ALA TechSource Blog

We've Moved to a New URL

Tom Peters — Wed, 28 May 2008 00:29:33 +0000

The new ALA TechSource blog is now live. We've successfully made the switch to Drupal (which always makes me think of the cartoon character Droopy Dog). The new URL for the blog is http://www.alatechsource.org/blog. Come on over and check it out.

Because we think we have figured out a way to control all of the unwanted and distracting spam comments that inundated this now former TechSource blog (famous last words), the comments option over at the new blog has been turned on again. Please feel free to share your comments, reactions, and additional information via the comments feature. We really want this blog to be a conversation.

Several new people recently have joined the ALA TechSource blogging team, too, including Robin Williams, Jason Griffey, Kate Sheehan, and Cindi Trainor. TechSource also has a new editor, Dan Freeman, who officially began last week.

Register for GLLS2008!

Jenny Levine — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:36:17 +0000

Registration for the 2008 ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium is now open! Last year we sold out at 300, and this year we expect the 350 spots to go quickly, so we encourage you to sign up early.

Call for Presenters for GLLS2008!

Jenny Levine — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:32:28 +0000

We're in full swing for planning the second annual ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium, which will take place on November 2-4, 2008, in Oak Brook, IL (a western suburb of Chicago).

There's some preliminary information on the site about registration, the location, and keynote speakers, but we've also just posted the official Call for Presenters. If your library is doing something innovative with gaming, if you're doing research around gaming and libraries, or if you have ideas to propose and share, please submit a proposal. We want to offer another great program chock full o'the best sessions, and that could include you!

The deadline for submitting your proposal is June 15, 2008, and we'll respond by July 1. Help us make GLLS2008 even better than last year's event!

Today the Users, Tomorrow the Objects

Tom Peters — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:05:11 +0000

About forty years ago Sunsweet Pitted Prunes ran a famously funny TV ad, written by Stan Freberg. It featured a stuffy British character actor complaining about the fact that prunes contained pits and were wrinkled. Once you have a prune pit in your mouth, there is no graceful way to extricate it. All wrinkled fruit is abhorrent.

Then he is offered a new Sunsweet pitted prune. He displays some interest and enjoyment, then reminds the off-screen pitchman that the prunes still contain wrinkles. Cut to the punchline: "Today the pits, tomorrow the wrinkles. Sunsweet marches on."

I was thinking about that classic commercial today as I pondered how librarianship marches on.

Today the Users

Remember those genteel discussions we used to have about what to call the people who darkened the doorways of our physical libraries? Calling them patrons was rather patronizing. If we called them customers, that contained a whiff of filthy lucre. To call them clients straddled the fence between business and the professions, which made us uncomfortable, as fence straddling is wont to do. Referring to them as users made them sound like they were information addicts. Perhaps they were.

Then the Internet and the Web came along, spawning phrases such as "remote users" and "remote patrons" and the "library without walls." It was all very exciting.

The funny thing was, no one I spoke with about this naming issue ever entertained the notion that "none of the above" should be considered as a suitable sobriquet for library users. One lesson of recent history is that "none of the above" was the correct answer all along.

Turns out, many library users did not want to be mere users of libraries, library systems, and library services. They wanted to contribute to the richness and value of "our" systems by adding reviews, comments, tags, ratings, and even -- perish the thought -- their own original creative works. They wanted to help us make library information systems even better and more useful, and they didn't want to do it merely by completing an annual feedback survey.

Now these "Creative Artists Formerly Known as Users" are pushing the notion of communal information systems in interesting, sometimes troubling, ways. They are the pits, and I mean that in the sunniest, sweetest way.

Tomorrow the Objects

Have you ever noticed how much of what we do as librarians relates to information objects? We select objects (books, electronic resources, digital audiobooks, etc.), acquire and organize them, describe them, circulate them, archive them, convert them, and mollycoddle them in every way imaginable. We are so object-oriented, sometimes it is difficult to see the forest for the trees.

