Yes Jason, you can watch every episode of Jericho right at your desk...

Web 2.0 Alpbahet:Part 1 (letters A - M) were originally published in Information Today 24.9 (Oct 2007): p.17(2).

Ten Web 2.0 Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes to Be a More Successful E-learning Professional

By Stephen Downes, National Research Council Canada [reposted from eLearn Magazine]

The following list was inspired by eLearn Magazine Editor-in-Chief Lisa Neal's blog post "Ten Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes To Be a More Successful e-learning Professional." We'd like to offer the "Web 2.0 Edition" of Lisa's list:

(1) Listen to a conference presentation. When you run across conference presentations while reading your RSS feeds (EDUCAUSE Connect is a prime source, as is OLDaily), save the conference site as a bookmark and revisit it to hear a presentation.
(2) Record a 10-minute presentation about something you are working on or learning about, either as audio (use Odeo) or video (use Ustream), and post it on your blog.
(3) Do a search on the title of your most recent post or on the title of the most recent thing you've read or thought about. Don't just use Google search, use Google Blog Search and Google Image Search, Amazon, del.icio.us, Technorati, Slideshare, or Youtube. Scan the results and if you find something interesting, save it in del.icio.us to read later.
(4) Write a blog post or article describing something you've learned recently. It can be something you've read or culled from a meeting, conference notes (which you just capture on the fly using a text editor), or a link you've posted to del.icio.us. The trick here is to keep your writing activity to less than 10 minutes—make a point quickly and then click "submit."
(5) Tidy your e-portfolio. For example, upload your slides to Slideshare and audio recordings to Odeo and embed the code in your presentation page. Or write a description and link to your latest publication. Or update your project list.
(6) Create a slide on Zoho. Just do one slide at a time; find an image using the Creative Commons licensed content on Flickr and a short bit of text from a source or yourself. Add this to your stick of prepared slides you use for your next talk or class.
(7) Find a blogger you currently read in your RSS reader and go to their website. Follow all the links to other blogs in their blogroll or feedroll, or which are referenced in their posts. Well, maybe not all the links, or it will take hours, not ten minutes.
(8) Write a comment on a blog post, article, or book written by an e-learning researcher or practitioner.
(9) Go to a website like Engadget, Metafilter, Digg, Mixx, Mashable, or Hotlinks and skip through the items. These sites produce much too much content to follow diligently, but are great for browsing and serendipitous discovery. If you find something interesting, write a short blog post about it or at least a comment.
(10) Catch up on one of your online games with a colleague—Scrabulous on Facebook or Backgammon on Yahoo. Or make a Lolcat. Or watch a Youtube video.

About the AuthorStephen Downes works with the E-Learning Research group of NRC's Institute for Information Technology and is based in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. He spends his time working on learning object and related metadata, blogs, and blogging, RSS and content syndication, and raising cats.

More Mashups

I love the social networking sites for readers and LibraryThing is my favorite (though not the one I use often because you gotta be where your friends are...more on that in the future).
Now there are these great mashup opportunities on LibraryThing Local where you can plug in your location and see libraries and their programs, bookstores and their author events, and other literary events in the area. Here, for example, is Tampa, and since there is not all that much to see yet on this one, here is Brooklyn.

Kelly N. created a mashup of Bertie Wooster's London that is pretty cool and some other staff have been creating them as well -- so useful when going on a trip.

And speaking of traveling, here is a reminder of a mashup that is worth recommending to customers planning a trip or to kids who are doing a country or state report.

And the Award Goes To...

Check out the daily and monthly Mashup Award winners (also subscribe to their RSS feed).

What is a "mashup" anyway...

