Susan Keesee’s Weblog

Week8 Mashups and API

18May08

Exercise 1: Pick a mashup … any mashup: Feeling very time-crunched to meet the deadline to finish this course I first examined “Lifestream.fm” listed on Mashup of the day awards, but I knew I can’t say very positive things about it, but here are those thoughts: I still question the “who cares” about social networking going to the point where you are posting for anyone to see what you are doing online (of course, if you’re a gamer and that’s important to you…) but to list where and what you ate each meal? To me it seems overkill on using technology. Whatever happened to letting someone hear the birds sing — or traffic sounds to be safer? So my real “pick” was something that fits in with my feeling of time pressure: a mashup called play.typeracer.com that allows one to compete for typing speed, even as a guest. With a little practice I may be able to improve my typing speed but believe me, I won’t be trying to listen to the podcast on Library mashups or have an ipod on at the same time — in fact I’ll probably need earplugs or the silent library atmosphere! No, this is not an age thing, but the kind of learner I am. I have greater respect for how people learn and some mashups are going to be good for some and not for others. Overall a cool tool to add to the toolchest. I was particularly fascinated in the readings and their examples about the medical search sites from literature searching to searching for health insurance, a doctor, dentist, adding ratings. Because of this course I have now added what I wish to read more carefully on del.icio.us and will definitely be able to think of ways to share these tools with people I work with and for.

Exercise 2: Head over to Rollyo … search for privacy. Today there were 9560 matches and when choosing to browse the results and write something about privacy, I only looked at the top 4 listed today. The post from 5/17/08 from the person who initially wrote about TIA in Jan 2003 was a great find. The blogger was reporting and had been involved in the Vermont Library Association’s work to have their state pass legislation on patron registration and transaction records. Reflecting on the fact that 5 years passed between the horrors of TIA and the passage of this is quite alarming. I think that many patrons don’t spend the energy or worry to think about the “what if” of their library record being made public.Is it important that librarians are looking out for patrons privacy when they leave their tracks all over by always using plastic instead of cash, accepting every “free” online tool because why pay when you can get it for free? Or according to a 5/30/07 blogpost from The Shifted Librarian, is it something we should be spending our energy on? Her second take on privacy in the Web 2.0 age was interesting “…young people who behave as if privacy doesn’t exist … are the sane ones.” While I do not have designs on building my career to become a library administrator, this comment about privacy is interesting since as Scott Plutchak said in the podcast on Mashups and implementing them (nothing specific about privacy — but I was multi-tasking listening and reading the blogposts) that as library administrators decisions need to be made about how much time and energy should go to solve 1% of patron problems or are these the only ones who let us know there is a problem? What I suspect (somewhat cynically) is that the high expectations of library patrons are often not communicated, and instead posted to their social networks rather than brought to the people who can help them. I don’t want to be spying on them looking for their problems, but encouraging them, through easy tools, to report problems or ask questions that can be answered within a short period of time. I don’t think the expectation of 24/7 service through IM or other means to figure out that a patron needs a service is reasonable. It goes back to the kind of learner and teacher I am. I learn best face-to-face but recognize that patrons and others do not. So can we have some middle ground and keep my home phone number out of it? The Shifted Librarian also wrote a post on Google toolbars on public computers and how if in the advanced mode is activated, that serious privacy leaks could occur. Serious to whom? Those who don’t care about their privacy in the first place? Serious to those who already accept cameras at the entrance to library, street corners, quads between the library and journalism buildings on the UNC campus? Although I am sure I will add comments while evaluating this MLA Web 2.0 tools course within the hour, perhaps librarians should be ready to provide the disclaimer, that we cannot guarantee one’s privacy, provide a few guidelines to people about use of public computers, and let a lot go. We’ll still protect their records as best we can, be involved in establishing or upholding privacy issues that we hold dear, but really examine if we are taking the right approach to protecting privacy for those who don’t find it an issue.

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Week 7: Podcasting and Online Hosted Video for MLA course

13May08

First question was how I felt about the experience of using YouTube and what I think about the service. When looking for examples of library videos, I found a lot of humor, not necessarily fluff though. My favorite video showing the “traditional” library is the ad for the Betty Glover Library Workout Tape from 1987. What a hoot! Here’s my attempt at following the advanced option to embed the code. We’ll see if it works!

