In 2009 the HSC English course will include Wikipedia as a text. I think that this is an interesting turn in education - particularly as many schools ban wikipedia as a reference for assignments, etc. This is the first time that wikipedia has formally been included in a syllabus in Australia. It's fascinating to see a collaborative site formalised in the education system.
Clay Shirky reckons that society wastes huge amounts of the 'cognitive surplus' watching television - passively consuming other people's collaborative works.
"And television watching? Two hundred billion hours, in the U.S. alone, every year. Put another way, now that we have a unit, that's 2,000 Wikipedia projects a year spent watching television."
I wonder if studying wikipedia as a text will encourage students (and teachers!) to take online collaborative projects more seriously, and to spend some time participating in them.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
'Break' the boundaries
I went along to the last session of the conference "Reference @ the Metcalfe Seminar", which was organised by the NSW Reference & Information Services Group. Great stuff!
The last session was a presentation by the people who created "Inside Break" - the fabulous HSC resources website provided by Manly, Pittwater and Warringah Council Libraries. This site is an excellent resource for all students in NSW completing their HSC and is a testament to the power of collaboration.
It would be fantastic if more libraries could produce collaborative projects like Inside Break. Now that this group of libraries has produced such an excellent site, there's no need for staff from other libraries to pore so much effort into creating another website of resources for HSC students. Although, to ensure that it remains an amazing resource/tool for students, other libraries should continue to offer suggestions for improvement to this team's product. The best thing, however, is that now staff time at other libraries will be freed up to produce other magnificent projects for their client groups (and shared by other libraries). This is the true power of collaboration - efficient and effective and shared – that results in everyone benefiting.
The last session was a presentation by the people who created "Inside Break" - the fabulous HSC resources website provided by Manly, Pittwater and Warringah Council Libraries. This site is an excellent resource for all students in NSW completing their HSC and is a testament to the power of collaboration.
It would be fantastic if more libraries could produce collaborative projects like Inside Break. Now that this group of libraries has produced such an excellent site, there's no need for staff from other libraries to pore so much effort into creating another website of resources for HSC students. Although, to ensure that it remains an amazing resource/tool for students, other libraries should continue to offer suggestions for improvement to this team's product. The best thing, however, is that now staff time at other libraries will be freed up to produce other magnificent projects for their client groups (and shared by other libraries). This is the true power of collaboration - efficient and effective and shared – that results in everyone benefiting.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Answers and social networking
Librarians are excellent at finding information: "I don't know the answer to that (yet) but I know how to look it up". So I was not surprised that librarians were slamming the boards to promote their skills. I was surprised at the amount of questions out there!
I've been adding the books that I'm reading and have recently read to LibraryThing - I've always liked the idea of keeping a reading journal but never got around to it. This could definitely work for me.
And I am still loving delicious. I'm continually returning to my bookmarks to revisit a site when I can't remember the url (for example to the Learning 2.0 site). And it's a fantastic tool when you stumble across a website that you know will be useful for future reference questions.
I've been adding the books that I'm reading and have recently read to LibraryThing - I've always liked the idea of keeping a reading journal but never got around to it. This could definitely work for me.
And I am still loving delicious. I'm continually returning to my bookmarks to revisit a site when I can't remember the url (for example to the Learning 2.0 site). And it's a fantastic tool when you stumble across a website that you know will be useful for future reference questions.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Honour and integrity
The more that I become committed to blogging as a form of networking and communication, the more I realise that I would prefer to not be blogging under a pseudonym and so I've changed my profile to reveal my identity.
Certainly it was easier to begin writing as an unknown but I think that it’s important to own your ideas so you can contribute to a community more effectively. I can't imagine not continuing this blog as a learning/networking/information gathering tool - I enjoy sharing ideas and hope this form of communication will be another format to share knowledge in our profession.
[I have also removed my cheesy cartoon character. I love Veronica but have opted for some lovely old books instead.]
Certainly it was easier to begin writing as an unknown but I think that it’s important to own your ideas so you can contribute to a community more effectively. I can't imagine not continuing this blog as a learning/networking/information gathering tool - I enjoy sharing ideas and hope this form of communication will be another format to share knowledge in our profession.
[I have also removed my cheesy cartoon character. I love Veronica but have opted for some lovely old books instead.]
Monday, May 12, 2008
Learning 2.0.... a few comments
I filled in the mid-way survey for the course last night. I didn't put any comments at the end (it was time for the lasagne to come out of the oven) but I'd like to share a few thoughts about this programme because I'm really impressed with it. There are so many ways to use web 2.0 technologies for the Library and here's a few ideas I've had:
* Using video to visually describe the process of joining the library, and then retrieving books from stack. This would really assist new clients to get to know the procedures of the Library.
* Blog for our client groups. Eg. Infocus is an effective way of assisting HSC students so why not create a blog to alert them to new additions to the Infocus materials? Such a blog could be in collaboration with the Secondary Students team in Reader Services.
* Building networks - I was amazed that when I linked to someone else's blog that they commented back to me on my blog! Blogs and other activities are an amazing way of building networks within the profession. (Also, I've got to find out how she did that!)
* Developing leadership within the organisation - let's push the boundaries of this technology and make it work towards our goals!
* RSS feeds and readers - this is an amazing way of keeping-up-to-date with the latest developments in our profession. We don't have to wait until someone tells us what's going on, we'll already know and be contributing to it already! Also, we can listen out to what other disciplines are doing - they may inspire us to think in new ways!
* Using Learning 2.0 to create change in our organisation by reinforcing our values, learning new skills, and using these new skills to challenge ourselves.
