tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38246645221662554312024-03-21T12:26:45.502-07:00a slice of knowledgean exploration of web applicationsDrezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-59381761137429781362009-08-14T11:01:00.000-07:002013-11-13T15:04:18.368-08:00We've only just begun<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.pantheon.org/articles/j/janus.html">Janus</a>, in Roman mythology, was the god of doors, gateways, beginning and ends, and as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus">Wikipedia</a> defined this god, a patron of concrete and abstract beginnings. He was used as a symbol of transition from past to future, celebrated at marriages and births, a mediator between of all changing importances.<br />
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I find myself in the position of Janus. I am looking at an end of this course, the finish of this blog. I am looking to this coming school year and the beginning of a <a href="http://thewordthatbinds.blogspot.com/">new blog</a>. Being in the middle of this door way and peering out in reflection at both directions, I realize there is much to write about.<br />
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Can I honestly say that this entire class was one large highlight for me? Can I say that it was the highlight of my existence as a SLIS student? I know some of you reading this are wondering what in all the world I am talking about. I have no lowlights to my learning of Web 2.0 applications. If "lowlights" is defined by grades, well than I just might qualify, but that's just not a part of my learning policy. I don't measure learning by grades. So the highlight of this class for me was that I could see myself progressing in my blogging style. It was really encouraging to see the growth, but the biggest part of that growth was you. By reading your posts I was able to flesh out ideas that I could apply in my own writing. When it came to discussions, each of you had a unique perspective to present and added sides to an issue or topic I would have thought only two sided. Another highlight was the interaction. We are spaces apart, ranging in a few miles to across the country. But you and I learned to crinkle that physical space into a few bytes. I learned the importance of privacy and safety of self on the web (now, I'm just paranoid when an offer to sign up for something pops up). The thing about learning from each of you is that it won't stop. We are now a part of a blogging community. <br />
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Did I have any expectations of this class, of learning or garnering an understanding of Web 2.0 applications? None whatsoever. Were expectations created due to this class? Definitely. I now look at myself at the end of this journey, on the verge of a new one and have expectations of myself to continue the growth of learning. As I look at this school year, I realize that I have to search for my own learning tools now. How will I do this? I think by applying what I have learned to my upcoming classes will be one way of practicing. Doing so will help me to set a pattern, get into the habit of blogging. I realize to better my blogging, to add quality to possible quantity, I need guidelines for myself and for my future audience. Yes, I need a set of standard and a list of goals for what I want to accomplish with myself and this new blog. Maybe I should sign up for <a href="http://www.43things.com/">43 Things</a> after all. I need to also need to create a commenting policy as well. I'm going to keep with the blogs I've attained for the RSS feed experimenting. I'm going to slowly explore and apply the current apps I've learnt and along the way pick up what's hot and not through my readings. The biggest hype will be using all of this in my fall classes. <br />
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I've gone through this class, but I want to share this experience with those I come into contact with. Enter <a href="http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/">Learning 2.0 - 23 Things</a>. This blog is a structured platform for those wanting to learn Web 2.0 outside of the classroom but in a structure manner. This project was originally set up for <a href="http://www.plcmc.org/">PLCMC</a> staff and the purpose was to encourage experimenting and learning web 2.0. The project was created by Helene Blowers, PLCMC Technology Director, with help from supportive staff and is based loosely on Stephen Abram's article <a href="http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FWE/is_2_10/ai_n16133338">43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year </a> and <a href="http://www.43things.com/">43 Things</a>. When I began the EDES 501 Library 2.0 class, I was discussing the general aspects of the class to a high school art teacher, a good friend of mine. She showed interest in learning what I learned in the class, and now, I can refer her to this site and walk with her through the process. <br />
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I know this class is done, but I feel like I've only just begun. The foundation has been laid and now I'm ready to see where I can really go with this Web 2.0 learning.</div>
Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-83635829368526465792009-08-11T10:40:00.000-07:002009-11-09T14:29:35.599-08:00Life is a highway, and so is BloggingLearning of any kind is comparable to a road. As the saying goes, "each journey begins with a step," is entirely true of the education experience. Each new area of learning begins with an exposure of some sort. It can be within the classroom as a student in university, the first year as a librarian/teacher, or after years of work within an educational or library institute. Although we are teachers, we never stop being students. We are always finding ways in which to expand and enrich the learning experience of our students or patrons. Our road has no end, but it always has beginnings. One of the many roads of learning is Web 2.0 applications. The one particular path I want to explore with you today is blogs. <br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">One Lane: You and I</span><br />
Blogging is seen more as a highway. That highway always has opportunities to expand, but for now, it is a one lane highway. That lane is you. Before that highway can expand into multiple lanes, you must define and establish the first lane, because right now, it's nothing but a gravel road. So as you begin down this road to self-exploration of blogging, here are some things you will discover.<br />
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The tool you'll need to build this lane with is a blog. A blog in of itself is a tool. A teaching tool to be exact. You will learn that blogging is a form of communication. The purpose of blogging depends on the goal. Is the goal of blogging to relate your own personal teaching experience, professionally or personally OR to interact with students as you guide them in improving their writing in a showcase style to classmates and the unknown web-world? If you've chosen students as your goal in using the blogging environment, then there are few more things we need to touch base with.<br />
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<span style="font-style:italic;">The Standards</span><br />
Setting standards is another important part of blogging. There's a list a possibilities that blogs can play in a students Web 2.0 learning. Which standard will you choose in their learning experience? Will Richardson provides a list:<ol><il><span style="font-style:italic;">Class Portals</span>: to communicate information about the class and to archive course materials. Students may have an opportunity to critique or comment on this material as a class assignment</il>
<il><span style="font-style:italic;">Online Filing Cabinet</span>: students post their work online for peer and teacher response. This effect creates a filing cabinet and archive for their work</il>
<il><span style="font-style:italic;">E-Porfolio</span>: one small step from digital filing cabinet, this searches as a place to showcase their work to others</il>
<il><span style="font-style:italic;">Collaborative Space</span>: students can collaborate with others online</il></ol><br />
If you use one or many of these examples, the next item that needs to be taken into consideration is context. Students will be writing in all these examples. <a href="http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/node/233">Mariela Hristova</a> writes that "students better understand their rhetorical purposes for writing when they envision their writing within a real context." Students realizing that they have an audience that will respond to their writing creates a purpose for writing. Another standard that must be taken into consideration is setting guidelines and objectives before putting students on blogs. Julie Sturgeon suggests code of conduct for blogging that addresses bullying, slander, and foul language. In her article, "Five Don'ts of Classroom Blogging," she refers to Anne Davis's classroom where if students abused the code they lost their internet privileges. <br />
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<span style="font-style:italic;">The Goals</span><br />
So, what should the goal of blogs and blogging be? I like how the <a href="http://www.det.wa.gov.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/weblogs/">Department of Education and Training</a> in Australia has defined blogs:<ol>Blogs provide a communication space that teachers can utilise with students whenever there is a curriculum need to develop writing, share ideas and reflect on work being undertaken in the classroom.</ol>Their point of view of blogging is seen as a "viable classroom activity" and "a means for teachers to communicate with other teachers." Accessing that space is perhaps the first and foremost in goals. But essentially, goals for blogging should be the same as the physical classroom goals. Students are very much present online as they are in class. The goals should remain the same. Beginning assignments promptly. Cooperating with one another. Always ask the teacher if you don't understand. Participating with comments. Posting assignments on time. What goals you set in the classroom applies also in the blogsphere. <br />
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If you're involving your students in setting the goals for their blog community, one place they as a class can list the goals is <a href="http://www.43things.com/">43 Things</a>. The basis of this website is to create a list of goals and follow others who have like goals. 43 Things have four different ways to use their site. One that stands out is tracking the progress of your goal by writing entries. Students may suggest goals but it doesn't have to end there. As a class evaluation, students could write entries to see if the class as a whole has accomplished the goal they started with. As <a href="http://web20classroom.blogspot.com/2009/03/realize-your-goals43-things.html">Steven W. Anderson</a> points out that it's a great conversation piece. Making goals can be a learning process for students as well. <br />
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<span style="font-style:italic;">The Blueprint</span><br />
Blueprints are guiding lines in creating structure. There is not one set of guidelines for creating the structure for the development of content in blogging. But <a href="http://thejournal.com/Articles/2007/02/26/Moderating-and-Ethics-for-the-Classroom-Instructional-Blog_633573844495478025.aspx?Page=2">Patricia Deubel</a> has a few guidelines that would help in the blogging process of students:<ol><li>Provide posting guidelines: Suggest a minimum number of words or length for each posting based on your criteria for what constitutes a substantive post. Generally, one to two focused paragraphs per post is appropriate<a href="http://thejournal.com/Articles/2007/02/26/Moderating-and-Ethics-for-the-Classroom-Instructional-Blog_633573844495478025.aspx?Page=2">...</a></li>
<li>Provide HTML support, if needed: Depending on your blogging service, you might need to teach students some introductory HTML code to create new paragraphs or live links to any Web content they provide. New paragraphs are created very simply by adding <p> at the beginning and </p> at the end of each<a href="http://thejournal.com/Articles/2007/02/26/Moderating-and-Ethics-for-the-Classroom-Instructional-Blog_633573844495478025.aspx?Page=2">...</a> A good place for learning basic HTML/XHTML in tutorial form would be <a href="http://www.w3schools.com/">W3Schools</a></li>
<li>Give priority to student commentary: Your reply to student postings can stimulate dialog. On the other hand, it might be perceived as the final word and cut off discussion<a href="http://thejournal.com/Articles/2007/02/26/Moderating-and-Ethics-for-the-Classroom-Instructional-Blog_633573844495478025.aspx?Page=2">...</a></li>
<li>Involve students in summarizing and moderating discussions:Let's do some math. You might have a class of 25 students, posed only one discussion question for the week, and asked students to not only post an initial reply, but to respond to two other learners. That translates to reading at least 75 posts, replying to many, and then composing your own initial contributions--and you have five classes. Did all learners participate fully? Were the replies of value? Summarizing content takes time, and you might wonder how useful it will be. The question is, "Who should summarize your blog discussions?"</li>
</ol><span style="font-style:italic;">The Tools</span><br />
The tools available to the students would be computers and the chosen blog program. What's popular and allows for ease of use these days? <a href="http://wordpress.org/">Wordpress</a>, <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/">LiveJournal</a> and <a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Blogger</a>. But Julie Sturgeon gives a compelling argument about the right to be picky when picking a blog software program. Jeffrey Yan mentions in Sturgeons article, that blogs are "riddled with advertisement hat are outside educators' control." There is no way around these advertisement. No one can build a cyber fence around a particular classroom project. The entire blog must be accessed in order to work on a project, including the advertisements. Anne Davis, another teacher mentioned in Sturgeon's article talks about using <a href="http://www.classblogmeister.com/">Class Blogmeister</a>. Although it only has seven templates, it allows teachers more control. Before publication, the entry is filtered through the teacher. <br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Two Lanes: You and the Students</span><br />
You've navigated lane one. You've been up and down this part of the highway and you've become comfortable with the ease of travel. It's now time to begin work on lane two. We come to the most important part of why blogging. The students. There are lists of why students should blog (<a href="http://murcha.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/20-reasons-why-students-should-blog/">here</a> and <a href="http://www.adrianbruce.com/blogging/why_blog/why_blog_with_students.htm">here</a>), and Richardson also provides a rather extensive list as to why blogs improve student learning. To quickly sum them up:<ol><il>Blogs are a constructive learning tool: teachers and students create content that is being added to the collective knowledge of the World Wide Web. People can search, find and use this knowledge.</il>
<il>Blogs expand the walls of the classroom: Teachers and students can now connect across physical borders and boundaries.</il>
<il>Blogs are a democratic tool that supports different learning styles: Students who were once quiet in class now have the chance to speak out.</il>
<il>Blogs enhance the opportunity to become experts in a particular subject: Students who blog usually focus their reading and writing on one topic giving them topic-specific expertise.</il>
<il>Blogs can teach students new literacy skills: In an ever expanding information society, student will need to know how to analyze and manage the information that they come into contact through their professional and personal life.</il></ol>The pedagogy of blogging and the process of writing are important when writing a blog. A blog will continue with purpose and flourish if it is part of a constructive community of students, teachers and educators. In Rama Ramaswami's article, "The Prose (and a Few Cons, Too) of Blogging," focuses on Barry Bachenheimer's research of students and blogging. The statistics are intriguing:<ol>It showed that students who blogged felt better about writing overall, and about writing research papers in particular. Of the 25 students in the English class, 74 percent believed that blog posts helped them articulate their ideas better, and 68 percent said blogs helped them determine what to say. Another 60 percent felt blogging helped them begin writing their papers, which is compelling because 84 percent of the students said that the hardest part of writing a research paper is starting it. The students commented that blogs helped them organize their thoughts, develop their ideas, synthesize their research, and benefit from their classmates' constructive comments.</ol>So students improve in their writing, this is great but here's another thought to consider. They're involved and helping to evolve a new writing genre. At least, that's what Richardson calls it. Students no longer have to write the traditional essay format but can now expand in "personal reactions to topics covered in class, post links, write reflectively, and summarize or annotate reading." Richardson lists these possibilities but he calls this new genre of writing "connective writing." Students caught up in this writing method are "forced...to read carefully and critically, [a method] that demands clarity and cogency in its construction." <br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Lane Three: You and The World</span><br />
You're on lane two. You glance over to the next lane, still a dirt road. Your highway is expanding considerably. Your students are now safely on their way of building the second lane with your help, but you see the potential of letting the third lane coming into existence now. It's time to let the world in and see what your students can really accomplish. <br />
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One reason for blogging, you will soon discover, is community; not only the classroom or school community but the world community. In the article, "The Joy of Blogging," by Anne P. Davis and Ewa McGrail, a group of 5th grade students experienced comments from people around the world. Their blogging experience first began with a class blog that their teacher, Anne, created to "instruct the class and share what they were learning throughout the project." Going by the links provided in the post, the students began their learning process of blogging by reading other student blogs, wikis on blogging, and a "book" (a book created on a blog) that the last year students created. <br />
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The teacher continued the learning process about blogs by introducing brainstorming about the things they learned concerning blogging and than they drew a representation of their learnings. Only after all of this, did the students create their own blogs. After creating their blogs, they began to write about different classroom activities in their blog. Students learned to comment on other students' blogs. To become part of the world community was preplanning on the teacher's part. The teacher recruited willing participants to read and comment on the 5th grade students blogs. Participants included "Ewa's university classes, students in other blogging classes, retired teachers, and readers of Anne's professional blog." Those that left comments knew "the goals and purposes of the project and set the stage for other readers who later found the student blogs and joined the conversations."<br />
