May 2009 Archives

I've been thinking lots lately about the Libraries digital collections---for two reasons. 

1)  We're currently in the process of hiring (and I'm chairing the search committee for) a new Digital Collections Curator in the Libraries.

2)  I'm in the very exciting phase of actively planning for my upcoming Faculty Fellowship in ETS.  (Hooray!)

It's funny how things in life often fall into place.  When we began the search for the Digital Collections Curator, I knew the position's relevance to our current collections, to the Libraries web presence, to the Libraries' relationships with other digital and scholarly initiatives and to another newly created (and currently in the search process) position for an ITS/Libraries Digital Architect.

What I didn't think about right away was the Digital Curator's importance with regard to library instruction and information literacy.  Relevant and remarkable collections, in print, online---wherever they are, are wonderful to have.  But if the riches of the collections are not integrated into the curriculum, what is their impact and overall importance?

The Digital Bridges project at Columbia University helps faculty and librarians connect digital collections within the curriculum.  This is the embodiment of what I've been turning over in my head lately---a mechanism for connecting archival and other online library collections with student assignments, including online media creation.

One of the things I hope to work on during my time as a Fellow is integrating Libraries' held digital collections (including streaming audio, images, and archival materials) into the flow of student media creation.   The fogginess of copyright and fair use have discouraged the use of these materials in the past, and in some respects, have disconnected Libraries' digital collections from this process.  Compounding this difficulty is, in the words of the Digital Bridges project:

"Today's students enjoy, on one hand, an abundance of information--an abundance enabled by a historic convergence of technology, information architecture, and innovative efforts to disseminate the products of human inquiry in newly available ways. On the other hand, they learn in a networked environment prone to distraction, hype, and even hostility to curated or edited information, in which an increasingly dynamic 'participation' can be framed as oppositional to authoritative material."

What a great challenge this is---to bring digital collections within the stream of instruction, much as we have done with print collections in the past.  How lucky I am to have two opportunities to participate in and effect change in this process. 

One of the tenets of the Digital Bridges program captures the lasting effect of this need beautifully.  Excellent student work is in itself 'worthy of collection' and contributes to a knowledge base for future students, faculty and the general public.  What better way to build and integrate our collections for the future?

Earlier this month, the CogDog (aka Alan Levine) came to Penn State to talk with us about 50+ Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story.

I know I wasn't the only person in the audience entranced with his use of Cooliris in his presentation.  It was gorgeous, slick, and just very cool.  I came away determined to find a way to make it work for myself.

Of course, because my technical skills are essentially nil (I've blown up and put back together this blog more times than I can count), I couldn't do it the way Alan recommends.  Let's just say that it involved editing an rss feed.  I really couldn't even conceive of what I was supposed to do.

But I found a workaround!  So, if you are technologically challenged like me, but love the overall look and feel of Cooliris, here's a way to show a powerpoint presentation in Cooliris.  It looks neat (you'll have to trust me---I can't embed the thing here).

Here's what you need to do:

1.  Install the piclens plugin for powerpoint (it converts your slides to a format cooliris can read)

2.  When your .ppt is complete, save it, and then convert it using the piclens plugin (it will appear under your add-ons).

3.  One of the files created as a result of your conversion will be called 'index.html'.  Right click on the file, and select 'open with...Firefox'.  Once the file is launched in Firefox, click on the Cooliris icon in the corner of your browser.

4.  Voila!  Cooliris powerpoint!  It is beautiful and slick.  I am not so sure if links to web resources will work using a file locally like this (haven't tried that yet).

5.  If you want to be really smooth, combine this with Portable Firefox, and you'll have a Cooliris presentation fully packaged and ready to go on your flash drive.

P.S.  If you can parse out Alan's original method so that it makes more sense to the tech-challenged like me--let me know.  I'd love to be able to create a file that I could simply access on the Web more seamlessly.

I've referenced before the article, "Web Services as Public Services:  Are We Supporting our Busiest Service Point?" by Deb Riley-Huff.   This article discusses the need for a focused approach to supporting web-based public services in the research library environment.  For me, the first three lines of the article say it all:

It was difficult for many libraries to see it coming. There was very little, if any, time to plan a well coordinated response. It was as though 1 day students were walking through the doors, lined up at reference desks, leaving endless scattered piles of books and journals and the next day they are peering at us, 24/7, through glowing screens in dormitories, apartments or houses miles away. (p. 65)

Of course, in retrospect, unless you lived in a cave, it really wasn't that difficult to see the change in students' use of libraries.  It was a precipitous change that quickly meant libraries must change their entire way of operating.  We're still struggling with that part---letting go of core, physically-based services, and devoting more and more resources to effective provision of online resources and services.

Since last year, I've chaired the Libraries' Web Steering Committee, which is charged with providing user-centered, public services-focused vision across the Libraries and in partnership with key campus units to continually explore, develop, enhance and assess the Libraries' Web presence.   'Web presence' doesn't just mean the Libraries' web site, but anywhere online where Libraries' resources and services are available and accessible.

