I quite enjoyed working with Google maps. Probably the most important thing I learned was that the markers are not necessarily accurate, which I learned from searching my own library -- the marker was off by a couple of miles. Verify the information -- the time trusted reference technique. I claimed my library and was able to correct the information and move the marker.
I most liked being able to switch back and forth from the map, satellite and terrain views for the same area. The satellite view of my house showed my deck and yard, but not what was on the deck, so I couldn't date the satellite image.
For customers, I've used Google maps to get directions, show locations, and even traffic. The street views are great for people planning trips to locations where the street view is available. The personalized or customized maps with photos added to the markers are great for highlighting trips already taken. And now someone looking up my library can find the location and get the hours and website.
Like others without direct access to the library website server, I did not embed a map on the library's website or even link to one. But I can suggest maps that we can add, and possibly even create them.
Thanks for a memorable exercise.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thing 25 Assignment 2 Google Maps
I searched Google Maps for the Polley Music Library. It came up, but the location was way off. I moved the marker, using satellite view, and then checked it with map view. The information was incomplete and inaccurate, so I claimed the listing and edited it. Finally. I validated it. And checked it again. I added the web address, added the street address, corrected the zip code, and added hours. Now people can find the Polley Music Library from Google Maps.
Thing 25 Assignment 1 Google Maps
When I first started the assignment, I was suprised how many of the features I had tried previously, looking for hotels in Naples, vegetarian restaurants in Prague, and libraries and museums in Budapest. I decided to explore the coast of Tobago, the other island of Trinidad and Tobago, and a happy vacation spot of mine. The hardest part was to move and zoom to actually find the island off of a map. I discovered that if one zooms too far, one can bypass the landmarks that one is looking for. I was focused on looking for specific places I'd been. The satellite view worked well in conjunction with the map and terrain views. And there were some photos and a couple of videos available, along with a Wikipedia article. I then went to Phuket and tried the same things with the views, and tried some searching. And finally went back to the assignment and worked through each of the searches, watched the videos, and tried everything with my own part of Lincoln. Unfortunately the street views available for my part of town are only along a major street and show parks and fences.
On to the official assignment. I searched for "1445 K St. 68509" and found the Nebraska State Capitol. While I was able to zoom the satellite view to see cars, I could only tell if they were light, dark, or red. I decided to get directions to the capitol from Bennett Martin Library, and picked the "walking" option, which Google informed me is "in Beta" and may be missing sidewalks, etc. I did find out that I could walk down the street, but it told me I needed to turn on K Street, thus missing the 14th Street entrance.
I've been an avid map user from a very early age. I'm very comfortable with traditional map views and topographic views, as well as aerial views. What I would use would depend on the specific circumstance. Street view would probably be my last choice.
I further explored the exotic places listed in the assignment. Street view is no substitute for being there. I did find a pothole in a street near Osaka. I also checked traffic, and traffic was pretty heavy in Paris this afternoon. I didn't find a kangaroo, but I have pictures of kangaroos and koalas and dingos and Tasmanian devils from my own trip to Australia.
On to the official assignment. I searched for "1445 K St. 68509" and found the Nebraska State Capitol. While I was able to zoom the satellite view to see cars, I could only tell if they were light, dark, or red. I decided to get directions to the capitol from Bennett Martin Library, and picked the "walking" option, which Google informed me is "in Beta" and may be missing sidewalks, etc. I did find out that I could walk down the street, but it told me I needed to turn on K Street, thus missing the 14th Street entrance.
I've been an avid map user from a very early age. I'm very comfortable with traditional map views and topographic views, as well as aerial views. What I would use would depend on the specific circumstance. Street view would probably be my last choice.
