Entries in "Blog: Are You 2.0 Yet" ( for this category only)

How Facebook Works

Ever wonder what it took to keep a large social network like FaceBook running? Technology Review in their July/August 2008 issue highlighted How Facebook Works.

Wikis and Collaboration Models for Active Learning

Case held this session on May 8, 2008. I was asked to participate and helped to organize this session, but was already scheduled to deliver a Plenary at another conference. I was glad to see the session was a success and left the participants with many things to consider.

Collaborative Technology and Engaging the Campus 2008
Track 4: Blogs and Wikis
Session: Wikis and Collaboration Models for Active Learning
Panelists: Ben Schechter, Bill Barrow, Bill Claspy, Brian Gray, Roger Zender

It was a discussion on how to use Wiki software in order to create an interface which provides an opportunity for collaboration among users.

Check out the others session from Collaborative Technology and Engaging the Campus 2008, which include sessions on blogging, virtual worlds like Second Life, mobile devices, VOIP, and many other topics:

Increasing the Value of Our History with the Web

I am a little behind on my blogging. Now that I have taken a breather, I am looking to jump start things.

On May 8, 2008, I was invited to deliver the Plenary session for the Society of Ohio Archivists at their Spring Program. I was asked to bring my knowledge of web 2.0 to a group that sees the possible advantages but often is very early in implementation. It is exciting to speak at a meeting that I would not normally attend. Even though I was asked to share and set the tone for the meeting in terms of what web 2.0 offers for libraries, archives, historians, etc., I found I left the meeting with a list of sites and tools to explore myself.

Encyclopaedia Britannica to Accept User Submitted Articles

The Wired Campus Blog (Chronicle of Higher Education) on June 6, 2008, shared an announcement that the online Encyclopaedia Britannica will display user-submitted articles along side those written by the editors. It will even offer a reward system for contributors.

For full details, see the post on the Britannica blog.

Are we seeing the first major response to change following the success of Wikipedia?

Citricon: Library Defender

The Orange County Library System (Orlando, Florida) has created its own game to promote its gaming activities for patrons.

It also created a video on YouTube to promote it.

If Life was Like Facebook

This comedy group shows us what life would be like if we all behaved as we do in Facebook.

Commencement 2.0

I guess Case Western Reserve University found a way to make the commencement web 2.0 in nature.

Craig Newmark, Case alumnus and founder of Craigslist, blogged live using his Twitter account and will follow-up on his blog with more commentary after delivering the commencement speech.

Wikipedia Roundup

I was getting a little behind in my reading and blogging. In order to make a substantial dent, I will make several posts over the next few days (or weeks) that will bring in many thoughts around a specific topic.

Today's topic: Wikipedia

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The battle for Wikipedia's soul
Mar 6th 2008
(From The Economist print edition)

IT IS the biggest encyclopedia in history and the most successful example of “user-generated content” on the internet, with over 9m articles in 250 languages contributed by volunteers collaborating online.

The article discusses the challenges of trying to "encompass every aspect of human knowledge" versus including including everything no matter how "trivial".

Does anyone else think that the restrictions on Wikipedia are getting tighter and tighter than advertised and originally planned?

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Interview of Niko Pfund, Vice President and Publisher of the Academic and Trade division of Oxford University Press in New York
Blog entry on the OUPblog (April 8, 2008)
He was asked if "he hated Wikipedia". He said he was a regular user and appears to think that Wikipedia is helping people to better understand appropriateness of information and its source. He suggested that the development of the Oxford English Dictionary was based on the same method of utilizing the collective knowledge of people.

He does suggest that as Wikipedia's popularity grows it will bring its own end as the "one-stop shopping model will likely fragment".

I do not know of this will happen. We see this in our own library collections that we are pushing more resources to a one-stop approach. Do people really think that we will revert back to having to find information from only a single appropriate source?

