Reference Notes

The Universe Is Not Flat >>> Let The Conversations Continue >>>

2010-08-19T13:43:00.030-05:00

Preface

In April 2005, the first edition of The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century >>> "... an international bestselling book by Thomas Friedman that analyzes globalization, primarily in the early 21st century [was published]. The title is a metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, where all competitors have an equal opportunity. As the first edition cover illustration indicates, the title also alludes to the perceptual shift required for countries, companies and individuals to remain competitive in a global market where historical and geographical divisions are becoming increasingly irrelevant."

While some may concur with Friedman, the World and the Universe Is Not Flat, As They Say In France >>> Au Contraire >>>.

The World And The Universe At Any And All Levels and Dimensions Exhibit Dynamic Variation / Diversity / Etc. ; It /They Are Not Monolithic Or A Single Dynamic Phenomenon >>>

The Well-Known Bell (And Others) Curves Graphically Represent The Wide Variation in Nature >>>

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Curve]

Part I

"In probability theory and statistics, the normal distribution, or Gaussian distribution, is an absolutely continuous probability distribution whose cumulants of all orders above two are zero. The graph of the associated probability density function is “bell”-shaped, with peak at the mean, and is known as the Gaussian function or bell curve."

The Red Line Is The Standard Normal Distribution

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution]

As In Life, As There Is (More Or Less On Ther Internet/Web), There Are Some Individuals That Are More Active/Engaged Then Others >>>

Part II

Jakob Nielsen, The Smartest Person On The Web, In An October 2006 Alertbox Posting Documents What Many Have Probably Observed >>>

Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute

Summary:

In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.

All large-scale, multi-user communities and online social networks that rely on users to contribute content or build services share one property: most users don't participate very much. Often, they simply lurk in the background. When you plot the amount of activity for each user, the result is a Zipf curve, which shows as a straight line in a log-log diagram.

In contrast, a tiny minority of users usually accounts for a disproportionately large amount of the content and other system activity.

User participation often more or less follows a 90-9-1 rule:

• 90% of users are lurkers (i.e., read or observe, but don't contribute).

• 9% of users contribute from time to time, but other priorities dominate their time.

• 1% of users participate a lot and account for most contributions: it can seem as if they don't have lives because they often post just minutes after whatever event they're commenting on occurs.

[http://www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_inequality.html]

Soooooo .........

In A NutShell > A Few List Members Contribute Most Of The Postings To Any Given e-List

AND I Am Among Those Few >>>

Indeed > Overall My Blogs Are Ranked In The Top Five (5) Perecent And A Few In The Top One (1) Percent And Higher (Based On Technorati Rankings)

AND

BTW: Traffic On My Blogs Is Much/Much Greater Than SiteMeter Indicates >>> The New Blogger In Draft Stats Document Significant Visitation >>>

For Example >>>

Since June 1 2010, There Have Been More 140,000 Collective PageViews Of Postings On My

Spectrum > Mobile Learning, Libraries, And Technologies Blog As Of Today (08-19-10)

And >>>

That I Have More Than 850 Followers On Twitter, Placing Me In The Top Slither

[http://bit.ly/62HeQW]

And According To Twitter Counter, I Rank #133, 554

[http://twittercounter.com/compare/GMcKBlogs/all/mixed]

In A Total Twitter Population of 34.3 Million Account

[http://www.quantcast.com/twitter.com]

(08-22-10)

The New York Times Reports Today (08-30-10) That There Are

145 Million Registered Users On Twitter

[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/technology/30location.html]

Soooooo .........

Please Don't Diss Me For Being Actively Engaged >>> Or Because I Have Broad Interests

Believe It Or Not > I Do Only Post Items That I Believe Are Relevant Or Could / Might /Should Be Of Interest To My Colleagues

It's Not About Me : Many Of My Posts Highlight The Work Of Others >>>

BTW: While The Percentage Of Our Colleagues Who Read E-Lists Is Declining, In Favor Of Social Media >

WebJunction Survey > Library Staff Report Their Use of Online Tools > 2009 vs. 2010 > Academic vs. Public

[http://ref-notes.blogspot.com/2010/08/webjunction-survey-library-staff-report.html]

A Significant Portion Continue To Do >>>

Soooooo .........

If One Does Not Wish To Receive My Posting, There Are Several Options As I Note In A Previous Post

DeDup > Removal Of Duplicate E-Mail Postings > An Idea Who Time Has Come?

