Mission accomplished! I've come to end of what seems to me like the both the longest and shortest on-the-job course I could take. I thoroughly enjoyed Learning 2.0 through the Ottawa Public Library's opl23things, and kudos (has there ever been a single kudo?) to Matt Abbott and Caitlin Fralick for designing a course that was very easy to follow. Thanks to them, I have taken my first steps into a bigger virtual world that I was reluctant to dive into. Well, I did warn you on the first post that the content may be trite.
The course and exercises not only gave me an added skill set (or skill sets) but gave me a lot to think about. I spent a couple of hours at the most on each exercise (I already had a Google mail and a Delicious account, so those were fast) but I spent several hours more contemplating the implications of the various online tools we learned. Facebook and Lifelong learning made my 'brain juice' flow the most, the first for the privacy issues, the second for thinking about all the forms of learning that I do. When you read about people being fired or at least in severe hot water from their jobs because of a random post on their blog, you appreciate the potential (for good or bad) of this new media to reach a large audience. For example, file Canadian Citizenship Minister Warren Kinsella's quip about eating BBQ cat with rice at a local Chinese restaurant under 'W' for "What was he thinking?"
On the other hand, I also saw a potential to extend the abilities of library staff in delivering services to the public and learning from one another. Library personnel have a limited amount of time to communicate with one another about new things (because they're busy communicating with the public, their managers and supervisors (their staff if they are the managers and supervisors), technical support people and maintenance, AND themselves aloud if they're not careful) so the various skills learned from Learning 2.0 are a big plus in keeping up on those small but helpful bits of information when you have a moment. The trick is spending the time to get the hang of it, but that's par for the course in the information industry.
Specifically, parts of the Learning 2.0 course I liked:
1) Blogging. 'Didn't know what to say at first, can't shut up now. Sort of like real life.
2) Google Reader. It cut my blog-reading time to a fraction of what it was.
3) Flikr. Big learning curve, but the coined term "info-toy" comes to mind.
4) Delicious. Again a great time saver. Once I get everything organized.
5) The use of Commoncraft videos to illustrate the concepts being taught. Definitely an "Ohhh, I get it now" experience.
...and the parts I wasn't so keen on:
1) Lifelong learning. Useful review, but sort of like being taught how to drive when you're already driving.
2) Facebook. A useful social networking tool. Also a very controversial one.
Personally, it's difficult to suggest what could be done to improve the course. As far as I can tell the description and visual aids are well-suited to the audience. Maybe if "Lifelong learning" was dropped from the exercise list or put it in the introduction.
All in all, one of the best learning experiences I've had in a while.
And yet there's so much more out there. Such as one of my favourites, online maps and aerial images. Case in point: a 'Birds-eye view' of home sweet home (Manotick Branch Library) from Microsoft's Virtual Earth (Link).
-- Greg @ the library
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Flickr finger of fate
Last night, I opened a Flickr account (link) as part of the opl23things exercise dealing with Web 2.0. I've uploaded a few photos and organized them under a set. I hope to add more, although given the large file sizes of the digital photos I have (starting at 1.8 MB), a quick lesson in reducing the resolution of the respective images will be necessary to save on file space.
Here's what I have so far; libraries (what a surprise): Captiva and Sanibel in Florida, Manotick and Vernon in Ottawa.
And here's a photo from Douglas Sprott showing a detail of the front of the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library, available through a Creative Commons license:
I have seen online photo accounts before, my first one being a commercial site called PBase.com. When I was working at a biodiversity museum in Kemptville, I met Bev Wigney, who started digital nature photography over nine years ago. Most photographers in that category go for the big, cute and cuddly. Not Bev. Although her subjects were varied, she specialized in photographing insects and arachnids up close (macrophotography). This may not appeal to anyone at first, but in seeing her collection I learned through Bev's photographs and nature blog more about the beauty of our six- and eight-legged neighbours in Eastern Ontario than from most professional biologists. Although mostly self-educated in identifying the "creepy-crawlies"(with help from subscribers to NatureList, a mailing list for naturalists and citizen scientists around Eastern Ontario), Bev's photographs and videos have appeared in at least one photographic exhibition, ten publications to date and over a dozen websites dealing with biology and natural history. Currently, she's travelling across North America and covering her journey in her new blog Journey to the centre. Bev's work is one of the best (if the best) local (Ottawa) examples of online nature photo hosting evolving to more professional aspect.
