Administrators face two conundrums with Web 2.0 tools. David Weinberger called the first a “conundrum of control” in his book Everything is Miscellaneous. This conundrum states that organizational leaders have an important interest in ensuring that 2.0 tools are used to further the organization’s mission. However, the more controls that they put in place (such as approval processes for blog posts) the less useful the 2.0 tools become. The second conundrum is what I call a conundrum of adaptibility. This conundrum states that organizations with looser controls allow for more experimentation by individuals as they work to solve problems. However, organizations […]
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There are costs to maintaining and fully supporting technologies. For every dollar of software or hardware that is purchased, there are additional dollars that must be committed to implementation and ongoing support. Most organizations have lists of “supported” technologies and much longer lists of “unsupported” technologies. Yet, we continue to innovate. We continue to utilize new tools to solve problems. I stumbled upon this blog post from Rosabeth Moss Kante about innovation in health care, which I think is applicable to innovation in general and libraries specifically: “Innovations always sound good in retrospect, after they’ve worked, and in isolation, when […]
Dr. Troy Swanson has agreed to share with TTW readers a series of four guest posts. I blogged about Troy’s research here: https://tametheweb.com/2011/02/22/interview-with-dr-try-swanson-community-college-blogging-research/ The first post – The Underground Economy of Innovation – will go up today! Troy A. Swanson is Teaching & Learning Librarian at Moraine Valley Community College, where he teaches information literacy and coordinates the library’s online presence. Troy’s research interests include the epistemology of college students, Web site usability, and technology management. Troy’s PhD is in Community College leadership from Old Dominion University where he studied the management of 2.0 technologies. He holds a Master’s Degree in Library […]
Via Gordon’s Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Blog comes this interview with Dr. Troy Swanson: http://ictcenter.blogspot.com/2011/02/community-college-blogging-podcast.html I’ve know Troy for sometime and was very pleased to watch his research unfold. Here are some details from the post: On Thursday I had the pleasure of talking with Dr Troy Swanson, an Associate Professor / Teaching and Learning Librarian at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, IL. In December Troy completed his PhD in Community College Leadership at Old Dominion University. His dissertation is titled The Administration of Community College Blogs: Considering Control and Adaptability in Loosely Coupled Systems. In the podcast, Troy […]
Dr. Troy Swanson’s post this morning has resonated with me. I have an assignment in the Hyperlinked Library course on creating a emerging technology plan or social media guidelines statement. Troy’s ideas fit well but also make me realize that so much is tied up in organizational mindset. Things move and change according to the climate at hand. Maybe part of the assignment should focus on less-tangible, less-predictible things. How can we plan for what we do not know to plan for? This passage is the heart of Troy’s well-reasoned argument: This isn’t to say that effective use of social […]
Failure to Innovate, a photo by mstephens7 on Flickr. In honor of Dr. Troy Swanson’s post: https://tametheweb.com/2012/12/11/your-library-does-not-need-a-social-media-plan/
The Pritzker Fellowship from Chicago Public Media is designed to cultivate a “new generation” of journalists. The fellows are nominated by community organizations, cannot have a degree in journalism, must not be in an academic program, and must be interested in community reporting. This would be perfect for a librarian. In fact, I wish that I could nominate a librarian for this! Do you know a librarian who might qualify? Check out the curriculum from their website: Program Curriculum Throughout the training period, the Pritzker Fellows will work on many projects and develop skills within their chosen arena. The training will be extremely targeted […]
For the past year, I have had a foggy notion for a new librarian position, but I can’t quite get my mind wrapped around it. So, I am turning to you, TTW community, to help. Today, I am once again skimming through R. David Lankes’ amazing book The Atlas of New Librarianship. I am looking over page 67 at the idea of librarians as “Publisher of Community.” This may be the closest definition to what I have in mind. Lankes writes, “I foresee the day in the near future when librarians spend the majority of their time working with community […]
At several points in my life I have had the opportunity to work closely with activists. I have seen political, social, and union activists up close and in action. The true activist is a special breed who is in touch with a different reality that is just outside the reach of the present. They have been touched by a holy spirit of change that drives them forward. Librarians can learn a great deal from activists. Activists do not just have energy and passion. They are absolutely goal focused. Ego is left behind. Partnerships are a necessity because resources are always […]
There is a new blog at Moraine Valley Community College that is sure to inspire other similar blogs at other colleges. http://ext.morainevalley.edu/green/ The Moraine Valley Library is excited to announce the a new blog, Green Today, Green Tomorrow as part of the library’s One Book, One College initiative in conjunction with the college’s larger Sustainability Initiative. This new blog is available at: http://ext.morainevalley.edu/green/. “We hope that this blog will be a point of connection between the college community, the sustainability efforts on campus, and the educational opportunities that are part of the One Book program,” commented Troy Swanson, librarian, who […]