Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Public Libraries & Web Logs

No one cares that you have a blog…
Aaron Schmidt

It isn’t about the technology (for the patrons)

It is about Connecting (and what they can do with your web site)

Example: Lamson Library at Plymouth State University

Cool tools to add stuff to your Blog

  • Flickr
    • Post from flickr
    • Create badges
  • New Materials on Flickr
    • Westmont Library (pictures of new books, with added notes with direct links into opac)
  • Firefox 2.0
    • Built in spell check
    • Auto RSS tool
  • MeeboMe
    • Widget for Blog (chat)

Blog Elsewhere

  • Comment elsewhere to get readers to your own

Follow-through

  • Have some (aka LOTS of) content planned (video, text, audio) must be updated

Using Blogs for Internal Communication

Karen A. Coombs

Why use blogs?

  • Existing technology infrastructure for internal communications not well used
  • Easy for staff to create and maintain content
  • Space for staff to provide feedback
  • Good for posting news type information

How it all began

  • Development of Libraries Strategic Directions
    • Need to communicate information regarding the SD process and gather feedback
  • Web Management Committee
    • Need to communicate concerning change to library site

Many Different Blogs

  • Committee Blogs
  • Blogs for Service Points
    • Access Services Blog
    • ARC Blog
  • Blogs for Working Groups
    • Instruction Team Blog
    • Science Librarians Blog

Blogs for Committees

  • Make announcements
  • Post minutes and other committee documents
  • Gather feedback on what the committee is working on

Blogs for Service Points

  • Blogs maintained by staff who work at the desks
  • Announcements
    • New resources, problems, questions
  • Displays on all computers at desk

(used as the active desktop…)

Blogs for Workgroups

  • Allow people to share information
  • Post items of notes or interest
  • Post readings

Unresolved Issues

  • Feed subscription issues
  • How does this fit with our existing Intranet?
  • Integration with existing authentication and authorization systems
  • Keeping up with changes to blog permission

Syndication and Website Content

Suggestions for Blogs, RSS
Walter Nelson (RAND, Library Webmaster)

RSS: the “I don’t get it” factor

  • very few customers understand RSS
  • You have to meet your customers where they are…
  • …Not where you want them to be

Simplifying RSS

  • Embed RSS into web pages
  • People “get” web pages
  • Use RSS without downloading
  • Still have it as a feed for “power users”

The Tools

  • Blog: Moveable Type
  • RSS Parser: Feed2JS
  • There are others on the market but I won’t be talking about them

Moveable Type – Set Up

  • Installation is the hard part, but you only have to do it once
  • Installed on your server (not hosted)
  • Use “canned formats” or skilled web person can customize it (HTML & CSS)
  • Can be formatted to look like your website
  • It can be formatted to BE your website

Movable Type – Features

  • Once installed, it is very easy to use
  • Administrators approve authors
  • Authors add content with web interface – no special software or skills required
  • Generates static, text based HTML pages (good for search engines)
  • Automatically generates RSS feed

Think Outside the Blog!

  • The Blog is a technology with many useful features
  • It is a database publishing tool which sorts chronologically and by catelgory
  • You don’t have to use a Blog for “Blogging”
  • Corporate announcements, event calendar, image database, online newspaper etc. etc. etc

Feed2JS

  • the second piece of the puzzle
  • Freeware from Maricopa County College
  • You can use their sites or install it on your server
  • Generates JavaScript which you can paste into your web page
  • Displays RSS feed as a bulleted list of links on a web page

Hosted vs. Installed

  • You can use the Feed2JS sites at no charge and without any special preparation
  • It’s REALLY easy to do
  • Pitfall: your page will only load as fast as the distant server delivers content
  • Moral: Install Feed2JS on your server if at all possible

Use for:

Newsletters
Announcements
Link Lists

Category Feeds can be displayed in different parts of a web page originating from a single blog. Ask me if you want more info and I’ll probably direct you to this guy…

What’s Hot in Social Softwr

A to Z (although we are missing some letters)
Steven M. Cohen
Blog: Library Stuff http://www.librarystuff.net/

  1. Ajax

The tool for every social software site for creating interaction

  1. Beta

Browster (a pop-up browser) http://www.browster.com

  1. CoComment – http://www.cocomment.com

Cohen Family Recipes – http://cohenfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/ (his wife’s blog)

