This week we are learning about RSS and Aggregators. We have been instructed to download an aggregator and select a feed to follow. I have chosen two.
Liblog: Newsletter of the Mayo Clinic Libraries. http://liblog.mayo.edu/
The title is self explanatory. The content is informative on both a professional and a personal level. I have spent many lunch hours in this library over the years. The staff have become very close personal friends. Two years ago, when I was finishing my classes at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, I was given the chance to do an internship in this library. Some day perhaps I'll write a few lines about it. For the moment, suffice it to say that I put in many more hours than the course required simply because I loved what I was doing.
Digital Reference. http://www.stephenfrancoeur.com/digitalreference/
I have always been impressed with the ability of reference librarians to meet any information request. What a wonderful skill set, to know where to look for reliable information on any subject! I will probably never acquire the training needed to become an MLS. It would take too many years given the limitations on my time. But I am learning everything that I can and am thoroughly enjoying developing what skills I possess.
Plus one more:
The Scholarly Kitchen.
http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/
I just remembered the post from this site that my friend in the Mayo Medical Library sent me. The site is devoted to scholarly publishing. It never hurts to learn as much as you can in that area if you intend to improve your standing in any profession.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012
This post is concerning our class discussion on social media. I was about to respond that I do not use social media. Then I remembered that I do occasionally sign in to Linked In. Thus far, I have done so merely to monitor the posts of others. I keep meaning to become more familiar with the site, but have not yet been able to find the time. Most of the year I work eight hours a day, spend two and a half hours driving to and from work, spend at least an hour a day (and usually more) on schoolwork, and to some extent meet the obligations of family life. If social media were a priority, I suppose I would somehow find the time. However, when I do have a few spare moments, I usually spend them working on projects around the house.
Linked In does seem to be a useful site. My brother-in law suggested I join and through it, I have discovered some interesting library related posts. Maybe after the holidays I will have time to investigate it more thoroughly. In the past, that was the time of year when I would try to make some progress on my den, but that project is finished now so I am looking forward to a little free time in January. I just remembered another social media resource that I “joined”: http://www.librarything.com/. It sounded like it might be fun (at first) to list all my books online and compare notes with other bookworms. Again, my classes got in the way and there is no way I could have found the time to enter all the data on my collection. When I joined, it measured 104 feet of shelf space. I have added to it since then. On another page I have posted some pictures of my den. However not all of the collection has been transfered from the old cheep bookcases I had been using previously. Those were set up in another room while the den was under construction.
Social media has definitely brought people together. I hear stories about people reuniting with long lost friends, lovers and classmates. Friends and family members separated by long distances are able to keep in touch using video chat, share pictures on Facebook, or find mutual interest forums to share opinions and information. There is no question that this medium has proven its benefit to society. I, however, am still a little leery of it. For people who already find it difficult to interact in social settings (off-line), it provides an outlet for self-expression that (I think) may become too easy to rely upon. If you get negative feedback from one-to-one interaction and positive feedback from your time on sites that “parrot” back to you your own opinions, where are you likely to spend your free time? How does this help you to grow as a person? What incentive is there for you to improve poorly developed face-to-face social skills if your social needs are met by Facebook or MySpace? One of the earliest appeals of web 2.0 was the potential of harnessing the wisdom of the crowd. An early example of this was the concept of crowd sourcing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing. However, some forms of social media enable the spread of ideas to outpace the vetting process, regardless of the merit of the idea.
I realize that I am tending toward a rant here and that my concerns are not original. I am sure that others have voiced them before me. So, having shown my iconoclastic side, I will close this post with the simplistic suggestion that perhaps the merit of social media exists in its ability to display, for all the world to see, the strengths and weaknesses of our society. What will the people of other countries who speak English think of us, based upon what they read? What will they encounter first? Petty sophomoric sniping? Or a thoughtful analysis of issues, presented with respect and balance?
NOVEMBER 3, 2012 New Feed and Cloud Computing.
I have spent a great deal of time today trying to decide what to add to this blog for a new feed. I had thought about rejoining Facebook and finding a group there, but I am still a little reluctant to re-enter that environment. In the end, I signed in to Linked In and after spending way too much time browsing, found a library related blog that looks interesting. It appears to deal with program organization and professional development. I saw some articles there that I look forward to reading when I get a few moments. The feed is now located at the bottom of my feed list. Please feel free to take a look if you have an interest in library work.Regarding cloud computing, I have already discussed this topic in our course discussion forum to a limited degree. Since I have very little personal experience, my assertions may be naive. However, my impression from our readings is that one of the trickiest issues is that of software licensing. Sure, there are more obvious issues such as privacy or the possibility of data loss. But these are perceived risks that a client chooses either to accept or decline. Software licensing is an issue that effects all players at the table. How do you charge for an application that your client uses an hour and twenty-five minutes one month and forty plus hours the next? What is fair to the client, the vendor? I am curious enough that I hope to follow up on this, but when?
NOVEMBER 4, 2012
More on Cloud Computing.
Yesterday I spoke of the pricing issues of software
licensing as it pertains to cloud computing. Further reading has shown me that
this may not be as much of an issue as I had thought it was. The Wikipedia
article on Software as a Service (History) outlines some of the differences
between Application Service Providers (ASPs) and Software as a Service (SaaS). One of
those differences is that ASPs manage the software of a third party. This
indeed is a situation where licensing issues could conceivably come into play. However,
in the SaaS model “most vendors typically develop and manage their own
software.” This provides the flexibility to charge users on a per use (hourly,
monthly, whatever) basis or number of users basis. So the Software as a Service
models seem as though they avoid this issue altogether.
NOVEMBER 11, 2012
Experience with Cloud Computing.