Returning to the original subject...
I found the exercise a lot of fun (linking the photos to maps was a cool function), although I admit there's quite a learning curve in uploading, managing, linking and whatevering your photos. I won't ever get into Picassa, Google's answer to Flickr. Egads!
-- Greg @ the library
Here's what I have so far; libraries (what a surprise): Captiva and Sanibel in Florida, Manotick and Vernon in Ottawa.
And here's a photo from Douglas Sprott showing a detail of the front of the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library, available through a Creative Commons license:
I have seen online photo accounts before, my first one being a commercial site called PBase.com. When I was working at a biodiversity museum in Kemptville, I met Bev Wigney, who started digital nature photography over nine years ago. Most photographers in that category go for the big, cute and cuddly. Not Bev. Although her subjects were varied, she specialized in photographing insects and arachnids up close (macrophotography). This may not appeal to anyone at first, but in seeing her collection I learned through Bev's photographs and nature blog more about the beauty of our six- and eight-legged neighbours in Eastern Ontario than from most professional biologists. Although mostly self-educated in identifying the "creepy-crawlies"(with help from subscribers to NatureList, a mailing list for naturalists and citizen scientists around Eastern Ontario), Bev's photographs and videos have appeared in at least one photographic exhibition, ten publications to date and over a dozen websites dealing with biology and natural history. Currently, she's travelling across North America and covering her journey in her new blog Journey to the centre. Bev's work is one of the best (if the best) local (Ottawa) examples of online nature photo hosting evolving to more professional aspect.
Returning to the original subject...
I found the exercise a lot of fun (linking the photos to maps was a cool function), although I admit there's quite a learning curve in uploading, managing, linking and whatevering your photos. I won't ever get into Picassa, Google's answer to Flickr. Egads!
-- Greg @ the library
Friday, February 27, 2009
The two faces of Facebook
I just finished the Web 2.0 exercise on Facebook. I had already created an account a couple of years back when the Ottawa Public Library started theirs and generated a bit of publicity. It seemed like a good idea at the time and probably still is. I've read about the benefits of this form of social networking and it looks like great means of communication for organizations such as the library.
When it comes to the personal and privacy issues of Facebook, that's when I slam on the brakes.
While I have heard a fair bit about the effort that Facebook makes to protect your privacy, I have read a lot about the dangers of putting your personal life online. Moreover, and this gives me the willies, your personal content is the property of Facebook and you cannot completely delete it. The latter part is similar to mailing a letter or E-mail you cannot retrieve or saying something you can't take back. The first part is a new twist to me and a disturbing one. If you screw up, Facebook owns and keeps the screw-up.
Also, many libraries have a policy in which most of the staff do not have to reveal their full name to the clientelle and unless you're a manager or a higher-up, you are discouraged from doing so. No problem there. And yet, if you're listed on Facebook as associated with that library as staff, and have a full profile, you are essentially exposed to a lot more people, and not just patrons of the library. The Ottawa Citizen has recently published an article online about the privacy issues surrounding Facebook, and it's the latest in a long list of articles addressing the dangers of personal pages.
To be fair, a lot of people bring this on themselves. They don't use the privacy controls available on these sites and put stuff on their pages that would qualify in most professional and social circles as "waaayyy too much information" (probably like this blog entry). Here's another link to an article that gives more detail on the subject.
On the balance, Facebook and similar services are a great way to make yourself known in the virtual and real world and potentially an excellent tool to reach individuals of similar interests and professions beyond a person's "pre-web" options. Just bear in mind that while Google's unofficial slogan is "Don't be evil", a slogan for social networking on Web 2.0 should read "Don't be careless."
-- Greg @ the library
When it comes to the personal and privacy issues of Facebook, that's when I slam on the brakes.
While I have heard a fair bit about the effort that Facebook makes to protect your privacy, I have read a lot about the dangers of putting your personal life online. Moreover, and this gives me the willies, your personal content is the property of Facebook and you cannot completely delete it. The latter part is similar to mailing a letter or E-mail you cannot retrieve or saying something you can't take back. The first part is a new twist to me and a disturbing one. If you screw up, Facebook owns and keeps the screw-up.