Cute Overload – http://cuteoverload.com (audience contributed)

CiteULike – http://www.citeulike.org (audience contributed can rss feed the results based on keyword search out to a feed reader)

  1. Digg – http://www.digg.com (Allows you to put up a story and then vote on it and then it gets more play as it goes igher on the site. Searchable by keyword and can create RSS feed for keyword search results)

Del.icio.us http://del.icio.us (shared bookmarks – audience contributed)

  1. Econsultant – http://www.econsultant.com/web2 (biggest directory of Web 2.0 tools)
  1. Flickr – http://www.flickr.com

Flock http://www.flock.com (firefox, integrated with flickr and other tools – audience contributed)

  1. Gmail – http://www.gmail.com

Gliffy http://www.gliffy.com (project management group tool – audience contributed—includes flowcharts)

  1. Hype (a lot of these social networking tools are all hype and they won’t survive)
  1. Image Editors (online)

http://resizr.lord-lance.com

http://pxn8.com

http://snipshot.com (can edit .pdf’s as if they were photos on this site)

  1. Jenny Levine (queen of social software)
  1. Nothing, couldn’t find anything cool for this letter
  1. Library Thing – http://www.librarything.com

Catalog your books, create tags, find books based on recommendations and on books someone else has that are similar to yours.

Last.FM http://www.last.fm (audience contributed fm station)

  1. Moo http://www.moo.com

Meebo http://www.meebo.com

Media Convert http://media-convert.com

Mojeek http://www.mojeek.com/mps

Muppets Wiki http://muppet.wikia.com

  1. Netvibes http://www.netvibes.com (create your own “my page”)
  1. OCLC (very into social software, go check out webjunction)

Odeo http://odeo.com (audience contributed Create Podcasts not reliable)

  1. Pandora http://www.pandora.com (create your own music stations)

Purevideo http://www.purevideo.com (meta search for videos)

Picasa http://picasa.google.com (upload photos to web album audience contributed)

  1. Nothing

Qumana http://qumana.com (Tools for bloggers – audience contributed)

  1. RSS (Is this really social software?)
  1. Stephens, Michael

Snapper http://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2703/

Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/

  1. Trackback? (He thinks it’s dead and stupid)

Typo of the day http://typooftheday.blogspot.com

Twingine http://www.twingine.com (compares yahoo and google search results – audience contributed)

  1. utube.com This poor site got pounded when YouTube got bought by someone else. And the owner of the site complained about it, when thousands of people went there)
  1. Nothing
  1. Wikis
  1. Nothing … Xanga (from the audience)
  1. YouTube (1.6 BILLION!!)
  1. Zoho http://www.zoho.com (web based office apps)

Wiki as a Research Guide

Chad F. Boeniger

Wiki as a Research Guide

  • Previously had 3 research guides
    • Business Research Guide
    • International Business Research Guide
    • Marketing Research Guide
  • Redundancy of resources
  • No interlinking
  • Multiple edits of the same content

Why a Wiki

  • Incredibly easy to add content from anywhere
  • More room for content and “nuggets”
  • Organize by categories
  • Searchable
  • Huge potential for building community

Reference Content

  • Key reference resources
  • Guides to common questions
  • Definition of Terms

Instruction Content

  • Wikis make excellent teaching tools
  • Replace class handouts
    • Easy to update
    • Always available to the student

Wiki Challenges

  • Getting others to contribute
  • More content = more maintenance
  • Maintaining organization and structure with growth of content
  • Difficult to see new content
  • Spam, Spam, and more Spam

Wiki Strengths

  • Extend the reach of the librarian
  • Make the job of the librarian easier
  • Make information and knowledge more accessible
  • Potential for contributing to the academic learning community

Lessons Learned

  • Wikis take time
  • Wikis save time
  • A Wiki can make you a better/more effective librarian

More Lessons Learned

  • Don’t be surprised if usage is different than you expected
  • Don’t expect to be “cool” because you have a wiki
  • Patrons/Community will appreciate your work

Other Wiki Experiences

  • Reference Wiki replacing our Reference Blog
  • Wiki as a campus collaboration tool for Ohio University Second Life Learning Community
  • Two librarians collaborate on a Communications subject wiki

See: The Biz Wiki

Don’t Call it a Wiki!

