While I didn't sign up for an account of all the survey generators, I have to say I think survey monkey was the best. It seemed to be the only service that wasn't just offering a free survey feature to get me to buy a more advanced account. QuestionPro seemed to be the most guilty of this, especially when I looked at their prices for a yearly account, $4999 the best. But QuestionPro also seemed to offer the best features of the bunch to justify why purchasing an account would be worthwhile.
I found SurveyMonkey usable. It was easy to create a survey, and their descriptions were accurate to what the type of question would be, but I wasn't sure how the questions would look until I saw the final version. It would be nice if they had a graphical interface... On the flip side, I realize that is a lot to ask from a free service, so I have no major complaints. Although, it would be nice if I was notified when people had filled out the survey via email.
The library has a pro account with SurveyMonkey. Can you think of surveys that might be interesting to conduct either in-house or among community members?
The library should make even more use of the pro account than we already do. There was the lintranet redesign committee survey, which the litranet redesign committee used to gain information. And there was that other survey, the one I can't remember, but I do remember filling it out... anyway as long as we attach food/candy to surveys I think we can use it for all sorts of feedback both with the public and internally. I think it would be neat if we could link surveys about library policy to the public computer log-ins. But I don't want to force people to take surveys...
The lack of open-ended questions is what always bothered me about standarized tests. I felt that having a finite answer that could just as easily be correct by guessing isnt' the best way to determine knowledge. Open-ended questions for some surveys are much the same way. The quality of answers may be higher if people are allowed to think out their answers, and we might get better comments and ideas. But there is more reluctance to take time to do a good job on open-ended surveys so the pool would most likely be smaller. As you can see I've used a lot of qualifiers in this last part of the post, and that is because I really don't know people would react, or the quality of responses we would get. A mix of check the box and open-ended questions seems to be the best for getting more advanced answers, while offering people the option of expressing their individual opinions. Although, people who express opinions on surveys usually are people with strong opinions, not people with moderate opinions...
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
This ning thing
I used to be a member of a few anime and manga networks pre-2005, but I found that people who are really into anima or manga are almost the exact same on the internet as they are in real life... Currently, I'm a semi-active member of Silverfishlongboarding.com. I would say very active member, but unlike many people in online forum/discussion communities, I don't post just for the sake of seeing myself on the internet. So while some members of the forum have 1000+ posts, I have a little over 100 and I've been on the forum for a year.
This is what I find to be an interesting part of social networks, especially ones that focus themselves around discussion forums. Post-counts, in some places, seem to indicate how active you are as a member, but only reflect the quantity not the quality of your posts.
As far as appealing social networks, I like longboarding, so anything related to that could be interested... as long as it is populated by mostly helpful people. I also like the idea of a Library Web 2.0 social network, and a cooking social network. I especially like finding new recipes because I like cooking and being able to contact the author of the recipe to ask for clarification would be pretty useful... come to think of it, if there were an origami network where one could contact the author of a page it would be very useful for clarification.
Overall, I like what ning offers. As long as you can drum up enough support it shouldn't be too hard to create something useful.
This is what I find to be an interesting part of social networks, especially ones that focus themselves around discussion forums. Post-counts, in some places, seem to indicate how active you are as a member, but only reflect the quantity not the quality of your posts.
As far as appealing social networks, I like longboarding, so anything related to that could be interested... as long as it is populated by mostly helpful people. I also like the idea of a Library Web 2.0 social network, and a cooking social network. I especially like finding new recipes because I like cooking and being able to contact the author of the recipe to ask for clarification would be pretty useful... come to think of it, if there were an origami network where one could contact the author of a page it would be very useful for clarification.
Overall, I like what ning offers. As long as you can drum up enough support it shouldn't be too hard to create something useful.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Myface and Spacebook
I've been a member of facebook for a few months now. I didn't do anything other than create a profile and leave it blank. In November I started updating my profile, and searching for friends, playing games, writing on walls, etc. Two of the groups I joined were the Library 2.0 interest group, and the I Longboard to Work group. These are groups that are relevent to my daily life. I've become a fan of many web 2.0 things and see their potential for further promoting the library... as long as we stick to the ones that are working. I joined the longboarding group because I have been longboarding to work since my second week here.