"In technology, a mashup is a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool; an example is the use of cartographic data from Google Maps to add location information to real-estate data from Craigslist, thereby creating a new and distinct web service that was not originally provided by either source.
Mashup originally referred to the practice in pop music (notably hip-hop) of producing a new song by mixing two or more existing pieces. Mashups currently come in three general flavors: consumer mashups, data mashups, and business mashups.
The best known type is the consumer mashup, best exemplified by the many Google Maps applications. Consumer mashups combine data elements from multiple sources, hiding this behind a simple unified graphical interface." [Wikipedia]

Three of the most common editors to use to create mashups are Google Mashup Editor, Yahoo Pipes and Microsoft's Popfly. There's a great section on the Mashup Awards page about the process of creating a mashup.

Have you seen a mashup lately that you think would really help library customers? Have you used any mashups with library customers?

2.0 Alphabet

is for ImageGenerator.org, which is actually a humongous collection of links to tools that let you "Create free custom graphics & clipart online without any software!" Make your own Presidential Seal, Dummies book cover, Nigerian Scam placard, various flags and banners, bar codes, logos, signs, and much more. This site should be labeled with a "time sink" warning. Excuse me while I take a few minutes here and make my own Monopoly Chance and Community Chest cards.

One of my favorite image generator sites (not included in the one above) comes from the New Zealand National Library -

Click the catalog card to givce it a try!

Web 2.0 Alpbahet:Part 1 (letters A - M) were originally published in Information Today 24.9 (Oct 2007): p.17(2).

Flickring Libraries

There are so many good reasons for libraries to post photos to Flickr including enticing people to come to programs, encouraging them to come back to your web site again and again, sharing visual collections, etc.
And there are a great many libraries finding cool ways to use Flickr -- here are just a few.

Historical photographs from the Library of Congress

Celebrity Read Posters from Lansing Public Library

A Day in Allen County from Allen County Public Library

#6 - Photo Sharing & "Mashups"

Learning Objectives

• Review the Learn More: Flickr tutorial.
• Learn about photo sharing & online photo albums.
• View the video, Online Photo Sharing in Plain English by CommonCraft.
• Explore Flickr and learn about this popular photo sharing Web site.
• Flick is a popular site for "mashups" - learn about mashups.
• Check out Mashable.com.


• Flickr (tutorial on YouTube)
  

Skills Practice

• Post a photo or image to your 2.0 Learning blog.
• Learn how to "blog" and image from Flickr to your 2.0 Learning blog.

Experience Sharing

• Discuss the possibilities for using photo sharing and mashups in the library by commenting on the hcpls=Lib2.0 blog.

Resources

1. Library Technology Reports (July/August, 2006) - "Flickr."
2. SirsiDynix Institute, "Mashups : A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That."
3. Rachel Singer Gordon and Michael Stephens. "Priceless Images: Getting Started with Flickr. (tech tips for every librarian). "
4. Lauren Pressley, "Flickr as a Training Tool." (MP3 - right click, "Save target As" and download to desktop)
5. Darren Chase, "Transformative Sharing with Instant Messaging, Wikis, Interactive Maps, and Flickr."
6. Laura Gordon-Murnane, "Mashups, Blogs, Wikis Go Federal: Creative Uses of Government and Public Data."
7. Robert D. Hof. "Mix, Match, And Mutate "Mash-ups" -- Homespun Combinations of Mainstream Services -- are Altering the Net."

Why are we doing this?

For our future...

2.0 Alphabet

is for Hype Machine. The Hype Machine is here to make music discovery fun and get artists paid. The Hype Machine tracks a variety of MP3 blogs. If a post contains MP3 links, it adds those links to its database and displays them on the front page.
Some of the frequently accessed tracks are cached by the Hype Machine server, much like Google Search caches web pages, to reduce load on the bloggers' servers and protect their bandwidth.
Those tracks are NOT available for download, but you can preview them via the play buttons that are next to each track.
The blog that posted a particular track is identified under every track by name so you can read more about why they posted it. If you enjoyed a track someone posted, stop by and let them know!