Also, many libraries have a policy in which most of the staff do not have to reveal their full name to the clientelle and unless you're a manager or a higher-up, you are discouraged from doing so. No problem there. And yet, if you're listed on Facebook as associated with that library as staff, and have a full profile, you are essentially exposed to a lot more people, and not just patrons of the library. The Ottawa Citizen has recently published an article online about the privacy issues surrounding Facebook, and it's the latest in a long list of articles addressing the dangers of personal pages.
To be fair, a lot of people bring this on themselves. They don't use the privacy controls available on these sites and put stuff on their pages that would qualify in most professional and social circles as "waaayyy too much information" (probably like this blog entry). Here's another link to an article that gives more detail on the subject.
On the balance, Facebook and similar services are a great way to make yourself known in the virtual and real world and potentially an excellent tool to reach individuals of similar interests and professions beyond a person's "pre-web" options. Just bear in mind that while Google's unofficial slogan is "Don't be evil", a slogan for social networking on Web 2.0 should read "Don't be careless."
-- Greg @ the library
Thursday, February 12, 2009
I create a social network account and it was Delicious!
Well, I finally caught up with my Learning 2.0 'classmates' and learned (or re-learned) about social networking. So now I have a Delicious account (I still wince when saying it aloud) and imported my bookmarks from my browser at work. I have yet to 'tag' them, but I have a previous account in which my extensive links are tagged. I considered tagging them in Dewey Decimal format, but decided to put that on hold for now.
I have to admit that it is certainly a lot easily to use (edit) stuff on the Internet than when I first started out. I remember way back in the mid-1990's when my branch was part of the Rideau Township Public Library system, I was given the task to place our library information online using the tools given to us by our account at the National Capital FreeNet. The menu pages were text-only and instead of the menus you see nowadays, a person editing these pages had to memorize Unix commands and understand Unix file structures. Okay, if you're a Linux fan this is nothing to complain about, but still. The result was simple and utilitarian for a greater effort than what we do now. And with a limited readership; this was just before the Web really took off. Mind you, it wasn't the cybernetic equivalent of "walking buck-naked uphill through five kilometres of snow both ways", but editing items on the Internet by and large has become more fun.
Unless you're coding a web page using HTML.
-- Greg @ the Library
I have to admit that it is certainly a lot easily to use (edit) stuff on the Internet than when I first started out. I remember way back in the mid-1990's when my branch was part of the Rideau Township Public Library system, I was given the task to place our library information online using the tools given to us by our account at the National Capital FreeNet. The menu pages were text-only and instead of the menus you see nowadays, a person editing these pages had to memorize Unix commands and understand Unix file structures. Okay, if you're a Linux fan this is nothing to complain about, but still. The result was simple and utilitarian for a greater effort than what we do now. And with a limited readership; this was just before the Web really took off. Mind you, it wasn't the cybernetic equivalent of "walking buck-naked uphill through five kilometres of snow both ways", but editing items on the Internet by and large has become more fun.
Unless you're coding a web page using HTML.
-- Greg @ the Library
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
I Needed the Feed!
Today I took my run at RSS feeds, being a quiet evening at the library (I was caught up in my work, visiting kids were so quiet I thought they were up to something, sparse patron traffic) and discovered what was I missing. Up until now I was pretty much being the "before" person, i.e., I was tracking the blogs by simply looking them up. The RSS Feed is a SupremeBeingsend (you never know the religion of the reader). I now have several of my favourite blogs and one news site (Google News Canada). And good thing too, otherwise I may have missed this headline:
"Gorcery store closed down by mice had 17 previous complaints"
"Wow!" I thought to myself, "way to go, mice!" After 17 complaints, it was the mice that succeeded in closing that gorcery store! It must've been some funky gorces to get those little guys worked up about it. Oh wait, wait...nope, it actually is a grocery store, and the mice were the cause of the closure. Oh, well then. 'Guess it was actually a Gross-ery store. Ha! Okay, that was adolescent. At least I know how to spell grocery.
-- Greg @ the Library
Update: It looks like Bill Kaufmann (the author) corrected the spelling about three days later on February 14th. Good show!