The probably reason that facebooks is growing so fast is because older people are now joining it. When I was in my senior year of college I recollect some of my friends signing up for pages. They said that it was for college students only, or institutions had to sign themselves up... or something like that. I don't know whether this is true or not. Now everyone and anyone can sign up, so that isn't a problem. The real draw I've heard from people is it is easy to use and its setting are defaulted as private. This adds a measure of security for people who are timid about posting things on the internet. It erases that, "everyone can see my page!" concern that a lot of people who aren't teenagers feel. Other than the ease of use, and more private settings it displays I don't have any easy answer for why it is growing so fast. In the circles I've moved in on Facebook I've noticed a lack of juvenile internets behavior. There isn't a lot of flaming or bashing, and I haven't seen any of the annoyingly htmled pages that sprawl across myspace. Facebook also doesn't have the negative connotation that myspace has. When I was a teacher my principal led a campaign against myspace, policing it, and suspending people who were up to no good. I haven't heard any stories like that relating to facebook, so it not being myspace might be helpful for its popularity.
Now on to myspace...
Librarians are using myspace to engage teenusers. Both the linked myspace pages had about 800 friends. They are also using this as a contact for authors. Most of the comments left on the library's pages seemed to be greetings and thanks from authors for promoting their books. I like the idea of a myspace to display photos of, and promote events for teens. I didn't see anything ideas I really liked.
I didn't create a myspace and I'm not going to use one.
The probably reason that facebooks is growing so fast is because older people are now joining it. When I was in my senior year of college I recollect some of my friends signing up for pages. They said that it was for college students only, or institutions had to sign themselves up... or something like that. I don't know whether this is true or not. Now everyone and anyone can sign up, so that isn't a problem. The real draw I've heard from people is it is easy to use and its setting are defaulted as private. This adds a measure of security for people who are timid about posting things on the internet. It erases that, "everyone can see my page!" concern that a lot of people who aren't teenagers feel. Other than the ease of use, and more private settings it displays I don't have any easy answer for why it is growing so fast. In the circles I've moved in on Facebook I've noticed a lack of juvenile internets behavior. There isn't a lot of flaming or bashing, and I haven't seen any of the annoyingly htmled pages that sprawl across myspace. Facebook also doesn't have the negative connotation that myspace has. When I was a teacher my principal led a campaign against myspace, policing it, and suspending people who were up to no good. I haven't heard any stories like that relating to facebook, so it not being myspace might be helpful for its popularity.
Now on to myspace...
Librarians are using myspace to engage teenusers. Both the linked myspace pages had about 800 friends. They are also using this as a contact for authors. Most of the comments left on the library's pages seemed to be greetings and thanks from authors for promoting their books. I like the idea of a myspace to display photos of, and promote events for teens. I didn't see anything ideas I really liked.
I didn't create a myspace and I'm not going to use one.
Twittering Widgets Batman!
I finally found a twitter widget that would attach to my blog. I didn't look to hard at first, but I had some spare time. To revisit thing 7... or something like that, I found that twitter's app page left a lot to be desired in organization and information. But a quick google search allowed me to find a app that fit what I wanted. Do try to use bloggers twitter gadgets, they stink like a cat box.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Podcasts... They Exist
It may surprise everyone I know but I listened to the Good Beer Show podcasts. They said "amazing" and "greatest" a lot. The engine I searched was podcast.com, it was a pretty good podcast directory, I enjoyed the categorization.
Podcasts are neat, but I don't think I'll be subscribing to and listening to one regrularly anytime soon.
Podcasts are neat, but I don't think I'll be subscribing to and listening to one regrularly anytime soon.
I like vimeo and blip.tv better...