The Hype Machine is an MP3 blog aggregator created by Anthony Volodkin. It enables "one-stop shopping" of postings from thousands of MP3 blogs.[1] Volodkin created the website in 2005 while enrolled at Hunter College.[2]
Some MP3 bloggers have complained that aggregators (such as The Hype Machine) allow users to download music without taking in the entire experience of a music blog, such as its editorial content. [Wikipedia]

I Spy 2.0 Libraries

Some libraries have reimagined their web sites to include lots of 2.0 features in order to better connect with their customers and community at large. In fact, some library web sites are nothing but 2.0. Here are a couple of great ones; see how many 2.0 things you spy!
Ann Arbor District Library
Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
Vancouver Public Library

Audio Available (already) @ HCPLC.org

Did you know that the library already provides - locally created - downloadable audio content to our library customers. Here's a summary of the library's Oral History Project provided by Cody Shelburne, the library's "technologist" behind ...

Hillsborough Remembers: Voices of Our Community
Curious about Tampa History? Did you know that you can experience it in the first person? Just go to Hillsborough Remembers on our website! There you will find over 60 interviews of Tampa residents, recounting Tampa’s past as they remember it. The Civil Rights and WWII eras are prominently featured. You can even download and listen to mp3s of the interviews! There are over 40 hours of interview audio available. So go to our website and put a little local history in your iPod today!
-Cody Shelburne

Many library employees and volunteers have worked on the Oral Histoiry Project in the past few years. The Project is currently managed by Paule Fahle @ JFG.

How about a Podcast about Blogs?

NPR has done a series of stories - now available as streaming audio (not really a podcast). The term "Web log," which was then shortened to "blog," was born 10 years ago. Blogs have made their mark on American culture, especially on politics. In this series, NPR looks at the blogosphere's evolution, as well as who blogs, the language and culture of blogs and how blogs are changing our lives.

IN THIS SERIES
Blogging Becomes More Mobile
December 28, 2007 · New "microblogging" tools give people the ability to post short blogs — just a sentence long. A new generation of tools lets users publish audio and video blogs simply by using their cell phones, which means people can blog from almost anywhere and at any time.

Blogs Scoured for Book Deals
December 27, 2007 · Blogs can rocket ordinary people into sudden notoriety and fame as some book and talent agents trawl blogland to find the next big thing. Dawn Meehan, a stay-at-home mom, started blogging about the everyday rigors of family life and got thousands of readers and a book deal.

Blogs Become Serious Business
December 26, 2007 · Blogs matter more than ever — to political candidates, to a colonel managing a war, to human-rights advocates trying to deliver their message. Two experts discuss the growing impact of blogs.

The Big Book of Blogs
December 25, 2007 · Are all blogs just scattered rantings and mundane diaries? Reporter and critic Sarah Boxer trawled the Web for solid examples of blog writing and assembled them in a book, Ultimate Blogs: Masterworks from the Wild Web.

'Web Log' Celebrates 10th Anniversary
December 24, 2007 · Ten years ago, the phrase "Web log" — which was then shortened to "blog" — was born. Now there are more than 100 million blogs, and about 100,000 new blogs are created daily.

Learning to Embrace My Inner Blogger
December 24, 2007 · Blogger Andy Carvin writes about his experience keeping an online journal, and how the tools have changed over the years, resulting in the explosive growth of the blogosphere.

Timeline: The Life of the Blog
December 24, 2007 · Personal journals and professional logs, concepts rooted in ancient times, are two types of precursors to the modern blog. Read a timeline tracking the development of the blog as we know it today.

(the return of ) 2.0 Alphabet

is for Google Labs, a sandbox for all kinds of Google-based Web 2.0 toys. Not all innovations will become permanent features, but here you can find a definitive "Graduates" list of those which have, including Google's suite of online office applications (Docs & Spreadsheets), Google Reader, and Google Maps (an application programming interface that provides the basis for many Web 2.0 goodies).