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This is one example of collaboration, but where else can we learn about connecting to the world abroad (while sitting in our chairs)? Sheila Offman Gersh writes about teachers connecting their classrooms through blogs to others around the world. In her article, "Global Projects and Digital Tools," she speaks about the online services that allow teachers to connect. Through <a href="http://www.epals.com/">ePals</a>, teachers have access to 180,000 classrooms in 80 countries. Gersh gives two examples of collaborating classes between <a href="http://culturequestindia.blogspot.com/">Japan and Chile</a> and <a href="http://culturequestchile.blogspot.com/">Japan and India</a>. Kathy Cassidy, in her article, "To Blog or not Blot," mentions <a href="http://www.yackpack.com/education.html">YackPack</a>, a walkie-talkie device that can be implanted into the blog. <br />
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<span style="font-style:italic;">Things that go bump in the night</span><br />
Those you want to watch out for. A lot of times as you're traveling these highways, there are creatures hiding in the bushes by the shoulder of the road. If you aren't aware, there are <a href="http://www.slais.ubc.ca/COURSES/libr500/05-06-wt1/www/A_Cho/dangers.htm">dangers of blogging</a>. Before jumping into the blogsphere with students, certain precautions should be taken. Communicating to the parents about what safety measures have been put in place is a first. Richardson suggests using only the first name of students or "even pseudonyms for students with unique names." No personal information of student should be disclosed. Nothing that will identify them should be present within posts or on the blog. They should know the process of reporting problem in the blogs, "whether technical or content related." <br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Four Lanes: The expressway</span><br />
The ride has been smooth, and you and your students are gaining speed over the three lane highway. As you journey on you notice a fourth lane opening. What does this mean? Expansion. New possibilities. A faster lane. Greater movability. Blogs go beyond reading and writing. Blogs can contain podcasts. Blogs can can contain videos. Widgets can be imported to the side menu. Photographs can be shown. Slideshows are now the newest thing on the Blog block. All of these applications can be used to enhance the blog, create discussion, used as part of a theme. These other applications that would showcase in blogs can be explored in their own right. But reading and writing doesn't simply end. It evolves. If you want to go further in your read/write web experience in the blogsphere, it is possible. Richardson provides an extensive list in the evolution of blogging:<br />
<ol><li>Post assignment. (Not blogging)</li>
<li>Journaling, i.e. "This is what I did today." ( Not blogging)</li>
<li>Posting links. (Not blogging)</li>
<li>Links with descriptive annotations i.e., "This site is about..." (Not really blogging either , but getting closer depending on the depth of the description)</li>
<li>Links with analysis that gets into the meaning of the content being linked. (A simple form of blogging)</li>
<li>Reflective, metacognitive writing on practice without links. (Complex writing, but simple blogging, I think. Commenting would probably fall in here somewhere)</li>
<li>Links with analysis and synthesis that articulate a deeper understanding or relationship to the content being linked and written with potential audience response in mind. (Real blogging)</li>
<li>Extended analysis and synthesis over a longer period of time that builds on previous posts, links, and comments. (Complex blogging)</li>
</ol>Once you get to the level of complexing blogging, don't feel that you are confined to that level only. The wonderful thing about blogs is that it is flexible. Use the blog as you need it or use the blog as your goals dictate. <br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Still on the First Lane?</span><br />
Relax. Take a deep breath. Exhale. If you don't get to writing from the get go, that is aokay. Sometimes a blog begins as a place to put up homework assignments or relevant class links. Don't fret about connecting with other bloggers or communicating with them from the outset. Getting use to the blog format might take some time before you progress to the next level. Blogging can be a slow process. That's perfectly fine. Blogs have a diverse use in the classroom. You might want to start with a personal blog before you begin a classroom blog. There are benefits galore in personal blogging. You can blog about your teaching experiences, write a description of a specific teaching unit (<a href="http://classblogging.blogspot.com/">see example</a>), or explore important teaching and learning issues. And once you've become comfortable with your baby-steps on this journey, you will be ready to start a class blog and from there expand into the horizon. This is your highway. You build at your own speed. But know this, the road never ends when it comes to learning; there's just new paths. <br />
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<hr /><br />
Sturgeon, Julie. "Five Don'ts of Classroom Blogging." THEJournal. 35.2 (2008):26-30. August 12 2009. Academic Search Complete. http://web.ebscohost.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/<br />
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Ramaswami, Rama. "The Prose (and a Few Cons, Too) of Blogging." THEJournal. 35.11 (2008):21-25. August 12 2009. Academic Search Complete. http://web.ebscohost.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/<br />
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Cassidy, Kathy. "To Blog or Not to Blog." Connect Magazine. 21.4 (2008):1-3. August 12 2009. Academic Search Complete. http://web.ebscohost.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/<br />
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Gersh, Sheila Offman. "Global Projects and Digital Tools." MultiMedia & Internet@Schools. 16.1 (2009):10-13. August 12 2009. Academic Search Complete. http://web.ebscohost.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca.<br />
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Davis, Anne P.,McGrail, Ewa. "The Joy of Blogging." Educational Leadership. 66.6 (2009):74-77. August 12 2009. Academic Search Complete. http://web.ebscohost.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/<br />
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Richardson, Will. "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, And Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms." Thousand Oaks; Corwin Press; 2009.Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-73098531391263406162009-08-10T21:17:00.001-07:002009-08-10T22:46:24.729-07:00on a reflective notewell, we're almost done and I can honestly say, I am sad that we'll be parting ways. Yes, I am talking to you:) Okay, we're not entirely parting ways if we continue to peek on one another's blogs, but the coming together in WebCT (aka eclass) will be missed. These last few days of class and the intense coverage of everything blog-related has brought to a self-realization that I love this. And by "this" I mean blogging. It's only now that I am getting into the swing of write/read web. I am finally exploring other edublogs (a gold mine of humor, by the way), beginning to comment on the bloggers I am adding to my RSS feed...well you know what I mean, we're in the same boat, for petes sake! <br /><br />I am contemplating on whether to keep this blog for the coming school year. Do I start a new one and explore my academic year with a fresh interface and fresh blog? Or just keep this blog and fiddle around with it's structure. I am conflicted. Anybody have suggestions? I'd like to hear what you think.<br /><br />I do realize that this may be a head start on the reflection we have to submit at the end...oh well:PDrezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-45799255721069913102009-08-09T14:11:00.000-07:002009-08-10T09:36:53.322-07:00Blogging: A Loose CannonIt's been on my mind for the last couple of days. Here I am trying to figure out the essential life force of blogging, of professional development and thrown in along with these Web 2.0 concepts, I have to write a post on the matter. I guess all this contemplating finally got to me. My approach to the topic didn't hit me until Saturday morning. Between the snooze button and my hazy dreams, the notion came out of no where. I rolled over, scribbled it on a piece of paper and fell back to sleep. But as I look at my scribble, I know it's true. Blogging is a loose cannon!<br /><br /> Look at the <a href="http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/loose-cannon.html">definition</a> of the phrase:<ol>An unpredictable person or thing, liable to cause damage if not kept in check by others.</ol>Does that not sum up blogging within the academic world? Wandering down memory lane of previous links, I have to refer back to <a href="http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/content/anne-trubek/we-are-all-writers-now">Anne Trubek</a> when she said that "Critics bemoan blogging as the province of the amateurism. Journalists rue the loose ethics and shoddy fact-checking of citizen journalists." But there's always a flip-side to the Internet coin. You and I know that blogging was not originally intended for the professional arena. However, we both know that any Web 2.0 tool has quickly adapted from professing the inner workings of selves with little regard to audience to personal development and career advancement with an acute awareness of self (see slideshow). <br /><div style="width:425px;text-align:left" id="__ss_1618877"><a style="font:14px Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;display:block;margin:12px 0 3px 0;text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/mweller/blogging-and-academic-identity" title="Blogging and academic identity">Blogging and academic identity</a><object style="margin:0px" width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=identity-090622065338-phpapp01&stripped_title=blogging-and-academic-identity" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=identity-090622065338-phpapp01&stripped_title=blogging-and-academic-identity" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="font-size:11px;font-family:tahoma,arial;height:26px;padding-top:2px;">View more <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/mweller">mweller</a>.</div></div><br />Blogs are loose cannons. The issues alone can make a person cringe. There's the <a href="http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile6.htm#identification">identification</a> of the blogger. Are they a ghost or for real? Then there's matters of <a href="http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile6.htm#privacy">privacy</a>. What you're putting out there will it get anyone else in hot water? Are blogs <a href="http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile6.htm#accessibility">accessible</a> to visually and hearing impaired individuals out there? <a href="http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile6.htm#comment">Comment spamming</a> can be a problem when bloggers blogs are used within wikis as sources. Getting the picture? Okay, things may have changed concerning these issues, however its difficult to dissuade those from these particular points of views. <br /><br />I think <a href="http://crookedtimber.org/2004/11/18/the-academic-contributions-of-blogging/<br />">Eszter Hargittai's</a> reflections that some individuals "dismissed the idea that blogging should be counted as rigorous scholarship although they seem supportive of the idea that it could be considered under one’s academic service," but argues that blogs cannot be comparable to journals. However, blogs in of themselves hold value in its peer review process. Eszter writes that blogs are, "much more conducive to intellectual exchange and the advancement of knowledge than publishing articles in journals that no one will ever read." I concur.<br /><br />So how are we tying down this loose cannon? Comments. We are using comments as a means of establishing a form of credibility within the blogging world. Those that comment are the ones verifying what is written is true or false. We may not necessarily agree with what is being written, which also allows for argument (which is not a bad thing). But a pattern emerges. We start to follow a few blogs, than several than many. Here comes another rope to tie down that rolling piece of metal: <a href="http://www.academicproductivity.com/2006/howto-rss-feeds-for-academic-use/">RSS feeds</a>. RSS feeds allow all of my information into one sphere of Internet space. Talk about convenient. I stuck with Google Reader, because first, it was highly suggested and secondly, I've found not problems with navigation since starting. Interacting with this web app has been slow business, since I've been changing the blogs I follow or adding onto the list. All of this saves me time when I am wanting to comment. <br /><br />And don't give up blogging. It's an art. You're still developing your voice, your presence within the blogsphere. I'm learning that blogs comes in all lengths and sizes. <a href="http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009/07/01/should-i-quit-blogging/">Darren Rowse</a> presents a few interesting tips on reasons you shouldn't quit blogging. <br /><br />I don't think I will ever quit. Reading my classmates blogs, reading other teacher/librarian blogs, I am truly inspired. In other words, I am now interested in my own professional development. I suppose professional development can be summed in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_development">Wikipedia</a> terms as "skills and knowledge attained for both personal development and career advancement," but I think the definition needs redefining in context to blogging. It's not just about my personal development but also the development of my students/patrons I also have in mind. Blogging is about community and it's about interacting with others. By writing, I contribute and I connect. <a href="http://weblogg-ed.com/2006/blogs-for-professional-development/">Weblogg-ed</a> refers to <a href="http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/">Karl Fisch's</a> example of profesional development as staff development where he encouraged and challenged teachers to "reflect on their practice and create community around common goals" that focused on improving ""teacher and student use of technology, to achieve curricular goals, to help transform the school to a more student-centered,constructivist approach, and to prepare students to succeed in the 21st century.”"<br /><br />I see blogging as a loose cannon only because the general view of it rolling about the Web 2.0 deck seems to be relevant. Am I correct in assuming this? Or is this changing? I am reading a lot of edublogs that are saying the loose cannon is slowly being put into place. But really, in the depths of us all, do we want this? What new controversy would we talk about? Oh wait, I forgot...there's twitter. Let the cannons roll!Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-86992888326619305752009-08-04T23:24:00.000-07:002009-08-06T13:24:33.443-07:00Studying the characteristics of a Twitter<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/Twitter.PNG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 80px; height: 65px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/Twitter.PNG" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />You hear it before you spot it. You recognize that distinct call. The male is warbling on some crazy tune. Another male rises to the challenge. A lone female answers, but you're not sure if she's replying. More voices rise. There's quite a few of them about. Sounds like an entire flock. You grab the binoculars to spot the body of voices. You catch a blur of blue fly by. Your eye settles on a collective group of females. They're females all right, chatting up a storm. You look down at the book in your hand. The markings match, the description of the call is correct, the way they crowd into individual groups. You take a quick look through the looking glass again. You smile. You settle down into your chosen spot. You get comfortable as you begin to observe the habitat of the twitter, a species of the social networking family. <br /><br />However, some advise to you. I know you want to learn more about the twitter, but first put away that book. To become an expert twitter, you must study tweeting. Here are some suggestions...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Classification of a Twitter</span><br />If you think the Twitter is the only of its kind, I am here to inform you it is not. Twitter belongs to the genera of micro-blogging. We will explore together the different species within microblogging. I categorize the Twitter into a taxonomy structure because there are many species within the genera of microblogging. It's good to know, that a Twitter is a microblog and not a photo-sharing website or a blog or a podcast. However, there are some subspecies that need to be brought to light as well. Microsharing was one particular subspecies that was named by <a href="http://pistachioconsulting.com/executive-twittering-blogging-without-the-time-suck/">Laura Fitton</a>. Micromessaging, microblogging, and microstreaming are also added to this subspecies list. The term "microstreaming" has been coined by <a href="http://www.stoweboyd.com/message/2008/11/battle-of-the-t.html">Stowe Boyd</a> and he has several choice words about what micromessaging and microblogging are really about. We wouldn't want to place certain species under the wrong families would we? Good!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqpj2-bwFBnJ4_8qrTSo5gYWweZwrlayLYMt3SQnWxS04GzUCxrlaq5jjC6kaVPVvVScEMQMEfiMDGCk-5CBAo_RptjI1UaO9kHR0NqMddxX9BNHMnrw5JmmyOBHP-OXBR6u65DIGRs_s/s1600-h/Twitter+Classifcation+Final"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 209px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqpj2-bwFBnJ4_8qrTSo5gYWweZwrlayLYMt3SQnWxS04GzUCxrlaq5jjC6kaVPVvVScEMQMEfiMDGCk-5CBAo_RptjI1UaO9kHR0NqMddxX9BNHMnrw5JmmyOBHP-OXBR6u65DIGRs_s/s400/Twitter+Classifcation+Final" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366604504815399298" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Learning to Identify Microblogging</span><br />Now that we've established what exactly a Twitter is, let's move to learning how to identify a Twitter or any other microblog. We identify a microblog by first defining it. One microblog watcher, <a href="http://microblink.com/2008/11/11/microblogging-defined/">Microblink</a> defines it as:<ol> "A small-scale form of blogging, generally made up of short, succinct messages, used by both consumers and businesses to share news, post status updates and carry on conversations." </ol>Apparently micro-blogs come in different sizes; there is variety in their length. A microblog is simple in appearance and has none of that extra baggage that bigger social networking sites have. Unlike other species, microblogging is still not entirely defined. Wikiepedia defines <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-blogging">microblogging</a> as: <ol>"is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user."</ol> Since microblogging is a new species, it only makes sense that the powers that be (anyone with Internet access) have not settled on a definite definition. