Contributors Michael Stephens

4147 posts

Library Directors…Meet Your Future Leaders

Via the scorching hot Smart Mobs blog comes a link to a report concerning the attitudes of people who participate in online communities: http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2006/12/07/characterisitic….html They are: Fast followers More flexible Open communicators Aspire to greatness Looking for new, innovative ideas In short – your future leaders How are you encouraging these folks in your organization? Are there outlets, teams, projects and work groups that can make use of these attitudes while also acquainting them with your seasoned folk for knowledge transfer? Are you hyperlinked?

Ho Ho Ho Hat (A Flickr Easter Egg)

Ho Ho Ho Originally uploaded by mstephens7. This morning, I’m doing that thing I do: curl in bed with the laptop and catchup on my library feeds, news sites and my flickr streams before starting the day….when I see Chad Haefele has noted one of my recent pictures. I click through from the “recent Activity” page at Flickr and I’m wearing a Santa hat! More exploration leads to Jessamyn giving me a beard in a picture of Steve and I at the Apple Store! To top this Christmas Ho Ho Ho fun, Stephen Abram sends me a link to the […]

Ground Rules for Teachers Who Blog

Via David Warlick: http://www.edtechmag.com/k12/issues/november-december-2006/blog-rules.html Here’s the advice for independent teacher bloggers: DEALING WITH INDEPENDENTLY BLOGGING TEACHERS Urge teachers to blog and provide staff development. Produce a document that describes the legal implications of blogging and suggests proper and responsible practices. Deliver the message: “Don’t be stupid.” The proactive take is nice. Urge your teachers to blog but educate them about best practices, etc. Same can be said for a library’s independent blogging librarians.

New IM Report

Via Stephen Abram: http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/archives/2006/12/teens_and_im.html This post includes facts from a new report from AOL on IM use (http://press.aol.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=1138&section_id=15) and then Stephen weighs in: More grist for the library mill. I recall seeing a 1956/57 article in the Wilson Library Bulletin advising libraries not to adopt telephone reference. From my travels this year, we seem to be split on piloting IM reference and resisting it. This seems to be a watershed issue in libraries and our relationship with our users. Several folks have informed me that their library IM trial yielded poor results. I asked how they marketed and promoted the […]

Experiences in Second Life: What if everything behind you was forgotten?

Check out this post about an exhibit in Second Life from The Alzheimer Society of Ontario, in partnership with the Second Life Library 2.0: http://freshtakes.typepad.com/sl_communicators/2006/12/public_affairs_.html Some of the most powerfully delivered experiences in Second Life are delivered simply. Although the brand builds of recent months are impressive, very few communicate. The temptation is to overwhelm our senses with the surroundings, demanding our pre-frontal lobes create the “being there” experience. Because we can do anything here, the temptation is to do it. Second Life presents opportunities to experience an issue – not just a space. Our brains are wired for simulation […]

Reinvention Free-Range Style

I apologize! I meant to post a shout out to Karen Schenider the day she started her new job at Florida State. Here’s a bit about her first day: http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/12/alice_in_academia.php And I especially appreciate this: http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/11/a_little_this_a_little_that.php What is my new job, you have asked? It’s an extremely cool gig. Florida State University originally hired me as the ERM librarian, which I thought sounded fun-‘n’-cool, and is in fact still my position, in a way. But then the fellow who hired me got hired himself by a supercomputing center, and the next thing I knew I was agreeing to be Acting […]

Denver Public Library YouTube Contest

Denver Public Library YouTube Contest Some things to note: Use of YouTube is not only encouraged by DPL but the site is used as an extension of the library’s presence within its community of teens The same goes for the library’s Teen MySpace page at http://myspace.com/denver_evolver — where the videos that meet contest criteria will be highlighted! On so many levels, this gets the library “out there” and in the minds of young people. They’ll market the content, the MySpace page and more by word of mouth. How open, participatory and decentralized is this? Wowza! (Thanks to Michael Sauers for […]

Mii on a Wii?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/timothygreigdotcom/sets/72157594410634966/ I met Timothy Grieg virtually (via Flickr!) when I gave a presentation in New Zealand in October vis the Web. Today, Stephen Abram let me know that Timothy had transformed Abram, Jenny Levine and I into “Miis.” I have so much to learn about the Wii and Mii… Timothy writes: One of the most exciting things for me about the Wii and it’s Mii characters is the ability to leave your Wii on and connected to the internet, even while it’s powered on. You can set your Miis to “Mingle” and they’ll wander off and visit your friend’s consoles! […]