Not only have we given information objects a lasting professional embrace, but we also have designed our information systems so that users and "Artists Formerly Known as Users" should show proper obeisance to information objects. We expect them to search for, cite, save, print, copy, and share information objects. Many people have come to accept that using an information system is all about searching for and using information objects. If an information experience were not object-oriented, what would it feel like?

Here's an interesting wrinkle. What if the future of experiencing information will be less oriented toward objects and focused more on the total experience? Experiencing information will be more like taking in -- and then immersing one's self in -- a scenic vista than counting and hoarding blades of grass. Some of the recent developments in "serious games" and virtual worlds seem to point to such an information future.

This does not mean that information objects will become useless. Each gestalt information experience will be constructed of information objects, which are carefully crafted and organized by librarians, end-users, and other experience creators -- the artists formerly known as content creators. While attention to information objects will continue to be essential during the initial design and redesign phases, the creative, immersive use of information systems will emphasize the learning experience, not the individual information objects.

Today the users, tomorrow the objects. Librarianship marches on.

Student -Centered Digital Learning at Loyola's Information Commons

Michael Stephens — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:01:26 +0000

Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting and speaking at the new Loyola University Information Commons on the campus of Loyola University just north of Chicago. It was a blustery, rainy cold day along the lake, but the space and the library folk were warm and inviting. Before the visit, I checked out the Web site for the Commons, eager to read about the project. From the Overview and Philosophy page:

The concept of an Information Commons (IC) is part of a national trend which has three objectives:

First, focusing on the needs of undergraduates
Second, providing a one-stop shopping experience for all types of information needs: library research, technology, and more, and
Third, considering how and why we access and use information.

The Information Commons idea is also a response by libraries to the current trends of technology in higher education, globalization as it relates to information, e-learning, and the need for flexible hours by students. In the past decade, librarians have observed that students need and expect to have

A. spaces to meet and work together
B. access to up-to-date technology
C. the ability to communicate easily with friends, family, classmates, etc.

For universities to be competitive for students, these needs must be addressed.

Dean of Libraries Bob Seal took me on a deluxe tour of the facility that sits right on the lake side. The first floor includes computers, seating areas and a help desk staffed by student assistants. The second and third floors offer more computers, group study/collaboration space and are designated as quiet areas. The library and university folk planning this space allowed for louder spaces for collaboration and quieter spaces for studying. There is even a "no technology," quiet reading room designed to look like a traditional library space. Bob was very pointed when he described entering into the project with the planning team. Three things, he said were of utmost importance for the new building. The Information Commons would be a place for:

Collaboration
Connectivity
Community

Macs, PCs, outlets, wireless, and comfortable seating were in abundance.

I was particularly impressed with the media production space, designated as resource for students to create digital content, print in color/large size and have access to circulating equipment. This was the first time I'd ever seen a circulating equipment area. Technologies included digital video cameras, portable hard drives for saving large files and more.

I spoke for an hour to library staff and invited friends from the library community. I had a ball referring to my tour in the context of The Hyperlinked Library and concluded the talk by urging the visitors from outside Loyola to checkout the Commons and the student-centered technologies, spaces and features. Throughout the day, I was constantly reminded of how student-centered the Commons seemed to be. It makes sense: students want a plugged in, digital learning experience. They're consumers in many ways. The Information Commons would certainly impress me as a potential student. I wonder how potential students might react to other less-inviting spaces? What did the Commons philosophy state?

For universities to be competitive for students, these needs must be addressed.

Are you planning a new or renovated space in your academic library. It might be just the ticket to look at the photos, the philosophy and ponder how you might create a technology-equpped space to serve learning needs. Kudos to the planning team, including forward-thinking dean Bob Seal for creating such an innovative space. As I was leaving we hatched plans for Dominican GSLIS field trips to see the Commons in action.

Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsphotos/sets/72157604487385068/

"Get over it" - and Experiment: Notes from a 2.0 Presentation at PLA

Michael Stephens — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:10:19 +0000

I was very lucky to share a podium with Jen Maney, Pima County Public Library, and John Blyberg, Darien Library, on Friday morning at the 2008 Public library Association conference in Minneapolis, MN. I wrote two pages of hurriedly scribbled notes while Jen spoke and I really wanted to share them here. They tap into some of the themes I've written about at TechSource since we began in 2005.

Jen opened her talk, titled "Let's get Excited (and Realistic) about Web 2.0," by noting that there is no magic wand we can wave to make your library suddenly be in the 21st century. Web 2.0 is an individual thing. Each person - and I would say each institution -- brings their own perspective to the tools. Because Jen works in the Web area of her library, she's participated in a lot of discussions of choosing and using emerging technologies.

"Get over it," Maney said about taking on some of those emerging tools and social media - "Experiment." She also echoed some of the current thinking around exploration and learning. "Play," she said. "It's what your users are already doing." What an excellent reason to start a Learning 2.0 program -- something Maney noted her library and the State of Arizona were taking on! WooHoo!

The motto in her department is "Designing for Uncertainty." We have no idea what the future holds with services, technology, etc. This way their planning is timely and focused on the users.

Then Maney noted the importance of adopting and using the tools that WORK for the institution. This is the evaluation piece that Casey and Savistinuk made part of their original definition of Library 2.0:

It is a model for library service that encourages constant and purposeful change, inviting user participation in the creation of both the physical and the virtual services they want, supported by consistently evaluating services.

Maney's take was "lonely is bad." If that blog, discussion forum, IM service, etc is unused -- thus lonely -- take it down and focus on something else that might better suit the institution. Monitoring usage, hits, comments all come into play here. "We can't do it all," she said -- to applause from john and I, and severl folks in the audience. "Pick and choose the ones you want to try." I was happy to hear this coming from someone in the trenches of practice -- I've been addressing the same issues in my recent talks. So are some incredible library thinkers in Australia.

Finally, Maney shared what she's learned designing online spaces for library users:

Web-based participation works best when it's built around a library program.
RSS News feeds are good fit for the library, but also teach users how to use RSS
Get your stuff into the catalog at the point of need
It helps to have staff that like to experiment
There is no one thing -- no one answer - for every library.

Jen really fired me up with her talk - and luckily I went next so I was able to build on and re-emphasize her points with my presentation. John followed with an incredible take on Andrew Keen. It was great fun!

Thanks to all who attended our program at PLA.

Teaching a Dog New Tricks

Michelle Boule — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:43:43 +0000

When you are training a dog, you do not start with something complicated. You begin with something small and easy: sit. From sit, you move on to tricks that build on that one skill, like shake and lie down. You never start with lie down or shake, because a dog has to be sitting to do those things.

When we teach children to read, we sing them the ABCs first and then teach them how the letters form words. We do not show them words and then teach them the alphabet. We know that to learn a skill there is a logical progression of learning. We know this, but often, when dealing with technology, we forget about it. Like all other knowledge acquisition, learning how to use technology tools should follow a logical progression. We should start with cornerstones before constructing the building. If you are a technology trainer, consider what cornerstones are already in your staff's arsenal when planning a training.

In the midst of looking at technology tools for our libraries, we often consider the skill level or training needed for the new technology. What we rarely consider are the technologies currently in use that can help our staff learn the new tool. Staff are often reluctant to learn yet another tool even if it is the tool that you believe is going to make their professional lives easier and their job smoother. To busy and harried staff members, you are asking them to take time out of a packed day to learn something from the ground up.

But what if they did not have to start at the bottom? Next time you need either to convince staff of a tool's merits or train them on the use of a tool, make a list of technology already in place in your library. In what ways is the new tool similar to one or two of the more beloved tools, even print tools, at your library? What skills do staff already posses that will make learning a new tool easier? Are there aspects of the work flow of an older tool that mirror work flow of the new tool?

