Internet Librarian 2009--Monday

Keynote Vint Cerf and Paul Holdengraber:

This was a great keynote, edgy and full of humor. Holdengraber, from New York Library, is a skillful, confrontational interviewer, and gets interesting, unexpected responses from his subjects. Although I couldn't go into all that was discussed, I think that the whole was inspiring and eye-opening.

One thing that Vint Cerf, internet legend and Google Guru, spoke of was the phenomenon of "bit rot", the idea that, as time passes, we become unable to support old information, because the infrastructure of hardware and software disappears. If we let this happen, a lot of our digitized data will soon become unreachable, the info lost. This is something that we really have to consider, and find ways around. In some cases, there is no clear "upgrade path" to be seen. I think that every archival institution will soon come to grips with this in one way or another.

This keynote was actually the best part of the day, and most of the other programs, though cool, had a hard time following this class-A act.
*****
E-Learning Trends and Tools

Part One: Frank Cervone

Is there a clear path? No

Work/life balance is out of sync for many

Speed and convenience is paramount

30% of customers want instant attention

Multitasking is everywhere

Alerting is the new searching
-Information comes to us
-RSS feeds, Friends Areas

Only 15% of world's population is wired

Many libraries don't even have a website

--

Stratification of Education
-worldwide decrease of higher education
-majority of students (70%) are non-traditional (age, work, etc.)
-graduation rates: now @ 6 yrs or more.
-graduating in 4 yrs shows skew for race, w/ white having highest percentage

--

Old measures don't cut it
-money spent on a program isn't relevant
-outcomes are the thing

Gaming changes expectations
-students want to be engaged
-from textual learners to kinesthetic learners

Then, there's the topic of funding
-we're all doing more with less

--

Where do we go?
-what do learners expect?
-task-based teaching is the norm
-however, more broadly applicable, long term learning is the best (teach them how to figure out the next problem without needing help).
-learning needs to be authentic and engaging

Measures:
-must stand up to rigorous scrutiny

--

Outsource what doesn't add value: don't do what doesn't help your core mission

Outsource to add value: co-opt outside skills and take advantage of pre-existing resources

--

Message: change is inevitable and occurs in ways we don't expect

We need to plan for the future, be aware of the trends, and be ready to respond to changes

*****

Lori Reed

Libraries and e-learning and zombies

Message: make courses be interactive, so that student don't disengage (become zombies).

Old e-learning model: watch the video, read the text, take the test (correspondence, no interation)

Problem: no interaction, no useful learning.

Even now: boring lecture webinars are just as bad or worse than the videos of old.

Ongoing problem: prior bad experiences of other staff will bias the against e-learning.

--

How to get buy-in?
-give users a good experience

Nugget:
9/11 gave birth to the corporate distance e-learning trend

--

All these sites and services are just tools, even the snazzy web 2.0 stuff
-tools are only as good as the person behind them. There are no magic bullets here

--

Smiling and laughing means you're succeeding, and that there's learning going on.

Transformations:

reading to sharing
prose to bullets
data to games
diagrams to interactions
one way to two ways
two ways to groups
busy work to applications

--

web tools:

http://delicious.com/lorireed/elearning

--a pretty good program, with the first part being a bit more impressive than the second, but the second having fairly important, wide considerations attached.
*****
Notes: Online Learning Objects 101

Julie Hannaford; Cristina Sewerin

Modules for elearning

Re:search
1) developing a topic
2) determining the type of info you need
3) understanding sources relevant to your topic
4) retriving info
5) evaluating info
6) integrating info into your research report

Five modules with three levels of complexity.

Re:search--

easy to populate
pre-determined templates
content can be tailored
modules are collaborative

--this is a pretty dry lecture, and I'm not totally getting it yet--

Okay, this is a show and tell about their e-learning product* (yawn)

Their product is neat, but it's not really applicable to anything we're doing at this moment.

