I am participating in a grant, through the PA State Library, to help public librarians gain digital literacies. This $55K grant provides equipment for the librarians to use in outreach initiatives with their community (iPads, digital cameras, and Mac laptops) and I am providing the training to the librarians on how to get the most out of these tools, for themselves and their patrons.
As a former public librarian, it is always wonderful to have a chance to re-connect with my public library colleagues. Yesterday's session was the first workshop in the series, and focused on using digital camera photos to create narrative and tell stories. Forty four area public librarians attended online. While I am no expert on digital cameras (or photography in general) this was a chance to discuss the educational and social value of digital storytelling. Thanks to my friend Chris Millet's work, the notion of framing online content creation as a powerful (and sometimes personal) narrative has resonated with me, and informed the design of this workshop.
The workshop covered the following areas:
--Free tools for editing and optimizing photos
--Navigating online privacy when sharing photos via Facebook, Flickr, Twitter
(this was also a great opportunity to discuss the forthcoming Facebook Timeline interface (which I have on my profile) and how this may re-frame how our users see Facebook as a digital scrapbook / memory storage platform.
--Creating new works with photos (Storify, physical books, etc..., online scrapbooking)
Feedback from our initial workshop was positive, and I'm looking forward to continuing work with this group of dedicated librarians!
For further info, the presentation powerpoint is available here, and the recording of our session is available here.
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