When Reference staff relied entirely on print resources, there were indexes for every subject. Indexes had commonalities regardless of the subject being organized. They were alphabetical. They gave specific citation information for the resources listed. Subjects were cross listed in a (mostly) logical manner in which the cross listings referred to one another. Once you had mastered the way indexes worked, you could then transfer your skills to other indexes. We do this today with databases. All serve the purpose that indexes once did, and they all have some sort of search function. Searching and learning is what librarians have always done.

As a trainer, I think it would be wonderful if we could use this idea of transference that we have used with indexes and databases when learning technology tools. I believe thinking about tools in this way may help us to find new ways to appeal to resistant co-workers. This approach may help to overcome the idea that I have heard expressed often in training, "There is always something new on the horizon. If I spend time learning Tool X, I will just have to invest more time I do not have tomorrow learning Tool X.1 or Tool Y. Why should I waste my time?"

With that in mind, I have created a list of things that I believe most Web 2.0 tools have in common. Keep in mind this is a simple list for beginners. Though these similarities will not teach a new user how to use the tool in its entirety, they will build confidence with the tool. A confident learner is one who is less likely to give up early. Start with something easy and then progress to things that are more complicated.

Tools are made to complete a task.

A Web 2.0 tool, like any physical tool, serves a purpose. It may look graphically more appealing than a ratchet set, but an online tool still serves a function. Do not let the fancy packaging either persuade or dissuade you of the usefulness of a tool. As a user, you should always ask, "What does this tool help me do?" If the function of the tool, like keeping a to do list or keeping track of your travels, is not of use to you or your staff, this may not be the tool for you. The usefulness of the purpose of a tool will sell the tool to staff at a higher rate than a tool that is simply pretty.

On a side note, never choose a tool based on its shiny factor only. If it is pretty, it also should work.

Online tools are accessible from anywhere.

At least in my opinion, the good ones are anyway. For your staff, this means a username and password. The number of usernames and passwords can be overwhelming sometimes, so encourage your staff to use the same or similar strong passwords for all their online tools. Have them create usernames that are similar so that they are not guessing, forgetting, and getting frustrated at this easy first step. Many tools are abandoned on the learning curve because of simple things, like lost passwords and forgotten usernames.

Just as in real life, Web 2.0 tools come with a circle of friends that can be cultivated and nurtured.

Web 2.0 is about interconnectivity with people. Web 2.0 tools allow you to have a group of people whom you consider "friends". Sometimes, this group is labeled "contacts" but it all means the same thing. You are often able to send messages to people in your friends list within the tool itself. There is no need for people to know your real email address or contact information this way. For staff members who are very private, this will be seen as a bonus. You also always have the option of unfriending people which can sometimes come in handy. The functionality of a friends list will vary from tool to tool, but the basic abilities will remain the same. Once you have managed one friends list, you can manage others.

Create a Unique Profile

Upload an image of yourself or something to represent you. It is just like attaching a document to an email. Upload and viola! Like a friends list, once you have done this once, you can do it again.

Find Out What is Going On

Most tools come with some way to send you updates on either your friends' activities or things happening around the web based on your profile. RSS is usually the behind the scenes tool that makes this work, so if your staff are already using RSS readers, you can incorporate this aspect of a new tool into the use of a tool with which they are already familiar.

Robin Williams Joins the TechSource Blog Team (Part 3)

Tom Peters — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:07:18 +0000

[13:35] Greylin Fairweather: Everything I have read suggests that people are, with a few exceptions, more or less as they are in real life, characterwise

[13:35] Greylin Fairweather: leaders are leaders, educators are educators, etc.

[13:35] Greylin Fairweather: The philanthropists are doing their thing

[13:35] Maxito Ricardo: ponderers are ponderers

[13:35] Greylin Fairweather: lol

[13:36] Maxito Ricardo: I'm laughing so hard I'm waking Max my dog from his nap

[13:36] Greylin Fairweather: haha

[13:36] Greylin Fairweather: And I tend to have a lot of great laughs in here

[13:36] Greylin Fairweather: I'm not sure people who aren't in realize that.