The idea here is that it gives the students a series of progressively more complex challenges, with integral discussions on why things are they way they are. Here, they're learning how to find, evaluate, and categorize info relating to doing research papers.

--the theory

Good instruction is course-related and applicable

When creating courses, the tools have to be easy to use, and not require technical "heavy lifting" to make things work.

If content creators can adapt figures and cases from other courses, this speeds and broadens the courses in general.

--yep, this is still just a big show and tell, and I'm still finding it a yawner.

Part two: long yawner about usability testing of same product. Not very informative or broadly useful.
*****
Integrating library resources into course sites at Harvard University

Michael J. Hemment

Guess the tag cloud: students create tags to indicate various experiences.

Not great: library catalog

Easy, helpful: Google

Funny, Smart: John Stewart

The big challenge: connecting students with library resources, convincing them that they should try the library before going on to other knowledge sources.

Before redesign: 10 clicks to get where they were going

After: 1 click!

Most important: putting info at the point of need

They use the ISITES LMS

Discussion of good qualities

We could use course guides on new website. We may not need such complex management, since we're not a university, but still, having guides up, in some form, could be great. Same with story times, events, etc.

"Meet the Catalog"

Harvard has two catalogs, classic and new

Video--Like "I'm a Mac..."

Idea: we could have two stylesheets/UI models for our catalog, a simple, old fashioned one, and one that has much more graphical content, more like Amazon. Patron could use either one, or switch at will.

Discussion of how to assess the usability. Not so different as other models. They use Morae and Survey Monkey

What's next:

Michael discusses things they're planning, like auto-populating guides with preexisting assets.

Chad's video:

Incorporating free services

He uses angel CMS

IM availablility for professors

Mashups: google pipes

RSS feeds
-feed to 2JS to test
-put it in your CMS

Desktop sharing for hands-on help

Jing-screencasting

Twitter for discovery and sharing

Eembedded librarian answers IMs from students

For technophobes
-go a little at a time
-assure them that it's not that hard
-prove that it works
-use a team approach

For tech-starved students
-tech is a supplement, not core curriculum
-on campus labs
-desktop sharing for help
*****
LOL Cats guide to...by the librarian in black

Talking to Patrons:

Be awake when talking with patrons. Make sure they're awake.

Most of the web 2.0 stuff is cheap/free, and not that hard to implement

<>

Put chat windows where patrons are upset!

Interact with patrons:

Comments pages EVERYWHERE!

Discussion groups/book clubs.

Using Blogs for recommendations

--make it easy to do
--make it easy to categorize entries

Ann Arbor does this, and they're wicked cool
Madreads (madison public library)

Social Networking:

Ask users where they are

Children will be in different places

lots of tools...

Also, event sites are good

Eventful; upcoming.org; going.com; craigslist...

Cheap advertising on Facebook? ten bucks for 5,000

Use multimedia: photos; podcasts; videos

flickr photostreams, for instance

Image generators can be fun

generatorblog.blogspot.com
Imagegenerator.org
imagechef.com

Podcasting & Videocasting

equipment isn't too expensive
free software available, hardware isn't that steep

screencasting-wink, camstudio
class websites-wordpress, blogger
live office hours-freeconferencecall
live webcasts-ustream.tv

Offer treats!

People like shiny things

ask them what they want

give them stuff if you can

Staff Avatars?
E-Interviews?

Tap the Google wonderland!

Open source software:

typefaster typing tutor
gnucash

What do the patrons need? find service, give it.

Free books

project gutenburg
audiobooksforfree.com
escholarship
google books


Free databases:



Respect your customers!

If you're working online, bad responses last a long time. Be courteous.

Offer users choices @ communications, workflow.

Good catalog

vufind
library thing
aquabrowser
bibliocommons
dndeca
worldcat local

Improving the catalog is BIG

Making changes is hard! Keep going, and keep pushing people in power to make changes (but smartly)

If you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough.

Sarah Houghton-Jan was presenter.
*****
Evaluating and Justifying Web 2.0 for Libraries:

Discussion of Web 2.0 concerns...