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Variation in Appearance*</span><br />Like Twitter, micoblogs come in all shapes and sizes. Within this genera, microblogs serve different purposes. <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/10_micro-blogging_tools_compared.php<br />">ReadWriteWeb</a> give ten top microblogs, and they're not all totting the same shape, the same call or the same habits. <br /><br />Beloved <a href="http://twitter.com/"><span style="font-style:italic;">Twitter</span></a>, the microblog that you have been faithfully following, observing habitat, mating rituals, recording songs and becoming familiar with it's bluish coat, is one rather diverse little species. It can tweet about through SMS, e-mail, or web browser. Also our dear twitter lives on an open platform, meaning its living space is rather flexible and others of the social networking family can come on by for a visit any time of the day. <br /><br />Now, <a href="http://www.tumblr.com/"><span style="font-style:italic;">Tumblr</span></a> is a microblog you might not be familiar with but the idea of the Tumblr is similar to the Twitter. It is very simplistic in plumage, but has the ability to tweet in text, photos, quotes, links, chats, or even videos.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hictu.com/"><span style="font-style:italic;">Hictu</span></a> is a performing species. Rather than hear or read what they say, they show their dance live. They speak in videopost rather than text, however to join the hictu flock you need an invitation from one of their own. An odd species, in my opinion. <br /><br />The <a href="http://www.moodmill.com/"><span style="font-style:italic;">Moodmill</span></a> species is a rather peculiar group. They tweet through text but their plumage changes colors depending on their moods. The markings of the Moodmill species is simple in appearance but make up for their colorful ever-changing plumage. <br /> <br />An even odder but humorous species is the <a href="http://www.iratemyday.com/"><span style="font-style:italic;">I Rate My Day</span></a>. This particular group, similar to the Moodmill species, also shows moods but rather with color, I Rate My Day species has rather flexible facial features as to show the world when it is happy, sad, nonchalant, or angry. Whatever the mood, you'll know it just by looking at its face. <br /><br />A species that combines both color and facial expressions in its tweeting is the <a href="http://www.emotionr.com/"><span style="font-style:italic;">Emotionr</span></a>. Its a fascinating species to say the least. Individuals within the species can show their emotions or as a collective, emotions of the flock are shown.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Observation of the Twitter</span><br />I know that you and I have some familiarity with the Twitter. If you haven't interacted with the species, you've at least heard the echoes of its tweeting through the grapevine. The Twitter is the most well known species in the micorblog genera. Is there controversy around the Twitter? Indeed! Are there arguments asking for eradication while others are praising its tweets? Indubitably! Gentle reader, as you ponder the very existence of the dear Twitter, we must explore this beloved species before making our own verdict. Let us begin...<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Twit the Tweet</span><br />Twitters are proficient tweeters. They have different ways of tweeting; through the Twitter lines, through Short Message Service (SMS) or external application. Right, what external applications? Even though nearly 50% of Twitters tweet from the mainline, there are other applications that allow you to tweet the tweet. <a href="http://techeroes.info/2009/07/25/tweeting-from-the-web-nine-alternative-web-clients/">Company and Industry News</a> invited Israeli blogger, <a href="http://blog.go2web20.net/">Orli Yakuel</a> to share her expertise of finding other tweeting external applications - and an extensive list she does present! The list of external applications are <a href="http://seesmic.com/app/">Seesmic</a>, <a href="http://my.peoplebrowsr.com/">People Browser</a>, <a href="http://twithive.com/">TwitHive</a>, <a href="http://splitweet.com/">Splitweet</a>, <a href="http://tweettabs.com/">TweetTabs</a>, <a href="http://monitter.com/">Monitter</a>, <a href="http://new.tweenky.com/#timeline=friends">Tweenky</a>. So why all the external applications? According to Yakuel, although 50% of Twitters use the mainline, heavy Twitters admit to a poor user experience compared to the "plethora of substitute web applications to access the service." Just by going to Orli's homepage, I discovered <a href="http://storytlr.com/">Storytlr</a>. I haven't fully looked into it, but by the screenshots she shows in her blogs, my curiosity is being pulled in that direction. And here's where we go into the next aspect of Twitters, their plumage. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Plumage</span><br />Sure, a Twitter likes to tweet, but they also like to be presentable, hence the plumage. A Twitter's plumage might be beneficial in attracting attention to other Twitters, but the plumage has more importance to the Twitter themselves. <a href="http://theclosetentrepreneur.com/create-a-twitter-background-using-powerpoint">The Closeted Entrepreneur</a> suggests making your own Twitter template and takes the looking Twitter through the process. One added bonus is if the Twitter is not happy with the provided templates, and is still not satisfied with the the Google species provides, than there is always an exploration of the "Change Background Design" section of the Twitter mainline. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Neighbors</span><br />Twitters are not loners, they congregate. A Twitter often moves into a group because someone is a friend. Sometime Twitters are attracted to the call of other Twitters and become followers of their tweets. Now, the downside of tweeting on the mainline Twitter is that you can't search through the your own tweetings, whereas other external applications allow you to do that like (aka, <a href="http://storytlr.com/">Storytlr</a>). But what in the world do they tweet about?!?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Learning the Songs and Calls*</span><br />Those that are not twitters look down at all the tweeting with great disdain. When a twitter is spotted, a loathing individual will leave the room, a field, a forest or any vicinity that the twitter begins tweeting. The call of the micro-blogger varies from habitat to habitat, but one thing remains consistent with the call of the twitter and it's the non-stop irksome tweeting. There's a marked difference between the call patterns of adolescent twitter and adult twitter. The adolescent, unsure of itself and its habitat, does not tweet as often. However, once a twitter has established a territory, there is a noticeable increase in its tweeting. <br /><br />It wasn't until I began researching what these Twitters were tweeting about that I began to see the hype. To be accurate, there are four distant types of tweeting. Anne Trudek, in her article, <a href="http://www.good.is/post/the-art-of-the-status-update/">"Art of the Status Update,"</a> made this discovery through the Update Status on Facebook, but goes on in the article to also relate this to Twitter. The four categories are:<ol>1. Prosaic, or “what I am doing now,” (Jill is baking bread).</ol><ol> 2. Informative, or “stuff I found somewhere else” (Jack loves this article from GOOD, followed by URL)</ol><ol>3. Clever and funny (Johnny thinks Obama should be sworn in a few more times, just to be EXTRA safe. Janey discovered that Michelle Obama’s wardrobe is a divisive topic in water aerobics class.</ol><ol>4.) Poetic or nonsensical (Josh is watching a parakeet form itself out of ice on the telephone wire; If Jim were a cloud, he would rain Earl Grey tea).</ol><br />I love Anne, I dearly do. The very fact that she delves into the psyche of twittering is fascinating especially when she puts forth the idea that the Status Update on Facebook is <ol>Relentlessly first-person, the status update is akin to a lyric poem, dominated by the speaker, the “I.” Another defining formal quality is, of course, length. Several of my “Friends” remark that the Status Update is Haiku-like in its strictness about brevity. The poet (and Friend) Troy Jollimore compares the Status Update to an epitaph, and notes that “we might think of one’s epitaph as the very last status update.” </ol>But Anne doesn't end there, in another article, "<a href="http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/content/anne-trubek/we-are-all-writers-now">We Are All Writers Now</a>," she takes on another issue that critics and academe have with social networking these days: self-publishing. I thoroughly enjoy how she balances the "bemoaning critics" with the fact that 20 or 30 years ago people worried that writing would go the way of the dinosaur because of television watching and people always on the telephone. Because of the self-publishing, people are reading and writing more today. She says with people writing more and more, with this practice they are getting better. Remember the <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/02/10/facebook-mystery-who-created-25-random-things-about-me/">"25 Random Things About Me,</a>" that raged about Facebook a few months back? I wasn't the only one groaning about it, apparently. But Anne makes very intriguing point. During her early years of teaching English Literature, she would get students to do a similar exercise to improve their creative writing. Well, now where does this get us with the Twitter? <br /><br />Maria Puente in her article, "What would Shakespeare tweet," contemplates the excessive quantity and apparently lacking in quality tweeting. Tying into what Anne talked about writing in general, well, this also applies to those Twitters out there. Let's be candid. Most reasons you don't like Twitter or twitters is because the only thing you seem to be getting from those you follow is comments about what's for lunch, brief weekend plans, and well the usual everyday hala-balu. According to Puente, Twittering is evolving. Those that twitter tweet about the mundane everyday matters, and there are those who really don't care for it. This is changing, "slowly, style and etiquette rules for status updates are evolving, as people get more practice and as skillful updaters become more recognized." So what makes a good update? Personality. Following others that are "funny, clear and concise and mimicing them" helps in better twittering. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Being realistic</span><br />So what argument can Twitters place before the jury on behalf of their kind? They are evolving. They do get better with discovery of self. This became more evident as I was reading through the description of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter">Twitter</a> on Wikipedia. I think a Twitter's saving grace will be to tweet in emergencies. In the Usage section of Wikipedia's Twitter, it lists all the significant tweetings that led to some significant action. Long stories short, A Twitter being unfairly arrested tweeted his way out of jail, the situation on bush fires in Australia were updated through Twitter, Red Cross twittered information about minutely formation about local disasters including statistics and directions. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Teachers and Twitter</span><br />I know teachers are twittering like the rest of us. Some are beginning to show that Web 2.0 savviness by creating wikis of how to share twittering inspiration for the classroom, like <a href="http://twitterforteachers.wetpaint.com/">Twitter for Teachers</a> is doing (this is an e-book, actually). Kate Klingensmith, in her blog, <a href="http://onceateacher.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/a-teachers-guide-to-twitter/">Once A Teacher</a>, talks about teachers and twitter. Kate talks about finding people to follow and gives a list of that link to teachers and other edubloggers and other possible places to look within the site. Here's another important matter she brings up, that until now, I never thought about. You want to tweet a URL, but goes over 140 characters, enter <a href="http://tinyurl.com/">TinyURL</a>. This feature shortens the url to fit within tweet. <a href="http://bit.ly/">Bit.ly</a> is also another important microblog application in that it also shortens a url but also allows you to specify part of the new URL. If you sign up for an account, you can track how many clicks your shortened URLs get.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Librarians and Twitter</span><br />I didn't think it was possible, but someone actually wrote an entering titled "<a href="http://lis5313.ci.fsu.edu/wiki/index.php/Twittering_Libraries">Twittering Libraries</a>," in Wikipedia. It is by LIS student, <a href="http://lindyjb.wordpress.com/">Lindy Brown</a>, and she gives an extensive look at libraries that twitter (there are 90 of them). I think her "Prominent List of Uses" is rather interesting to note:<br /><ol>For library announcements<br />To post news such as special events, holiday hours, exhibits, new book arrivals<br />Updated resources or reminders of important resources, instruction sessions and new reference services<br />Using Twitter as another communication tool with patrons/clients<br />As a reference service<br />As a way to keep in touch with librarian friends and colleagues as well as a way to collaborate on projects<br />As a way to stay on top of the latest technologies<br />For customer service<br />To send alerts about requested materials<br />As a short newsletter<br />As a public relations/marketing tool<br />As a way to get and share information about conferences and other professional development opportunities (i.e., registration deadlines, speakers, accommodation information, webinars)<br />Cataloging and tagging<br />Internal updates<br />For networking with other librarians, libraries, and library-affiliated organizations</ol><span style="font-weight:bold;">Twitter in the Classroom?</span><br />Shelly in his blog, <a href="http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/2009/05/best-practices-in-twitter-enhanced-high.html">TeachPaperless</a>, is an awesome example of Twitter in the classroom. His blog begins with stating that his class has just finished their blogging session of the Twitter enhanced classroom. He assess Twitter as a place that he and students can commune as a community and a place where students can feel comfortable talking about the learning process. He also gives a short list of activities that can be used with Twitter for the classroom such as vocabulary/grammar building, source/resource collection and evaluation and collaborative assessment. <br /><br />One highschool teacher was creative. A teacher assigned an assignment that had to be conducted through Twitter. The assignment? Called "Twitter in Hell," the students had to read Dante's "Inferno" and than twitter in 140 characters or less about each level of hell as if they were Dante writing to his beloved Beatrice. A definite challenge but, Kathleen Blake Yancey, whose idea it was to twitter Dante, recognizes that students are "actively engaged writers." It's just that these writers write for ever evolving digital area such as chatting, MySpace or SMS. As Yancey sees it, there needs to be a change in school systems and asks educators to consider three tasks to help the process in the right direction: "develop new models of writing, then design a new curriculum for students to support these models, and finally create ways for educators to actually teach this curriculum."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Confessions of a challenged Twitter</span><br />I'll admit, I had little love for anything and everything twitter related. Attempting to tweet everyday was like remembering to turn off the lights when I leave the house. I will say, I tweeted terribly. I am boring. A big yawn! However, I didn't see the big picture. I didn't explore. But, an issue begins to surface phoenix-like as I read deeper into what pertains to twittering and micro-blogs. I refer to microbloggers as birds, because really there is much tweeting about. I would rather call these individuals birds than "screaming morons" or "shrieking monkeys" as one <a href="http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/content/anne-trubek/we-are-all-writers-now#comment-10249">commentor</a> of Anne's "We Are All Writers Now" (I had to chuckle about his comment). I don't think I will go back to Twitter, at least not under the old context. I want to explore those external application. They, would prove more useful and definitely entertaining. I want to see who is funny out there. I want to see what emergencies are being tweeted. I now want to truly explore the sunnier side of microblogging. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">You've been twittered</span><br />The study of the Twitter has definitely led you down some interesting roads. Who knew that an extensive study of the Twitter would be so fascinating and in your exploration of the habits, mannerisms, song and plumage of the Twitter, you come to realize that you've become Twitterized. Welcome to the habitat!<br /><br /><hr /><br />Puente, Maria. "What Would Shakespeare Tweet." USA Today. June 10 2009. Academic Search Complete. August 6 2009. http://web.ebscohost.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca<br /><br />Trubek, Anne. "We are al writers now." <span style="font-style:italic;">More Intelligent Life.</span> More Intelligent Life Mag., June 26 2009. August 5th 2009.<br /><br />Trubek, Anne. "The Art of the Status Update." <span style="font-style:italic;">GOOD.</span> GOOD Mag., January 26 2009. August 5th 2009.<br /><br />Barack, Lauren. "Twittering Dante." School Library Journal. 55.4 (2009): 14-15. Academic Search Complete. August 6 2009. http://web.ebscohost.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca<br /><br />*These headers were taken from page 9,11 and 12 of Sibley, David Allen. "The Sibley Guide to Birds." Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; New York, 2000. All ideas of birding relate to this book. <br /><br />*Taxonomy of Internet Graph was created the Author of this blog. The Latin names may not be as correct. If anyone has better names, please leave comment!Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-55138580168908727012009-08-01T02:38:00.000-07:002009-08-04T01:45:42.543-07:00Five steps of accepting social networkingAh, I see you've made it. Come in and lie down. Make yourself comforty. Now, (with spectacles on nose) I understand that you're dealing with the grief that social networking is causing you? Yes, aha, aha. And when did this happen? You can't quite recall. Was it sudden? No? Oh, it was a gradual. First it was your co-workers? <br /><br />*scribble, scribble*<br /><br />Hmmm, interesting. Is this where your grief manifested itself? No? Okay. Oh, then it was your friends? Intriguing. All right then, let's follow this line of thought further. Who else attributed to this grief? Family?! Ah, yes family is closest to the heart. This is when you noticed your grief?<br /><br />*scribble scribble*<br /><br />Well, the only thing I can do for you in this session is walk you through this grief. Help you understand it better and accept it as well. Would you be willing to do that? You would? Excellent. The first step in dealing with your grief is your willingness to deal with it. <br /><br />Alright, let us begin. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Denial of your dead social life</span><br />The first thing we have to address is your denial. Yes, denial! You are denying the death of your social life. This is understandable. It's a tragic loss. However, life is about change and we can't change that. I understand that some of your co-workers aren't going out to lunch with you anymore and instead are spending time updating the company's <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/">Linkedin</a> account? Also, your friends have become caught up in their busy lives and I understand that they've taken to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a> to substitute for calling or emailing? Even your children have betrayed you? Oh, how so? They're always on <a href="http://www.myspace.com/">MySpace</a> when you enter the room? And your significant other is spending too much time on <a href="http://www.jango.com/">Jango</a>? I can see that your social life isn't really dead. Maybe disconnected. This is more evident than ever. I can see how you see your social life is dead, and I want to assure you that denial is normal. Its okay to deny that your family has ditched quality time with you for virtual time with their friends or new acquaintances. Feeling rather isolated, right?