[http://ref-notes.blogspot.com/2010/08/dedup-removal-of-duplicate-e-mail.html]

While I Do Believe In Leprechauns [:-)] (And Actally Did See Their Houses On Inishmore, The Largest Of The Aran Islands, One Of The Island Groups Off The Coast Of County Galway, Ireland, In 2009), I Don't Believe In Silos.

Let The Conversations Continue >>>

DeDup > Removal Of Duplicate E-Mail Postings > An Idea Who Time Has Come?

2010-08-18T19:23:00.000-05:00

"Use The Difficulty!"

One of my favorite actors, Michael Caine, is attributed with a quote that has guided my career and life for the past several years >>>

“I was rehearsing a play, and there was a scene that went on before me, then I had to come in the door. They rehearsed the scene, and one of the actors had thrown a chair at the other one. It landed right in front of the door where I came in. I opened the door and then rather lamely, I said to the producer who was sitting out in the stalls,’Well, look, I can’t get in. There’s a chair in my way.’ He said,’Well, use the difficulty.’ So I said ‘What do you mean, use the difficulty?’ He said ‘Well, if it’s a drama, pick it up and smash it. If it’s a comedy, fall over it.’ This was a line for me for life: Always use the difficulty.

[http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/2009/qotm-use-the-difficulty/]

[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10229248]

>>> I Believe That The Time Has Come To "Use The Difficulty" >>>

As many know, listservs and discussion e-lists have overlapping/ related scope >>> E.G. > IMHO >

Asis-l > General ASIS mail list & announcements

ASIS&T brings together diverse streams of knowledge, focusing what might be disparate approaches into novel solutions to common problems. ASIS&T bridges the gaps not only between disciplines but also between the research that drives and the practices that sustain new developments.

[http://www.asis.org/about.html]

LITA-L >

LITA-L is an unmediated on-line discussion group for those interested in all aspects of information technology, particularly as they apply to libraries and information services, to exchange information, ask questions, and post employment opportunities and other announcements. Anyone with an email address may subscribe.

[http://lists.webjunction.org/]

Web4Lib-L

The Web4Lib electronic discussion is for the discussion of issues relating to the creation, management, and support of library-based World-Wide Web servers, services, and applications.

[http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/]

As result, while some will subscribe only to what s/he considers *Most Relevant* to his / her personal / professional interests, others will subscribe to any / all that are considered relevant in order to be as fully aware of developments of actual or potential interest.

Observation > Some Have A Broad Perspective On Issues, Others Do Not.

As a result, those who subscribe to lists with related / similar scope will receive duplicate postings.

Although less common now [?], with the explosion of listservs and other discussion e-lists beginning in the 1990s, it was standard for a posting to have the heading >>>

"Apologies For Duplicate Postings"

I later modified the header to state >>>

"Apologies For Receipt Of Duplicate Postings"

IMHO > Similar But Not Really >

I ceased including either heading at the recommendation of a well-respected information scientist a few years ago >>>

For many / some receiving duplicate postings is a major annoyance that only further overloads their Information Overload [:-)]

For others, the 'Delete' is routinely used >> >

Some / others make use of the filtering functions in their respective e-mail system ...

Still others engage in personal / professional attacks ; criticisms of the poster [:-(] for posting on a discussion list >>>

Aren't They 'Discussion' Lists? [:-)]

It has occurred to me that we have not significantly developed or lobbied for a DeDup function in e-mail services such that identical postings are either Blocked or Junked.

BTW: As many know A DeDup or Remove Duplicate(s) function has been available in databases for many years, and has become even more importance in Federated / Discovey services >>>

As a result of a non-exhautive Google search, I've several DeDup technologies >>>

> 1-Click Duplicate Delete

[http://www.easy2sync.com/en/produkte/1-Click-Duplicate-Delete-Outlook.php]

Deduper - Duplicate Remover for Microsoft® Outlook®

[http://www.topalt.com/deduper-outlook-duplicate-remover]

Duplicate Email Remover 2.15.3

[http://download.cnet.com/Duplicate-Email-Remover/3000-2369_4-10221100.html]

IMHO: A DeDup Feature /Function Must / Should Be An Integral / Integrated Component Of All E-Mail Systems > Without Additional Cost !!!