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Street View by Google

Google is traveling around with a 360-degree camera to add a street view to its maps. Cleveland made its debut has the first Ohio city to be visually documented by Google.

See the Plain Dealer article for some more highlights.

Go to http://maps.google.com/ and enter a Cleveland address. Hit "street" view and if the streets are highlighted in blue you can get the view as if you are driving by. Just click on the street and enjoy. Arrows direct your travel and your view.

I went with the "full screen" view and the images are very good quality and can be zoomed. Not quite good enough to read a license plate, but they show quite a bit of detail.

A Vision of Students Today

I just love the videos that come out from this class and this professor. Everyone of them makes me wondering what is next...

All the numbers are quite intriguing. The over 26 hours per day of tasks in 24 hours really hit home.

Source: http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/?p=119

Online Photo Sharing in Plain English

Great way to explain photo sharing.

Source: http://www.commoncraft.com/photosharing

Libraries Exploring Their Second Life

I was recently contacted by the State Library of Ohio to write an article on Second Life for their monthly newsletter in January.

In my article, Libraries Exploring Their Second Life, I highlight how libraries and other organizations are utilizing Second Life. I focused on Ohio but included other examples as well.

Wii Preparation for Surgeons

Years ago we had reports that our Desert Storm pilots were better than their former colleagues, due to being raised as children with video games. Now, we a have a study that shows surgeons that warm up or train on Wii perform better in surgeries.

Game players scored nearly 50% higher on tool control and overall performance than other trainees.

Source: 'Wii warm-up' good for surgeons from BBC News (January 17, 2008)

From the File of Where Else Did They Look

I found this video about Gmail discussed in a Walking Paper blog entry. In general the video is Gmail engineers reading emails they receive from happy users. The last one in the video was a freshman chemical engineering student who was working on a group project and the answer the group needed appeared in the targeted Gmail ads. The Google engineer said "this person was able to use gmail ads to find something she couldn’t find anywhere else".

Really? I did a similar project on photoremediation during my undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and I found all the necessary information from the library.

I have two concerns with this video and the suggestions made. First, I question where else did these students look. Second, Google is doing some wonderful things but they are not the only source. It leads me to challenge are libraries doing enough to be in front of the users eyes.

Animator vs. Animation

Here is a nice little break from my traditional posts.

Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART

Other Kindle Information

Reverse Engineer Finds Kindle's Hidden Features from Slashdot (January 4, 2008)
Things were found such as Google Maps, minesweeper game, and other features.

A New Jersey Library Starts Lending Kindles from Library Journal (12/13/2007)
The Sparta Public Library, NJ bought two $399 Kindles and loans them to patrons.

Kindling? Amazon's eBook Reader, Kindle, Is Latest Device To Fire Up the Market from Library Journal Academic Newswire (11/20/2007)
Includes some quotes from a discussion on the Web4Lib Electronic Discussion list.

Amazon Kindle - Academic Uses

Since I work in an academic library, I want to discuss how I think Amazon's Kindle has opportunities to explore in academia.

Textbooks
I get students all the time that want the opportunity to download electronic versions of their textbooks to their laptop or other device. The size and sometimes the number of textbooks in a given semester makes them practical in a dorm room, but not in the classroom. Students often already carry laptops or other materials and
do not want to lug books as well. If they could include all their text books on a Kindle for in the classroom usage or studying when away from their dorms, it can be a great market to pursue.

Textbooks in the Library
Many libraries do not buy textbooks for their collections. There is an expectation that students purchase their needed books. Textbooks become dated too quick and would gather dust on library shelves that could be used for other materials. To be fair a library would be forced to keep textbooks on reserve so they are always available for usage. Keeping hundreds of textbooks on reserve causes many space concerns. What if libraries had a few Kindles available that contain the current e-versions of the school's textbooks?