As with most people I really like these video sites. I remember back in the eary days of the internet until youtube came on the scene, when I would want to see a music video, or a clip from a tv show, or any sort of video, I would have to wait a long time, and then hope that I had the right codec to play the videos... more often than not it wouldn't work, and I would have wasted all that time. Fortunately, now I can use youtube, vimeo, blip.tv, and even hulu. I don't like yahoo! movies though, they haven't quite figured out how to not suck. Similarly, my experience with google video removing copyrighted material has been less than stellar. Overall, the ability to continually watch entertaining and stupid videos has left me with a great big thumbs up for internet video players.
As the challenge option of this thing states the library could use this as a constant updater of what is happening in the library. Think of it as a video newsletter, kind of like the library channel only consistently accessible via the internet. Many companies have youtube channels, and therefore get their faces out there for the internet to see. The library could benefit from utilizing this form of communication.
I choose this video because it gets to the heart of an issue we face everyday at the library:
As the challenge option of this thing states the library could use this as a constant updater of what is happening in the library. Think of it as a video newsletter, kind of like the library channel only consistently accessible via the internet. Many companies have youtube channels, and therefore get their faces out there for the internet to see. The library could benefit from utilizing this form of communication.
I choose this video because it gets to the heart of an issue we face everyday at the library:
Sunday, December 28, 2008
LibraryThing is located in Portland, Maine. I used to live really close to there... but now I don't.
Children's Services posts our booklists online as well as providing hard copies for patrons. The integration of LibraryThing into our OPAC would allow us to further justify the merits of the books we recommend, while allowing patrons to browse for books that are similar, or were enjoyed by people with similar tastes. I think the browsing and review features LT offers would be valuable for learning how books have been received.
The tagging feature of this site is very valuable. As I said before, using tagging in conjunction with LC subject headings allows for more percise and relevant matches for patron recommendations and requests.
The tagging feature of this site is very valuable. As I said before, using tagging in conjunction with LC subject headings allows for more percise and relevant matches for patron recommendations and requests.
Thing 12
These sites are pretty neat for finding and sharing interesting articles quickly. I like the user recommendations feature, but there seems to be a conspiracy afoot to determine. Like most things, they seem to be dominated by people who have excessive time to devote to searching the internet for things worth reporting. It would really cool if a library could have an account, and when people are looking for news to report it would all be done under that account.
I don't have a solid opinion on the enchancing or detracting of productivity of these sites. It all depends on how much you use them. If you're a digg poweruser, I would say it is a productivity detractor, especially if you are trying to boost your rating, but if you need quick information to keep up to date on the happenings in the world, these can be very useful.
These sites are dangerous for finding information though. In the time it took me to do this thing I read about 3 articles. They have such neat headlines, I couldn't resist.
I don't have a solid opinion on the enchancing or detracting of productivity of these sites. It all depends on how much you use them. If you're a digg poweruser, I would say it is a productivity detractor, especially if you are trying to boost your rating, but if you need quick information to keep up to date on the happenings in the world, these can be very useful.
These sites are dangerous for finding information though. In the time it took me to do this thing I read about 3 articles. They have such neat headlines, I couldn't resist.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Deee Lish Us
Like anything, Delicious can be really useful for researching. A research assistant might have to wade through a lot of crap before finding useful information, but this offers an alternative to standardized cataloging of websites (and possibly beyond). While I'm not in favor of doing away with standard cataloging language, an addition to the research process can be helpful. The old story that no two people will catalog a book the same way holds true for tagging. But what we're offered by tagging in delicious is the ability to make tags for things that don't have subject headings.
Push this into the library catalog and you can create records that utilize both tagging and subject headings for optimal searching of the catalog.
Push this into the library catalog and you can create records that utilize both tagging and subject headings for optimal searching of the catalog.
Anyone can edit wikipedia... so you know it has to be true...
Which wiki did you edit?
I like the wiki concept for the ability to edit for clarification and expansion articles in the said wiki. It is a great way to come to a collaborative understanding of materials, and is especially useful when trying to find quick information.
Wikis would be great for troubleshooting technology problems, readers advisory, and guides to local areas.
I, in general, agree with teachers and faculty banning the use of wikipedia for student research. Students shouldn't be using encyclopedias for serious research, why should an online encyclopedia be any different. I went to college pre-wikipedia and I didn't use encyclopedias. Limiting information by format is fine depending on the research being conducted.