Let The Lobbying Begin >>> How About It ? Bill ; Eric ; Etc. >>>

And

BTW> The Major Library-Related Listserv/ Discussion Services (ALA, IFLA, JISC, SLA, ETC.) Should Implement A DeDup Function ASAP >>>

IMHO > If Such A Function Currently Exists, It Should Be Widely Promoted >>>

BTW: ] I Did Do A Non-Exhaustive Search But Did Not Find Such A Function [?][

But ... It Could Be Me Or Our Recent Flood [:-(]

[http://inisites.com/pdf/amesflood2010.pdf]

Let The Conservations Continue >>>

"Use The Difficulty" / The Time Has Come !!!

WebJunction Survey > Library Staff Report Their Use of Online Tools > 2009 vs. 2010 > Academic vs. Public

2010-08-13T09:41:00.001-05:00

By SharonS / July 6th, 2010

In a survey to a random sample of WebJunction members this spring, respondents answered a question on how frequently they used online tools, either in or outside of their professional life. We found the results interesting. Nearly half of the respondents (49%) use email “listservs” daily. One-third of the respondents (35%) use professional or social networking sites daily. A quarter or less of the respondents use the following daily: online news or magazines (21%), blogs (14%), RSS feeds (14%), bookmarking sites (10%), wikis (9%) , employment sites (6%) and online courses (3%).The chart below shows the full results

When we separated the responses by library type, we saw some notable differences. Academic library respondents are more likely to use the following online tools daily than public library respondents:

> Email listservs (73% of Academic vs. 44% of Public)
>> Professional or social networking sites (44% vs. 32%)
>>> Blogs (29% vs. 10%)
>>>> RSS feeds (32% vs. 10%)
>>>>>Wikis (17% vs. 7%)

[snip]. It was also reported that more than one quarter (28%) of respondents use web-based content (on blogs, wikis, social networking sites and more) toward professional development.

Finally, when we compare these results with those to a similar question posed to our members a year ago, we see evidence of some shifts in online tool use.

In 2009, 61% of respondents reported using listservs daily, which is 12% .... higher than this year. Meanwhile, the percent of respondents who report never using social networking sites dropped from 39% to 30%. And online reading seems to have decreased as well, with 11% drops in those who report reading blogs or online news sites daily. The trend away from email toward social networking sites like Facebook and twitter is not exclusive to library staff: this shift has been reported in the media as happening across the globe.

>>> So libraries can expect that patrons will be more likely to want to interact with their library via social networking tools and to expect that their library will support their use of these tools on the publicly accessible computers <<<

Source

[http://bit.ly/bHPkoH]

UNR > JISC JournalTOCs RSS > Monitor Faculty Publications > By Subject

2010-08-10T18:57:00.012-05:00

Colleagues/

In response to my recent post regarding a brief > RSS Feeds For Collection Development / Instruction Services / Reference Services

>>> [http://bit.ly/aZFG4x] >>>

Tod Colegrove, Ph.D., MSLIS, recently-appointed head of the DeLaMare Library, University of Nevada, Reno [UNR], I learned about a most progressive initiative he has undertaken >>>

"I applaud your interest in this topic; IMO, a very powerful tool that can not only inform collection development, but also be leveraged for outreach. As the recently appointed head of the science and technology library on campus, I’ve found following the publications of faculty in associated departments to be tremendously useful.

You may be interested in a relatively trivial call that I’ve been using through the web api(documented) [for the JISC JournalTOCs service] that returns a browseable list of journal articles (as returned from a search of "the latest table of contents (TOCs) of 14,066 journals collected from 556 top publishers" ) specific to UNR authors. Depending on the browser used, can further drill down by category; for example: Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Engineering ... [snip]"

Personal Communication > Posted w/Permission

With Regard To The > journalTOCs API Usage >

The API gives you access to our entire database of articles, journals and publishers, which is being updated and continually collected from the publishers' own TOC RSS feeds, as soon as they are published on the web.

The search results will come in RSS format, which can then be parsed and used in your own environment, RSS reader or the search results could be included in your own web page.

[snip]

Source

[http://www.journaltocs.hw.ac.uk/index.php?action=api]

JournalsTOCS API Technical Documentation

This web page contains the technical documentation to use the JournalTOCs API. The API is important for developers that need to embed or mashup the JournalTOCs API search functionality with any web applications to make the most of the journal TOC RSS feeds metadata and to provide enriched information for end-users.