[13:36] Maxito Ricardo: What are you doing as an intern at Sun?

[13:36] Greylin Fairweather: Mostly machinima at present, which I enjoy greatly.

[13:37] Maxito Ricardo: I wish I knew how to make machinima...it's so cool

[13:37] Maxito Ricardo: Does it take a long time to learn?

[13:37] Greylin Fairweather: They found me through a little video I had made in response to some posters in a student forum debating the use of virtual worlds

[13:37] Maxito Ricardo: Do you learn best by doing?

[13:37] Greylin Fairweather: about ten minutes, but don't tell or I might lose my gig ; p

[13:37] Greylin Fairweather: I do.

[13:37] Maxito Ricardo: short internship!

[13:38] Greylin Fairweather: haha I'm doing it, and showing them how

[13:38] Greylin Fairweather: I'm working on a variety of different projects

[13:38] Greylin Fairweather: I made a quest bot based on the ALICE artificial intelligence stuff

[13:38] Maxito Ricardo: Sun seems to be one of the more active and innovative organizations here in SL

[13:39] Greylin Fairweather: They are really amazing. Very dedicated to contributing to the community

[13:39] Greylin Fairweather: They sponsored Life 2.0

[13:43] Maxito Ricardo: well, I don't want to keep you.

[13:44] Maxito Ricardo: We like to have some fun with the ALA TS blog

[13:44] Maxito Ricardo: I look forward to working with you on the blog!

[13:44] Greylin Fairweather: Yeah! Your avatar name is so musical lol I love to say it

[13:45] Greylin Fairweather: He was like, you know Tom and I thought, really?

[13:45] Greylin Fairweather: OH Maxito Ricardo!

[13:45] Maxito Ricardo: Christy Confetti at Sun is the only person I know with a better RL name than avatar name.

[13:45] Greylin Fairweather: haha yeah

[13:45] Greylin Fairweather: She's great

[13:46] Greylin Fairweather: Robin Williams is hardly a name at all.....overused!

[13:46] Maxito Ricardo: Tom Peters is too!

[13:46] Greylin Fairweather: lol

[13:46] Maxito Ricardo: We should start another librarian club: Librarians with names that are more recognizable than they are

[13:46] Maxito Ricardo: okay, thanks!

[13:47] Greylin Fairweather: Thanks!

Robin williams Joins the TechSource Blog Team (Part 2)

Tom Peters — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:03:10 +0000

[13:13] Maxito Ricardo: Now I'm going to spend the rest of the day imagining Info Olympics Events.

[13:13] Greylin Fairweather: lol

[13:14] Maxito Ricardo: Retrocon is the marathon.

[13:14] Maxito Ricardo: Reference is Greco-Roman wrestling

[13:14] Greylin Fairweather: rofl

[13:14] Greylin Fairweather: that would be hilarious

[13:14] Greylin Fairweather: For me the greatest bit of the whole virtual world thing is that, as a parent of 2 kids under the age of 5, I get to be home with them and, frankly, am more productive than I would be in a politics-driven cubicle.

[13:14] Maxito Ricardo: great point

[13:15] Maxito Ricardo: Lots of us in SL seem to have young families.

[13:15] Maxito Ricardo: We have four kids, and three of them are three years old.

[13:15] Greylin Fairweather: and I get access--direct access--to a lot of brilliant minds and thinkers that I would not otherwise get to engage with.

[13:15] Maxito Ricardo: So, often when the kids are in bed, I pop into SL as a way to get away while still being within earshot.

[13:15] Greylin Fairweather: I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old

[13:16] Maxito Ricardo: That must be fun.

[13:16] Greylin Fairweather: Yes! We've left the discos for SL lol

[13:16] Maxito Ricardo: My kids are all hopped up on Easter candy at the moment.

[13:16] Greylin Fairweather: haha mine too

[13:16] Greylin Fairweather: no leaving our kids with unreliable babysitters

[13:16] Maxito Ricardo: no need to invest in nanny cams

[13:16] Greylin Fairweather: exactly, waste gas, etc

[13:16] Greylin Fairweather: Did you go to Life 2.0 at all?