Other videos that were fun or interesting to me included:

Building Academic Library 2.0: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_uOKFhoznI

I was able to fast forward and find a good question and answer time at about 57 minutes on developing policies for Friending on MySpace and Facebook – analogy to having a librarian go to a bar with a bunch of students trying to look cool and implications with an invasion of privacy!

Amsterdam Public Library 2.0 http://youtube.com/watch?v=-pJl1wDGMr0

Library promotional, but question the use of 6 minutes with music and no explaining what is what.

Four hours in the Health Sciences Library (Time Lapse) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG3P5HZaM_k Disappointing you never see any interaction with a librarian or if user asked for any online help through their website. Two comments were related to the “catchy” tune. OK – it’s written from the user’s perspective.

Bill Clinton Library http://youtube.com/watch?v=AScoMhVZQnw

Humor, library promotion

Seneca Library Holiday Song http://youtube.com/watch?v=cMVMgDWnoaA

Maybe a more environmentally friendly choice to printed cards?

Overall, I think YouTube is an entertaining resource, not really the place to find something serious about promoting one’s library. So you point your users to whatever keywords or URL for a specific video, but no guarantees there won’t be more entertaining things to lure them away!

Question Two (which really should have been the first question, but hey, I learned in one of the podcasts that in Library 2.0 we need to get rid of the culture of perfect!): Potential uses for podcasting? If so, what and why? I believe the UNC Health Sciences Library used a podcast for self-guided tours of the building post-renovation. Personally, I would prefer the human interaction but I am sure that going through the exercise of writing a script seemed like then taking the natural path to saving it in a format that can be retrieved later and that was not dependent on having a tape player around. I found it very interesting to look at the podcasts available from the Claude Moore Library at UVA, but found the voice a little annoying and hard to imagine listening for a full hour. By contrast, had I seen the person on a Video, it may have been less offensive but then I would not be able to listen to some of the interesting topics while riding the bus or on the treadmill!

I see podcasting as a great technology for follow-ups after a course such as on EndNote, RefWorks, PubMed or any library software. However, if it is just audio, it seems you would want someone following along with a tutorial or some type of online exercise. It is natural that this requires a device to take the material “on the go” so the technology seems very appropriate for distance ed students, commuting students, and self-guided library tours.

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Tags: Library 2.0, library technology, MLA, online hosted video, podcasting, Week 7

Week 5 after Week 6 but before 7 and 8!

12May08

Short answer to question “Is this the future of all software products?” is yes.

I have had some fun and high aspirations with Google Documents. Although I went through the actions of creating a text document (a template to fill in for the library’s June E-News –I intend to use and collaborate with it!), a spreadsheet and a graphic presentation, I am struck by the tiny differences in functionality from the MS Office Products I have used. For example, I am pretty good with Excel and the spreadsheet I copy-and-pasted in to Google Docs, then edited, just didn’t feel as robust to me. It is a complex spreadsheet — and downloading the one for the exercise was simpler, but I miss the ability to do what an experienced user can do in Excel. I invited the student services manager for the Curriculum in Toxicology to look at the photo and text details I put into two presentation slides — and she responded right away — honest it was only a test — but now we have another way to be reminded of a project that we only do once a year complete with photo of award ribbons and our local contact to procure more!

When I checked out information on Zoho I was perplexed about the ability to sign in using my Yahoo account, but then — of course — the long agreement came up which I chose to decline and not test Zoho’s functionality. The Technology Review article raved about it and I will trust that it would work for me on a Mac. I have tried to read the article from Slate but it has timed out three times so I’m moving on. I am an advocate of standards, which Web 2.0 tools seem to have few in comparison to what I consider standards — but never mind because as noted at the end of the article 8 million new computer users are “counted” in India every month “and they’ve never heard of Microsoft Office.” The ability for users to learn how to get around intuitively with any software, rather than being tied to one product line (Microsoft) is more valued than true software expertise. Wow — that PC magazine review from 12/27/06 of Microsoft Office Live answered my wonderment about the odd message that appeared when I attempted to investigate at the link: http://workspace.officelive.com Seems to be another PC only and you people who use Macs are just undersirable arrangement. Or maybe they know how much I hate flashing ads and stuff even if the software is “free.” Seamless capability to set up a web site? I’ll never know!

Webex WebOffice looks like an interesting product and I am impressed that it is associated with Cisco Systems, a company also located in nearby Research Triangle Park, NC, but my home internet connection is being very finicky so delving into the white papers and learning more is out of the question tonight.