The JournalTOCs API consists of 4 calls:

> Journals (documentation)
>> Articles (documentation)
>>> User (documentation)
>>>> Institution (documentation)

Source

[http://www.journaltocs.hw.ac.uk/docs/index.php]

JournalTOCs API Blog

[http://www.journaltocs.hw.ac.uk/API/blog/]

BTW > JournalTOCs is an initiative of the ICBL at Heriot-Watt University and is being managed by Santy Chumbe.

[http://www.journaltocs.hw.ac.uk/index.php?action=about]

Tod welcomes communication with colleagues abou his project and similar efforts

pcolegrove@unr.edu

>>> Thanks Again, Tod <<<

/Gerry

TweetClouds > TagClouds From Twitter Postings

2010-08-05T16:36:00.010-05:00

The Ever-Growing Services That Use The Twitter API / Access Include Tweet Visualization >>>

Googled

(twitter or tweet*) and (tagcloud* or tag cloud* or visualization*)

And Found A Compendium >>> Twitter Fan Wiki > Visual

Not All Visualizations Per Se But Many Worth A Test >>> A Sampling >>>

• Cloud Search - Search for your favorite topic through an intuitive visualization. Generates a tag cloud based on the popularity of related terms. [snip]

[snip]

• Tweet Cloud - This Tweet Cloud shows you the major words found in the most recent tweets of all users or those of a specific user. This changes by the minute! Experiment with the composition of tweets to reveal interesting trends, connections, attitudes, relationships. [snip]

[snip]

• Tweetag - Browse the twittosphere with nested tagclouds. You can visualize what are the most talked topics related to your search

[snip]

• Twitterfall - View a 'waterfall' of tweets of the current trends on Twitter in near-realtime with a really simple interface. [snip]

[snip]

Links To All Listed Items Available At

[http://twitter.pbworks.com/Visual]

[ )-:] > Not All Entries Accessible Or Available < [:-(]

See Also > 17 Ways to Visualize the Twitter Universe

[http://flowingdata.com/2008/03/12/17-ways-to-visualize-the-twitter-universe/]

Certainly > If Tweets Can Be Visualized, Why Not E-Mail > RSS Feeds > Etc? >>>

>>> If You Have Others > Please Post As A Comment >>>

(RSS-Based) Tag Clouds In E-Mail ?

2010-08-02T11:09:00.006-05:00

Colleagues/

It Seems That My Head (And Mind) Are Stuck In The (Tag) Cloud [:-)] >>>

RSS > TagCloud > 4 > CD : WebFeed-Based TagClouds For Collection Development > i-CD

And The Other Way Around > TagCloud Terms To Generate A(n) RSS Feed ? > Vice-Versa

Mind In The (Tag) Cloud > Jacek Gwizdka > Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

Is AnyOne Aware Of Any/All Efforts > Initiatives > Implementations > In Which An E-Mail System (e.g. Outlook ; Google Mail ; HotMail ; Etc.) With/WithOut An Associated RSS Readers Displays Postings/Results In A Tag Cloud?

Navigating An e-Mail Corpus Or Select Items within The System Could Be One Solution To E-Mail Overload [?]

BTW: Speaking Of E-Mail, I recently started using HotMail In Windows Live And Am Very Impressed With Its Potent Spam Filtering Abilities >>>

/Gerry

Mind In The (Tag) Cloud > Jacek Gwizdka > Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

2010-08-02T09:18:00.001-05:00

Colleagues/

In response to my recent post on

RSS > TagCloud > 4 > CD : WebFeed-Based TagClouds For Collection Development > i-CD

[http://bit.ly/dyLrF5]

Jacek Gwizdka, Assistant Professor in the Department of Library and Information Science, in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, informed me about his research/ projects related to my query noting >>>

What A Difference A Tag Cloud Makes: Effects Of Tasks And Cognitive Abilities On Search Results Interface Use / Information Research / vol. 14 no. 4 / December, 2009

Abstract

Introduction. The goal of this study is to expand our understanding of the relationships between selected tasks, cognitive abilities and search result interfaces. The underlying objective is to understand how to select search results presentation for tasks and user contexts

Method. Twenty three participants conducted four search tasks of two types and used two interfaces (List and Overview) to refine and examine search results. Clickthrough data were recorded. This controlled study employed a mixed model design with two within-subject factors (task and interface) and two between-subject factors (two cognitive abilities: memory span and verbal closure).