[13:16] Maxito Ricardo: no, I didn't

[13:16] Greylin Fairweather: omg it was amazing

[13:17] Greylin Fairweather: all these guys, Nick Yee, Castronova, whose work I love, right there, super stuff

[13:17] Maxito Ricardo: Oh, I love Castronova's work

[13:17] Greylin Fairweather: and that's the great thing about these places, they're filling with useful interactive content.

[13:18] Greylin Fairweather: Yeah! He talked about the exodus to the virtual world

[13:18] Maxito Ricardo: I agree...perhaps faster than the Web filled up with useful interactive content?

[13:18] Greylin Fairweather: perhaps, the way tech moves

[13:18] Greylin Fairweather: but everything we learn here, can be applied out there.

[13:18] Maxito Ricardo: He studies how VW economic activity is having an impact on the real world economies.

[13:19] Greylin Fairweather: Yeah : ) Loved Synthetic worlds

[13:19] Maxito Ricardo: Hey, we could blame the current recession on SL!

[13:19] Greylin Fairweather: lol nah

[13:20] Greylin Fairweather: although...I would spend more money out there, if it made me look that much better with a click

[13:20] Maxito Ricardo: lol

[13:19] Maxito Ricardo: What do you think librarians will be doing in VW's in, say, ten years?

[13:20] Greylin Fairweather: I think that they'll be interactive testing grounds that help us make or improve quality interactive, participatory libraries.

[13:20] Greylin Fairweather: I love the whole third space concept

[13:21] Greylin Fairweather: and anyone who has been in here reads it and thinks, yep, that is what this place is.

[13:21] Maxito Ricardo: VW's are a quick, inexpensive protyping lab.

[13:21] Greylin Fairweather: Where can I safely meet strangers and exchange ideas?

[13:21] Maxito Ricardo: right

[13:21] Greylin Fairweather: They are, and most useful when we carry the ideas out

[13:22] Maxito Ricardo: I've only felt really creeped out in SL only once.

[13:22] Maxito Ricardo: I guess I need to get out more often!

[13:22] Greylin Fairweather: haha

[13:22] Greylin Fairweather: Well and you can always teleport here

[13:22] Greylin Fairweather: Dr. Loertscher was telling me that video games were being blamed for all sorts of ills, obesity, etc

[13:22] Greylin Fairweather: but I think the truth might be somewhat the reverse

[13:23] Maxito Ricardo: yes, teleportation adds a certain edge to any in-world interaction

[13:23] Greylin Fairweather: lol

[13:23] Greylin Fairweather: I think that people are scared, and there are few third places (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place), so we stay in.

[13:24] Maxito Ricardo: yes, we all seem to be hunkering down in our real lives.

[13:24] Greylin Fairweather: and since we're in so long, people have developed excellent things to do indoors

[13:24] Greylin Fairweather: supply and demand lol

[13:24] Maxito Ricardo: Do you think virtual worlds have created another aspect of the digital divide?

[13:25] Greylin Fairweather: I think there is a divide anywhere...

[13:25] Maxito Ricardo: yea, any tech advance is going to create a divide.

[13:25] Greylin Fairweather: hopefully technology will drop in price so that more people can afford it

[13:25] Greylin Fairweather: but I'm sure the TV created a digital divide at some point

[13:25] Maxito Ricardo: Until you get to the point where 99.9 percent of the households have adopted that tech

[13:26] Greylin Fairweather: right

[13:26] Greylin Fairweather: there needs to be some infrastructure to make that happen

[13:26] Maxito Ricardo: Virtual worlds seem to be a great place for collaborative networking.

[13:26] Greylin Fairweather: It is unfortunate that some areas don't have access to high speed access. That is to me, a denial of their right to information.

[13:27] Greylin Fairweather: I would never have been contacted by Sun without it.