"Gorcery store closed down by mice had 17 previous complaints"
"Wow!" I thought to myself, "way to go, mice!" After 17 complaints, it was the mice that succeeded in closing that gorcery store! It must've been some funky gorces to get those little guys worked up about it. Oh wait, wait...nope, it actually is a grocery store, and the mice were the cause of the closure. Oh, well then. 'Guess it was actually a Gross-ery store. Ha! Okay, that was adolescent. At least I know how to spell grocery.
-- Greg @ the Library
Update: It looks like Bill Kaufmann (the author) corrected the spelling about three days later on February 14th. Good show!
Friday, February 6, 2009
A lot to learn
I just finished a mini-lesson on Learning 2.0 entitled, Pointers from Lifelong Learners. The lesson was pretty much a paradox. If we needed to learn the skills given in the lesson, then it's a safe bet we may not have acquired the skills to able to access the lesson in the first place. It was still a good topic to cover, and I consider it a refresher on what I already know. Okay, maybe I did learn a few things from it, but still.
It did make me think of the different ways we learn. Learning from example (I've had the benefit of good role models from pages to managers), learning from mistakes (I seem to have a talent for this method), learning from reading documents (gee, I work in library, who'd've thunk?), learning online (in progress as I type), learning by doing (I recently educated myself on scanning transparency film and photo-restoration by scanning over 300 slides from the 1970s with a flatbed photo scanner), learning from fiction (Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of books has taught me to laugh at life's social foibles, among other things), learning by observing ("say...I can adapt that idea for our library branch!") learning by teaching (and learning patience) and social interaction ("Huh! I never thought of it that way. Thanks!").
And yet there's so much more. A thought both daunting and thrilling.
-- Greg @ the library
It did make me think of the different ways we learn. Learning from example (I've had the benefit of good role models from pages to managers), learning from mistakes (I seem to have a talent for this method), learning from reading documents (gee, I work in library, who'd've thunk?), learning online (in progress as I type), learning by doing (I recently educated myself on scanning transparency film and photo-restoration by scanning over 300 slides from the 1970s with a flatbed photo scanner), learning from fiction (Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of books has taught me to laugh at life's social foibles, among other things), learning by observing ("say...I can adapt that idea for our library branch!") learning by teaching (and learning patience) and social interaction ("Huh! I never thought of it that way. Thanks!").
And yet there's so much more. A thought both daunting and thrilling.
-- Greg @ the library
Thursday, February 5, 2009
And so it begins...
Warning: the following content may contain passages which may be considered trite by erudite users. Reader discretion is advised.
Welcome, dear reader, to my blog. This was created as part of the on-the-job Web 2.0 learning experience with my position, "at the library" (hence the title). Hopefully, I'll be able to provide meaningful content intermixed with relevant humour within the realm of what is loosely referred to as "good taste".
I should start with my background [turns and looks behind him]. The wall is a light cream colour with brown trim on the door frame. As for myself, I have worked as a part-time Public Service Assistant (a.k.a. Branch Assistant, or Library Assistant) for 15 years at a small community branch library in the City of Ottawa (Ontario, not Kansas). I have also filled various roles on a casual basis at this branch and other branch libraries (21 to date) in the Ottawa Public Library system. Primarily I work at the information desk, but I have assumed other roles as required (i.e., I've done other stuff if they asked and if it's related to the job).
I could include all this in my profile, but I had to start with something.
-- Greg @ the Library
Welcome, dear reader, to my blog. This was created as part of the on-the-job Web 2.0 learning experience with my position, "at the library" (hence the title). Hopefully, I'll be able to provide meaningful content intermixed with relevant humour within the realm of what is loosely referred to as "good taste".
I should start with my background [turns and looks behind him]. The wall is a light cream colour with brown trim on the door frame. As for myself, I have worked as a part-time Public Service Assistant (a.k.a. Branch Assistant, or Library Assistant) for 15 years at a small community branch library in the City of Ottawa (Ontario, not Kansas). I have also filled various roles on a casual basis at this branch and other branch libraries (21 to date) in the Ottawa Public Library system. Primarily I work at the information desk, but I have assumed other roles as required (i.e., I've done other stuff if they asked and if it's related to the job).
I could include all this in my profile, but I had to start with something.
-- Greg @ the Library
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