I further explored the exotic places listed in the assignment. Street view is no substitute for being there. I did find a pothole in a street near Osaka. I also checked traffic, and traffic was pretty heavy in Paris this afternoon. I didn't find a kangaroo, but I have pictures of kangaroos and koalas and dingos and Tasmanian devils from my own trip to Australia.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thing #24 Looking for My Library
Lesson #24 for the new Nebraska Learns 2.0 program offered a chance to try looking up my library to see what was being said. I first tried Twitter Search. Amazingly enough I discovered that someone had posted a link in a tweet to the very last library blog I had written. It went out to her more than 1200 followers. I tried the link and it worked, taking me to the Polley Music Library blog. I thanked her, but have not had a response.
I then went to Bloglines. First I tried a "Polley Music Library" search in each of the various types of searches. Under "Posts", I got 9 results, 5 misses and 4 that really referred to my library. Of the good ones, 2 were my recent blog posts, one was a bookguide post of a listening list I had created, and the final one was an NPR post that mentioned the 20th anniversary celebration a couple of years ago. I found nothing in "Feeds". There were lots of hits under "Web". When I tried the "Citation" search, there was only one from an old post on the Polley blog. I tried limiting that search as described in the lesson and lost even that one result. Being curious, I decided to expand the searches and looked for "Polley Music" without the term "library". I got many many hits, but with even less accuracy, as there are quite a few people with the last name of Polley who are in the same blog post as a mention of music. I did subscribe via RSS, but there has been no additional activity.
I actually get comment about my library and its services (real and virtual) and collections (real and virtual) in person, by phone and even by e-mail. For example, this morning I got a "two thumbs up" about the links section of the Polley webpage in an e-mail.
I'm jazzed that the link to the Polley blog post was sent out to so many people by someone else. The best PR comes from our customers (real and virtual). And I'm finally starting to see that Twitter could really have some uses.
My library didn't gather much comment in this exercise, but if it had and I was aware of it, I could use these tools to either enhance it if the comment was good, or mitigate it if it was not so good. It doesn't hurt to know what the public is saying about your institution. But in my case, this week I heard that it was a "treasure" -- second hand. That's networking in the real world. This exercise was about networking in the virtual world. And we have to do both these days.
I will be setting up a Flickr account at sometime in the near future. Now I know why I should should subscribe to the comments.
I then went to Bloglines. First I tried a "Polley Music Library" search in each of the various types of searches. Under "Posts", I got 9 results, 5 misses and 4 that really referred to my library. Of the good ones, 2 were my recent blog posts, one was a bookguide post of a listening list I had created, and the final one was an NPR post that mentioned the 20th anniversary celebration a couple of years ago. I found nothing in "Feeds". There were lots of hits under "Web". When I tried the "Citation" search, there was only one from an old post on the Polley blog. I tried limiting that search as described in the lesson and lost even that one result. Being curious, I decided to expand the searches and looked for "Polley Music" without the term "library". I got many many hits, but with even less accuracy, as there are quite a few people with the last name of Polley who are in the same blog post as a mention of music. I did subscribe via RSS, but there has been no additional activity.
I actually get comment about my library and its services (real and virtual) and collections (real and virtual) in person, by phone and even by e-mail. For example, this morning I got a "two thumbs up" about the links section of the Polley webpage in an e-mail.
I'm jazzed that the link to the Polley blog post was sent out to so many people by someone else. The best PR comes from our customers (real and virtual). And I'm finally starting to see that Twitter could really have some uses.
My library didn't gather much comment in this exercise, but if it had and I was aware of it, I could use these tools to either enhance it if the comment was good, or mitigate it if it was not so good. It doesn't hurt to know what the public is saying about your institution. But in my case, this week I heard that it was a "treasure" -- second hand. That's networking in the real world. This exercise was about networking in the virtual world. And we have to do both these days.
I will be setting up a Flickr account at sometime in the near future. Now I know why I should should subscribe to the comments.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Another session of Nebraska Learns is Starting
Well, I signed up for the new session of Nebraska Learns this morning. I've already got the blog and did the "prerequisites" last session, so all it took was an e-mail with a few pieces of information. And a month to do each "thing" or lesson sounds wonderful.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Looking Back at Nebraska Learns 2.0
Yesterday, at the Lincoln City Libraries In Service Day, some questions came up about Nebraska Learns 2.0. I thought I'd post my responses on my Nebraska Learns 2.0 blog.