While my short answer was yes, my long answer is maybe! While it is interesting to consider the market for collaborative document tools, I believe someone should learn about what is possible and then determine what would work best for their needs. Yes, this is a course on Web 2.0 tools, but must one always be online? This reminds me a little of the students I see who cannot seem to relish the silence w/o cell phones or Ipods. Working on a document simultaneously may have its advantages in the early stages, but in the end, there needs to be one editor and hands-off time. Maybe that’s when one copy and pastes it from the collaborative space back into their private world!

Optional: here is the URL to the Golberg Travel Award ribbons slides:
http://docs.google.com/EmbedSlideshow?docid=ddr6gzcj_6fcrztqdr

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Tags: collaboration, WebOfficeTools, Week5, WorkingSolo

Week 6: Posting a Flickr photo and blogging

27Apr08

My first experience with Flickr was by making an appointment with a new UNC-HSL employee on Feb 20, 2008, so since it was close enough to this course, I did not set up a new one. I have enjoyed trying to upload the maximum number of photos free in a month. Today I learned how to connect my weblog and Flickr and then changed the format on my blog so that I could insert a photo. When I learned about Facebook three weeks ago, I added a link to my Flickr account, so there are either 6 or 30 randomly posted photos from that tool on my Facebook page. (On Monday night 4/28 I figured out more about control of that set, but still mystified why it won’t let me remove choosing the “our dogs” set. This is beyond the scope of this week’s discovery exercise, so not to worry!)

Sometimes I feel like there are just way too many options, but that is probably because of working on a Mac laptop at home where the email comes through my personal profile but all the photos are in the joint profile. Although there may be a simple way to solve the problem of where the photos are stored in i-Photo (both profiles?) there should be a better way that won’t consume double the space. As technology has changed, virtual space has become so much less expensive, and physical space more, so the non-digital photos in the closet may need to be scanned (on a device that takes up physical space) and a robust process defined to keep up and keep things classified. However, this behavior is contrary to how most of these things really work — now you can have a disarray of photos online and in the closet too! (Monday night 4/28 I set up the Flickr Uploadr, which made it easier to handle, but still not completely trouble-free.)

How useful of a tool for library work? It could be very useful since photos are stored in a place that would be accessible to staff from home and work. Asking that such an archive contain a naming plan and examples for appropriate tags for better recall would help reduce the disarray that could be created– but that problem exists whether photos are in several shoeboxes in the closet or across different photo-sharing programs known to some but not by others. I wonder if the 35mm slides I categorized and maintained in a library for my employer in Summer 1982 (a textile fiber manufacturer) are in a landfill or if there was a migration to something digital.

By the way, although Flickr is linked to this blog and to the Facebook page, I don’t think the Facebook page and the blog are linked. Therefore, whoever may be looking for my Facebook page best look up my whole name: Susan Hastings Keesee. When one makes connection with high school friends from 30 years ago that last name has little meaning!

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Tags: PhotoArchives Flickr

Week 3: Social Networking

09Apr08

I opened my Facebook account about 48 hours ago and I know I could be hooked to check this often. I really like the photos fellow librarians have chosen and find it interesting what applications they select. It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling that people agree to be my “friends.” I feel even better about connecting with a childhood friend who didn’t have time to send holiday cards this year, a college buddy who promptly added his photo to his profile last night, and a high school classmate who is working on the 30 year reunion committee.

I can see how social networking could be a big distraction — but maybe not so bad during a lunch break or from home. LinkedIn seemed so much more business-like, which reminds me of the old contact database programs from the the past two decades. I found both of the links to libraries through MySpace a lot like TV commercials — I am definitely not their target market! I found it rude to have it play music without my choosing. Good thing I know where the volume control is on the keyboard to silence it.

Social networking could be a helpful tool to connect MLA members as long as most set up an account in the same program. It must be like other tools where one gets in the habit of checking it periodically. Email now seems like a constant distraction but it beats having the phone ring or to get backed up with voice mail. And both beat having more paper come in the in-basket at work or mailbox at home! I think we’ve finally realized that some people will prefer to receive their notifications by one venue or another and that we can’t just send out mass mailings and expect responses anymore.

I believe the UNC Health Sciences Library is developing a Facebook page. From this week’s assigned readings, it does seem to be a good alternative for people who might find us through Facebook and not by library’s home page or from a visit to the physical building. I still think that the faster ways to get a response are to phone, email or IM the librarian, but if the “poking” function in Facebook works, then offer and advertise that functionality too.