I edited the 23 things wiki on cats and favorite books.
I like the wiki concept for the ability to edit for clarification and expansion articles in the said wiki. It is a great way to come to a collaborative understanding of materials, and is especially useful when trying to find quick information.
Wikis would be great for troubleshooting technology problems, readers advisory, and guides to local areas.
I, in general, agree with teachers and faculty banning the use of wikipedia for student research. Students shouldn't be using encyclopedias for serious research, why should an online encyclopedia be any different. I went to college pre-wikipedia and I didn't use encyclopedias. Limiting information by format is fine depending on the research being conducted.
I edited the 23 things wiki on cats and favorite books.
Google Docs and Zoho
Google docs was much easier to use than zoho writer. Their features were quite similar, but overall googles ease of use allowed me to edit faster, and save easier. Google docs has the easiest and least frills version of word processing, but if I wanted to write a paper I would use Zoho. The interface reminded me of OpenOffice's word processing software, which is very similar to Microsoft Word's software, so it was all familiar. They both work well, but I would go with google to aid their inevitable takeover of all information.
I think all the Founding Fathers except for Ben Franklin would be freaked out by this crazy technology.
I think all the Founding Fathers except for Ben Franklin would be freaked out by this crazy technology.
Thing 8 II: The Obligatory Sequel
These creation sharing tools are excellent for both personal and professional use. I used the big huge labs motivator of William Wordsworth in a project for SLIS this semester. The class was an education class and I saw bighugelabs as a great way to broaden the ways that students present their information.
For libraries and personal use you could use picturetrail to share pictures of events, or just day to day activities with your patron base, or with your family. Using picturetrail as a way to increase library website traffic would work especially well if there were lots of pictures of patrons from the event. That way grandparents, parents, and close friends would look at the library website for pictures of their children.
These tools were pretty easy to use. Picturetrail was a bit confusing at parts because it immediately adds all the glitz and glam. It took me a few to figure out how to get out of it. Also, why isn't flickr linked to their site? That would have made things a lot easier for everyone involved.
Monday, December 22, 2008
If man is 5, then the devil is 6... Then web 2.0 is 7
I'm torn about the idea of chat reference at MCPL. The idea seems nice, but I'm not sure about the amount of interest from our patron base. I had the fortunate experience of assessing a chat reference interview for my S501: Reference class this semester. I was expecting a horrible experience, but in the end I had a great and informative interview. It was a chance to see chat reference done right. So my perception has been influenced by past experience. Overall though, I don't know that MCPL needs it. At the college level it works well enough, at least in my case, but it doesn't seem as necessary for us. That being said, I wouldn't mind participating in a study where we put a meebo messenger in the PAC and see where that takes us. Internal use of IM would be great for quick communications, but I don't think it would be beneficial at the reference desk because it is distracting.
Twitter... I don't know about twitter. I used it... it is okay. The real problem I have with it is how trivial it is. I've seen some application of twitter in libraries and it wasn't that useful. The best way I could see using it would be to post events that were happening in the library. The question is would it be a library twitter, or department, or individual. I'm not sold, yet.\
Not getting overwhelmed with Web 2.0. I like it, it is fun for me because I don't usually take part in these things on my own. It is nice to have something to force me to participate in the 2.0 web.
Twitter... I don't know about twitter. I used it... it is okay. The real problem I have with it is how trivial it is. I've seen some application of twitter in libraries and it wasn't that useful. The best way I could see using it would be to post events that were happening in the library. The question is would it be a library twitter, or department, or individual. I'm not sold, yet.\
Not getting overwhelmed with Web 2.0. I like it, it is fun for me because I don't usually take part in these things on my own. It is nice to have something to force me to participate in the 2.0 web.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Thing 6 - Part 2: Electric Boogaloo.