I learned a tremendous amount in NL2.0, but what I learned depended on the time and effort I put into each "thing." It also helped to follow the instructions for each "thing."
I did hit roadblocks. Some of them were psychological -- like my aversion to the weeks with 3 things instead of 2. Some were the result of computer glitches or the sites/tools we were to be using being not fully functional at the time I was trying to use them. And some were just my not being in the frame of mind to concentrate at the time I had set aside to work on NL2.0.
I successfully got around the roadblocks. For the computer problems, I tried another day or used a different e-mail account (my Gmail) to get the confirmation message I had to reply to. I broke down the "things" into little steps and always started with the resources. Sometimes I had to print off the instructions. And I did skip over things, moving on to the next, but making sure I did eventually get back to what I had skipped. It also helped to have a buddy or two within the building to talk about what we were doing before we blogged about it.
If I did the program again, I would keep a list of my user names and passwords in an organized fashion, rather than the pile of p-slips I currently have stashed away. I would print out more of the instructions in order to help break down the "things" into tiny steps I could do throughout the day and week, since it's hard to get that big block of uninterrupted time on public service, or even off the desk. And, I would try the extra credit ideas. I would also sign up for accounts in some of the tools we could just browse for NL2.0.
I would try to incorporate more of what I was learning directly into my library work. Last time, I started the blog Polley Music Library's Cadenza as a direct result of NL2.0. What's next?
I would highly recommend Nebraska Learns 2.0 to library staffers, if nothing else, to become familiar with other people are doing even if you don't care to do it yourself. Go ahead. Sign up for the next session.
And for the Nebraska Library Commission: When will be be getting Nebraska Learns 3.0?
I learned a tremendous amount in NL2.0, but what I learned depended on the time and effort I put into each "thing." It also helped to follow the instructions for each "thing."
I did hit roadblocks. Some of them were psychological -- like my aversion to the weeks with 3 things instead of 2. Some were the result of computer glitches or the sites/tools we were to be using being not fully functional at the time I was trying to use them. And some were just my not being in the frame of mind to concentrate at the time I had set aside to work on NL2.0.
I successfully got around the roadblocks. For the computer problems, I tried another day or used a different e-mail account (my Gmail) to get the confirmation message I had to reply to. I broke down the "things" into little steps and always started with the resources. Sometimes I had to print off the instructions. And I did skip over things, moving on to the next, but making sure I did eventually get back to what I had skipped. It also helped to have a buddy or two within the building to talk about what we were doing before we blogged about it.
If I did the program again, I would keep a list of my user names and passwords in an organized fashion, rather than the pile of p-slips I currently have stashed away. I would print out more of the instructions in order to help break down the "things" into tiny steps I could do throughout the day and week, since it's hard to get that big block of uninterrupted time on public service, or even off the desk. And, I would try the extra credit ideas. I would also sign up for accounts in some of the tools we could just browse for NL2.0.
I would try to incorporate more of what I was learning directly into my library work. Last time, I started the blog Polley Music Library's Cadenza as a direct result of NL2.0. What's next?
I would highly recommend Nebraska Learns 2.0 to library staffers, if nothing else, to become familiar with other people are doing even if you don't care to do it yourself. Go ahead. Sign up for the next session.
And for the Nebraska Library Commission: When will be be getting Nebraska Learns 3.0?
Thursday, January 22, 2009
End or Beginning
For much of the last 13 weeks, I didn't think that I would finish Nebraska Learns 2.0. But here it is a week early and this is my last post. I've learned quite a few things unexpectedly, including that my old online home computer will only let me blog in "edit html" rather than "compose"; now that I know, it's not really a problem.
I think I got as much or more out of the exercises where I was already a little bit familiar with the tools being examined. Having a purpose made the journey of exploration more memorable than just seeing somebody demo something at a conference or training session.