Best Sellers, Leisure Books, or Other Rarely Used Materials
Many academic libraries provided limited access to best sellers or other leisure reading materials. Students are often forced to locate the local public library or purchase online from companies like Amazon. What if libraries had Kindles available and the library staff purchased patron-requested items? Many libraries already spend money on interlibrary loan, so would this be any different?

Departmental Training Tool
Many departments circulate books or journals for their staff to read as a professional development or awareness tool. Could a Kindle serve a similar role?

Laboratory or Clinical Usage
Would researchers use a Kindle with all their reference manuals, books, and data loaded on it?

Roving Reference
We have seen many libraries that now offer "roving reference" where the librarians come to the user rather than sitting behind a desk. Would a Kindle with the standard reference books be used to support this type of service?

Amazon Kindle - User Experience

I was able to get my hands on a Amazon Kindle for a few days. I will write at least a couple of posts on what I think. First, I will write on the user's experience and than my thoughts on the Kindle in academia.

I was very impressed with the overall usability. The text reads just like traditional print text. It has none of the glare or backlighting of other electronic devices. The size is that of an average book, and the weight is only slightly more.

Positives:

• Readability - Reads likes traditional printed media.
  
• Portability - Has built-in memory, plus can uses SD memory cards.
  
• Extras: Plays MP3s from built-in speaker or headphone jack.
  
• Does not require wifi access points as it uses Sprint's network at no additional cost to the user.
  
• Includes QWERTY keyboard that can be used for searching within text, annotations, and other uses.
  
• Adjustable text size should be a strong selling point for those with eye problems that may have trouble getting access to other print materials.
  
• Purchase books, magazines, and newspapers.

Negatives:

• Price: $400 - Do I need to say more?
  
• Carrying case - Designed to imitate a book cover, but I do not think it will last long. It does press on the keys and I think over time the Kindle will start to slide out.
  
• Only back and white text, no color.
  
• Scroll wheel and the menu system assumes everyone is familiar with an iPod-like system. I showed it to a small group of people in a meeting and only 2 of the 6 instinctively understood how to use it.
  
• Requires two hands to hold, unless you have fairly large hands.
  
• Only uses a single cellular network for online access - Sprint. How good is Sprint's coverage in all areas? I do not know personally.
  
• Limited to Amazon's selections for purchases with rights restrictions in place.
  
• Charged to read blogs and there are only specific ones available.
  
• 10 cents to send files to your Kindle and I have heard that not all file formats cooperate.

Unknowns:

• Construction - Will it hold up over long-term use?
  
• Availability - Amazon constantly lists it as sold out.

I do think it has a future. As the prices falls over time, it will gain popularity. I think it can be a strong sell in certain user markets, such as travelers, people that do not purchase books for their own collection, and techies. At $400, I will not be buying one anytime soon.

ALA Midwinter 2008

I will be heading to Philadelphia for ALA Midwinter in January. I will post my plans and updates here.

Anyone else going?

Case Class Uses Podcasting

A social work class at Case Western Reserve University is using podcasts to capture stories. I love that the professor calls each podcast a "learning asset". It is nice to see an example of podcasts being used in education rather than reading another story of how they may benefit education.

See the full announcement for more information.

The 15 people enrolled in Jerry Floersch's podcast class on Tuesday evenings are taking to the streets like ace reporters to capture stories from the world of social work.

Floersch is an associate professor of social work at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. He is experimenting in this new pilot class with ways to supplement and enrich textbook content with the sounds of real people, ranging from clients to agency staff and administrators who can describe how they do their job or provide advice on a particular situation.

Cleveland Public Library in SL: Grand Opening

Cleveland Public Library had their Grand Opening in Second Life on November 16th, 2007.

See the full photo set from my Flickr account. Or visit the Cleveland Public Library in SL.

