Monthly Archives: February 2009

42 posts

More about the Cloud: GDrive

http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-41094-140.html The service has the potential to eclipse even Gmail, Google’s second best-known product after their google.com search engine. That said, it’s no wonder users have been ripe with anticipation for years – yes, that’s how long the rumors have persisted. Gdrive is basically online storage where Google servers have enough capacity to hold the entire contents of your hard drive. It will likely also come with enough brains to do cool tricks now with bigger things down the road – like booting your computer from online drive to load the Google operating system. Gdrive is basically a cloud-based storage that should have two […]

Collaboration in the Classroom

http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-just-want-to-say-one-word-to-you.html So, if you’re an administrator, what are you doing to foster collaboration among your staff, and especially your teachers? And I’m talking more than just PLC’s, although that’s not a bad start. What are you really doing to fundamentally change the structure of your school(s) from one of isolation (close the door and teach), to one of sharing and collaboration (knock down the walls)? Is it unacceptable to share in your institution? If you’re a teacher, what are you doing to foster collaboration among your students? And I’m talking more than putting them into groups of four and having […]

Trendspotting Questions

I teach trendspotting in my LIS701 and LIS768 courses. This post is very helpful for understanding the process: http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/top15questions/ How do I become a better trendwatcher? First of all, make sure you acquire a point of view about the world around you. The more trends you spot and track, and the more skilled you are at putting these trends in a context, the more guidance you’ll have. Crucial to broadening your point of view: be curious and be open minded. Not an easy thing to do. We’re all set in our ways, we all have our strict beliefs about what is right and […]

Beyond 2.0: Playful Teamwork

        http://beyond2point0.blogspot.com/ From February 23 to May 4, 2009, the Virginia Beach Public Library will offer Beyond 2.0 – Playful Teamwork, a life-long learning and team collaboration experience for library staff. The program is designed to: enhance business practices through the use of technology to improve internal operations and communications and enhance services to citizens contribute to a fun, playful workplace that inspires collaboration among library staff members expand library staff’s knowledge base foster implementation of web 2.0 skills The Beyond 2.0 program is be comprised of two parts: A learning based blog A staff collaboration opportunity […]

The Transparent Library: Dear Library Directors

… As people find information “on the fly” or “just in time,” how can we still play a role? We’re excited to see new ways libraries are offering reference: texting, Meebo, and outreach to places like Panera Bread. It’s not time to stop those innovations. Could your reference staffers be doing their jobs in other channels? In other spaces? We were impressed by Columbus Metropolitan Library, OH, and others that have changed imposing reference desks to friendlier stations where staff and users stand beside one another. The reference interview these days should be all about collaboration and context. But remember […]

Pew on Twitter

As of December 2008, 11% of online American adults said they used a service like Twitter or another service that allowed them to share updates about themselves or to see the updates of others. Twitter and similar services have been most avidly embraced by young adults. Nearly one in five (19%) online adults ages 18 and 24 have ever used Twitter and its ilk, as have 20% of online adults 25 to 34. Use of these services drops off steadily after age 35 with 10% of 35 to 44 year olds and 5% of 45 to 54 year olds using […]