Monthly Archives: August 2005

28 posts

Alexandrian Launches IM Reference

http://theloudlibrarian.net/2005/08/im-reference-is-here.html What a nice post that illustrates so much of what we must do to insure an effcetive rollout of such a service: “I updated our website, updated our blog, and began talking up the service with a few teens, who immediately indicated that it was really cool, and they would totally use it.” A PowerPoint is included as well.

TTW on the Flat World

Lots of synchronicity while on a short blogging break: 1. A hot post at Infomancy on Libraries in the Flat World. Read it! 2. I had a Skype/Jybe meeting with Anne Beaumont from the State Library of Victoria in Australia in preparation for a presentation I’ll be giving in September via the same tools. We went through a Powerpoint presentation, some Web sites and chatted as though we were in the same room. It was 6:30pm in Indiana on Wednesday and 9:30am on Thursday in Australia… I said: “The world is truly flat.” 3. UNT Cohort Joyce Valenza and I […]

On the Cusp of Change: A Global, Collaborative IT World

This is HOT: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=1244&specialId=38 Coming Soon…A Single, Global, Collaborative Virtual IT World (Phew!) “Something fundamentally big is happening that will profoundly affect the life of every person and every business over the next five to 15 years — the collapsing of everything into one single, global, ubiquitous, collaborative virtual IT world.” So said Hossein Eslambolchi, president of AT&T’s Global Networking Technology Services, at the recent Supernova conference co-sponsored by Wharton in San Francisco. The conference, now in its fourth year, explores the forces in technology that are driving computing from a centralized model to a decentralized one, from the center […]

Brain of the Blogger

http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/2005/03/brain-of-blogger.html Two researchers/doctors present this intriguing post. I’d like to see more ciations and links to studies, as one commentor states, but this should be filed under “Food for Thought.” 1. Blogs can promote critical and analytical thinking. 2. Blogging can be a powerful promoter of creative, intuitive, and associational thinking. 3. Blogs promote analogical thinking. 4. Blogging is a powerful medium for increasing access and exposure to quality information. 5. Blogging combines the best of solitary reflection and social interaction. I can attest to the fact that writing here has helped my thought processes.

PluggedIn: Portable media players may struggle to find market

“In many ways, I do view portable media players as a technology in search of a market,” said Van Baker, an analyst at industry research firm Gartner. “If I’m carrying music with me, chances are I want to carry something that’s a little smaller than a personal music player.” Informative piece on the next wave of media devices. It hints that Apple may be prepping a video iPod as well as highlighting the fact that we have all kinds of technology coming at us and folks are still trying to figure out what to do with it.

Wikis at Workshops

http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/web-focus/ Here’s a nice article by Brian Kelly, who I will be presenting with (along with Aaron) at Internet Librarian International in London in October. Take a look. Here’s Brian’s line up at ILI2005 as well. I’m fascinated by the use of wikis to document/report/collaborate on projects. Last June at UNT, we started a wiki for our two cohorts writing group papers and the amount of work that was done within the pages was incredible. At SJCPL, we are beginning to experiment with staff authored wiki pages as part of our presence. Take away: you might want to put wikis […]

August…a few days off

Karen speaks the truth: “But the French have it right: taking a breather in August is a good idea. September will come, and with it the usual efforts. Folks..I have a semester to finish including a paper and a proposal to the IRB for a Web Survey we’ll discuss this fall, some presentations to draft and some pondering to do. I’ll be back before Labor Day..but for now, TTW is unplugged for awhile. Sit back…relax…breathe… see you soon!

An IM Conversation about IM and the fact that our work here is not yet done

Here’s the text of a chat I had a couple of days ago. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. This person was IMing from Europe. Cool Librarian in Europe: Hi want just to tell you I appreciate TTW a lot from here in ______ MS: greetings from the USA! CLIE: I particularly follow the IM for VR issue, we’re very very far from this in here. i am fascinated by it MS: IM & jybe could be very powerful CLIE: I try to promote IM when I teach students hox to use e-resources, but it’s not easy […]

Instructing Peers

Chad, making the move to his first big library job, posts this: http://www.hiddenpeanuts.com/archives/2005/08/09/peer-instruction/ I’ve had a slight change in my job description. Together with another new hire, I’ll be in charge of most of UAH’s student instruction efforts. So glad I took a course on it last semester! I admit to being a bit nervous: In some cases, I’ll only be a year and a bit older than the students I’m teaching. Has anyone else been in this situation? Any problems or success stories? I’d love to hear them. Chad – I must say this is a great position to […]