I'm taking away an exposure to a variety of 2.0 tools and a knowledge that as the tools change (soon we'll be having 3.0 symantic web tool), I'll be able to play with them enough to make decisions as to appropriateness and usability for whatever my needs (and my customers' needs) are.
I also learned that my tolerance for different passwords is very low, so I really appreciate what I can do through a single Google account.
If I could do anything differently, I'd make sure that no week had three things to do -- that was a mental block for me (and many of the colleagues I've talked to). And I would do a self-paced program like this again.
As an actual result (and early on in Nebraska Learns 2.0), I did create a blog for my music library. I also recorded part of a podcast, which is now available. I will be using additional tools when they are the right tool.
And I will continue my lifelong voyage of exploration.
I think I got as much or more out of the exercises where I was already a little bit familiar with the tools being examined. Having a purpose made the journey of exploration more memorable than just seeing somebody demo something at a conference or training session.
I'm taking away an exposure to a variety of 2.0 tools and a knowledge that as the tools change (soon we'll be having 3.0 symantic web tool), I'll be able to play with them enough to make decisions as to appropriateness and usability for whatever my needs (and my customers' needs) are.
I also learned that my tolerance for different passwords is very low, so I really appreciate what I can do through a single Google account.
If I could do anything differently, I'd make sure that no week had three things to do -- that was a mental block for me (and many of the colleagues I've talked to). And I would do a self-paced program like this again.
As an actual result (and early on in Nebraska Learns 2.0), I did create a blog for my music library. I also recorded part of a podcast, which is now available. I will be using additional tools when they are the right tool.
And I will continue my lifelong voyage of exploration.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Podcasts
I decided to look for the podcasts from Lincoln City Libraries in each of the podcast directories. Podcastalley and the iTunes podcast page brought up the current podcasts from LCL quickly. Podcast.com didn't bring up any podcasts from Lincoln City Libraries and what I found in the Podcast Directory was way out of date.
I subscribed to the Lincoln City Libraries podcasts in both Google Reader (my preferred reader) and Bloglines. The specific podcast that I wanted came up in both. I just happened to be my first podcast book talk and I had been waiting for an excuse to listen to it. What I liked best about Google Reader was that there was a fast forward (or tab) so I could get to my part of the joint venture (the middle of the cast) without listening to the whole thing. In Bloglines, I didn't find that feature, so I just had to listen. FYI, my podcast was #29 in the Casting About series from Lincoln City Libraries. In the future I will need to speak louder and stay closer to the mic, as I kept fading away. (Of course, that's part of my pattern of speech).
I subscribed to the Lincoln City Libraries podcasts in both Google Reader (my preferred reader) and Bloglines. The specific podcast that I wanted came up in both. I just happened to be my first podcast book talk and I had been waiting for an excuse to listen to it. What I liked best about Google Reader was that there was a fast forward (or tab) so I could get to my part of the joint venture (the middle of the cast) without listening to the whole thing. In Bloglines, I didn't find that feature, so I just had to listen. FYI, my podcast was #29 in the Casting About series from Lincoln City Libraries. In the future I will need to speak louder and stay closer to the mic, as I kept fading away. (Of course, that's part of my pattern of speech).
Pachelbel Rant
My favorite video on YouTube is Rob Paravonian's Pachelbel Rant. It has had more than 6 million views in the couple of years it has been up. It is 5 star rated with more thn 38,000 ratings. In the video, the musical comedian talks and sings about the 8 notes of the bass line in Pachelbel's Canon and the changes/chords show up in popular music all over the place. I have yet to find a trained musician who doesn't find it funny. For all the humor, the video imparts a tremendous amount of information in a way that is really understandable. Best of all, Pachelbel Rant has spurred copies with subtitles in various languages as well as other videos related to the Pachelbel Canon and Paravonian's rant.
Yes, YouTube has a role in libraries -- in training staff and customers and in public relations. And it could have a place in supporting staff morale. The videos must be short and carefully targeted. And well scripted and presented. Obviously, the production qualities don't have to be the greatest, judging by what's on YouTube. One topic per video, please.