Issue: internal vs. external

What level of approval?

What about money? Are you authorized?

Big thing: public vs. private info

Individuals shouldn't do certian things on library related entities

Evaluation of Web 2.0

Not so different from any other process.

Return on investment

Relevance

Hidden complexity

Who greenlights?

Considerations: Authenticity, Veracity, Ability to correct; Is it viral?

--Much of this is stuff I've heard before. Not bad, just stuff like I've heard often before.

No real time for questions or discussion. Certianly a big lecture, really more than what the time would allow in some ways. A whirlwind tour.
*****
Marketing your digital presence

Joy Marlow

digital collections, your catalog and beyond

What is your digital presence?

get down to basics
think like a marketer

why do we host digital collections?

--values of above?

three primary customer segmentations

not intersted
not aware
savvy

Not aware is the most important group

--create personas

those not interested--they just don't care. They can't be sold the idea of digital collections
not aware--key group--maybe they just bookmarked the catalog, and think that's your only page; habitual
savvy--don't forget 'em

Marketing phases

ideation
focus group research
solution scope
implementation
customize
promote
revise
build the community

-build the digital community
comments
tags
contributions
ratings

Benefits

educational
promotional
low cost

Measurements of success

what is success--you need to have a clear idea

Marketing through the catalog

seamless integration between catalog and digital collection
open up digital collection to new users
results should appear right in catalog results page
when you click...you don't ever leave the catalog search area
consistent experience is important

catalog terminals: a marketing opportunity
-special page like a mini homepage

Parteners in the community with web portals
-digitize elements of history in the community, host digital collections online
-parteners do marketing for you
-partener with local broadcasting station.

Marketing through open access
-harvest your metadata

--Then, life hits!
-budget cuts, for instance
-marketing for SURVIVAL
-"save our library" page
-emargency splash pages
-remember to use banners to inform those who only look at catalog

Marketing for the future of the library
-geotagging with google maps

public library of cincinatti
-old panorama
-how much has changed?
-google earth overlay
-3d representation of where things are/were

...a long day, don't you think?

Web Managers Acadamy: Redesign 2.0

Here are my notes for Sunday's seminar at Internet Librarian 2009. Hope they give you a feel for the things that we talked about!

Why redesign for 2.0? Design thinking and evidence-based practice.

The User Experience

--Studies show that sometimes, it's more about the things users like, rather than what is absolutely useful. In polls, the well designed, pretty websites were rated higher, even if their work flow was modified to make them less easy to use. Design matters, big time.

Simplicity is a myth

--The idea that a simple site will satisfy the patrons is a badly flawed concept. The site should appear simple, but anyone will tell you that the art of getting things to look easy is the hardest thing to accomplish.

----
New Rules of Web Design
-Design is key
-Users judge your site in the blink of an eye
-Visual appeal is ranked higher than actual usability

Strategy:
-Find your few highest priorities, then emphasize those
-Emphasized priorities and tasks will provide a starting point for your overall architecture. Those always come first, everything else being secondary.
-Provide many ways to connect with your resources
-Provide many ways not to fail at common tasks

User's Expectations: NOT formed by looking at other library websites
-Instead, they compare you to popular sites and services they use every day, like Amazon and Google.

Considerations:
-Different audiences have different expectations and perceptions--they actually see pages differently.
-Different age groups interact with sites in different ways and have different needs.
-There are things no one likes, though, like small fonts, bad contrast choices, and unpredictable site behavior.

----
Web Services:

A discussion of web services followed, along with the suggestion that they be used for as many low-effort tools as is reasonable and useful for the site. Allowing off-site services to provide you with useful widgets via web services allows you to maximize your cost/benefit and time spent. Web services work by communication between disparate entities on the web, in some cases by reaching out into the "cloud" and grabbing fun tools.

----
CMS: Content Management Systems

News:
Drupal now used for Whitehouse.org website. Score one for open source!