SJCPL’s wiki success

Marianne Kruppa

Wording suggestion: Sources that don’t count as an Internet

How did we do it?

  • Have a sandbox server
  • Tested a couple of wiki products
  • Picked MediaWiki because of the familiar interface
    • Technophobes knew what to expect
    • Easy install included

How did we do it?

(the people stuff)

  • Find your cheerleader(s)!
  • Don’t call it a wiki (for the technophobes out there)
  • Jump in and see what happens
  • Fully collaborative
  • Minimal training required
  • Part of new hire training

Librarians are only allowed to edit the articles, patrons are allowed to “discuss”

An Agreeable Wiki

Story of their Intranet Wiki

Darren Chase

We had a woodpile

Our Scenario

  • Large library staff
  • Diverse knowledge and expertise
  • Wide variety of projects
  • Communication is compartmentalized

Our original intranet was a woodpile

  • Shared windows folders on network drives
  • Woodpile: we knew where all the wood was, but finding a specific piece…

Our needs, desires, and secret wishes

Wanted: fast, cheap miracle

  • Collaboration
  • Documentation/policies
  • Troubleshooting/FAQs
  • In-house control
  • Web accessible
  • Organization
  • Ease of use

Kaleidoscope of options

  • Keep the woodpile: shared files (PDF, Word, Excel)
  • Static HTML pages
  • CMS (content management system)
  • Blog
  • Wiki

And the winner is… WIKI

Chose Twiki – it’s superfantastical

Why we *Heart* Twiki:

  • easy editing
  • Access control
  • File locking
  • Webs
  • Revision control
  • Plug-ins

Building Twiki

  • Linux (can work on other systems, this is what they had)
  • Apache
  • Perl 5.8
  • Perl modules (instead of SQL/databases)
  • Plug-ins

Refreshing wiki

Implementation is done. Training and buy-in depends on staff support.

Effective support builders:

  • Make it easy to join & use
  • Keep it simple
  • Must be “real world”
  • Hands-on training
  • Continuing wiki refreshment

Fostering Collaboration

An Intranet Story
Nicole C. Engard

Jenkins Intranet Timeline

  • 2001 Intranet 1.0 Completed
  • 2005 Computers in Libraries & Strategic Plan
  • 2006 Intranet 2.0
Problems to Solve
1.
No easy way to collaborate between departments
2. Organization: no navigation on intranet & no logical way to find info
3. Important data locked up in word docs, was not searchable
4. content all had to go through the web team – very centralized

Enter Intranet Version 2

Suggestion: train staff using Wikipedia

Wyzywig PRO editor to help create documents for staff … (not free, not buggy, discount for nonprofit)

List of Wyzywig editors http://htmlarea.com

Blog on first page that everyone can post to

Tabs across the top for tasks (All Staff, Human Resources, Research, Outreach, Tech Services, Info technology, JAC, Palwlibrary)

Calendar and quick links on right

Quick links customizable and attached to identity of logged on user

Used icons, printed out icon key for people to have at desks to learn the meanings

Introduction to Wikis

Nicole C. Engard

What is a Wiki?

A Wiki is an editable website that does not require users to know HTML. Most have a system to record changes so that at any time, a page can be reverted to any of its previous states.

Wikis: Collections of Pages

  • Wiki pages look like web pages
  • Anyone with a browser can read a Wiki site
  • Anyone with proper permissions can edit a Wiki site

Wikis: Collaborative Spaces

  • Great places for brainstorming
  • Use to draft policies
  • Way to share the secretary responsibilities in a meeting
  • Empowers the users

Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia

  • English 1,445,000 articles
  • German 483,000
  • French 380,000
  • Spanish 162,000

Why use a Wiki?

  • Easy to learn – no HTML required
  • Easy way to share knowledge
  • Easy way to collaborate across borders
  • Ability to revert back to old versions
  • Ability to track who’s done what & where
  • Fostering collaboration among friends and/or colleagues

Examples:

ALA Chicago 2005 Main Page (wiki) http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wiki

Lis Wiki
http://www.liswiki.com/wiki/

Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki
http://www.libsuccess.org

IL2006 Planning Wiki
http://il2006.pbwiki.com

Most Wiki’s offer an RSS feed to keep track of changes to the page

Wiki Sites

Irony from Boing Boing

Here's something ironic: http://www.boingboing.net/2006/10/23/turkmen_dictators_bo.html

However, I would love to see a library building based on this building...