Yes, YouTube has a role in libraries -- in training staff and customers and in public relations. And it could have a place in supporting staff morale. The videos must be short and carefully targeted. And well scripted and presented. Obviously, the production qualities don't have to be the greatest, judging by what's on YouTube. One topic per video, please.
Image Generators
I played with several of the image generators, but the one that was most useful for this exercise was ALA's Mini-Read Poster. It was very easy to use. The main problem I had was not using a jpg for the first try, even though the site said I could use the type of image I tried. I got a message explaining that I needed that jpg format, so I tried another image. Also, the text box was larger than the amount of text that could be added. I saw that I couldn't print the resulting graphic without a license. My ALA mini-read poster is above.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
More Flickr Fun
I tried quite a few of the fun with Flickr things. I had fun with Montagr and the Flickr Color Picker. I made montages with westie images -- there are so many westie images it didn't want to stop adding images. For a 3rd party app, I looked at the Norad Santa Tracker.
Then there's Experimental Chia Pet. It was fun to plant the seeds on a photo and watch them grow into a chia pet. Could it have a library use? Possibly for YA activities. Or for staff morale. I don't see a serious enhancement of library service through Experimental Chia Pet.
Then there's Experimental Chia Pet. It was fun to plant the seeds on a photo and watch them grow into a chia pet. Could it have a library use? Possibly for YA activities. Or for staff morale. I don't see a serious enhancement of library service through Experimental Chia Pet.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Photos
I skipped over the Flickr exercises because I was going to be traveling and taking some pictures. It's now time to get back to the Flickr exercises.
I've explored Flickr and discovered more than 1500 pictures of Westies. I couldn't choose just one. I looked over the pictures of Budapest. Since I've yet to join Flickr -- probably next exercise -- I'll use the photo uploader in the blogger, and my own image rather than one from the web. The blogger photo uploader allows either.
The photo is of a part of the CD collection in the music library of Budapest's city library. You can find more about my library visits in Budapest in Polley Music Library's Cadenza posts.
Farecast
I played with Farecast (beta), the number one winner in the travel category. It was easy to use, and had links to several other travel sites for purposes of fare comparisons. In order to get the information, I had to click to allow pop-ups. It also allowed me to use the airport codes, giving me boxes to choose from, but not requiring me to click anything in the box when I had typed a matching code. It was not forcasting fares for any of the international flights I was looking at from Lincoln, but then I wasn't expecting it to -- that would take going back in a few days or weeks to look for the same flights.
Apps
Well, we use Google Docs for sharing schedules and other stuff, so I know how easy it is to use. Really neat are the form templates. Why keep redesigning the wheel when the basis of what you need is already there. And, best of all, it's the same user name and password as the other Google account things. So much for this thingy -- apps.
Editing a Wiki
It couldn't have been easier to edit the Wiki when I was in the right spot and looking for the edit tab. And adding a link on the wiki to my blog was just like adding one in my blog. My, my the icons matched. Then I went to add a comment on another favorites page, and that was easy except for the save, when I got a message that the site was having problems. Even so, it really did save my comment, much to my suprise. Yes, I might just contribute to a wiki now.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Wiki wiki
Whose got the wiki?
Wikis can be used in any number of ways, as the examples indicated. They work best for collaborative documents or projects, which each participant can access and change as needed. Hacking is a potential problem, as the best practices wiki indicated, and even wikipedia has discovered. How open do you go?
My library uses several wikis. Some have been created to great fanfare and then quickly wither on the vine, as there may be better or quicker ways of dispersing the information to those involved. For the reference categorized list of websites, it does allow staff to have input as to new sites and to keep the dead links at a minimum, relieving the techies of some tasks.
I liked the book review wiki as a way of involving customers and staff -- with those prizes to encourage public participation.
I was involved with an international project that involved a wiki. Participation lagged. And the group is now looking for other ways to share the information, as the wiki really didn't fulfill its promise.
I'm not sold on wikis. Maybe I just don't like to share with the possibility of my work being changed or removed.