Google Labs is a website demonstrating new Google projects "that aren't quite ready for prime time". It serves as a testing ground for new services being developed. This is a way for Google to gain feedback on the products before releasing the final versions. Google's services do not always appear on the Labs page; some are beta tested by invitation-only, like Gmail and Google Calendar once were. [Wikipedia]

Take a look at Google SMS - reference help by cell phone!

Web 2.0 Alpbahet:Part 1 (letters A - M) were originally published in Information Today 24.9 (Oct 2007): p.17(2).

Podcasting in Libraries

Podcasting has been around for years but we noted in the eMarketer report posted earlier this week that the podcast-user base is growing at an incredible rate. How have libraries responded to the growing availability of this resource as a means of distributing audio and/or video content? The Boulder Public Library has podcasts created by teens linked from their Teen page. Visitors to the site can listen to the teens provide news from the library Teen Advisory Board, interview artists displaying art in the Teen Gallery, or listen to reviews on books, movies or music. The Denver Public Library provides podcasts of storytime favorites.

Many libraries are creating podcasts but I have found that the Pierce County Library in Tacoma, WA has found some very interesting and diverse uses which help to promote library services. They’re using podcasts to instruct parents on Early Literacy Skills, to inform the public on What’s New at the Library, How to Apply for a Job at the Library, How to Volunteer at your Library, Booktalks for Adults, Virtual “sightseeing" Tours of the Library for Children, Teens and Young Adults, Librarian Book Reviews, and an interview with the Library Director on her background and where she sees the library going in the new millennium.

Our library system has a wonderful collection, outstanding electronic resources, numerous special services, programming for every age group, and a very talented staff. How can we use podcasting to inform the public and expand our service base?

Podcasting Books (yes, books!)

Take a look at...

Absolute Beginner's Guide to Podcasting by George W. Colombo & Curtis Franklin Jr. [Indianapolis, Ind. : Que, 2006].

If 2004 was the year of the blog, 2006 may well be the year of the podcast. Podcasting, a form of recording and syndicating audio programming over the Internet, is rapidly gaining in popularity, and libraries may want to consider purchasing a guide or two on the topic. Absolute Beginner's Guide lives up to its name, giving new and wannabe podcasters the background they need to start and create listenable shows. From an overview of podcasting and how it works to processing, posting, syndicating, and promoting content, it covers all the basics.

Podcasting for Dummies by Tee Morris and Evo Terra. [Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley Pub., Inc., 2006]. Also available as an eBook from NetLibrary.

Podcasting is like blogging out loud! It gives you a voice—one that can be heard worldwide on computers, iPods, or other MP3 players. You can podcast to boost your business, promote your passion, share your opinions, or just have fun. The point is to say what you want to say to those who want to hear it. With step-by-step explanations, screen shots, and tons of examples, this guide clues you in on recording, producing, and hosting your very own podcast with info on:

-Finding your voice and your niche, whether you want to talk tech, make your own kinds of music, educate listeners, make people laugh, do soundseeing tours, serialize your novel, or invent a new podcasting genre
-Getting the bare necessities (if you don’t already have them), including a microphone, recording software, and an audio card
-Audio editing software such as Audacity, Cakewalk for PCs, GarageBand for musicality, and Audio HiJack Pro for Macs
-Recording, including understanding dB (decibel levels), capturing or minimizing ambient noise, and more
-Editing with GarageBand or Audacity, adding bed music, and including intros and outros for a signature finishing touch

You want your podcast to be heard. Podcasting For Dummies helps you launch and promote it with info on how to:
-Downsize your audio files with MP3 compression
-Change bit rates and sample rates in Audacity and iTunes
-Create and edit your ID3 tags in Audacity or iTunes
-Post your show notes using Movable Type or Libsyn
-Simplify the RSS 2.0 feed by using blogging software or a podcast-hosting company such as Audioblog.com, Podcastamatic, and Feeder
-Ping for publicity
-Communicate with your listeners on your blog, through online discussion groups such as Yahoo! Groups or Google Groups, or on online forums