This week we were required to create a presentation using Prezi, a cloud based application similar to PowerPoint with the advantages that come with cloud computing. For example: the software resides in the cloud, therefore you don't have to worry about making sure that every piece of "tech" that you create from has a copy of it. Nor do you need to carry your work around on a thumb drive or SD card so that you can switch from working on your desktop to your laptop. Both the software and your work are always there waiting for you from any point that you can access the Internet.
I had a very difficult time trying to decide what to do for a presentation. But then I remembered referencing my internship earlier in this blog. The Prezi seemed the perfect way to share my experiences. I was lucky enough to have collected a few photographs during my internship, but went back and asked permission to take a few more and to make sure that there were no objections to my placing this information in a place where it could possibly be discovered by the public if there happened to be a security breach. As I expected, there were no objections and so... here it is. I didn't have time to incorporate a lot of bells and whistles. It's pretty "vanilla." But hopefully someone will find it interesting. I certainly had a lot of fun both doing the internship two years ago, and writing about it here.
NOVEMBER 11, 2012
Experience with Cloud Computing.
This week we were required to create a presentation using Prezi, a cloud based application similar to PowerPoint with the advantages that come with cloud computing. For example: the software resides in the cloud, therefore you don't have to worry about making sure that every piece of "tech" that you create from has a copy of it. Nor do you need to carry your work around on a thumb drive or SD card so that you can switch from working on your desktop to your laptop. Both the software and your work are always there waiting for you from any point that you can access the Internet.
I had a very difficult time trying to decide what to do for a presentation. But then I remembered referencing my internship earlier in this blog. The Prezi seemed the perfect way to share my experiences. I was lucky enough to have collected a few photographs during my internship, but went back and asked permission to take a few more and to make sure that there were no objections to my placing this information in a place where it could possibly be discovered by the public if there happened to be a security breach. As I expected, there were no objections and so... here it is. I didn't have time to incorporate a lot of bells and whistles. It's pretty "vanilla." But hopefully someone will find it interesting. I certainly had a lot of fun both doing the internship two years ago, and writing about it here.
http://prezi.com/araemo42foff/my-internship-in-the-mayo-medical-library/?auth_key=7c0fee2cafa24e30d04211c485a20664c66acb39
DECEMBER 1, 2012
DECEMBER 1, 2012
Mobile Computing
The content for our focus on mobile computing came from
Wikipedia, as has that of much of this course. An interesting article, I got a
chuckle out of the picture of the old Compaq Portable. I remember seeing one of
those somewhere many years ago. The “Carputer” portion also caught my attention,
as my brother-in-law used one for a while, traveling around Wisconsin for John
Hancock. My own experience with mobile computing has been limited, although not
quite so limited as I would have thought before reading the article. For
several years, I used a Palm 100 PDA to keep track of appointments, birthdays,
etc. It was very handy. Once I learned the hieroglyphics necessary for text
entry with the stylus, I was able to enter text as quickly as most people do
now on their cell phones without even looking at the pad. Until I read the
article though, I would not have thought of it as “mobile computing.”
I have always been a little leery of getting trapped into financial
commitments relating to “status luxuries.” I don’t drive a fancy car and I have
never had too much trouble resisting the temptation to buy a smart phone (and
the accompanying data plan). Every day at work, I see people walking the halls
with their noses buried in their electronic devices, oblivious to everything
around them. I understand the appeal of the format, but I have no patience with
that level of self-absorption. I believe that part of the reason we are here is
to look after each other. It is hard to do that when you are not even aware of
what is going on around you.
When I began taking classes on-line, I bought myself a Dell
laptop. It has a fairly wide screen so that I can either have two documents open
side by side, or read a single document in a large enough font size that I don’t
have to be right on top of the keyboard. I find that it is easier to keep my
lunch out of the keys that way. I generally do not surf the web much with the laptop
and I keep my anti-virus up to date, so viruses have never been a problem, so
far. It has worked well for me for several years now and since I use it almost
exclusively for library sciences courses, I have built up a large number of
reference sites in my favorites folder. I have grouped them by topic into about
a dozen sub-folders. The ability to take my schoolwork with me to work or on
vacation has enabled me to be much more productive than I could have been
otherwise. I do not believe I could have gotten the grades I have without it.
December 6, 2012
Podcasts
December 6, 2012
Podcasts
This week we have been learning about podcasts. Again, this
is an area that I have had little time to explore. I have watched a few YouTube
videos and that is about all. I can see from the article where the ability to
produce content with both audio and video and publish it to a web page could be
useful. It is obvious how valuable it would be from a marketing standpoint. A business
could have several short video podcasts on their website to answer common questions
or explain their product offerings. A visitor to the site could easily select
only the content that they were interested in, thus wasting less time and
coming away with a clearer understanding of the product and probably a
favorable impression of the company.
The Kahn Academy is a great example of
podcasts used for educational purposes. Full disclosure: math has always been a
weak area for me. I watched a few math podcasts at this site and was very
impressed. I need to go back and review them when I have a few moments.
At this point in my life, I have no personal need to be able
to create anything in this format. However, someone once said, “Opportunity
favors the prepared mind.” I can imagine a position opening someday where possessing
the skill to create such content might tip the scales in my favor. So, maybe I’ll
try to find the time to follow up on it and learn what I can.
As part of our assignment for this week, we were asked to post
a link to a favorite podcast or video and explain why we like it. Before I
began taking classes on-line, I used to be very active with the Rochester
Orchestra and Chorale. I sang in the bass section of the chorale and for several
years served on the board. This last November they staged a concert honoring
those who served our country in the armed forces. I could not attend the
concert and so I was very glad to discover this video. Please read the
explanation below the clip. I will frankly admit bias, but I thought they did a
nice job. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egxu2ffICVU&feature=autoshare
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