Wikis can be used in any number of ways, as the examples indicated. They work best for collaborative documents or projects, which each participant can access and change as needed. Hacking is a potential problem, as the best practices wiki indicated, and even wikipedia has discovered. How open do you go?
My library uses several wikis. Some have been created to great fanfare and then quickly wither on the vine, as there may be better or quicker ways of dispersing the information to those involved. For the reference categorized list of websites, it does allow staff to have input as to new sites and to keep the dead links at a minimum, relieving the techies of some tasks.
I liked the book review wiki as a way of involving customers and staff -- with those prizes to encourage public participation.
I was involved with an international project that involved a wiki. Participation lagged. And the group is now looking for other ways to share the information, as the wiki really didn't fulfill its promise.
I'm not sold on wikis. Maybe I just don't like to share with the possibility of my work being changed or removed.
Library 2.0 and Web 2.0
As the web is hurrying along towards web 3.0, we as librarians are mired in a lust for web 2.0 tools as an end in themselves. Web 2.0 provides a variety of tools, but do they really help us function as librarians? If they really help us connect with our customers, fine, but if the tools aren't helpful, but rather just "techno-lust", we need to say a firm no to them.
I was interested in Wendy Schultz's take on library 2.0 and web 2.0. Everything is evolving; the library will, and the role of the librarian will, too. The library 4.0 will take the library beyond product and service to experience, and include parts of all the library's previous lives. Librarians will be valued because of our skills linking knowledge from a variety of perspectives. The library 4.0 is a library -- a retreat from "technohustle".
And, I was really taken with "Library 2.0 Debased", with its idea of the library as a delicate ecosystem. Technology we use must be beneficial to our users (and us), and it must be transparent, intuitive, and a natural extension of the customer's experience with the library.
Are we helping our library customers with their information needs? Or their recreational needs? Or are we on Facebook just to be on Facebook?
I was interested in Wendy Schultz's take on library 2.0 and web 2.0. Everything is evolving; the library will, and the role of the librarian will, too. The library 4.0 will take the library beyond product and service to experience, and include parts of all the library's previous lives. Librarians will be valued because of our skills linking knowledge from a variety of perspectives. The library 4.0 is a library -- a retreat from "technohustle".
And, I was really taken with "Library 2.0 Debased", with its idea of the library as a delicate ecosystem. Technology we use must be beneficial to our users (and us), and it must be transparent, intuitive, and a natural extension of the customer's experience with the library.
Are we helping our library customers with their information needs? Or their recreational needs? Or are we on Facebook just to be on Facebook?
Presentations go social
Or, too many power points.
Slide Share was very easy to use after I finally got an account. Getting the account was the problem. Obviously, I'm not human, as that was the question that kept me from getting an account for about an hour of trying. I gave it a rest and when I went back, a different set of crazy letters and numbers worked for me and I got registered. I did not feel comfortable giving much of my profile info. I tried several searches, one of which came up empty and the rest brought up things that were not particularly related to my understanding of the terms I was using. Making favorites was just a click of the mouse, and adding comments was a breeze. Whoops! I forgot to add nebraskaaccess as a contact. I'd better go back and do that before I post the link to my comments.
I didn't add a power point. Frankly I don't want to share. And aren't there more than enough power point presentations in the world already?
Slide Share was very easy to use after I finally got an account. Getting the account was the problem. Obviously, I'm not human, as that was the question that kept me from getting an account for about an hour of trying. I gave it a rest and when I went back, a different set of crazy letters and numbers worked for me and I got registered. I did not feel comfortable giving much of my profile info. I tried several searches, one of which came up empty and the rest brought up things that were not particularly related to my understanding of the terms I was using. Making favorites was just a click of the mouse, and adding comments was a breeze. Whoops! I forgot to add nebraskaaccess as a contact. I'd better go back and do that before I post the link to my comments.
I didn't add a power point. Frankly I don't want to share. And aren't there more than enough power point presentations in the world already?
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