Cleveland Public Library has a Second Life

Cleveland Public Library is making its debut in Second Life this Friday. Here is the full announcement from Library Geek Woes:

Cleveland Public Library, of Cleveland, Ohio, is opening a new sim on Friday, November 16th. Cleveland Public Library is the third largest public research library in the United States, and also is the largest repository of chess-related items in the world. The island includes playable, life-size chess sets, and the Main Library building currently features an exhibit of historical chess sets owned by the library in real life. Also be sure to check out the Photo Gallery (believe us, you'll know it when you see it!), where we have an exhibit of sheet music related to Cleveland and Ohio.

The sim will open to the public at 7pm EST with tours as time and guides allow. Grand opening activities will include two live music performances: Picker Apogee at 8pm and Nad Gough at 10pm. A costume contest for the best chess-related costume will take place at 9pm, with a $1000 Linden dollars grand prize to the winner. The life-size chess sets will also be available for casual or competitive play. Please IM Lebachai Vesta with any questions. Please join us to celebrate this major opening in Second Life!

SLURL: Cleveland Public Library

More information was shared at PLSL 2.0 - Public Libraries in Second Life blog in a recent post.

Blog Named Top 100 Education Site for Entrepreneurs

In a blog post called Hidden Gems: The 100 .edu sites every Entrepreneur Should Read by Jessica Hupp, my blog was listed with others in the Knowledge & Information category.

At the root of every institution of learning is information. These libraries, defenders of free knowledge, and business training sites have a lot of information to offer entrepreneurs.

The Bootstrapper blog is a resource for any small business owner operating on a shoestring budget, and provides tips on financing, cash flow, low-cost marketing and small business loans.

Presentation at ALAO Annual

I survived the ALAO Annual Conference. I was on the planning committee, and specifically arranged the vendor area. Here is my presentation on Second Life that I gave at the Conference.

What is Web 2.0? - A Potpourri of Examples

The Case Libraries is kicking of its 2007 Brown Bag Lunch Series on Wednesday, September 19, 2007, at 11:30am-1:00pm in the Kelvin Smith Library's Dampeer Room. Brian C. Gray (Engineering, Statistics and Mathematics Library at KSL) will present "What is Web 2.0? - A Potpourri of Examples". Bring your lunch as beverages and dessert will be available. RSVP to Gail Reese (egr@case.edu) or KSL Administration at 368-2992.

The Brown Bag Lunch Series are lunchtime presentations with featured speakers and informal discussion about a particular topic. These presentations are one hour long. All library staff, as well as the Case and UCI community are invited.

Second Life - Where to Visit

If you are new to Second Life, Wired (Issue 14.10 - October 2006) has put together a SL travel guide for you. Examples include:

• The Burning Life festival, which runs the same time as the annual Burning Man festival
• International Spaceflight Museum
• CreativeCommons Amphitheater
• Virtual Hallucinations, where UC Davis medical staff created simulations of audiovisual hallucinations
• Neo-Realms Fishing Camp

Web Hoaxes and Pranks

Are you sick of being contacted by Nigerian royalty or those pesky chain emails? Check out PC World's The Top 25 Web Hoaxes and Pranks (Steve Bass, May 03, 2007) to know what is real and what is fake in today's email driven world.

Library 2.0 Roundup

Jennifer Macaulay, a graduate student in the masters of library science program at Southern Connecticut State University, has put together a very helpful collection of resources about web 2.0 and libraries on her blog called Life As I Know It.

What is Second Life Best At?

I have done many talk on how libraries are using web 2.0 technologies to supplement and/or provide new services and resources. I often mention Second Life as a possibility that many libraries and librarians are exploring. The common question is "what can it offer that we do not already do". In my personal experience, SL is best for collaboration and programming. It offers another mechanism to offer presentations, discussions, and education opportunities. It works best if you can go beyond the real world physical environments we already react in.

I challenge people to create things in SL that we do not or cannot do in real life. At that point, it becomes valuable.

SL is great for 3-D modeling, recreation of historical events, or other themed environments. These types of educational activities would be very expensive to recreate on a life-size scale and to bring together all the experts needed.