<br /><br />You're not alone. Denying the existence of social networking is easy to do. Denying is a way of rebelling against the system. Everybody is doing it, and you're asking yourself the question, like I've asked myself multiple of times, if everyone jumped off a bridge, would you? We also deny that our social life is dying and we don't want to join the bandwagon because everyone is doing it or pressuring us to do it. But perhaps socializing isn't dying but just wearing a different cover. We're not recognizing the new face of socializing.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Dealing with the "Rage"</span><br />So you're angry. You have every right to be. Angry that the once-old-fashion-way of socializing has kicked the bucket, angry that everybody is abandoning this way of socializing and angry that you have to change your ways in order to socialize with everyone again. But you're not the only one dealing with the rage. The various academic and professions are dealing with this social "rage." According to Marketing Pilgrim, in their article, <a href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/03/social-networking-surpasses-email-popularity.html">Social Networking surpasses Email Popularity</a>, it's interesting to note the stats from each country as each society becomes involved with social networking. Looking to the global audience, "only half of Switzerland’s and Germany’s residents are on social networks, while Brazil has 80% of its population social networking." When Facebook offered a German language version, there was a noticeable increase of social networking in Germany. <br /><br />The lists of social networking sites are literally endless. They don't just encompass the good old fashion talking to friends anymore, but are a means of making new friends, finding a date, finding a significant other (trust me, it happens), an announcement board to everyone, a connection with co-workers....you're getting the picture . Someone on Wikipedia has been kind enough to provide an extensive <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites">list of social networking sites</a>. Of course, they've compiled this list from other lists, but you and I get the gist as to the overall significance social networking has on the web. The sites we've come to recognize and love/loathe are Facebook and MySpace. Twitter is becoming the next big cheese on the block. <a href="http://social-networking-websites-review.toptenreviews.com/">Top Ten Reviews</a> gives their own list as to why the most popular sites are going like hot cakes. I could give the list, but you're eyeballs would numb after a few minutes. <br /><br />But let's get back to the more important issue. How does anyone deal with all of these sites? They bargain. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Bargaining Stage</span><br />You've gotten over your anger, and seem to be accepting that there is no way out of this social situation. You reason with yourself. If you're going to be a part of this social scene, well by Freud's fanny, you mind as well take the plunge in a big way. Okay, you might not be thinking that but your subconscious mind sure is, because before you know it you have five accounts in five different social networking sites. The idea is about getting yourself out there. Well, I can sympathize. <br /><br />I know for myself, at one point, became heavily tangled in the lines of social networking. I am unabashed to say that I joined because my friends joined. I did not go out and explore what was out there, but when someone emailed me to join a site, I readily joined. First there was <a href="http://www.hi5.com/">hi5</a>, than <a href="http://www.tagged.com/index.html?r=%2Fhome.html">Tagged</a>, followed by <a href="http://www.myspace.com/">MySpace</a> and along with <a href="http://www.jango.com/">Jango</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a>. Recently, I've joined <a href="http://twitter.com/">twitter</a>. Am I hopeless? <br /><br />In your overloaded discovery of social networking you may have stumbled upon a pattern. If you say they all appear to have the same features, you get ice cream! Brian S. Mathews in his chapter, "Online Social Networking," gives a quick sum of the features that are shown in most social networking sites. The "Core Features" are: <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">User Profile</span>: this be your homepage. It's the page that greets you with your face when you log-in. Most of the functions are found focused on this page. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Friending</span>: this be the process where you make new friends! Very exciting until the person rejects your request. Friending requires two way authentication of the person asking to be a friend and the other person approving the friendship. What a straightforward way of making friends. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Groups</span>: this be the space which groups of shared interest come together and interact with one another in cyber-time. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Individual Messaging</span>: this be the similar function as emailing but takes place strictly within the site. It is private and is sent to one or a multiple of people. The character count is limited and some sites also limit how many messages can be stored in the "inbox."<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Announcements</span>: this be the place where you tell the world your business. Okay, not the "world" but your sphere of influence. This is the place where the site collects all the current updates from yourself and friends and dumps them in this space for everyone to see. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Individual Message Boards</span>: this be the place where you message friends openly. It's similar to individual messaging except for the fact that everyone can read your business. So, if you don't want anybody snooping, you better send IM instead.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Photos</span>: this be the place you share and show photographs of yourself, friends and anything of interest. Size and specifications vary from site. Friends can comment on photos and a marking system identifying friends in the picture is also set in place. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Blogs or Journals</span>: this be the place where you write your thoughts. If you're looking for the word "blog" or "journal" in Facebook, look no more, but instead look for the word "note." A little unconventional, I suppose, but Facebook likes to be "unique." Anyways, moving on!<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Icebreakers</span>: this be the function that you use to get another friend's attention. In Facebook it's called a "poke." Honestly, who wants to be poked? But that's the word they use (again with the uniqueness!). I think someone needs to create an application that responds with "Stop poking me" or "I'm ticklish." <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Searching</span>: this be the place you to find others. I know according to Facebook there are two search functions: one to search within one's own friends and than the other main search for groups and possible friends. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Privacy Controls</span>: this be the place to limit what others see. Privacy controls is really about protecting your privacy from those within the site or even out on the Internet. Since Google has come along, you don't necessarily need to be connected to Facebook to find a person anymore. Google helps. So set your privacy controls!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Depression: Dealing with the Overload</span><br />You now realize that dealing with the issue of social networking by using reverse psychology on yourself is just not working. You're depressed. You made the mistake of getting five unique usernames and you can't remember them. Or you made the mistake of creating one username for all five sites and think you're an uncreative sop whose given into the dark side of social demands. Whatever the case, you're left with a head full of unhappiness. <br /><br />Welcome to social networking overload. You thought to deal with the grief by going in the opposite direction. Instead, going in the opposite direction at full steam really mucked things up. I remember my social networking overload moment. Remember that list of sites I listed off? I've discarded most of them. It's true what they say about popular sites. They're popular until the next new thing comes round. The main reason I discarded hi5 and Tagged was just for the fact that random people wanted to become my friends. And ironically enough, the friends I started with on hi5 migrated to MySpace and eventually ended up on Facebook. Go figure. I like how Leigh Duncan-Durst puts it, "first, most seem to have these cutesy 3-7 letter names like "Blyk" and "Fark". Second, none of the names really reflect what the apps do." In her article,<a href="http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2008/06/social_networking_application.html"> Social Networking: Application Overload</a>, Leigh describes social networking application saturation as APP REFLEX. She claims it "involves a facial tic, shoulder spasm and a gagging sinus noise. This came on gradually but was fully in force after one day of casual research." <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Acceptance: moving forward</span><br />Acceptance of your grief, of the passing of in-person chats with a friend over coffee, the quality time with the kids, or going out to lunch with co-workers is one part of letting go. You've shook your fist at the virtual world by first ignoring it, then diving in head first thinking this would solve the grief only to become depressed when the social overload became evident. You've accepted social networking but your now ready to put aside the rest of the steps in realizing that social networking is here to stay. There is help. One blog talks about how to deal with <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/07/30/social-networking-overload/">social networking overload</a>. It brings to the discussion table four important points: Ask yourself why, Consider your purpose, Create boundaries and Communicate your plan. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Asking yourself why</span> leads to two actions: you either joined for friends or join just for the heck of it? Joining with and for friends at least serves its purpose. You have a mission; maintain contact and make new contact. Joining just to join will cause you to join many sites thus defeating the whole purpose. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Consider your purpose</span>: are you spending more time in one particular social networking site than another? Having too many sites with duplicate information is just a waste of maintenance time. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Creating boundaries</span> is a good thing. Perhaps you want to separate your personal life from your professional life so as to not mix them up and not worry that you will offend certain people or give the wrong message.<br /> <br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Communicate your plan</span>: if you do choose to have more than one account on different social networking sites, you don't have to update news or status all the time. You don't have to be friends with everybody. Communicate to the people the purpose of your presence on that particular site. Being honest from the get go will save you from ackward situations down the road. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">It can happen to You</span><br />Admit it, you've been in this stage at one point of your life. Perhaps not with social networking but with other Web 2.0 applications. Looking at my own experience, I didn't think much about the entire process of coming and leaving a particular social networking site. However, as I begin looking at my own career as a librarian, I am having to take into consideration other professionals who are wanting or needing to become a part of a social network because of work.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">What about the Teachers?</span> <br />Teachers are perhaps becoming one of the biggest users of social networking. Realizing the power of the web in their students lives, teachers are making the move to harness this learning tool. By becoming aware as well as active in using it in and outside the classroom, teachers are sometimes having to exceed themselves in learning unfamiliar technology. Besides new stomping grounds, teachers are also having to realize the current dangers that their students are facing unawares. Teachers are coming to social networking with the awareness of putting up too much personal information. With this knowledge, teachers are taking a look at what their students are putting up on the Internet. On top of this, teachers are having to deal with issues of how much they want to relate to their students through social networking sites. Do they add students to their "friends" list? Do they create a specific account that allows them to add students and teachers? To add another layer of icing to this cake, teachers who are coming into the social networking scene are coming under fire for what they're posting on their profile. Is it intentional? No. But teachers are beginning to realize that maybe, just maybe, their lives aren't so private. How do teachers deal with all of this? <br /><br />Teachers are having to really dig about for the privacy restrictions on their profiles nowadays. Perhaps they haven't even invited students to be their friends, but as <a href="http://middlehighschool.suite101.com/article.cfm/teachers_social_networking_sites">Kellie Hayden</a> informs us, students are simply googling their teachers. Some teachers have dealt with some of these issues by creating their own social networking sites. There is <a href="http://www.classroom20.com/">Classroom 2.0</a>, which claims is a place for teachers to network, share ideas and discuss current Web 2.0 issues in the classroom. But on the other spectrum, some teachers see the importance of social networking of enhancing teaching. As article, "Have you googled your teacher lately? Teachers' Use of Social Networking Sites." writes, for one teacher it was a way for the quiet students to come out of their shells in communicating with their teacher. These students found a voice that they could communicate with outside of the four walls of the school. Whatever the issues of social networking, teachers are having to face the issues on a daily basis. It only makes sense as they become familiar with this application and its challenges. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">What about the Classroom?</span><br />So, after ranting and raving about the complications that teachers themselves are facing in the social networking arena, what can be spoken about for the student in the classroom. Quite a bit, actually. But the learning process for students about social networking might be more of an awareness of what is happening on these sites. As Privacycom.org writes in their article, <a href="http://www.privacycom.org/content/release-19-child-safety-internet/bullying-over-social-networks">Bullying over Social Networks</a>, says the difference with bullying in cyber-time compared to real time is that you cannot defend yourself. Once a piece of negative information gets out there whether it is in text or picture, it's out there and there's no way of retrieving it. The site goes on to say that the only way to cope with this is for schools and teachers to educate students that bullying can happen in any place, including the Internet. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">What about the Librarians?</span><br />Now speaks the librarians. What say they in this upheaval. Interestingly enough, when I went to google "social networking AND librar*" what appeared before my eyes weren't social networking sites available to librarians as there were for the teachers, but rather articles about library involvement in social networking. I find this quite intriguing. It seems that librarians aren't about creating the sites for their users but harnessing existing sites alongside with their patrons. Sure, sure, there's a <a href="http://library20.ning.com/">Library 2.0 ning</a> that popped up but it makes sense that librarians would create a social networking site for themselves. It's what they do - explore all web applications to unfound depths! So how is the local library getting on board with social networking. Take our dear friend, Facebook. A classic example I must say. Every library is taking advantage of this particular site to put out their voice in reaching their users. I like how Brian S. Mathews categorizes the library presence on social networking sites: Speak their language, show them the library, get them to assess, repackage the information, and word of mouth. <br /><br />First off, "speaking their language" is really about meeting patrons where they are at. It's all about leaving behind the four wall stereotype. Secondly, "show them the library," is all about exploring how users see their hometown library. It's all about the user making the library their own. Thirdly, "get them to assess." This ones important. It's all about the opportunity to rant or rave about your library. Fourthly, "repackage the information," is all about showing the young ones the old way of researching in a new format. And lastly, "word of mouth," sometimes gets people moving in the direction of their local library. Sometimes it takes an enthusiastic friend to tell that the library is a cool place to hang. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Patient speaks the last words</span><br />Okay, I think I know what you're talking about now. I've been mourning the lost of my "social life" when really it's just taken on another form. And, and I shouldn't go overboard when getting an account. I should shop around. Right? right! This makes much more sense. And...Doctor....Doctor? Ah, Doctor? Is that Facebook you're using on your iphone?<br /><br /><hr /><br />Carter, Heather L.; Foulger, Teresa S.; Ewbank, Ann Dutton. "Have You Googled Your Teacher Lately? Teachers' Use of Social Networking Sites." Phi Delta Kappan. 89.9 (2008):681-686.<br />Courtney, Nancy. "Library 2.0 and Beyond." Wesport, Connecticut; Libraries Unlimited, 2007.Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-82979806194378619202009-07-28T18:01:00.000-07:002009-07-29T20:15:29.819-07:00mashing my brainsI am a babe at arms when it comes to the app that people call "mashups." I'll admit it. I know nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip. And you just might be another person who is also in the same boat as me. Welcome to the crew. Arg, we be web-pirates and we be sailing these high seas scouring for understanding. Arg, where be ye, understanding?!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rule Number 1: Have Fun!</span><br />Never in a million flying monkey tails have I been more confused. But because I am explorer, a web 2.0 explorer to be exact, I will not give up. So here goes...mashups! Like any sane person, I googled mashups, and of course, was directed to Wikipedia for a finer definition of the word. Ironically enough, there are several definitions of mashups, two being:<br /> <br /><li>Mashup (digital), a digital media file containing any or all of text, graphics, audio, video, and animation, which recombines and modifies existing digital works to create a derivative work.