Privacy concerns? By all means there are privacy concerns with social networking sites! Just the fact that my last name is a little odd makes me pretty easy to find. While some people don’t really care, protecting individual privacy is becoming harder and harder. I realize that private information is kept in databases that could be compromised. By listing my schools I can only hope that my SSN which was once my student ID is now encrypted! But there is a balance between taking the risks or choosing to be a hermit.

I don’t know what it will take to get me beyond the 75% set up in LinkedIn but from my experience with it, just not nearly as fun as Facebook. And since it gives that air of stuffiness, I think college aged people would be less likely to use it.

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Week 2 Wikis

30Mar08

Work for both pay and household kept me from making a daily “quick” habit of blogging and setting up the wiki. So, today, a cold and rainy Sunday in Chapel Hill, N.C., the opportunity to provide more than “quick” time, so some of the concepts can sink in finally came. The comments about the wiki not having to be attractive, just functional, were very helpful but contrary to my expectation to have more polished material with my name on it. Once an editor, always an editor. A co-worker once told me you’ll never read a printed book the same way and I believe it has affected the way I read online as well — very critically.

The difference between a blog and a wiki: One’s musings, hopefully worthy of sharing (as in profound, interesting or helpful for others to read) are more appropriate for a blog. Collaborative writing, editing or advocacy projects are better suited to a wiki. In both cases the level of openness concerns me, and although it seemed easier to set up the “who can edit” function on the wiki, I’m still concerned about who may be “out there” interested in tracking me down or stalking me. Interesting to read on my older sister’s blog how many hits she’s had since she started it over a year ago (over 4000) but I’m not interested in advertising my own blog or wiki — just to learn what it is all about. I did “invite” my sister, her daughter and a local friend to join my wiki as writers. I’ll await their responses and replies to the Carbon Footprint exercise I posted.

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Tags: blog, Carbon Footprint, collaboration, MLA Web 2.0 class, privacy, sister, wiki

Figured out PubMed RSS feed

18Mar08

That was a challenge. Definitely needed to go through the www.pubmed.gov link rather than through the UNC-HSL website. So that should complete Week 1 for me. I can see how RSS feeds can save a lot of time for me in wanting to keep current with local community news as well as with professional needs.

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Profiles, browsers and caller id?

18Mar08

Starting in on week 2 I have noticed that WetPaint isn’t supported by Safari, the default browser in my profile on our home iMac. So in addition to doing this homework at home, I feel slightly handicapped using non-Windows type browsers. (Pick another? Firefox is in the joint profile where the handy email links are not found. Sure I can learn how to download it, but too late tonight.) I cannot imagine how tech support people can assist people with all these options! Perhaps that is why “live help” call centers call it quits at 7 p.m. as I learned when the pop up of hours appeared after I tried to confirm nothing had changed when we set up automatic bill pay. I did not realize how much I depended on caller id until it mysteriously stopped working at noon on Saturday. Can’t fix it online and the call center had just closed after I got off the line from a very lengthy health insurance survey call that I would have avoided had caller id been working.

I consider myself a technophobe but I hope I overcome that by having at least some success with Web 2.0 tool tryouts.

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Tags: browsers, caller id, iMac, technology

Using RSS feeds at my library

18Mar08

Not yet successful getting subscribed to a PubMed search of my choosing — but I won’t give up. I thin This would be a powerful tool for reminding researchers to submit accepted manuscripts to PubMedCentral, that is if they have already dealt with copyright issues and the journal isn’t already doing it for them! I am not very sure on my feet about how I would send a search to someone else’s RSS reader but could teach how a patron could send it to him or herself.

Overall, RSS feeds into a personal reader page seems useful and a big timesaver! I hope to learn how to have my picks in MyYahoo show up in WordPress rather than the other stuff that is not of my choosing!

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Tags: education, library patrons, medical libraries, PubMed searches, RSS feeds

Week8 Mashups and API

Week 7: Podcasting and Online Hosted Video for MLA course

Week 5 after Week 6 but before 7 and 8!

Week 6: Posting a Flickr photo and blogging

Week 3: Social Networking

Week 2 Wikis

Figured out PubMed RSS feed

Profiles, browsers and caller id?

Using RSS feeds at my library

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