After Later
Jenny

(waiting for more conference presentations...)

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

In Your Facebook

In Your Facebook

Cliff Landis

http://cliflandis.net

What are the questions we should be asking?

  • What is the nature of this technology?
  • How are my patrons using this technology?
  • How can I use this technology to benefit my patrons?
    • Traditional services
    • Innovative services
  • How will this technology improve my service?
  • How should we represent ourselves?

What is the nature of the beast?

  • Profiles as Identity Performance
    • Dynamic and static
  • Social Networking
    • Connections between individuals create a network (Vizster)
  • Groups and Identity
    • 4th Floor Odum library bathroom users (active)
    • Odum Library is only good for one thing and that this is Facebook (group identity)
    • I like to hang out in the library after hours (failed group identity)
  • Image presentation (the Profile)
  • One-on-One communication
  • Communication in groups
  • Writing on Walls
  • Sharing pictures
  • Linking to other social networks and websites

How can I use Facebook to benefit the students?

  • Traditional services
    • Reference
      • Consultations
      • Groups
    • Marketing
      • Photos
      • Flyers
      • Events
    • Instruction
      • Groups
      • Links to traditional resources
  • Innovative services
    • Acquisitions
      • Asking the students on their own turf
    • Ubiquitous librarianship
      • Using a student’s public information (blog) to meet their information needs

How will this Facebook improve my service?

  • The user-center approach
    • “The user is not broken” (Blog post)
      • Meet people where they are—not where you want them to be
    • Point-of-need service
    • Effective marketing
      • Using the market that is already in place

Choosing your Identity

  • How should we represent ourselves?
    • The living library
      • Kresge Library
        • Relationship Status: It’s complicated with Biomed Library (Minnesota)
        • Tisch Library
          • Interests: watching kids cry, admitting sketchy old men to late night study, amusing myself by eating souls at lat-night study, pre meds, engineers, finals period

FACEBOOK has been closing down the institutional accounts

Make a facebook entry as an individual, and then make connections one on one…

He has created a ‘group’ off his Facebook account…

Who “owns” the library?

  • We like to think of the library as “mine” since we work there
  • The University likes to think of the library as “mine” since it is part of the institution
  • The students think of the library as “mine” because it is designed for their use.
  • Take the compliment, and work with the students to get the word out about the library!

Why not friendster (usually cause myspace for kids, facebook for older) Facebook won’t let you add widgets (i.e. the meebome).

My Space

Aaron Schmidt

In order to market services and products more and more companies are putting their content online there.

It’s not the best web space to use, why is it so popular if it’s so buggy? Community

Lots of ADDS!

Thomas Ford Memorial Library MySpace page (Ferris Bueller background)

If you like the way your page looks, no teenager will.

eVolver web site (Denver Library page for young adults)

UIUC Undergraduate Library

No non-academic school library on myspace

YouTube searching about MySpace for how kids think about it…

  • Myspace Addicts
  • Where’d you go (myspace)

My Space Opportunities

  • “MySpace Tips and Tricks”
  • Class for parents
  • Historic figure / book character project

Make friends

MySpace bulletins can be sent to all of your friends

Your library MySpace

  • be authentic
  • give up control
  • have fun
  • consider who you want to be
  • include a song and video
  • MeeboMe Widget!

MySpace in your library? Is it banned?

“Decoding MySpace” 10 Sept 06, US News & World Report

for a balanced look at MySpace

Is MySpace a Fad?

Yes

My Own Café (Southeastern Massachusetts Library) includes database authentication.

Fun with flickr

Fun with flickr

Michael Sauers

Internet Trainer, BCR

http://flickr.com/photos/travelinlibrarian/

Cool Tools on Flickr

Fd’s flickr toys (use your pictures to create other things such as: magazine covers,

Colr Pickr

Retrievr – search by sketch

Flickr leech – search by photosets, pools, dates and brings back screen full of matches

Flickr graph – data visualization of username and their contacts

Clockr – current time using flickr photographs and each day/time it changes

Spell with flickr – words using flickr cutouts, looks like ransom notes

Groups on Flickr

  • Librarian’s with giant calculators
  • Springfield public library
  • Nancy Pearl librarian action figure
  • Jail finds
  • Trading cards (use fd, flickr toys to create one)
  • Library bags
  • Library signs

Accounts on Flickr

  • Westmont public library
    • New books display
    • Notes that links book to catalog record using the notes function
  • ALA

Flickr in Libraries

Michael Porter

http://flickr.com/photos/libraryman/

An overview of how to use, then more on flickr groups.