* Using our new skills to create an internal climate for collaboration - via blogs, wikis, and all the other fabulous web 2.0 tools.
I'm sure that there's loads more ideas that everyone else cqan contribute. Looking forward to hearing from you!
* Using video to visually describe the process of joining the library, and then retrieving books from stack. This would really assist new clients to get to know the procedures of the Library.
* Blog for our client groups. Eg. Infocus is an effective way of assisting HSC students so why not create a blog to alert them to new additions to the Infocus materials? Such a blog could be in collaboration with the Secondary Students team in Reader Services.
* Building networks - I was amazed that when I linked to someone else's blog that they commented back to me on my blog! Blogs and other activities are an amazing way of building networks within the profession. (Also, I've got to find out how she did that!)
* Developing leadership within the organisation - let's push the boundaries of this technology and make it work towards our goals!
* RSS feeds and readers - this is an amazing way of keeping-up-to-date with the latest developments in our profession. We don't have to wait until someone tells us what's going on, we'll already know and be contributing to it already! Also, we can listen out to what other disciplines are doing - they may inspire us to think in new ways!
* Using Learning 2.0 to create change in our organisation by reinforcing our values, learning new skills, and using these new skills to challenge ourselves.
* Using our new skills to create an internal climate for collaboration - via blogs, wikis, and all the other fabulous web 2.0 tools.
I'm sure that there's loads more ideas that everyone else cqan contribute. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Even in space... we are not alone
Blogs are fantastic ways to share information! I found this video of Anoushed Ansari, commenting on how she felt when she read other people's comments on her blog. Anoushed Ansari was the first person to blog from space (September 2006).
It's absolutely fantastic that experiences can be shared via the net - we don't need to rely on news agencies to share information, we can do it ourselves!
It's absolutely fantastic that experiences can be shared via the net - we don't need to rely on news agencies to share information, we can do it ourselves!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Social networking.... oops!
I'm still such a newby to this whole blogging thang. I was bumbling about on the web and came upon the wiki "2008 Comment Challenge" which gives great tips on blog etiquette, as well as discussing the importance of comments on blogs. The wiki discusses and promotes how essential it is to comment in the blogosphere in order to build communities, contribute and further the progression of ideas or memes. So now I must apologise to any and all who have commented on my postings when I have rudely not replied. Very sorry, I didn't realise nor understand my faux pas.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Innovation & Engagement
I love this photo! It really shows how if we work together then we can find solutions to our problems - and get rewards!
Have recently discovered the fabulous Library Journals on the intranet put together by Collection Services. I was trying to get online access to a very recent copy of The Reference Librarian, and thought that I'd need to go down to stack. But no! Staff have access via the intranet. Cool!
A couple of interesting articles from Vol. 48(1) talk about the 'vertical search engine' tools that Google have provided - like Google Maps, Google Trends, Google News, etc. "Google Tools on the public reference desk" had some great ideas for new database users - introduce them to Google News (using the familiar google search screen) and show them how a newspaper database is the same concept but an even better way of searching as you can access all the articles. It's a great way of developing information literacy skills by building and increasing knowledge about resources. Also thought that I could suggest Google Trends as a starting point for market research when I'm on AskNow.
Btw if you're interested in some stats on how social media and blogs are becoming more popular, check out Wave 3 which includes global and individual country stats on blogs and internet participation. Apparently 29% of Australians have written a blog... that could be larger since NSW libraries have become involved (?)
Have recently discovered the fabulous Library Journals on the intranet put together by Collection Services. I was trying to get online access to a very recent copy of The Reference Librarian, and thought that I'd need to go down to stack. But no! Staff have access via the intranet. Cool!
A couple of interesting articles from Vol. 48(1) talk about the 'vertical search engine' tools that Google have provided - like Google Maps, Google Trends, Google News, etc. "Google Tools on the public reference desk" had some great ideas for new database users - introduce them to Google News (using the familiar google search screen) and show them how a newspaper database is the same concept but an even better way of searching as you can access all the articles. It's a great way of developing information literacy skills by building and increasing knowledge about resources. Also thought that I could suggest Google Trends as a starting point for market research when I'm on AskNow.
Btw if you're interested in some stats on how social media and blogs are becoming more popular, check out Wave 3 which includes global and individual country stats on blogs and internet participation. Apparently 29% of Australians have written a blog... that could be larger since NSW libraries have become involved (?)
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The stack
Whenever I introduce the concept of the 'stack' to new members of the library their eyes widen - 5 floors filled with books, amazing! So I thought that it would be interesting for others to see what the stacks look like. I've taken some photos (Yes, I know that I'm not much of a photographer!) and have popped them onto Flickr. To find the photos search the tags for 'stack' and 'slnsw'. Hope you like them!
Monday, May 5, 2008
Organising organising
Since my last post I have created folders in my Google Reader account and am now on my way to becoming a knowledge management ninja. I'm more relaxed about reading my rss feeds now that I have more control - tracking the ones that I'm really interested in, and getting to the others when-I-get-around-to-them.
I have also added other State Library blogs to my Google Reader so that I can comment on interesting postings and contribute to building our community within the Library.
Have begun to set up my del.icio.us bookmarks too. I love the way that I can take them with me anywhere when they are saved to the internet. Very useful for someone who hops from computer to computer during a day's work!
I have also added other State Library blogs to my Google Reader so that I can comment on interesting postings and contribute to building our community within the Library.
Have begun to set up my del.icio.us bookmarks too. I love the way that I can take them with me anywhere when they are saved to the internet. Very useful for someone who hops from computer to computer during a day's work!
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