Categories
Digital Culture

Virginia Tech

I’m following the events and news from this event online, trying to find the Long Tail of the news. Some of the things I’ve uncovered:

A horrifying video from a student on campus during the events. No direct violence, but disturbing due to reality.

Another video, this one from an injured student describing the shooter.

The wikipedia page on the event is here.

And there’s a report online that Jack Thompson has already claimed on Fox News that this is because of video games.

Fuck you, Jack. Fuck you.

Categories
Digital Culture

Cool Tools for Webmasters

Yahoo Pipes
Google MyMaps
Yahoo Design Pattern Library
What Is my IP?
The Rasterbator
Web developer/web accessibility toolbar for Firefox
Zamzar
Gliffy
Firefox: Linkify
Firefox: Link Checker
Pixer.us
Trailfire – Web Tours
Myxer
MyBlogLog
CrazyEgg
ManyEyes

Google Webmaster Tools
Open source web design
Gvisit
LastFM

Open Source Federated Search
DBWiz – Simon Frasier University
Keystone ILS – Index Data

Categories
Library Issues

Virginia Tech Shootings

From CNN

(CNN) — A lone gunman is dead after police said he killed at least 21 people Monday during twin shootings on the Virginia Tech campus — the worst school shooting incident in U.S. history.

As I’m sitting here at Computers in Libraries, I’m wondering if there are librarians here from V Tech, and how they can possibly continue to be here with this happening on their campus. I don’t know how I would deal hearing something like this about UTC from afar.

Categories
Library Issues

Pimp my Firefox with Jessamyn West

Presentation and handouts available at librarian.net

Firefox is open source, standards, compliant, cross platform

NB: Jessamyn is a great speaker…you can get some from the presentation, but she’s great in person

Demos how to install a Firefox add on: Google Favicon
Adding a keyword to a search field, allowing you to search the form/site from the address bar using only a keyword
Greasemonkey! Does as sorts of fun scripty stuff including removing ads and pressing buttons for you.

Categories
Digital Culture

Organization 2.0

Our heirarchical organizations may not survive the web 2.0/library 2.0 shift.

2.0 tech is changing the way we think about when we work, where we work, and how we work

We have become more distributed in our tools, more collaborative, etc…but not in our expectations or work hours.

Organizational change: nothing is more difficult. it is fundamentally about making choices and changes, and both are scary

Org. Structure

    Past structures are not effective in present or future work processes
    Younger the staff, the more comfortable they are with tech, collaboration, more uncomfortable with top-down
    Small, agile groups move faster than large bureaucracies
    Leadership & Followership are Critical Success Factors
    85/15 rule: process & Structure problems beat people problem hands down
  • Form follows function
  • Functions Change quickly
  • Form drives behavior
  • Reporting relationships create loyalty (who you report to is the most important aspect)
  • Collaboration decreases as distance increases (more than 50 feet apart)

Stability signals staleness and death
Clarity dissolves conflict

Authority and power is increasingly associated with the people that know and understand the 2.0 principles

2.0 Leadership
Make the invisible, visible
Make the intangible, tangible

Most of the time, most of the people do what they do best.

Categories
Library Issues

Computers in Libraries, Monday Keynote

Lee Raine from the Pew Internet & American Life Project
Web 2.0

Asked by the Pew American Life to not advocate for anything…simply collect information.

“I adore librarians”

What is web 2.0? Show’s the “Ask a Ninja” Podcast episode. “That is web 2.0”

6 Hallmarks of Web 2.0 that Matter to Libraries
1. The Internet has become the computer

    Broadband is growing
    Wireless is growing
    The number of people who access the internet from the library has double in the last 4 years
    Broadband makes video a big part of the internet experience.
    62% of Internet users under 30 have watched YouTube videos
    The number one indicator of basic political knowledge: watching Colbert and Daily Show
    Internet use is more social

2. More than half of teenagers have profiles on social sites like MySpace or Facebook: The social comes to the virtual.

    Older teenage girls are the heaviest users of the social sites, far more than boys or younger girls
    51% of young adult internet users have uploaded photos to the internet. This means that visual images are increasingly the currency of communication.
    About 40% of teenagers have posted their own creations online
    33% of college students have a blog…(NB: That’s a full third, people! Pay Attention!)
    26% say they remix content they find online
    19% of young adults havae created an avatar that interacts with others online

3. Even more internet users are accessin the content created by others

    Not a huge single set of users….Long Tail group
    44% of young adult internet users seek information at Wikipedia
    Wikipedia users, statistically, have the higher levels of education over non-Wikipedia users
    Information Seeking is not to find sources, it is to find people…they reach out to their social circle for more info, not to other sites.

4. Many are sharing what they know and what they feel online and that is building conversation and communities

    33% of young adult internet users have rated a person, product, or service online.
    32% of young adults have tagged content online
    25% of younger internet users have commented on videos

5. People are sharing their expertise and resources online

    44% of internet users participate in peer-to-peer exchanges
    10,000 to 30,000 active developers in the Open Source movement

6. Online Americans are customizing their online experience

5 issues libraries must struggle to address

    Navigation: linear to non-linear
    Context: learning to see connections
    Focus: practicing reflection & deep thinking
    Skepticism: learning to evaluate information
    Ethical behavior: understanding the rules of cyberspace
Categories
Personal

New look for Pattern Recognition

I got fed up with trying to keep fixing the theme I had, so I decided to go ahead and move to a new one. It’s very different, but I hope that everyone likes it. This is a variant of Sunburn, heavily modified to my liking by a bunch of spacing adjustments, changing the sidebar to be absolutely positioned and swapping in a bunch of content, and adding my “pulse” to the header/footer.

So: whatcha think?

Categories
Personal

Hurm

Seems that something in my adding Podpress to the blog to try and handle the previous post led to my right sidebar going wonky.

I’ll fix tomorrow. I’m tired now.

Categories
Library Issues Podcasts

CALA 2007 presentation: Web 2.0 > Library 2.0

Here is the Quicktime of my presentation from last night to the Chattanooga Area Library Association on Web 2.0 and Library 2.0. While a small crowd, they were very interested in what we’re doing at MPOW to try and move ourselves into a more 2.0 mindset and process.

Thanks to Jessamyn, from whom I borrowed the kitty scared image and the general “Don’t fear the user” concept. I briefly considered just using her slideshow and talking over it, because she puts things together so well.

Warning: this is the full-size QT, so be warned.

And I’ve noticed, the QT can be flaky when you try to play it directly…save it, or try this flash version to view it in browser.
Categories
Library Issues Personal

Computers in Libraries 2007

Next week I’ll be heading out to Crystal City, VA to attend CiL 2007. It’s the first conference in many moons that I don’t have a presentation or other formal commitment to attend. This means, of course, that I have completely overbooked my time in sessions, because there is so damn much good stuff. Plus, I’ll get to catch up with lots of good friends.

But, if you are attending, and you want to catch up with me, take your pick as to calendar format:

iCalXMLHTML