</li><br /><li>Mashup (web application hybrid), a web application that combines data and/or functionality from more than one source</li><br />Going by a few links provided in Wikipedia, I decided to have a look at <a href="http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php?lang=eng">AlertMap</a>, which to sum up is, a mashup of information that shows disasters around the world at a given time and place. I take a peek and am no less confused. Hence, my searching continues. I mosey around Wikipedia some more and discover the different mashup editors that are available. I figure I'll try Google Mashup Editor, but raise an eyebrow at the word "deprecated" that follows the link. I decide on <a href="http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/">Pipes Yahoo</a> since I had a Yahoo account already. <br /><br />I'm in. I look around. I find a place that looks like the place where I begin experimentation, but have no idea how to use the tools. Luckily there is a video. Play. Okay, I have something of an idea of what I have to do...I think. I basically copy what the video does and voila! <a href="http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/search?q=Wikimatrix+and+MediaWiki&x=0&y=0">my very own mashup</a>. End of the line. Time to write. Wow, that was boring. No fun whatsoever. Time to go back to the drawing boards. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rule Number 2: If at first you don't succeed...</span><br />So I gave mashups a try, on my own power, but I wanted to see what the prof had to say about the matter. Decided it was time to walk the fire-trail. Become wise. Gain a different understanding. It was a short trail, but enlightenment was attained. I was introduced to <a href="http://animoto.com/">Animoto</a>, which seemed too good to be true! There's also <a href="http://animoto.com/education">Animoto Education</a>, a section for teachers. Animoto discovered immediate success with teachers and decided to give these people added advantages to joining and using their site. I was rather impressed with Animoto. The steps laid down are easy to follow and the end product is great. However, you are limited to how long you can make the video. <br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://widgets.clearspring.com/o/46928cc51133af17/4a70f2f151ea91b6/46928cc51133af17/bd61819b/widget.js">glimpses: my trip of South Korea</script><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rule Number 3: Explore</span><br />So the web masters created Animoto and it was good. The multitude saw that it was good. All saw that it was good. But a small voice from nowhere said "got anything else?" There were gasps, and sharp intakes. The webmasters looked gravely at one another. One cracked a toothless grin and in a small, high silly voice said, "yes, there's VoiceThread, too!"<br /><br />After an exploration of Animoto and having just way too much fun with it, I wanted to see what else was out there. Enter <a href="http://voicethread.com">VoiceThread</a>. This app is even more simplistic than Animoto. This basic application can be thrown up onto the web and used as a way of sharing photos from the latest trip, latest artwork, digital storytelling or a visual suggestion board for ideas within a group. <br /><br /><img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEyNDg5MTkxNDYyMTMmcHQ9MTI*ODkxOTE1MDE3OCZwPTIwNjQyMSZkPWI1NzEyODUmZz*yJm89OTYyMzdlMmE4NWExNDA4ZWI1N2YzMjUyZTFhOTI5Nzcmb2Y9MA==.gif" /><object width="480" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=571285"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=571285" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="480" height="360"></embed></object><br /><br />The only downside to both of these web apps is that they are not entirely free. The basic structure is free (how else are they going to hook you in?). However the upside is you can pay a minimal fee and everything is yours. If you are especially satisfied with the service than paying the money won't be such a bother. Or if you want to be nit-picky and creative you can just make a series of short 30 sec clips and somehow tie together. That's not only creative, that's being frugal as well. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rule Number 4: Let the People speak</span><br />So these are great web applications. I think they're fantastic. But am I the only one? Apparently not. <a href="http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2009/01/02.html">Joel Spolsky</a> thinks it's an amazing app as well. What he points out is that this video you create on Animoto can be uploaded to five of the most popular online photo sharing sites (flickr, facebook, smugmug, picasa, and photobucket). In 2008, VoiceThread was listed as the 23rd most used web app out of a 100. I think the best thing about <a href="http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/Top100Tools/voicethread.html">Top Tools For Learning</a>, is that gives a plethora of comments from teachers using this web app. Check it out. You'll come away with a lot of ideas of how teachers are using this application in the classroom. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rule Number 5: Connect</span><br />I'm exploring what Animoto and VoiceThread has to offer and a thought occurred to me as I was playing with these apps. Are there other people out there that want to connect using these apps? There are. <a href="http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/?responseToken=06a756111bc7b39f5b5e8213228398e0c">Voicethread4Education</a> is such a place to connect with other teachers who want to use Voicethread in their classrooms. Teachers have contributed to this wiki by adding their experiences of voicethreading. I like how Donna DesRoches calls it. Digital Storytelling. In her brief blog, <a href="http://donnadesroches.ca/2007/06/21/digital-storytelling-with-comic-life-and-voicethread/">Classroom Tech Tips</a>, she briefly outlines a project where students created a storyboard with taking pictures and than presented those pictures in a story they created. This project was than uploaded onto Voice Thread so that other teachers and parents could leave comments. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rule Number 6: Check under rocks</span><br />We've had a peek at Video Thread and Animoto, but are there any other photo sharing sites out there besides these two fine specimens? According to <a href="http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7050.pdf">Seven Things You Should Know About VoiceThread</a>, there are other apps such as Slide Show and Cooliris. I went to my trusty telescope (Google). I couldn't find anything specifically called "Slide Show" but I did find a web app called <a href="http://www.slide.com/">Slide</a>. It also has a simplistic interface that one could navigate. I threw up my telescope again and went looking for Cooliris. What is this thing called "Coo-li-ris?" It appears that <a href="http://www.cooliris.com/">Cooliris</a> is also another photosharing doo-dad, HOWEVEVER you have to install a plug-in. Pfff. A plug-in. Riiiiiight. How more handy can a plug-in get when you're trying to do some photo-sharing love from a computer that is not your own. Can we say foreseen complications?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rule Number 7: Check in the Stacks</span><br />What could possibly be in the library that has to do with mashups. Well, not exactly in the stacks but some librarians are noticing mashups within academe. As Emily Welshe notes, "we call our mashups things like synergistic learning or symbiotic content." Books are starting to make their way into digitization and relegation and have been revitalized as students take advantage of the "abbreviated surrogates that basically do the trick." I think Welshe hits the nail on the head when she writes, <br /><ol><br />"As students--highly acculturated to wikis, blogs, and RSS feeds--struggle to comprehend the notions of intellectual property and attribution, database vendors race to market postmodern Promethean portals that mash up and map out ideas on their behalf. We offer myriad variations on the Frankensteinian theme of blended identities and then wonder why our students can't effectively develop and situate their ideas in an academic context. We look for trace hints of humanity in their papers and yet fail to provide the conceptual foundation for research and information literacy that they so desperately need." <br /></ol><br />This is the issue that modern educators are just beginning to realize. I believe that in the here and now, librarians and teachers can only address this issue by learning these web applications ourselves, synthesize and create our own mashups where students will find a balance between technology, analysis and comprehension. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rule Number 8: Involve the Crew</span><br />Sure all this is fun to learn, but there's more of this that meets the barnacle. It's about classroom involvement. As teachers and librarians we're the ones who have to be the balancer, the finger that holds the middle of the tied ribbon, the middle kid who sits in the center of the teeter-totter. You get the picture. We're the ones who have to make it all educational fun. And it is fun! One word I am being seen thrown around a lot is digital storytelling. It's a great idea, actually. And here's a link to other links for some more great <a href="http://www.techteachers.com/digstory/examples.htm">digital storytelling ideas</a>. As the author of <a href="http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/">The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling</a> summed it up, "digital storytelling is the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories." Since mashups like, Animoto and VideoThread are visual and audio, storytelling can definitely be explored. What other ways can mashups be explored in the classroom?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Rule Number 8: Be Inspired</span><br />So, we've sailed the seven seas, and we've found our treasure chest of gold. Photo-sharing gold to be exact. We've sweated tears of joy as we've yet discovered another wonderous treasure that we can toot around and explore with our students. Our swashbuckling days are not over, but have only just began.<br /><br /><hr /><br />Sources: Welshe, Emily. "Mashups in the stacks".<i> American Libraries.</i> 39.11 (2008):37-37.<br /><br />Further Exploration: <a href="http://www.panoramio.com/">Panoramio</a> and <a href="http://www.housingmaps.com/">Housing Map</a>Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-34206400678143346732009-07-27T21:02:00.000-07:002009-07-28T06:56:46.630-07:00Wikis: a journey of a sandbox<span style="font-weight:bold;">Wikis Defined</span><br />The word, wiki, as you may or may not know is the Hawaiian word for "quick," and the concept of the word has definitely been embodied in the web application as we know it. Fast it is. But what is a wikis? <a href="http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki">What is Wiki</a> defines it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work." Wiki is a piece of server software that gives users the freedom to create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. "Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly."<br /><br /><embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=7747790812939045407&hl=en&fs=true" style="width:400px;height:326px" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> A 2006 clip on the online growth and tech support of Wikepedia in the last 4 years (55 min.)</embed><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">In the Beginning</span><br />So who first used wikis? According to <a href="http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7004.pdf">7 Things You Should Know About Wikis</a>, scientists and engineers in the mid 1990s used wikis as dynamic knowledge bases. Wikis were considered to be "on the fly," and could be seen by everyone online and commented on by anyone as well. Faculty and staff in academia have also taken advantage of this instructional application by using wikis as repositories of their meeting notes. At the time of this writing, institutions were experimenting wikis as e-portfolios. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What's Out There</span><br />The greatest thing about wikis is that it is for everyone. You have Wikipedia, which has gained recognition as the people's encyclopedia, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that's the end of the road when it comes to wikis. There's a rather extensive <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wikis">wikis' list</a> that wikipedia provides to show you the extent to which wikis have taken online community by storm. To name one wiki that is not on the list is PBWiki, which has changed names to <a href="http://pbworks.com/">PBWorks</a>. The reason for the change in name is because several new functions have been added on that have redefined the site and as a result have gone beyond traditional wiki function. The change in name seemed appropriate to them, and it does make more sense to do so when the reason is presented. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Issues</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Wikipedia</span><br />So are there any issues with wikis? Maybe not among them but perhaps with them there is. The big word that was thrown around back in the day was "credibility." I remember back to my undergraduate years when just about all my professors would raise their eyebrows in skeptical annoyance when any of their students even mentioned the word "Wikipedia." I remember one particular classmate, incessantly mentioning wikipedia (this one particular classmate had a habit of mentioning the new and latest web app). My professors weren't the only ones questioning the credibility of wikipedia. Stacy Schiff, a writer for the The New Yorker, also raises the question of whether Wikipedia will ever gain expertise. In her extensive article about everything wikipedia (from history to the finer detail of users), <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/07/31/060731fa_fact">Know it All</a>, talks about accuracy with a comparable note that for every 3 errors found in Britannica, 4 were found in Wikipedia. Schiff says the problem is provence. Most of the information that is provided in Wikipedia is not found in the stacks but from the Web, which she writes, "offers up everything from breaking news, spin, and gossip to proof that the moon landings never took place." Schiff goes into the greater detail about Wikipedia, but I want to pause for a moment and come back to the bigger picture. The image of Wikipedia has perhaps become the poster child for wikis back in 2006, and indirectly corrupted the view of wikis in the eyes of some professionals and academia, however, will this change? I think indirectly it might. Wikis, in of themselves, are gaining momentum in the professional world. Wikis, not Wikipedia. Big difference. Wikis serve whatever community size, be it big or small, and it is perhaps it is in size that the difference can be found. <br /><br />So, will Wikipedia ever clean up its act? Perhaps in the long run, when more professional voices start participating in the creation of content on the site, perhaps than there will be an eventual status of credibility. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Wikis</span><br />Using wikis is fine and good, but the thing is that eventually, people in their collaboration want to use an identifier and often times, Wikipedia comes to mind. Eric Oatman in his article, <a href="http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6277799.html">Make Way for Wikis</a>, talks about wikis in the classroom and the good it serves students and teachers, yet he brings to light the pros and cons with wikis in that if wikis are to present in the school, proper sourcing is needed when establishing wikis. Librarians have noticed holes in the information presented on Wikipedia, and Oatman wants to raise awareness that teachers should perhaps use Wikipedia as an example of what not to do when writing and sourcing information. It is better to use Wikipedia in such a way since students will be accessing Wikipedia at home in their own time. It is better to make them aware of the quality of information they are accessing and allow them to get involved in the critiquing.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Implications for Teaching and Learning</span><br />But Wikipedia aside, what are the implications of the wiki in the education system? Numerous. Endless. Countless. Oatman recognizes that wikis are starting to become an consistent presence in the classroom. One example he mentions, Olde Columbine High School in Longmont, CO, used a wiki to teach writing. The teacher acknowledge that the improvement in students' writing was noticeable and credits it to students now having an audience to write to. The teacher wanted to empower the students by giving them the flexibility the explore themselves.<br /><br />Will Richardson in his book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classrooms, presents a chapter on wikis in the classroom. Richardson mentions that wikis work best when a teacher "loosens the reins a bit" and let the students be the manager of content on the site. It is in this sense that Richardson writes that the teacher needs to examine their role in the wiki process. By giving power into the students hands, the teacher also has to recognize that students will begin to teach themselves. By placing a right or wrong on the processing it could actually undermine the entire situation. But wikis are also good places for equality. It allows the students to be on equal footing with teachers since both parties are contributing to the overall success of a wiki. The use of the wiki in the classroom can be teacher/teacher focused, teacher/student or student/student focused. It really depends on the goal that the teacher wants to accomplish with each wiki project. Teachers might want to create online text for their curriculum where students and teacher can add to. Teachers might want to create online content for other teachers where one source might be lacking. <br /><br />But wikis don't have to end in the classroom. They are also found in libraries. Chad F. Boeninger writes a chapter in Library 2.0 and Beyond and talks about wikis as research guides. When libraries do not have specialized web-authoring software or HTML coding skills, wikis serve in place nicely. Another problem arises often times with library websites is that the need to update information often takes time. A web manager is the intermediary to the web content, and this can cause a serious lag in how often information gets update especially if a library is constantly making changes. With wiki format, the librarian can make the changes themselves.<br /><br />Boeninger talks about three best practices for library wikis. The first being to question "whether or not a wiki is really needed." Is a wiki going to really serve the needs of the library? Is a library using a wiki because its the "cool" thing to do. Secondly, if there is a need for a wiki, its good to shop around to see how other wikis work. What are some of the ideas out there for library wikis? How are they organized? What is the structure like? Thirdly, investigation of software. What software is out there? Which software would be easy to navigate and publish content on? One must also take into consideration that self-hosted wikis require some knowledge of MySQL and PHP and some experience in web administration would be a good thing as well. Having one's own wiki does allow for more flexibility in structure and look but you have to take into consideration the other side of the coin such as resources and finances in establishing and maintaining an in-house wiki.