Here is a nice example of a unique activity that can be accomplished in virtual environments, not just SL. Have you ever imagined walking through the environment created in artworks, movie, or TV?

If you want to see how this would made, visit the blog entry describing Robbie Dingo's SL machinima.

Google offers 411 Service

Did you know Google offers a 411 service that is totally free? It can be used by calling 1-800-GOOG-411. I tried it for a few random searches. It is not perfect as it is computer automated. If you do not speak clearly or speak too fast, it does get confused.

Anthropologist Studies Second Life

A Chronicle of Higher Education Podcast interviews an anthropologist that spent the last two years studying Second Life. Tom Boellstorff from the University of California at Irvine will have a book released in the future to share his findings.

One finding he had was how important SL was to those with disabilities. Maybe this is the niche libraries should focus on as a priority in SL rather than trying to recreate traditional library programming and resources.

Web 3.0 on the Horizon

Have you learned everything about how to use web 2.0 effectively? If not, get ready to fall further behind. Articles are already starting to circulate about web 3.0 and what that will mean for Internet users.

CNNMoney.com in an article by Michael V. Copeland shared how researchers are looking into the efficient use of the semantic web. In other words how can computers help to organize all the data, including that within documents, for the benefit of Internet searchers.

If you are looking for future employment opportunities consider this data from the article:

One estimate pegs the market for products and services stemming from semantic Web technologies at $50 billion by 2010, up from about $7 billion today.

TechConnections 8

I presented at TechConnections 8 in June of 2007. I posted my presentation in the past and shared some insight from Michael Stephens and his presentation. TechConnections 8 has posted other presentations as well, including:

• Windows Vista: Is Your Library Ready?
• What Does Windows Vista Mean for Directors?
• Microsoft Office 2007: A Quick Look
• How to Hack Your Director
• The Synaptic Library
• Google Tools for a Great Web Site
• PC Sign-up Systems

Resources, Data, or Tools

Are libraries offering resources, data, or tools to support instruction? Is the difference in the actual terms used just word play? Do libraries not market tools for instruction and only focus on research? Are library tools not good enough?

The Wired Campus (Chronicle of Higher Education, August 8, 2007) highlights a project asking educators their top ten lists of learning TOOLS. It has caused a ripple in the library profession communication channels as NOT one library tool once mentioned by the first 88 learning professional to respond.

Some have proposed that there is a difference between information resources and learning tools. Libraries do advertise and promote many of the learning tools mentioned but none of the subscription-based or library-design resources made the list.

I think all might be true.

First, surveys should define the meanings of words. But another view is that libraries have a reputation of developing our own terminology. Does that terminology make sense to users? Maybe library patrons do not fully grasp the words "database" or "resource". Maybe the simpler word "tool" is easier to grasp.

Second, libraries have always been good at marketing to people in the physical buildings, but marketing to more and more online patrons can be tough. Online competition is severe.

Finally, maybe we are not focused enough on instruction as a reason to use the library resources. I openly promote a database called Knovel as an instruction tool. I would not take credit for that stance though. One of my professors shared with me how he uses it for in the classroom activities. He feels it is a strong method to demonstrate chemical engineering calculations and develop real understanding. It is closer to how graduates would conduct such calculations in the real world.

Second Life Bans Most Gambling

There have been many educators and librarians that have disliked Second Life due to the plethora of "real world" type activities that are duplicated, such as gambling and/or porn. Second Life has recently announced that they are now following U.S. laws by banning gambling on sporting events, games of chance, and the traditional casino-style games.

I am sure the SL entrepreneurs will find others ways to survive.

Interface to the Virtual World

Benjamin Chodroff, a Case Western Reserve University student, recently participated in an IBM internship called "Extreme Blue" in India. He proposed an interface to connect real and virtual worlds, such as Second Life.

SPARC Video Contest

Check out this video contest!