Libraries and Librarians flickr group

Over 5,500 images

More than 950 members on six continents

Tags

Discussion threads

Flickr/Google Maps Mash-Up:

Lluisa Nunez

Librarian and Faculty Member

Universitat de Barcelona

http://flickr.com/photos/lluisanunez

(Streaming media of her info on Flickr)

Tagging the collection of photos

Geotagging with lat/long coordinates

Geotagging Flickr (flickr group)

Russell Sayers in Flickr

Commenting

One simple search, many collections

Tony Boston

Assitant Director

General Resource Sharing

Australia’s National Library

Picture Australia project

Partnership with yahoo and flickr

Taking the library into the user space

Purposes of project

  • Increase number of contemporary images in Picture Australia
  • To engage with new audiences

Fiona Hooton

Manager

Picture Australia

National Library of Australia

www.pictureaustralia.org

Cultural agencies, digital collections, collaboration

Past and present images, digital items from private collections…

Introduction to Video Blogging

Introduction to Video Blogging

David King

http://davidleeking.com

ETC http://davidleeking.com/etc for video blog

Rocketboom in the video blogging world is very famous

Terminology

Video Podcast, Videoblog, Vodcast, Vlog, V-Log, Videocast

Usually called videoblog or vlog

So what is video blogging?

… Video on a blog

Content that is pushed out on a blog just as pictures and text already are.

Commenting function is available

More video blogs

  • stevegarfield.com
  • drum lesson online
  • Orlando Poetry troupe

Why is it getting big?

  • Storage, bandwitdth, fast web
  • Cheap easy mobile video
  • Video ipods
  • 2005 it really took off
  • People discovering great uses that are “just right” for video

How do you watch them?

… Just click on one.

More involved answer

  • Need a computer with broadband
  • Need a video player:
    • Windows media
    • Quicktime
    • Flash
  • A video aggregator would be nice
    • Fireant
    • Itunes
    • Mefeedia

Coolest way to watch

  • get an ipod
  • or a clone
  • or a psp
  • watch at your convenience!

How do you create them?

Needs:

  • computer
  • video camera
  • video editing software (windows’ movie maker for instance)
  • a blog
  • formats

Oh yeah ---

You also need an idea

Storage: Two Options

One: Store it yourself – if you can handle the bandwidth

Going to need a server packed with memory

Possibly a media server

Two: Let someone else store them

  • Our media
  • Blip.tv
  • Internet archive
  • AND MORE…. (google, yahoo, myspace, ifilm, addicting clips, motionbox, bolt, zippy videos, eyespot, lulutv…)

YouTube

  • very popular right now
  • they’ll store your video
  • they’ll keep stats
  • they’ll allow comments on each video
  • all they won’t do is allow people to download them
  • figure out if that’s a problem (or not)

What can libraries do with Video Blogging?

Traditional ideas..

  • book talk
  • bibliographic instruction & tutorials
  • film your events

More interesting ideas:

  • Cultural memory project – video history rather than oral history
  • Collaborative – PLCMC’s ImaginOn – kids making videos
  • Environmental: discuss environmental issues and nature (invite the zookeeper)
  • Behind the scenes: what goes on at the library?

Slightly wacked-out ideas:

Travel:

Videoblog local attractions

Anyone going out of the country?

  • Political: invite local candidates in to discuss something
  • Hobbies / Lifestyles: lifestyles and hobbies (patrons, staff, prominent citizens) in a TV Magazine format

Books:
Video Blogging for Dummies

Secrets of Video Blogging

Check out Video Blogging on Amazon for more book titles

Off the Rack:

Podcasts uses and content for broad educational process support
Shawn Cordes
scordes@iastate.edu

Generally Speaking…

  • Engagement
    • Provides alternate, enriched, content perspectives
  • Interaction
    • Provides anytime, anywhere flexibility, user creativity

  • Reflection
    • Lets users analyze sources and think about content in new ways, helps stimulate higher-order thinking.