This year, Web Steering began work on a new tactical plan, indicating actions for development of Libraries' web based services over the next three years (all in relation to the Libraries Strategic plan).  You can see the latest draft of the Web Steering tactical plan here. (link only accessible to Penn State users--let me know if you want me to send you a copy.)

I think the last line of Riley-Huff's article sums up the importance of this tactical plan:

Partnerships within the organization which create and prioritize online service goals will bring traditional library service excellence to life online, where it fits perfectly into the academic mission of the University. (p. 73)

Take a look, and if you have comments or ideas on the tactical plan---please share them---this is still very much a work in progress.  And if you're at University Park, (and you're really interested in this sort of thing) you're welcome to attend a Web Steering-hosted discussion of the tactical plan, on Wednesday May 20 at 3:30 pm. in the Mann Assembly Room, 1st floor, Paterno Library.

Michael Wesch details an assignment he gave his undergraduate class to read 94 articles before the next class session. Sound impossible?

The students used ZohoCreator to enter their citations and self-written abstracts.  Wesch noted that the students who got their readings in first (each student was assigned to find five articles on 'anonymity') had an easier job than the students who put off the assignment (and had to try to find articles that weren't yet listed in the database.)

The final outcome is here (I'd love to know what they used to put together this database.)

I had a few thoughts on this assignment.  Of course, I wondered, first and foremost, if Wesch worked with a librarian on this. (I'm paid to wonder that.) 

Did the students receive instruction (from Wesch or anyone else) on searching scholarly databases?  That part of the process isn't apparent.  The quality of the articles is very scattered.  White papers, conference proceedings (some back to 1997), law journal articles, web pages, Google Books...   It looks like some students used Google Scholar, some used ProQuest and other library databases, others just searched the Web. The quality of student-contributed abstracts is also very inconsistent.

While this is a noble assignment---a community-created reading list for the class---I think the outcome could have had more utility for the class.  These are not the best, most accessible and readily understood articles on anonymity for the undergraduate reader.  What would the students gain from this reading list?

Criticism aside, I can see how this assignment was powerful in the context of Wesch's class, and how it could be refined further to provide more useful readings for students. 

Here's how I would do this assignment:

1)  Teach the students how to search for articles on anonymity in specific library databases that are undergraduate friendly, discussing and brainstorming good keywords for a more focused search on the specific aspects of anonymity being explored in class.

2)  Help the students learn how to use Refworks and create a Shared folder for the class in the Penn State Shared area.  Create an rss feed for the Shared folder. (Admittedly, this is a solution only applicable for Refworks-subscribing institutions)

3)  Give students time, in class, to search for five articles and add them to the Refworks Shared area.

4)  Discuss what makes an effective abstract, and ask students to review their contributed articles and author the accompanying abstracts prior to the next class.

5)  Encourage students to continue keyword tagging and adding articles to the Refworks Shared area throughout the semester.  No need to republish the selected articles in another database---the Shared folder and feed are all that is needed.

There's no doubt that this is a cool assignment.  It's also a ripe opportunity to help students learn effective, focused techniques for finding, selecting and annotating articles that are relevant to the class.

Last month, I mentioned that I have Google Voice, Google's new phone service (previously known as GrandCentral). In the past, I used GrandCentral only for those really important calls--the ones you never want to miss--i.e., school, the doctor's office, etc...

Now that I have Google Voice, I wanted to integrate it into the entirety of my phone usage. (Particularly since I am not often in my office, and there is no web-based service for accessing Penn State voicemail online.) Verizon already offers a nice web-based voicemail access package (they''ll even forward notification of calls/voicemails received to your email), so my home phone calls were covered.

In essence, my goal was to have all of my calls, whether they occur at home, work or on my cell, show up in my email inbox. I forwarded my work phone to my Google Voice number, and life has been much simpler since.  Below is a picture of the Google Voice interface (note the transcribed voicemails). 

Google Voice's voicemail to transcribed text email option is a huge leap forward.  The transcripts aren't perfect, but now I have a searchable record, in my Gmail, of all the work-related voicemails I receive.  You can also email voicemails to others, or embed them as files elsewhere.  Think about how this opens up the possibilities or archiving and searching voicemail, not to mention increasing the general accessibility of voicemail messages.

One of the nicest features of Google Voice, particularly when you're forwarding work calls, is that all callers are announced before you pick up, and you have the option, with one click, to send them directly to voicemail (and listen in, if you so choose).  How terrific is that?

I attended Alan Levine's talk on digital storytelling today, and came away with some fun, new tools that I can hopefully use in the future in my own instruction. (Blabberize, anyone?)

I had never explored the idea of using an online comic generator, like Pixton.  Below is my rather clumsy attempt to recreate a pretty shabby comic I drew for the Back to Basics (ten panels about ten years ago) comic meme last summer.  (You can see that I cheated, and only created eight panels.)  Thanks to Alan for sharing great ideas and giving exposure to some very cool tools!