Of course, if you want to be a podcatcher (a listener) and subscribe to podcasts, this guide shows you how to do that, too! Complete with a companion podcast—a free weekly audio commentary that will keep you up to speed on the podsphere—this guide helps you get your message heard, loud and clear. [Amazon.com]

I've always loved Harriet

I was 12 when Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh was published and I was an avid reader. I loved this book right away. Not only was it set in my city, the main character was completely different from anyone else I'd ever read about, or met. Now I have a little more insight into Harriet and Louise, because yesterday morning I heard this story on NPR's Morning Edition. You can listen to just about anything on NPR via podcast, entire shows or just the story you want to hear. You can subscribe to your favorite shows and listen via computer or iPod or other MP3 player. This is true of other radio stations as well, including "the best little radio station on the planet Earth", WMNF.

Heard the Latest about Podcasting?

Engagement via headphones.

Ever since podcasting was introduced, the question has been the same: Will anyone listen?
The answer is definitely “Yes.”

eMarketer estimates that the total US podcast audience reached 18.5 million in 2007.

Furthermore, that audience will increase by 251% to 65 million in 2012. And of those listeners, 25 million will be “active” users who tune in at least once a week.

”As the US podcasting industry matures it is unquestionably creating a listening audience,” says Paul Verna, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the new report, Podcast Audience: Seeking Riches in Niches, “And along with a larger audience comes increases in advertising spending tied to podcasts.”

Driven by this audience growth, US spending on podcast-related advertising (including sponsorships) will rise to $435 million in 2012, up from $165 million in 2007.

A number of factors are driving the growth of the podcast-user base:
-Greater ease of consumption for podcast content
-Growing awareness of podcasting
-Terrestrial radio’s use and promotion of podcasting
-Increased penetration of portable players
-The evolution of smart phones and proliferation of affordable mobile data plans

”No one will argue that mobile devices and communication are becoming widespread,” says Mr. Verna. “Even so, the majority of podcasts are actually experienced on PCs, not portable devices.”
The situation might change in time, but for now podcasts are mainly a desktop phenomenon as opposed to a mobile or portable one.

Reposted from eMarketer (February 4, 2008 ).

#5 - Podcasting & Streaming/Downloadable Media

Learning Objectives

• Review the Learn More: YouTube tutorial.
• Learn about the current trends in creating, sharing & downloading multimedia content.
• Discover some useful tools for locating podcasts & downloadable media

Skills Practice

• Locate & download a podcast for a subject that interested you.
• Take a look at the library's oral history project - Hillsborough Remembers - and find an audio; download and listen.
• Explore YouTube (or another media sharing site); locate and watch the Florida Ask a Librarian "commercial".
• Take a look at the library's collection of eAudiobooks on NetLibrary or OverDrive and learn how to download and play them.
• Post a YouTube video or podcast to your 2.0 Learning blog.

Experience Sharing

• Summarize your experiences locating and working with online media content on your 2.o Learning blog.

Resources

1. Pew Internet & American Life Project, “Podcast Downloading.”
2. Pew Internet & American Life Project, “Teen Content Creators and Consumers.”
3. SirsiDynix Institute, "A Beginner's Guide to Podcasting: Part A-Consumer's Guide or Part B-Creator's Guide."
4. SirsiDynix Institute, "What's News in Podcasting."
5. Thomas J. Peters, et al. "An Overview of Digital Audiobooks for Libraries."
6. HCPLC's "Introduction to Digitial File Management." (via MERLIN)
7. Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, "Podcasting in the School Library, Part 1 - Integrating Podcasts and Vodcasts into Teaching and Learning."
8. Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, "Podcasting in the School Library, Part 2 - Creating Powerful Podcasts with Your Students."
9. Check out ODEO for some free downloadable content.


10. "Learning 2.0: YouTube" by Helene Blowers
    
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11. Learning 2.0: Podcasts" by Helene Blowers
    
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