<br /><br /><hr /><br />Sources: Richardson, Will. "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, And Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms." Thousand Oaks; Corwin Press; 2009.<br />Courtney, Nancy. "Library 2.0 and Beyond." Wesport, Connecticut; Libraries Unlimited, 2007.Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-35756888578139128352009-07-27T13:31:00.000-07:002009-07-28T04:14:31.701-07:00MediaWiki: a personal experienceMy experience with wikis has not been in choosing the software, creating the account, selecting the account settings and than instructing students to create usernames and passwords. Rather as a LIS student, I have been on the receiving end of the wiki experience with creation of content rather than structure. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Setup</span><br />The Wiki project in LIS 506 was the final project for the class. After weeks of learning about the various areas of information technology, the goal of the wiki project was to demonstrate that new found knowledge. We were given 3-4 weeks to get into groups, choose a topic and begin and finish the project. Each group consisted of three students. We were not assigned to groups but given the option to form our own groups. The topic had to be related to information technology in the library science field. We chose topics by searching through the Wikipedia database to find any library information technology that had little or no information on the subject. After some searching, my group decided on the topic of e-resource management systmes (ERMS), which was not mentioned in Wikipedia at the time. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Software</span><br />The software that our professor decided to use was <a href="http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a>. The definition given by <a href="http://www.wikimatrix.org/show/MediaWiki ">Wikimatrix</a>, MediaWiki is a software used by Wikipedia and is a software that supports large and small sites. Our professor wanted us to get a feel for how Wikipedia functions work by using this particular software. We were not connected to Wikipedia, but by using the software, she created a website that had the wikipedia feel to it. If I could, I would post the url to the blog here, however the assignment that was done for this class is not for public viewing. To get an idea of the structure and extent that my classmates and I did our project, <a href="http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Main_Page">Library success</a> is a great example to check out instead. Other than that, I will be going through my project with screenshots and explaining how most of the components of the wiki works. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Class Mainpage</span><br />This page served as the class mainpage. Each group was represented by a link to their topic. This page was represented in the left hand corner menu by a link called Main Page. If I needed to go to go and comment or edit another group's topic, I would click on Main Page to come back to the list of topics. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5IfQHwEZ0ALepuHPD5rN-u2NzYwBCpbzuzB0Zn4tmT8OxPrNDy17k7bqKXEaTfW0HJlapSoup1WWfjarDNU4mK9t8rnz1OtILBbM7KsttlhpoTDUJllCWbjuy9kJSmhYcRfXamd-NQxQ/s1600-h/506+Mainpage"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 199px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5IfQHwEZ0ALepuHPD5rN-u2NzYwBCpbzuzB0Zn4tmT8OxPrNDy17k7bqKXEaTfW0HJlapSoup1WWfjarDNU4mK9t8rnz1OtILBbM7KsttlhpoTDUJllCWbjuy9kJSmhYcRfXamd-NQxQ/s400/506+Mainpage" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363320024993064962" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">ERMS Mainpage: Content</span><br />The main page served as a compilation of the major topics that would be discussed in ERMS. Similar to the Main Page, the ERMS mainpage also has links to ERMS related topics, but contains far more information. Rather than just links, each subtopic has a paragraph briefly explaining what each topic entails and for further exploration, a link to more content. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPp7gM1Tv_eBStW26qZnvompENzIBBrCT3JF5DD6NWe_P0Z_Yg2HpmCXHpa9gF0_ONzPnZwMfg4QR6-1xH1xdIG6z3xsdSOCPimriBMY_90AJOZWZnB4wz23HUBv-hSJ_8XkoxFMH8E14/s1600-h/ERMS+mainpage"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPp7gM1Tv_eBStW26qZnvompENzIBBrCT3JF5DD6NWe_P0Z_Yg2HpmCXHpa9gF0_ONzPnZwMfg4QR6-1xH1xdIG6z3xsdSOCPimriBMY_90AJOZWZnB4wz23HUBv-hSJ_8XkoxFMH8E14/s400/ERMS+mainpage" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363316338884077426" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">ERMS Mainpage: Structure</span><br />As you become familiar with wikis, there is content and than there is structure. For each page of the article there is a structural outline that allows you to publish, edit, manage and leave comments about content you've created. Looking at the screenshot above you will see in the picture, six tabs that can be found at the top of the article. They are: <span style="font-style:italic;">article</span>, <span style="font-style:italic;">discussion</span>, <span style="font-style:italic;">edit</span>, <span style="font-style:italic;">history</span>, <span style="font-style:italic;">move</span>, and <span style="font-style:italic;">watch</span>. We will be discussing the first four tabs since these were the only tabs that my classmates and I used consistently during the making of the project. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Article</span><br />The subtopic that I will use as an example will be History and Development of ERMS under the Driving Forces of Development on the main ERMS page. The article tab is perhaps the most important page since it is the first page that users will find when searching for their topic. For those who have no need to edit the article, this page is the only page that users will need access to. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG9PDSmrW3F246Bwxqg97mtwal52qi38GFbNgiAThi7LRfy1sUI4Volw-myTSLHImRKDyD9SLNnu2kbgED5nFapwFGzwzvG5CGlgzPXwp-6nf1auXgIA58hMgX8DMxSpkGGVuqpWVJ6VA/s1600-h/Article"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 233px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG9PDSmrW3F246Bwxqg97mtwal52qi38GFbNgiAThi7LRfy1sUI4Volw-myTSLHImRKDyD9SLNnu2kbgED5nFapwFGzwzvG5CGlgzPXwp-6nf1auXgIA58hMgX8DMxSpkGGVuqpWVJ6VA/s400/Article" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363332415360452466" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Discussion</span><br />This second tab is the behind the scenes part of the article tab. Although it is behind the scenes, anyone can still have a look and see what is being written here. The discussion tab is the place where online conversations between the various editors is posted. Any comments or talk that needs to take place all happens here. If someone has a reason as to why they deleted certain information in the article, it will be found here. If one editor added another wikipedia stub (an short article in need of expansion) to the article it can be found here. This is a good place to explore ideas as well. It's an online discussion board. Depending how detailed the content is in the article, the discussion board can be full of discussion, or minimal at best. As for the example shown below, not much was being discussed since this subtopic was mostly written by one person. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjodqn7rtO1eudfYbHQto2cAU17vtTAjISDl4wGWG-ZeGjCr9huazcfXWPm-gFVQkOU9kYV_5DfuxoHZYkWkK3ZzWV40umc5gyXiJvQWHqWCdsIcjIGNN6Cih3SLUeqvjcBQ-MIYNY4Us8/s1600-h/Discussion"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 228px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjodqn7rtO1eudfYbHQto2cAU17vtTAjISDl4wGWG-ZeGjCr9huazcfXWPm-gFVQkOU9kYV_5DfuxoHZYkWkK3ZzWV40umc5gyXiJvQWHqWCdsIcjIGNN6Cih3SLUeqvjcBQ-MIYNY4Us8/s400/Discussion" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363336736717551138" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Edit</span><br />The edit tab can be a little confusing. Depending on which tab you are on, the edit tab will lead you in a few different directions. If I am on the article tab (figure 1), the edit tab will lead me to content within the article. If I am on the discussion tab (figure 2), the edit tab will lead me to content within the discussion. This may sound fine in writing, but in action, its a different story. When you see the picture, you will notice there is no clear definition that says "edit article" or "edit discussion." I didn't even think about this or discover this until I was doing this assignment. A slight difference that can be found is a little tab that has a "+" sign beside the edit tab for the discussion tab. Whatever the case, edit area contains a box called the sandbox. It is here that the drafts for whatever section you are in, takes place. The buttons above the sandbox may be familiar to some people since they are similar in appearance to some blog tabs that are found above their sandboxes. This is the place you draft your conversations or content of the article. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMM4FNNb2PX2HDNYgJ_hLB0dcaA6tStKp3P3dphT0c01a_jkkqYHmWg2mDAa-egQTcz2xsUjmN6N_Rt7sVlceqowOG0Fw8NMTWjSlPY_mrsY57vNJknUnZ9BFdPzbpf0uzsHmKi03_uis/s1600-h/Edit+Article">figure 1<img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 231px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMM4FNNb2PX2HDNYgJ_hLB0dcaA6tStKp3P3dphT0c01a_jkkqYHmWg2mDAa-egQTcz2xsUjmN6N_Rt7sVlceqowOG0Fw8NMTWjSlPY_mrsY57vNJknUnZ9BFdPzbpf0uzsHmKi03_uis/s400/Edit+Article" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363343249188216274" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFUhiZ5FZpfIwxI0pVBQoZCBJDdUIwqR_DuDe_Tnm_LBFqAeznCaEJJYlvP1fDsQ2sbgMKfSUJSRVR6AwfU4onaKTaxPtBwv9qo3TkNYNQ58h4LcE1KIpmSMhHIPlfd3Ycf4BxWk2Nl5M/s1600-h/Edit+Discussion">figure 2<img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 231px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFUhiZ5FZpfIwxI0pVBQoZCBJDdUIwqR_DuDe_Tnm_LBFqAeznCaEJJYlvP1fDsQ2sbgMKfSUJSRVR6AwfU4onaKTaxPtBwv9qo3TkNYNQ58h4LcE1KIpmSMhHIPlfd3Ycf4BxWk2Nl5M/s400/Edit+Discussion" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363343030548120114" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">History</span><br />The history tab is basically an area that contains all the time-stamp information about the article, discussion or any other of the tabs. It is here that information about the time, date and editor is kept. This is also the area that people can come to to revert back to a previous version of the article. If someone has vandalized the article by deleting everything and leaving an crude message behind, it can be easily fixed, by clicking on a previous time-stamped date. Wonder what that random addition information is besides the time, date and editor is? This is a summary. This can only be found under the edit tab. Below the sandbox are several radio buttons, and a small text area that says "summary." This is where you put the addition information. This sample that is provided is from the edit (talk) tab and not the article tab. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHJ9Jmj2EiT2IQz4pAxWW4jnXHorrx16ab8PTVrQRDVfMwpAmGkGXB74MTrncEO3oVYXR_xFOhxqE-jgDwqJse5WL9PGc1_fwbIU4FdHyryasO6P2Jw0UbU0OhOoTQQ7EFQxjxKOwZ5Hg/s1600-h/History"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 227px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHJ9Jmj2EiT2IQz4pAxWW4jnXHorrx16ab8PTVrQRDVfMwpAmGkGXB74MTrncEO3oVYXR_xFOhxqE-jgDwqJse5WL9PGc1_fwbIU4FdHyryasO6P2Jw0UbU0OhOoTQQ7EFQxjxKOwZ5Hg/s400/History" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363346262670224722" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Conclusion</span><br />I am still a student when it comes to learning this information. The difference this time round is that I am on the teacher/librarian side of the information learning process. Rather than creating the content this time, I am learning how to create the structure and make the settings within an account. I realize that teachers and librarians will tinker with different wiki software for their own comfort sake, but I have a suggestion to make when it comes to using wiki software for the first time. Being a student and exploring the wiki process was fairly painless due to the fact that our professor chose a format that all of us students were already familiar with. I've used wikipedia countless of times, and although I haven't done any editing on any articles, yet I am familiar with the structure. This familiarity carried over onto the project. Perhaps starting with MediaWiki when creating a wiki for students might be a good idea if students are already familiar with the Wikipedia format. Just a thought.Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-12436281539464098742009-07-22T09:19:00.000-07:002009-07-23T02:44:31.546-07:00A Virtual/Digital Library ReviewYou're exploration of web apps has been an awarding/challenging experience. You've puttered around, become familiar, and think you have everything finally under control in this apps learning process. Than the Internet throws you another curve ball. Enter virtual/digital libraries. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Changing Times</span><br />I know how you feel. My initial confusion when I first was introduced to virtual/digital libraries was quite apparent. Where to start? Where to look? How to evaluate for quality and accountability? In the library profession, these are everyday questions when exploring virtual libraries. Librarians, in pursuit of the issue, have discovered that there is more that meets the eye when it comes to online libraries. You may not know this, but librarians are constantly challenging the idea of what a library is in these modern times. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Traditional Library</span><br />The traditional concept of a library is that it is contained by four walls. This view probably came about when the possibility to digitize everything within library resources started becoming a reality. Another idea that started being discussed was that the usefulness of the physical library fading into oblivion. Yet in the here and now, librarians are starting to argue the importance of the physical library space. One point of view that Alan Barney argues in his article, <a href="http://libres.curtin.edu.au/libre6n1/barney.htm">The Impact of Technology on Library Space Requirements</a> is that more space is required as "digitization is beginning to replace microforms, audio/visual resources are evolving into multimedia/hypermedia formats, and computer equipment is pervasive throughout the modern academic library." Rather than arguing that technology will do away with the physical space of the library, he simply points out that it will only redefine that physical space. <br /><br />Glenn Remelts in his article,<a href="http://www.calvin.edu/academic/rit/webBook/chapter4/Sec1/tradlib/">Where Research Will Happen: The Traditional Library</a>, considers that the traditional four-wall library may disappear in the public, special and school sector but is convinced that academic schools will never do away with their libraries just for the simple fact that libraries provide a physical haven for researchers. He acknowledges that digital libraries are becoming a part of everyday life and that together, both traditional and digital libraries will grow and coexist. <br /><br />Or let's ponder on Maija Berndtson's review of the conference held by the Helsinki Library with their theme <a href="http://www.splq.info/issues/vol35_4/09.htm">A Space for the Future- Library Buildings in the 21st Century</a>, where other libraries were invited to share their own experiences in reinventing the library space. 10 different European countries were toured with an involvement of 170 participants from 30 different countries. Berndtson's states that the conference "confirmed our belief that the physical library, library space, will remain by the side of the virtual library." She goes on to write that the challenge that is presented now is to change the image of traditional libraries as well as utilize the space to meet the needs of the customers (patrons, users).<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Digital Library</span><br />Digital or Virtual? Does it really matter which word takes president over this online resource? By Wikipedia standards, when users types in "virtual library" they are automatically directed to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_library">digital library</a> instead. The basis of the digital library is with the advance of technology in the world today. Information is either switched to the latest formats or new information is simply stored in the current formats. Lori Bell, Tom Peters, and Kitty Pope write in their chapter, "Library 2.0 and Virtual Worlds = Innovation + Exploration," write that "customer service trends in libraries show that more and more self-services are desired by library users, from self-check out machines to more services on the web, such as virtual reference, and collections, such as ebooks and audio books."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue46/dempsey/">The Library (Digital) Environment: After 10 Years</a> explores past and present development of the digital library. What is interesting to note is that 10 years ago, the goal of digital libraries was connecting with the web. Today, it is more than a matter of connecting but exploring the communicating applications that are available and using them to connect to a bigger audience. For further exploration of digital libraries go to: <a href="http://www.digital-scholarship.org/sepb/lbdiglib.htm">Library Issues: Digital Libraries</a>. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Hybrid Library</span><br />Now you're really lost. A hybrid what? Wikipedia best describes the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_library">hybrid library</a> as a term librarians use to describe libraries that have a mix of the print library resources as well as electronic library resources. But <a href="http://www.dlib.org/dlib/october98/10pinfield.html">Realizing the Hybrid Library</a> towards its full potential of bringing together electronic and print resources and blending them to create a harmonious service is the goal of the hybrid library. Hybrid library also goes by "gateway library," and shares similiar concept of the hybrid library in that one medium of information does not replace the other. Although the goal of the hybrid library is to create a seamless coexistence between print and electronic, this is easier said than done. Such issues that need to be dealt with in the continuos pursuit of balance is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide">digital divide</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interoperability">interoperability</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collection_development">collection management</a>, to name a few. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">A little byte of History</span><br />Roy Tennant in his article, <a href="http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6440594.html">Of Real and Digital Libraries</a> opens the article with a brief history of the digital library. He writes, “without real libraries, digital ones are nothing but a bunch of bits”. He realizes this thought as a reoccurring theme in the library profession, yet pauses to reflect that libraries went digital when in the early 1990s the computer science community shifted eyes their way. Digital libraries were but babes in arms during this time, but apparently the U.S. government concluded that this library area was worth sinking millions of dollars of research into. With a swerving Sauron eye swiftness, “computer science researchers also suddenly become interested in digital library issues”. <br /><br />But to these computer geeks, all library information lingo was a “pile of content” and when placed together created a library unto itself. The library community was not sure where this outside interest would take them but “humored the researchers” and soon “unexpected” results were showing up. Stepping forward onto this platform were graduate students <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Brin">Sergey Brin</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Page">Larry Page</a>, who, although did not create a digital library, created Google, a web application that made finding much easier to the Internet user.