[13:27] Maxito Ricardo: "Access" is another thorny concept I ponder often.

[13:27] Greylin Fairweather: I think how many years I wrote papers for instructors that no one ever saw, I never got feedback etc

[13:27] Maxito Ricardo: Yea, no comments box for anyone who reads to comment.

[13:27] Greylin Fairweather: Here everything I do is seen and I get lots of feedback lol so I strive to make better work than ever.

[13:28] Maxito Ricardo: In college, we rarely shared our papers with our peers...weird

[13:28] Greylin Fairweather: and it has made me more relaxed about revisions and input

[13:28] Greylin Fairweather: I heard the term "mobsourcing" the other day and loved it

[13:28] Maxito Ricardo: Every info object becomes a work in progress...never finished unless everyone moves on to something else

[13:29] Greylin Fairweather: You make something, you want input? You want to improve it? Mobsource it for free.

[13:29] Maxito Ricardo: mobsourcing...love it

[13:29] Greylin Fairweather: There are millions of people in search of a purpose.

[13:29] Maxito Ricardo: Everyone has two cents to give

[13:29] Greylin Fairweather: everyone really

[13:29] Greylin Fairweather: exactly

[13:29] Greylin Fairweather: Focus groups, shmocus groups

[13:29] Greylin Fairweather: lol

[13:29] Maxito Ricardo: Seems like we need better ways to tap into the wisdom of crowds.

[13:30] Greylin Fairweather: This is it

[13:30] Greylin Fairweather: right

[13:30] Maxito Ricardo: Reading umpteen comments to a blog post isn't very efficient.

[13:30] Greylin Fairweather: one way

[13:30] Greylin Fairweather: and how can we do this in real life?

[13:30] Greylin Fairweather: instead of one painting on the wall, how about an lcd screen with a voice thread of art

[13:31] Greylin Fairweather: how can everyone participate?

[13:31] Maxito Ricardo: Or make it really easy for people to provide feedback and updates.

[13:31] Greylin Fairweather: Yes!

[13:31] Maxito Ricardo: Like a mashup that charts the spread of sickness in a neighborhood.

[13:32] Maxito Ricardo: As David Pogue at the NY Times wrote, now you find out that all your neighbors have been sick only after you're all well again!

[13:31] Greylin Fairweather: How many times have you let your local reference librarian know how they can better serve you?

[13:31] Greylin Fairweather: I have never done it, have you?

[13:32] Greylin Fairweather: I'm a librarian and half the time they intimidate me

[13:32] Greylin Fairweather: lol

[13:32] Maxito Ricardo: Yea, the RW library service interaction doesn't really invite feedback.

[13:32] Greylin Fairweather: Right, use the international technology to unite the local community.

[13:32] Greylin Fairweather: but I guarantee in here you'd get feedback

[13:33] Maxito Ricardo: That's true

[13:33] Maxito Ricardo: If I had a nickel for every time I had to announce I'm bald in-world by choice...

[13:33] Greylin Fairweather: So what happens in here that makes it easy to give it and what can we do in real life to make it easier out there

[13:33] Greylin Fairweather: Yeah I don't really have white hair

[13:33] Greylin Fairweather: lol

[13:34] Maxito Ricardo: Yes, I don't get a sense that people who are really active in virtual worlds have "written off" the real world.

[13:34] Greylin Fairweather: No, quite the opposite

[13:35] Maxito Ricardo: They always want to bring the good stuff back to real life and real needs.

Robin Williams Joins the TechSource Blog Team (Part 1)

Tom Peters — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:56:43 +0000

[Robin Williams is the newest member of the ALA TechSource Blog Team. Welcome, Robin! Recently she and I met and chatted on ALA Island in Second Life, the 3-dimensional virtual world. The text chat transcript of our conversation is pasted below. Greylin Fairweather is the name of Robin's avatar in Second Life, and Maxito Ricardo is my avatar. Because the transcript is long, it has been divided into multiple blog posts.]
-- Tom Peters (interim editor of the TechSource blog)

[12:58] Greylin Fairweather: Maxito Ricardo!