Content management systems, like Drupal, Plone, and Joomla! are all simple ways for non technical staff to input data. They are often modular, and many of the good ones are also open source. Some, like MS Sharepoint, are expensive, though. Many libraries make very good sites out of CMS programs, and they are often able to sustain and enhance service as times go on.

Other software types:

Some other types of software can be used for websites. These include blogging engines and wikis. There are libraries who build their whole website out of such software types. Most popular are blog engines such as Wordpress, and wikis, like Mediawiki. We use Mediawiki for both the Computer Services wiki and the staff intranet page.

----
Measures:

Analytics help you understand the impact of changes you make. Without them, "better" is totally subjective.

Google Analytics:

Asks the following questions--
-How do they get to the website?
-What are they searching for?
-Who is coming?
-From where?
-Which pages are most important/most often searched?
-Are they getting lost and back-clicking?

Google Analytics process:
-Set Goals
-Find inital benchmarks
-Make changes
-Measure changes
-Evaluate the differences
-Hone changes
-Measure again...

Other things Google Analytics can measure:
-Where, geographically, are your users located?
-What browsers are they using?
-What operating systems are they running?

This all leads to:
-Getting familiar with the way the website is used
-Testing changes with provable results
-The ability to A/B test a change
-In the end, a better website, with great navigation schemes and tools where they will do the most good.

--This was a long, but worthwhile class. I have a lot of things that will be useful going forward with our web redesign. An especially timely workshop for our current issues.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...

So, I read all the Library 2.0 articles, and it seems as if what we're trying to do here is to involve the patrons in our process, in our evaluation of items, and in our thought process. We want to allow people to get information where they want, when they want, and in a way that doesn't require that they learn complex procedures and jargon. We want them to be able to learn and grow without any hand-holding on our part. We want to grow and change constantly, so that libraries remain important and relavent in the digital world.

And I'm down with that. There's a point in the OCLC article about staying away from icebergs that mentions that we don't adopt technology simply because it's the NEW HOTNESS(tm), or because we want to keep up with some other organization. Simply throwing money at problems is unwise. Having a technology is one thing--being able to bring it to bear is something altogether different. We need to change our viewpoint as a library staff. This is probably more important than any single technical innovation. If we have the ability to approach our jobs, and the whole idea of libraries, in a different, open way, we'll be able to adopt the new technologies when they appear.

For me, the idea that I come back to is this: there's no reason to simply "not know". There's so much knowledge out there on the web. Some tech-savvy people are already aware of this, but here's my take on the situation: With a web browser and a dream, you can get almost anywhere. Using Search tools such as Ask.com, Google.com, and so on, you can come across so many interesting ideas that you may be "down the rabbit hole" for hours. The patrons are beginning to realize this, as well. We're no longer the gatekeepers to information. We need to be poised to help patrons with the information that's harder to find, the stuff that isn't in common circulation and on the first page of web hits. We need to know how to unleash the awesome and terrible power of the web--better than the patrons do. If we don't, I think that, in some way, we become obsolete.

It's the idea of the Long Tail--that you can succeed in the information world by collecting the rare, the unusual--all that stuff that isn't covered so well by the mainstream. There are always going to be points of interest that don't get well covered on the web, because not enough people are involved. I'm not saying books are a thing of the past--no, the written (or typed) word is still a great method of communication. There's probably more typing going on, per capita, right now, than any time in history. Still, we need to keep up with the times, and devise delivery methods that will allow us to cater to the "everything, all the time, any way I want it" generation of digital natives.

As for browsers: I have yet to find one that, day in and day out, can hang with Google. They're all interesting, and most of them have great features, but Google is the daddy-mac. If you have to be stuck on a desert browser with only one search tool, choose it. Plus--you could literally spend all your waking hours without exhausting all the neat, whiz-bang doo-dads that Google has invented.

...and I'm spent. Oh, and check the .gif on the top of the blog. It's all graphical-like in its representation of the Library 2.0 concept.