Some Points to consider …

Build a point of information

Point to something someone else built

Build, Broadcast, and Bolster

  • Build community o n student experiences
    • Student library workers on their departments
    • Student life on campus
  • Promote the library through Podcasts
    • Library tours on audio…
  • Podcasts as professional development tool

Using student experiences to share learning

Podcasts and library promotion

Syndication for HigerEd Podcasting

http://syndicateblog.petersons.com/wordpress/index.php/category/podcasting

vidnews, workshops, convference, porfsional interviews

ALA Library 2.0 Podcasts

Lecture me please…

A search on iTunes yields

Over 40 education Podcast offering non classroom specific programming

San Francisco Zoo Podcast… for biology or zoology classes, professional narrates tour

So many, too fast…. WOW lots of pods are out there.

Listen Up!:

Podcasting @ GPC Decatur Library
David Free

http://gpcdecagturlrc.blogspot.com/2005/02/audio-news-2.html

Early version

Every two weeks for about 10 minutes about Library news, events, new books, new resources etc…

http://gpclibraryradio.blogspot.com/2005/06/listen-up-4.html

Second version

Doing once a month 20-30 minute about library news, and the connection between library and campus, did interviews

Learned that once a month is too far apart and 30 minutes is really too long and come full circle to 6-10 minutes long.

Use an internal media server from the beginning!

Use creative commons or permission for music!

Under the Hood

USB mic

Audacity (free, online, open source)

96 kBit/s MP3

liberated syndication (hosting site, pay for, there are some free ones too)

Feedburner (to make the feed)

Podcatchers: places to gather and track rss podfeeds

http://www.gpc.edu/~declib/podcasts.htm

Wrote a web page for the Podcasts

8 Thinks I learned about Podcasting

  1. Make sure it feeds!
  2. PROMOTE. Then promote some more.
  3. Keep it short
  4. Use music sparingly!
  5. Multiple voices rock
    1. Interviews, multiple people talk on subject, different voices to break things up
  6. Podcast events
    1. Record poets and other types of speakers (They have poetry club on campus and use on library Podcasts)
  7. Consider your web presence
  8. Listen to your listeners
    1. Talking, email, not necessarily through comments

The Future….

  • Will continue Podcasting (6,000 or so downloads)
  • Probably going to add video Podcasting
  • Average 100 to 200 downloads per file

Davidfree.pbwiki.com/il06

dfree@gpc.edu

http://davidsrandomstuff.blogspot.com

MP3 more of a universal format

iTunes is the big kahuna of listening base. Windows media doesn’t work with iTunes therefore don’t alienate the biggest group.

Ada considerations? Probably should provide transcripts, but they haven’t yet considered it. Maybe video with captions. Find as many types of media as possible, i.e. video Podcast of syllabus along with .pdf version.

Video Podcasting

@ INCOLSA
Jeff Humphrey
(Indiana consortia training and education)

Already has a library of videos available for digitization

Why are we doing it?

  • Because we can
  • Natural progression of existing services
    • Started with videotape and satellite dish
  • Looking for a different delivery solution
    • Current streaming contact ending
    • Most videos too long for flash

What we have done

  • Old school solution
    • Converting existing content
    • Stored on our web server
    • Write RSS feed from scratch
    • Put up a web page
  • Partnered with IUPUI SLIS Class
  • Obtained administrative support

What we had in place

  • Experience
    • Video end
    • IT end
    • Workshop end
  • Equipment
  • Space
    • Physical
    • Virtual
  • Content

What we need to do

  • Find a better space for videos
  • Convert to a Blog format (it’s coming!)
  • Continue production on a regular basis
  • Foster more partnerships
    • More content pipelines
    • Showcase what libraries are doing

Production Tips

  • Have a reason to include video
  • Invest in a good microphone
  • Frame shots properly
  • Enhance production with graphics
  • Have fun

http://video.incolsa.net/podcasts/incolsa.xml

Jeff@incolsa.net

Overview of Podcasting

Greg Schwartz
Openstacks.net

Ultra-quick overview

  • Podcasting is the distribution or “syndication” of audio files over the Internet using RSS technology.
  • Allows end-users to subscribe to your content and get automatic downloads of the new stuff.
  • Podcasting is about regularly updated audio content

Why podcast?