I attended the MySpace? Yes! Webinar on Opal. It was a really good webinar, even though I didn't learn a lot about my space. It was much more focused on setting up a myspace page rather than how useful it was for promotion, or other good reasoning for having a library myspace page. This is a really neat way to communicate, I liked how people would try to type funny comments on the text bar at the side. This would be especially useful for step-by-step guides through difficult technology applications, or simple ones, depending on the user group.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Thing 6: Part 1 - A Preface to Mystery
MCPL is very reliant on email for communication. Adult services has a blog, which I think is a better form of communication for routine information, but Children's services, and other department communicate through email (or so I am led to believe). I cannot fully comment on whether email improves productivity in the work place because I've never worked in a professional/or paraprofessional position without it. It serves as a constant reminder of job to do and issues that come up. I believe that it does increase productivity in some aspects, but hinders in others. A positive is the trail of communication that can be recorded. This provides a much clearer trail than verbal heresay. A negative (for me at least) is the lack of interaction in some work places, and the amount of time people spend answering email. I've worked in places where I felt I had to apologize for asking a person a question in person, rather than over email. At least interoffice forwards (at least in the places I've worked) have dropped tremedously.
Online reference is a really neat idea, although its application is a bit trickier. I used instant messaging throughout high school and college. Since graduating I haven't used instant messaging for personal use, but I have used it in work. Interoffice communication is great when using instant messaging, especially in a work place that encourages silence. For reference IM would work well as a quick resource, but I don't think it would work well for in-depth questions.
I didn't start text messaging until after college, but I love it for its ease of quick communication. It is great for quick questions, which would be useful in quick reference quesitons. I have used it to send emails, which was very easy.
Online reference is a really neat idea, although its application is a bit trickier. I used instant messaging throughout high school and college. Since graduating I haven't used instant messaging for personal use, but I have used it in work. Interoffice communication is great when using instant messaging, especially in a work place that encourages silence. For reference IM would work well as a quick resource, but I don't think it would work well for in-depth questions.
I didn't start text messaging until after college, but I love it for its ease of quick communication. It is great for quick questions, which would be useful in quick reference quesitons. I have used it to send emails, which was very easy.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Awesometown Trading Cards
I could make my own Magic cards for a magic program, and then destroy everyone that shows up with my non-regulation deck!
But in all seriousness, this is great! You could have an entire program just centered around making your own trading cards! In the department you could make cards, or movie posters featuring your department. It would be a great way to get the faces of the department out for people to see. I think these have great potential in the children's department.
Thinking as a possible school media specialist, these could be used to enhance understanding of different subjects. You could make a trading card deck for a kingdom of animals, or a genre of writing (imagine British Literature, The Collectible Card Game!).
But in all seriousness, this is great! You could have an entire program just centered around making your own trading cards! In the department you could make cards, or movie posters featuring your department. It would be a great way to get the faces of the department out for people to see. I think these have great potential in the children's department.
Thinking as a possible school media specialist, these could be used to enhance understanding of different subjects. You could make a trading card deck for a kingdom of animals, or a genre of writing (imagine British Literature, The Collectible Card Game!).
bear
One time Corduroy came to the library. He rode a skateboard.
Using pictures like this in the library for promotion and for people to see just what we're up to is a great way to build publicity. Plus, people love seeing pictures of themselves from events, it is a proven fact backed by years of research. You could also use imageshack, or photobucket, both of which I have used in the past, but I don't think they are as good as flickr. The whole attachment to my yahoo! id and the ability to link to my blog is a great way to streamline the process.
The thing about these photosharing websites is their completely public, so you shouldn't put anything on there that you wouldn't want the whole world to see. This applies to most things on the internet.
Flickr is cool. I like it.
Using pictures like this in the library for promotion and for people to see just what we're up to is a great way to build publicity. Plus, people love seeing pictures of themselves from events, it is a proven fact backed by years of research. You could also use imageshack, or photobucket, both of which I have used in the past, but I don't think they are as good as flickr. The whole attachment to my yahoo! id and the ability to link to my blog is a great way to streamline the process.
The thing about these photosharing websites is their completely public, so you shouldn't put anything on there that you wouldn't want the whole world to see. This applies to most things on the internet.
Flickr is cool. I like it.
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