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Library 2.0 and Second Life</span><br />I remember when I first heard of Second Life. I was new to the library profession, in my first term of my LIS program and just about every class I was in mentioned Second Life. You may or may not have heard of it, but by some standards it is a rather significant matter in the Web 2.0 sphere. Bell, Peters and Pope's definition of Second Life is "a virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents, who often are called "avatars." In this world people through their avatars can explore this virtual world. There is much to discover. People can buy land, a home or business. There's even money, called Linden currancy. So where does the library aspect come in? <br /><br />Two librarians, Lori Bell and Kitty Pope, seeing possibilities, began a library venture into Second Life. Along the way, library volunteers joined the team, and the search was on to see if residents in the Second Life wanted or needed a library. The challenges that presented the team as they went about building their Second Life library was the difference between real time and virtual time. Learning how to use their avatars with sufficient grace while they navigated this virtual world also proved a challenge. Since Second Life librarians were also neebies to this environment, they couldn't really give much information on the culture within Second Life. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">A Review</span><br /><a href="http://www.wdl.org/en/">World Digital Library</a> is a must see. A digital library based out of several institutions and supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, contains maps, manuscripts, books, photos, and paintings. I believe the list goes on, but exploration of the site is quite an adventure. The homepage is set out like a map, and so subjects are categorized by continents. Once clicking on a continent, you begin exploring. If you click on a book, you are taken to a page that contains a photograph of the cover, and a brief history of the book on the right hand side. Click on the picture and the book is opened to you for exploration. Zoom in or move about by clicking on a page. I could literally spend hours running around the site. <br /> <br /><a href="https://idl-bnc.idrc.ca/dspace/">IDRC Digital Library</a> is an open access repository of research results and documents generated by IDRC-funded projects, IDRC funding recipients, and IDRC staff. This repository is free and is a good place for research on international issues. <br /><br /><a href="http://nsdl.org/">The National Science Digital Library</a> is another great website to explore. User friendly, easy to navigate, and lots of great science based information. Everything from simple to complex science can be found. <br /><br /><a href="http://en.childrenslibrary.org/">International Digital Children's Library</a> is a kid's book-loving paradise. The goal of this website is to reach children around the world, wherever they are or wherever they go. You can search by words or search by bookcover. You can search by color and/or language. You limit search by age. When you get to the book, you can enlarge the text or the picture. The possibilities on this site are astounding. Read <a href="http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/BookPage?bookid=belduck_00200023&pnum1=1&twoPage=false&route=simple_274,86_0_0_English_11&size=0&fullscreen=false&lang=English&ilang=English">A Duck in the Gun</a> as a sample. Membership is free.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Last Thoughts</span><br />So is the way of the future virtually all digital? Everybody has an option on the matter, but it really comes down to each individual library and library staff. There is a recognition to be connected globally as new technology creates a even acuter awareness of the larger audience at hand. As for myself, I am not entirely sure where I stand in the matter until I am in the classroom teaching or at the reference desk helping, but as for yourself, where do you stand?<br /><br /><hr /><br />Sources: Courtney, Nancy. "Library 2.0 and Beyond." Wesport, Connecticut; Libraries Unlimited, 2007.Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-46828015591904705322009-07-19T12:14:00.000-07:002009-07-20T22:49:44.056-07:00You said what?Podcasts. You heard me. It's all about putting your voice out there. Speak and be heard. Say anything and everything but for goodness sake, connect! No longer are we being creative by written word and visual effects, but the Internet has brought about a new creative form of personal presence and that's podcasting. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Podcasting Defined</span><br />Some articles about web apps never grow old. Since new users are being introduced to the web everyday, issues both new and old continue to be ageless. Back in 2005, CBC's exploration of the new fangle web app is captured in a brief <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/internet/podcasting.html">synopsis</a> of how podcasting is contributing and changing the Internet. Noticeable changes that we can now see today is the ability to control when, where and how we listen to broadcastings. In times past, people would miss their favorite radio show for whatever reason and no means were provided to compensate, yet with podcasting now, people can upload missed episodes. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Spoken History</span><br />Podcasting has something of a particular history. Podcasting was never a stand-alone web application but rode on the backs of weblogs and RSS feeds. If you go to <a href="http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/history-of-podcasting.htm">Jason Van Orden's</a> podcast tutorial, he writes a comprehensive history of podcasting. A signature app, podcasting has its roots in audio blogging. Individuals wanting to be creative in their personal space uploaded MP3 recordings of their views and reflections. Along the way, key players like <a href="http://dave.editthispage.com/myNameIsDaveWiner">Dave Winer</a> and <a href="http://www.curry.com/">Adam Curry</a>, began to lay down the footprints that others would shortly follow in pursuit of perfecting this app. But who had the honor of coining such a term? While writing an article for the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/">The Guardian</a>, the word was put forth by <a href="http://benhammersley.com/">Ben Hammersley</a>. The rest, we can say, is history. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Past Podcasting</span><br />My podcasting expertise has been something of a hit and miss experience. In the first year of my Library and Information Science (LIS) program, all students were required to take LIS 506 which consists of the basic web apps, podcasting among them. Did I learn anything? I would like to think I did, but as I go about doing this assignment, I am beginning to have my doubts. I learned podcasting from scratch. We had to create the code in a plain text platform (Edit Text for macs, Notepad for Windows). For learning through that method, we had excellent lab samples that guided us through each step. But things learned will rust if not put to use which applies entirely to my situation. In the beginning, it was exciting and fun leavng another <a href="feed://www.ualberta.ca/~anbecker/506podcast/podcast.xml">piece of me</a> in my personal online space. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Present Podcasting</span><br />Tutorials are helpful. When I was trying to make heads and tails of where to begin with podcasting, I typed "creating podcasts" into the Google search engine and found a tutorial by <a href="http://radio.about.com/od/podcastin1/a/aa030805a.htm">Corey Deitz</a>. Two basic ways of creating a podcast were presented, and after a few attempts at creating a code, I decided to change gears and explore what online services have to offer in publishing podcasts. On the third page of the website, a list of podcasting services were presented and clicking on the first link, I was transferred to ClickCaster. With easy to follow directions (though I didn't understand what I was doing at the time), I created a channel, <a href="http://www.clickcaster.com/asliceofknowledge">A Slice of Knowledge</a>, and proceeded to upload the tester podcast I created in Audacity. Sometimes playing with a new app can be frustrating if you have a slow Internet connection. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">a brief podcast on my podcasting experience</span><br /><embed src="http://www.clickcaster.com/plugin_assets/clickcaster_engine/players/singleaudio.swf?base_url=http://www.clickcaster.com&slug=asliceofknowledge&bgcolor=FD6D11&endbox=true&file=http://www.clickcaster.com/users/endreyia/assets/reflections.mp3&text=Hello%20from%20A%20Slice%20of%20Knowledge" quality="high" width="235" height="28" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What's out there</span><br />Looking for a podcasting service to suit your needs can take time or can simply be a luck of the draw, as was in my case. Everyone does come to podcasting in their own time, so finding a service that is easy to interact with and pleasing to the eyes is a natural requirement when finally settling. For myself, relying on the links that were provided in the tutorial, I clicked on the first service and continued with my exploration of podcasting through ClickCaster. The interface and the smooth transition from registration to creating a channel and uploading mp3 file was noticeable. But it wasn't until the uploading process starting lagging and impatience kicking in that I decided to have a quick peek at the other links provided in the tutorial. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogmatrix.com/">BlogMatrix</a> was confusing at best. The interface is ubber plain and navigation all over the place. There was no clear place for registration although a button to sign in was evident. I just couldn't get over the fact that the interface was so incredibly plain Jane. Sometimes that's a good thing, but in the case of this site, it did nothing to lure me into further discovery. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.libsyn.com/index.php?&mode=logout&message=">Liberated Syndication's</a> was on the other end of the spectrum. From no words to many words, Liberated Syndication was definitely an improvement and the podcasts offered for hearing were free. The lengthly introduction can confuse people. For anyone with a slow connection, LibSyn quickly connects. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.myrsscreator.com/">MyRssCreator</a>, was information overload at first glance. It seemed to be a combination of LibSyn and BlogMatrix. Very simple interface but you have to wade through all the information before you discover whether the services were free or not. Something tells me that they would benefit from Jakob Nielson's <a href="http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html">Top Ten Principles of Usability</a>. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.clickcaster.com/">ClickCaster</a> was my first pick, and after repeatedly returning to the site to understand more of the infrastructure, I am convinced that it was the right pick. The easy to navigatetabs, clear instructions of where to go and what to do, and just the overall aesthetics was another reason I decided to stay with ClickCaster. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Whose Using It</span><br />This is the interesting part of the blog where we start investing whose who in podcasting. Just who uses podcasting? We have quite a wide variety to pick out of from the bottomless basket of podcasting. You could type in "who AND podcasting" and get a rather interesting list or "directories AND podcasting" will yield a plethora result as well. If you want art, there's art podcasting. If you want science, there's science podcasting. If you want graffiti, there's graffiti podcastings. Religious groups, political groups, civil right groups - the list is endless. It is fascinating to see people, who already have a voice, learn to channel that voice through a different medium. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What do Schools have to say?</span><br />So, where is the voice of the School in all this? Who and how are teachers and/or students taking advantage of this web app? What creative borders are being pushed or learning creativeness imbued into podcasting? Is there an actual recipe for speaking? Don't be shy about speaking, Will Richardson writes, add in those "uhms" and "ahs" (111). It makes the whole process more real and comes back to the foundation of what podcasting is really about - everyday people speaking out, wanting to be heard. <br /><br />So let's see what's out there for podcasting explorers. <a href="http://www.k12handhelds.com/podcasting.php">K12 Handhelds</a> gives a relevant review on podcasting in schools as well as practical application in the classroom and connecting to those outside the classroom. Need help with brainstorming ideas for podcasting in the classroom? <a href="http://odeo.com/episodes/24720885-Teachers-Brainstorming-Podcasting-Ideas">Teachers brainstorming podcasting ideas</a> might help with those creative juices. For students, <a href="http://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail?pid=23626">kidspeak</a> would be a great example of exclusive student voice. Another podcast of note is <a href="http://www.podcastingnews.com/2008/02/18/kids-explain-podcasting/">Kids Explain Podcasting</a>, which as the title suggests, kids being the informers of this web app rather than the teachers. For a child-safe place to browse for inspiration for the classroom <a href="http://www.podbean.com/">podbean</a> might be a good place to start. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What do Libraries have to say?</span><br />Libraries are hot on the podcasting trail as well. Academic and public libraries are definitely using this app to connect with their patrons to better serve their information needs. So you're scratching your head and wondering how? Well as Chris Kretz writes in <span style="font-style:italic;">Library 2.0 and Beyond</span>, there's a lot to consider. One possibility that we all can easily imagine is booktalks (37), where books are the focus of discussion. Podcasts that focus on the highlights of displays and exhibits are another way to the pique interest of people who haven't yet made it to these events. Personalized librarian podcasts found within blogs are great for professional information about the comings and goings within libraries or personal information in the form of stories, issues or concerns are always good for laughs and contemplation(38). There is also library news, where podcasts serve as mini news clips to the user population (40). These are great examples, but you want to see what libraries have explored this diverse app. <a href="http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Podcasting">Library Success</a> gives a listing of successful podcasts set up by libraries across the country. Have a peek. Take a look. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What say you?</span><br />Perhaps this time round, my podcasting skills won't rust. Having now seen what is out there, hearing and experience the multitude of voices, and having a momentary flash of "we are the borg" voice stuck in my head, I'll be more inclined to explore and add to that community of voices. Perhaps I will speak out more often. Are you ready to speak out as well?<br /><br /><hr /><br />Sources: Richardson, Will. "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, And Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms." Thousand Oaks; Corwin Press; 2009.<br />Courtney, Nancy. "Library 2.0 and Beyond." Wesport, Connecticut; Libraries Unlimited, 2007.Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-77808332312966024432009-07-15T23:01:00.000-07:002009-07-19T11:34:27.461-07:00Word of the DayFolksonomy. You read right. You're new to the world of social bookmarking and perhaps the first word you stumble upon is folksonomy or in other words, the collaborative creation and management of tags in the pursuit of annotating and categorizing information. Simply put: bagging and tagging in a community sort of way. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Personal Exploration</span><br />So, before social bookmarking took hold, how did you save your favorite sites? I remember the good old days of copying and pasting links into Word document. Than someone introduced me to Yahoo!bookmark. Yes, it was a pleasant surprise and my days of copying/pasting to Word Document were over. I do admit I got a little carried away. I had four yahoo accounts and used every one of their bookmarks and molded and fashioned them after my likeness. The first account was a jambalaya of websites since this was my first voyage into the foray. The second account became a bookmarking area for all things pertaining to academics. The third account became the oasis for my webcomics and artsy-fartsy moments. Lastly, the fourth account was for all of my anime music, pictures and download information (yes, I was once an otaku). <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What's Out There</span><br />There is a wealth of social bookmarking sites out there. <a href="http://delicious.com">Delicious</a> and <a href="http://diigo.com">Diigo</a> were recommended for exploration, but for a little variety I decided to explore <a href="http://digg.com">Digg</a> as well. I wanted to see where each site stood in ranking and typed "social bookmarking sites" in Google to get a bigger picture of these applications. From the website, <a href="http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-bookmarking">ebiz</a>, I was able to see continually updated statistics of each app. Diggs stood at the top whereas Delicious and Diigo followed shortly after. Ultimately, I wanted to see which app would give me a seamless ride on the social bookmarking express. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">First Impressions</span><br />Diigo felt like a friend I could take from site to site with me. Although I could import my browser bookmarks into Diigo, the feature that was immediately introduced was Diigo's own bookmark below the browser bookmark. Delicious appears to be similar in nature although rather than a bar appearing right under the browser bookmark a separate window is opened to bookmark the chosen site. Digg, well, Digg seems to be another story all together. Once I got past registration, I became completely lost and couldn't make heads or tails of the website. The definitions Diigo and Delicious use to navigate their users throughout their apps were nowhere to be found on Digg. Anyone out there come to the same conclusion?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What's the point?</span><br />Social bookmarking seems to be the current web trend. For those beginning a serious surf of the Internet, bookmarking is a question of "why"? For those who are a regular or native on the Internet, it's a question of "why not"? Daniel Nations brief synopsis of <a href="http://webtrends.about.com/od/socialbookmarking101/p/aboutsocialtags.htm">social bookmarking</a>, talks of the value of social bookmarking compared to the old trends of copy-and-paste-into-word-document-bookmarking and if one wanted to really think about it, a different way of searching. He also mentions the difference between social bookmarking and social news (apparently Digg falls under social news). For those of you who are new to the term as I am, will discover that this term within social bookmarking refers to bookmarking related to news with breaking headlines and blogs that discuss those topics. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Uses within the Library</span><br />So what's the verdict for social bookmarking in libraries? Yes, seems to be the unanimous vote. One could even say that its a librarian's paradise. The ability to find sites through tagging but to also involve library users in the process, would be in my mind, a stupendous matter! As <a href="http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6476403.html">Melissa L. Rethlefsen</a> points out, bookmarking seems to be the comfortable go-between medium for users and librarians (Library Journal, 9/15/2007). Within library circles, Google has always been a debatable subject of practicality or an inept source of information. To use or not use Google has been a heated topic but with bookmarking, librarians can now point to the right road for the information journey. Social bookmarking for libraries is about providing reliable sources but allows flexibility and control both in the hands of the user and librarian. <br /><br />This seems to be the case for public libraries but what about academic libraries? <a href="http://acrlog.org/2006/01/02/social-bookmarking-and-tagging-at-academic-libraries/">Steven B</a> mentions that some university library's are taking advantage of what social bookmarking has to offer on their campuses. By creating their own social bookmarking program, they are giving power into the hands of the students to select sites that are relevant to their studies and to share that information to fellow classmates as well as other students. Steven mentions the next step to tagging would be tagging library content in the OPAC. <br /><br />So what is the plus side of folksonomy within the library? Better location of sources. Ellyssa Kroski explains that "hierarchical taxonomies are designed for finding specific resources whereas folksonomies are predisposed to discovering unknown and unexpected resources" (Library 2.0 and Beyond 95). Unlike the Library of Congress classification scheme which takes years for information to be updated, folksonomy allows for constant update since users are involved with the process. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Uses within the School</span><br />So what's the news with schools? Are they tagging along? Have they adopted a social bookmarking buddy? <a href="http://www.edsupport.cc/mguhlin/share/index.php?n=Work.Socialbookmarkingstories">Share More! Wiki</a> is a great place to get stories of teachers venturing into the social bookmarking foray. Some teachers share success stories where they have created social bookmarking account and are actively using it, whereas other stories tell of contemplating using the app or just beginning the venture into the unknown. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Bad and The Ugly</span><br />I found that Wikipedia gave a well-rounded view of the sunny and darker side of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking">social bookmarking</a>. One downside to social bookmarking is that there is no set standard. Capitalization, misspelling, slang or singular/plural is not defined. It's great, it's free, but watch out for spammers! Some people have started using social bookmarking as a means of better accessing their website in a Google search. Spammers have caught on to this and bookmarked web pages numerous times and/or use popular tagging for for higher hits thus creating problems for developers and forcing them to readjust their system. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">A Return to the Self</span><br />I haven't fully delved into the bones of Delicious or Diigo yet, but I know I will be frequenting the site more often. Having been in MLIS program, I am always finding myself sharing links with fellow classmates. What better way to share than social bookmarking? If I'm going to share I mind as well save myself the energy of running to my personal computer and pulling up links from my web browser and instead turn to an app that frees up my memory. Have you gotten a social bookmarking buddy today?<br /><hr /><br />Sources: Courtney, Nancy. "Library 2.0 and Beyond." Wesport, Connecticut; Libraries Unlimited, 2007.Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-77831972100055973392009-07-13T12:12:00.000-07:002009-07-13T22:49:41.530-07:00YouTube + Classroom = UnresolvedThe more involved you become with the internet, the easier it is to navigate. The deeper you wade into the seemingly murky data waters, the more you begin to see patterns throughout the entire structure. At least that's the theory. <br /><br />I've disturbed the waters enough to know where to go and what to do. So when I began traversing through the topic of videosharing on the Internet, I turned to YouTube. I created an account several years ago in order to bookmark the videos that I found funny, fascinating or fantastic. Although, I was a partial member of the YouTube community, I was never a participator only a viewer. Being in an online web application class changed that. <br /><br />Uploading a video on YouTube is as easy as buttering toast. Right at the top of the page near the account information is a small fat yellow box with the words "upload" inscribed on it. Clicking on it I followed the instructions and soon found myself watching the video via YouTube rather than Quick Time. <br /><br /><object width="320" height="265"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/e0k8b6H8pXo&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/e0k8b6H8pXo&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="320" height="265"></embed></object><br />This video is of a recent trip to Utica and Union Lake, California. It serves as an example of how easy it is to upload a video. <br /><br />However, to get a fuller experience of video sharing, I decided to explore <a href="http://teachertube.com/">Teacher Tube</a> as well. I also found the process rather straightforward; however, there was much more information to fill in when uploading a video. Unlike YouTube, TeacherTube asks permission to rate the video, which I found interesting to note since one blogger, <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2009/01/youtube-everywhere-but-classroom-and.html">cool cat teacher</a>, mentions that YouTube will rate TV shows but doesn't bother with a rating system for the rest of its content. TeacherTube reviews uploaded videos before allowing them to be viewed by the general public. The staff behind the scenes are wanting to provide accessible videos to schools without ruffling the feathers of some parents. <br /><br />So you're a teacher and you've discovered the wonderful world of YouTube. You've discovered another teaching tool that involves the student/teacher relationship of cooperative discovery of the ever-expanding world of knowledge. You see this as an opportunity, a plethora of creativity, a new gadget that will revolutionize classroom teaching. You see YouTube and you see potential. Your school or district thinks otherwise. <br /><br />Surprisingly, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blogs-Wikis-Podcasts-Powerful-Classrooms/dp/1412927676">Will Richardson</a> does not step onto the topic of YouTube. He does address the advantages of live streaming and it is here that the same principles of live streaming can be applied to YouTube. He writes about how live streaming can host school and musical plays, class presentations for parents to watch and student daily news to name a few (124). It could perhaps be explained that Richardson does not write about YouTube because of the current controversy behind this particular web application. All the web applications that Richardson explores in his book are apps that can be easily controlled by the teacher or school. YouTube is a contained chaos at best. <br /><br />In the debate of Schools verses YouTube, educators are continuously speaking out concerning the matter. The topic itself, whether to have YouTube in the class or not, appears to have no resolution in sight. The first issue, parental concern over student access is perhaps at the top of the list. As Anna Adam commented in Christ Lehmann's <a href="http://www.practicaltheory.org/serendipity/index.php?/archives/774-Getting-YouTube-in-the-Classroom.html">Getting YouTube in the Classroom</a>, parents insist children shouldn't have access to YouTube at school but are still able to access it in their own home environment. Rather contradictory, but teachers have to work with this road block. Some schools are allowing YouTube into their classrooms but with restrictions set in place. Other schools do not have such a luxury. But some teachers are taking detours in the meanwhile. <br /><br />Enter converting format. Anna Adam in her own article, <a href="http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6403265.html">"YouTube comes to the classroom"</a> talks about how to convert a video from YouTube into another format. She mentions iSquint and VisualHub as two possible ripping tools, but since the publishing of her article, these two applications have been discontinued. <a href="http://www.stinkbot.com/Tubesock/index.html">TubeSock</a> at the time of her writing was $23 but is now $15. <br /><br />Teachers may have to contend for some time with using or not using YouTube. However, TeacherTube has managed to take the place of YouTube to some extent in classrooms and schools. Teachers can now present appropriate videos to the class that have been reviewed and approved by the staff of TeacherTube. <br /><br />Perhaps by the time the next generation comes round to teaching in the classroom, the issue of YouTubing will be a ghost of issues' past. In the mean time, teachers will one way or another find ways of utilizing videos from the Internet to illustrate classroom experiences. Stay tuned for next time as I view through my web window those little handy apps called social bookmarking.Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-89079314175849963232009-07-09T04:17:00.001-07:002009-07-09T08:09:04.711-07:00Can you believe it? We're standing in the middle of a dead tree!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoSZebXq0lPC-apQKimoZmXN2c0Y-ZPZ_71w3UQVNpRO3Npwc7eCjk2ONC6sLBsvKVV3xyHurfxKMi-vfcQI-cBRH4pbaCzjg1zyOIexVXQzAhPRN8mnJxNEINa_T5e3KDSQFUSXNdWRU/s1600-h/IMG_7243.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoSZebXq0lPC-apQKimoZmXN2c0Y-ZPZ_71w3UQVNpRO3Npwc7eCjk2ONC6sLBsvKVV3xyHurfxKMi-vfcQI-cBRH4pbaCzjg1zyOIexVXQzAhPRN8mnJxNEINa_T5e3KDSQFUSXNdWRU/s320/IMG_7243.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356442614451107410" /></a><br />Inspiration is often is quick-time. Everybody has their method of coming to inspiration differently. Whether it be anything from raiding Google for thoughts, emailing a friend, venting to the Significant Other, inspiration comes from many different pools. For myself, it's climbing a mountain. I've gotten this funny idea in my head that one must climb a mountain to gain wisdom or for some great matter or thing to happen. Climbing to Vernal Falls in Yosemite National Park was my pool of inspiration. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjydg4YrRmzaJyxiEYBS7kvzP2azCXLjMSKSYNOGH-FfAcRR1ik1xgTaa4M1iZD1jfQVlFWkwYLnVaSWRs1O91qoC_2rsACw1mD7ygqVKTKMvQwfdkcE3SityapA0dtw3ey4uHQ_IthJLc/s1600-h/IMG_7185.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjydg4YrRmzaJyxiEYBS7kvzP2azCXLjMSKSYNOGH-FfAcRR1ik1xgTaa4M1iZD1jfQVlFWkwYLnVaSWRs1O91qoC_2rsACw1mD7ygqVKTKMvQwfdkcE3SityapA0dtw3ey4uHQ_IthJLc/s200/IMG_7185.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356463724236045026" /></a>Inspired, I turned to Flickr after shortly arriving home. I've explored Flickr through one friend's phenomenal <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chithra/"> photos</a>. Other times I've explored Flickr through Google in my attempts to locate a picture with a specific theme. Flickr, indirectly, was always there for me. It was only natural that I turned to Flickr to explore the pictures I took of my hike up to Vernal Falls as well as other explorations of the park. So, I began with setting up an account. To my great discovery, Flickr is now through Yahoo. How convenient (yes, of course I have a yahoo address)! Dashing off the address and moving on was easy, but I was a little deterred when I was informed through the page that I had to tinker with my cookies before accessing the rest of Flickr. Cookies?! Yes, we all know that "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie">cookies</a>" aren't those sugary goods that we all love to munch on, but instead are often referred to in this day and age as something all together technical. <br /><br />Some of the key words were confusing on the cookie page, but with some quick guess-work the previous cookies were deleted and I moved forth in my exploration of developing my personal web-space. The uploading of pictures was easily found, and I began and finished uploading my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/endreyia/">little treasures</a>. <br /><br />Now for explorations! I probably would not have taken advantage of the various functions available if it were not for dear <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blogs-Wikis-Podcasts-Powerful-Classrooms/dp/1412927676">Will Richardson</a>'s own exploration of Flickr. He points specifically to <a href="http://bighugelabs.com/magazine.php">Flickr Magazine Cover</a> and <a href="http://krazydad.com/colrpickr/">Flickr Color Picker</a> to name a few but I think his reference to <a href="http://bighugelabs.com/">The Great Flickr Tools Collection</a> is a great place to start with Flickr fiddling in general. For neebies like me, I would recommend checking out the photoshop-styled options in <a href="http://www.flickr.com/services/">Flickr Service</a>. Many of the applications in Flickr Service are third party applications. In other words, those who use Flickr like it and donate their skills to enhancing the user experience. Now that's called community!<br /><br />Flickr is a great photo-sharing site, but it isn't the only one. Some people may want to tie all of their online experience together in a neat package. One such application that accomplishes this is Google. There is gmail, Google reader and than there is <a href="https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?hl=en_US&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Flh%2Flogin%3Fcontinue%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fpicasaweb.google.com%252Fhome&service=lh2<mpl=gp&passive=true">Picasa Web Albums</a>. Getting started with Picasa is something of a walk in the park. The initial structure that is found through the Google account is simple and easy to navigate. Photos used in profile pictures from Blogger are stored in the Picasa Web Album. For those wanting to work offline and later upload there is <a href="http://picasa.google.com/mac/">Picasa 3</a> (mac). Flickr is fabulous, yet it does come with an eventual price tag. Users are limited to how much they can upload onto their accounts. One must wave away this limitation with dollar signs. Picasa, on the other hand is free and it connects throughout all Google applications. That counts as a fat check mark in my web exploration book. <br /><br />But to theorize, photo-sharing websites are dime a dozen. What makes it uniquely you is the personal exploration and discovery of whether photo-sharing website A or B meets your requirements. Does it allow for flexibility? Are the functions accessible? Will there be limitations that will stunt your creative juices? Some people don't think about such matters until it comes to recommending to family, friends or co-workers. Others are more aware. There are lists of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_photo_sharing_websites">photo-sharing websites</a> for those wanting to explore their options. For those with less time on their hands, <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6451_7-6245115-1.html?tag=rb_content;rb_mtx">reviews</a> are a great place to start. For those in professional areas, such as teachers, photo-sharing through the Internet is a great opportunity to teach and be taught. Since many students are already utilizing such websites as <a href="http://www.flickr.com/">Flickr</a>, <a href="http://photobucket.com/">Photobucket</a>, or <a href="http://www.webshots.com/">Webshots</a> to name a few, some teachers are having to catch up with their students in this field of interest. But how can teachers challenge students already in the know-how of this web application? Critical thinking is perhaps the key. Teachers can begin a class session with asking students to go and explore the pros and cons of various photo-sharing websites or which sites they would share with friends or family. The possibilities for classroom involvement with photo-sharing websites is endless. <br /><br />Creating a personal space for myself on the web is ever expanding, and photo-sharing is definitely one avenue of deep web diving. Stay tuned for next time as I view through my submarine telescope the thrilling possibilities of Youtube.Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3824664522166255431.post-20967862395479514642009-07-05T15:49:00.000-07:002009-07-06T11:17:51.485-07:00An inauguration of selfSalutations. This blog was created for the sole purpose of recording my explorations of Web 2.0 in leu of my EDES 501 class. Concerning the self, I am in the midst of completing the MLIS program at the University of Alberta. During the regular school year, I live in Edmonton however at the moment, I live somewhere in central Alberta. While taking summer classes, I have been keeping busy with random part-time jobs, pottery projects, and maintaining my garden. <br /><br />I came to serious blogging three years ago and was introduced to Blogger through a friend. I had tried blogging through LiveJournal, but found myself losing interest shortly after creating an account. I've stayed with Blogger due to the ease in which I can create a blog and easily access information that has aided my blogging experience. The latest self-exploration of Blogger has been HTML coding in the templates. Since taking several classes where XHTML and CSS have been heavily used, I've applied this new found knowledge in such areas of the web as my blog template. Creating this blog was straightforward. The only challenge that presented itself was fiddling with the coding in the template to get the look I wanted.<br /><br />Although I have blogged for sometime, that does not necessarily mean I know everything. For those who are interested in knowing about blogs and what is offered within the infrastructure, I would recommend an article by <a href="http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/page5516.cfm">idealware</a>. A simple, yet complete review concerning the ins and outs of blogging and blog tools. Idealware posses a list of questions to ask when looking for a suitable blog tool, reviews seven blog tools (<a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Blogger</a>, <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/">LiveJournal</a>, <a href="http://www.typepad.com/">Typepad</a>, <a href="http://www.movabletype.com/">Moveable Type</a>, <a href="http://wordpress.org/">WordPress</a>, <a href="http://expressionengine.com/">ExpressionEngine</a>, <a href="http://www.textpattern.com/">TextPattern</a>) and makes easy-to-read recommendations at the end of the article. Just by reading this article I am considering a blog crawl to see the sunny and puddly sides of these different blog tools. Tempting. Very tempting. <br /><br />But blogging is only the tip of this web-based iceberg. Tune in next time as I delve a little deeper into these techie waters to contemplate and divulge on photo sharing sites.Drezbeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09671329359837603155noreply@blogger.com2