  • To understand the technology and explore the possibilities
  • If it fits into your organizational goals and marketing/communication strategies
  • If it’s the right thing for your patrons
  • If you’re already creating audio content
  • NOT because I tell you to
  • NOT because everyone’s doing it

Warning!

  • Podcasting is not a one-time deal
  • Podcasting takes time:
    • To plan
    • To record
    • To edit
    • To publish
    • To promote
  • Recognize the commitment before plunging in and allocate resources accordingly

What to podcast?

  • Programming (get permission!) i.e. guest speakers
  • Upcoming Events and Library News
  • Bibliographic Instruction
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9 easy steps to podcasting

1. Determine content and format

2. Assemble equipment and people

3. Record

4. Edit and export to mp3

5. Listen!

6. Upload file to server

7. Generate your RSS feed (look at feedburner)

8. Publish feed URL

9. Promote. Respond. Repeat

Beginner’s guide to podcasting complete powerpoint can be found at:

http://sirsidynixinstitute.com/archive.php

Federated Search:

State of the Art

Jeff Wisnewski & Frank Cervone

Quick overview

What is federated searching

What does context-sensitive linking have to do with it

How does federated searching work?

What problems could a federated search engine solve?

o provide a single interface to information resources

o provide a unified query interface supporting simultaneous searching of multiple resources

o Consolidate search results

§ Without eliminating the potential

What is federated searching?

o Interface between user and multiple databases

o Usually isn’t clear what database they get the info from

Standard features

o Support for multiple protocols

o Simple and advanced search

§ Search by specific field

o Post processing of results

§ Combined result sets with deduplication

o Statistics

Advanced features

o Integration with other software

§ Courseware

§ Bibliographic management

o Advanced result display

§ Clustering

§ Visualization

o Context sensitive linking

What is context sensitive linking?

o Go from a database to full text results in other source?

How is it done? Open URL

o Standard for persistently identifying content

o Provides a mechanism for encoding to link to and from

So

o Database provides Open URL which goes to our OpenURL resolver

o OpenURL resolver parses request for article and then brings up a target list of where we have access to the article

o Relating sources to targets and services

§ EBSCO ASP (get Full Txt, get TOC

§ JSTOR (get full txt)

§ Cosnortial catalog (get holding

§ Periodical Abstracts (get abstracts)

So who’s on top?

o From LJ Automated System Marketplace 2006

o Top vendors Webfeat, ExLibris

NKOTB (not the boy band)

o Enhancements to “traditional” federated search services

o Built-in content platform

§ CSA Illumina

o Replacement of products

§ Discovery… (Endeavor) {removed ENCompass, LinkFinder Plus}

· Now based on TDNet technology

· Discovery: Finder

o Replaces ENCompass for resource access

o Hosted service

o Pricing based on number of searchable databases

o Generates topic maps and clusters dynamically

o Customizable via css

o Personalization (extra cost option)

o Relies on Discover: Resolver for OpenURL resolution

§ Replaces LinkFinder

o Visualization of results

§ Aquabrowser !!! Used to focus solely on the catalog now getting into federated searching

§ Grokker in Ebsco for visualization of results

§ Vivisimo now provides federated search.

§ ExLibris will be incorporating Vivisimo into MetaLib

§ Ovid

· Based on Muse technology

· Hosted

· Results post-processing

· Customizable, branded

§ Webfeat Prism

· Knows of no other single way to get patrons to really use the databases and increase their full-text retrievals. (anecdotally, 100-200% increase in usage stats)

o Express services

§ Webfeat

· Hosted

· 7850 for an annual subscription

· Several interface choices

o Brandable

· OpenURL compliant

· ProCite/EndNote compatible

· Ebsco A-Z Integration

Fretwell-Downing – OCLC PICA

o FDI Portal

§ www.fdgroup.com/fdi/marketing/zportal_choice.html

o OL2

§ www.fdgroup.com/fdi/pdf/OL2overview.html

Who else is in the game?

o LOTS of folks

§ OpenSiteSearch (open source product!!) z39.50 solution

Trends

o Vendors migrating slowly, to XML gateways

o Integration with bibliographic management software

o More integration of visualization and clustering tools

o Federated search for the masses? (WebFeat Express)

Google Scholar/Microsoft Academic Live