CALL FOR ENTRIES
SPARC Announces Mind Mashup:
A Video Contest to Showcase Student Views on Information Sharing

Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales and Documentary Filmmaker Peter Wintonick Among Judges Selecting $1,000 Prize Winner

Washington, DC - July 25, 2007 - SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) today announced the launch of the first annual SPARC Discovery Awards, a contest to promote the open exchange of information. Mind Mashup, the theme of the 2007 contest, calls on entrants to illustrate in a short video the importance of sharing ideas and information of all kinds. Mashup is an expression referring to a song, video, Web site or software application that combines content from more than one source.

Consistent with SPARC's mission as an international alliance of academic and research libraries promoting the benefits of information sharing, the contest encourages new voices to join the public discussion of information policy in the Internet age. Designed for adoption as a college or high school class assignment, the SPARC Discovery Awards are open to anyone over the age of 15.

Contestants are asked to submit videos of two minutes or less that imaginatively show the benefits of bringing down barriers to the open exchange of information. Submissions will be judged by a panel that includes:

• Aaron Delwiche, Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas
• José-Marie Griffiths, Professor & Dean at the School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Rick Johnson, communications consultant and founding director of SPARC
• Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC
• Karen Rustad, president of Free Culture 5C and a senior at Scripps College majoring in media studies
• Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia
• Peter Wintonick, award-winning documentary filmmaker and principal of Necessary Illusions Productions Inc.

"I'm very proud to be judging this contest," said Karen Rustad. "When it comes to debates over Internet information policy, students are usually subjects for study or an object for concern. I can't wait to see what my contemporaries have to say about mashup culture and open access to information once they're given the mike -- or, rather, the camera."

The contest takes as its inspiration a quote from George Bernard Shaw: "If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."

Submissions must be received by December 2, 2007. Winners - including a first-place winner and two runners up - will be announced in January 2008. The winner will receive $1,000 and a "Sparky Award." The runners up will each receive $500. Winning entries will be publicly screened at the American Library Association Midwinter Conference in January 2008 in Philadelphia and will be prominently featured in SPARC's international advocacy and campus education activities.

For further details, please see the contest Web site at http://sparkyawards.org.

SPARC
SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), with SPARC Europe and SPARC Japan, is an international alliance of more than 800 academic and research libraries working to create a more open system of scholarly communication. SPARC is a founding member of the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, a coalition of patient, academic, research, and publishing organizations that supports open public access to the results of federally funded research - including research funded by the National Institutes of Health. SPARC is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/sparc/.

Going Gothic with other SL Librarians

Librarians within Second Life get together for various social events to talk, share stories, and interact. The Second Life Library 2.0 dance party was on July 6, 2007. The theme was gothic and I won the award for best male costume.

Ohioans in Second Life

A few weeks ago I received a phone call from Robert Wang, a writer for the Canton Repository. He had found a blog entry I had done about Second Life and Case Western Reserve University. He was looking for local perspectives from those that use Second Life for different purposes. Of course, we talked about education and libraries.

Read the published story called Ohioans explore virtual world of Second Life, a new world on computers.

New and Improved Blog

My other blog, Are You 2.0 Yet, focuses on web 2.0 and library 2.0 issues. It came out of a project that I participated in sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA). The hosting site is being shut down. I am going to transfer the posts to this blog and run both blogs from here. Many of the entries are related and I think the Case community and information professionals will benefit from the combined content.

The main page will contain entries from both blog subject areas, but I will also create a sub-page that will host each blog separately. There will be various versions of the RSS feed as well.

UPDATE: The other blog has been taken down and was not archived by the project organizers.

iPhone Video

With everything we are hearing and seeing about iPhone, I laughed and laughed after seeing this on Conan.

From D.C.

I hope to learn plenty at ALA Annual and I will share as much as possible.

Laura Solomon on Second Life

As I mentioned before I attended TechConnectons 8, the other day. I attended a session by Laura Solomon (Lebachai