[12:58] Maxito Ricardo: Hi, Greylin

[13:00] Maxito Ricardo: Welcome to the TS blogging team!

[13:00] Greylin Fairweather: Thank you : )

[13:00] Greylin Fairweather: I'm very excited about it

[13:02] Maxito Ricardo: What are your thoughts, hopes, fears, etc. as you begin your TechSource blogging thingy?

[13:03] Greylin Fairweather: I hope to bring relevant school library technology information in an interesting and useful way.

[13:03] Maxito Ricardo: great!

[13:03] Greylin Fairweather: I am a born techie, but a literature major so I can usually make it accessible.

[13:03] Maxito Ricardo: Hey, I'm an old lit major myself.

[13:03] Maxito Ricardo: Anything in that area really have you revved up at the moment?

[13:04] Greylin Fairweather: I'm doing a lot with documenting the ephemeral

[13:04] Greylin Fairweather: how do you capture what you do on the internet, from web pages to virtual worlds

[13:04] Maxito Ricardo: Great need for more study, research, and tools in that area.

[13:05] Greylin Fairweather: I've been working with Dr. Loertscher a lot on the 21st century librarian concept

[13:06] Greylin Fairweather: and rather than just focus on bringing the social networking computing into the library, I like looking into what the essential characteristics of online communities are and how to translate the best of it into the REAL world.

[13:05] Maxito Ricardo: Are you finishing up your graduate work at San Jose State University?

[13:06] Greylin Fairweather: I finish this semester, yes

[13:07] Maxito Ricardo: I've been pondering the essence of virtual communities, but haven't gotten much past some unstructured pondering.

[13:07] Greylin Fairweather: lol anytime you want to coponder on that I'm in. : )

[13:07] Greylin Fairweather: I've written a little bit and have more planned on it

[13:07] Maxito Ricardo: If we coponder, does that make us a virtual community?

[13:07] Greylin Fairweather: haha

[13:07] Greylin Fairweather: virtually ; p

[13:08] Maxito Ricardo: Coponderers Anonymous!

[13:08] Greylin Fairweather: rofl

[13:08] Greylin Fairweather: I'm doing an internship for Sun Microsystems

[13:08] Maxito Ricardo: So, how are we going to keep track of all this collaborative work we are doing online and in virtual worlds?

[13:09] Maxito Ricardo: Oh, and I want to hear more about your internship at Sun.

[13:09] Greylin Fairweather: screen capture, web capture, machinima

[13:09] Maxito Ricardo: screencasts, podcasts...

[13:09] Greylin Fairweather: And we can share it with posts blogs, ustream and blip, etc

[13:09] Greylin Fairweather: you tube, etc

[13:10] Greylin Fairweather: My biggest concern is that I am very much a practical, this is what you DO kinda gal

[13:10] Greylin Fairweather: rather than a theoretical researcher

[13:10] Maxito Ricardo: You are very action and outcomes oriented?

[13:11] Greylin Fairweather: Yes

[13:11] Maxito Ricardo: That's great

[13:11] Greylin Fairweather: I'm a teacher to the core,

[13:11] Greylin Fairweather: 13+ years

[13:11] Greylin Fairweather: and I like to share useful how to's, solutions

[13:11] Maxito Ricardo: Speaking of outcomes, this ALA Island is beautiful.

[13:12] Greylin Fairweather: Aww thanks. I still think of our part as more of a beginning

[13:12] Greylin Fairweather: but I love the layout, it's just so easy to navigate

[13:12] Maxito Ricardo: yes, very open and inviting.

[13:12] Maxito Ricardo: For some reason, I always think of an Olympic Village.

[13:12] Greylin Fairweather: lol It's the flags

[13:12] Maxito Ricardo: Maybe this will become the Info Olympics Village!

[13:13] Greylin Fairweather: you should have one to coincide with the real olympics, how fun would that be?