Analysis. Quantitative analyses were carried out by means of the statistical package SPSS. Specifically, multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures and non-parametric tests were performed on the collected data.

Results.The overview of search results appeared to have benefited searchers in several ways. It made them faster; it facilitated formulation of more effective queries and helped to assess search results. Searchers with higher cognitive abilities were faster in the Overview interface and in less demanding situations (on simple tasks), while at the same time they issued about the same number of queries as lower-ability searchers. In more demanding situations (on complex tasks and in the List interface), the higher ability searchers expended more search effort, although they were not significantly slower than the lower ability people in these situations. The higher search effort, however, did not result in a measurable improvement of task outcomes for high-ability searchers.

Conclusions. These findings have implications for the design of search interfaces. They suggest benefits of providing result overviews. They also suggest the importance of considering cognitive abilities in the design of search results' presentation and interaction.

[http://informationr.net/ir/14-4/paper414.html]

In addition, he informed me that prototype interfaces were available at:

[http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/research/tagtrails/kpe1_ui/]

And That >>>

"... One of the prototypes shows a result list, a tag cloud, and a heat map ... ."

[http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~jacekg/research/images/TagTrails-KPE2p_Dec2009.png]

!!! TRIPLE WoW !!!

And The Other Way Around > TagCloud Terms To Generate A(n) RSS Feed ? > Vice-Versa

2010-07-30T17:02:00.001-05:00

Colleagues/

It occurred to me that perhaps it would be beneficial to be able to create a(n) RSS feed from select High Frequency TagCloud terms as a means of refining the RSS Search Statement >>>

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang]

Please Post Your Thoughts As A Comment

Thanks !

/Gerry

" !!! Our Minds Must Not Be Confined Nor Defined By Our Place Or Time Or Technology !!! "

[http://bit.ly/cQWU8U]

Searching OPAC* / WorldCat / Any Database >>>With<<< RSS Feed* ?

2010-07-29T20:30:00.003-05:00

Colleagues/

In addition to to my interest in MashUps (and/or Readers) that allow one to Create A Cloud Tag From An RSS Feed >

RSS > TagCloud > 4 > CD : WebFeed-Based TagClouds For Collection Development > i-CD

[http://bit.ly/dyLrF5]

I am also interest in any initiative implementation in which an RSS feed can be used o search an OPAC / WorldCat / Any Database in order to identify relevant items related to the topics of the RSS search results >

>>> That Is > The RSS Results Become A Search Strategy >>>

To further identity publications/information resources /etc. that might support an individual / departmental / institutional Current/Emerging Research Foci , I am interested in using RSS feeds from Dissertations & Theses @ Iowa State (D&T [At] ISU)

[http://www.lib.iastate.edu/collections/db/dissab.html]

for the departments/subjects for which I have formal Collection Development responsibilities

[http://draft.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490]

As A Search Statement For Searching Select Databases >>>

> Search our local OPAC to identify the breath /currency of publications /etc. vis-à-vis the current/emerging research interest as represented by the D&T@ISU RSS search results

> Search Dissertations & Theses to identify relevant D&Ts from other colleges and universities

> Search WorldCat for any/all relevant publications/media/etc.

Another Scenario >>>

> Create an RSS feed for searches of key databases (e.g., Compendex, SciFinder, Web of Science for each of our departmental research faculty staff and search these (and others) for any/all potential relevant indexed content >>

Shall We Call This > Citation Searching On Steroids [:-)]

Please Post Any/All Recommendations/ Thoughts / Reactions As A Comment On This Blog Post

>>> Thanks A Million <<<

BTW> As Some May Know A Few Years Ago I Was Obsessed With Web Feeds >>>

>>> RSS(sm): Rich Site Services

[http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/RSS.htm]

[http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/GenBib.htm]

>>> Rich Site Services: Web Feeds for Extended Information and Library Services

[http://www.llrx.com/features/richsite.html]

>>> B-Feeds(sm): Web Feeds for Books and Monographs

[http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/B-Feeds.htm]

>>> eFeeds(sm): Web Feeds from Electronic Journals

[http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/eFeeds.htm]

>>> The ABCs of RSS

[http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/ABC.ppt] 100 slides

>>>Seize The Feed: Web Feeds For Enhanced Government Information Services (Library Of Congress)

[http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/SeizeTheFeed.ppt] 180+ Slides

The New(s) That Comes to You: Web Feeds for Current Awareness

[http://www.iastate.edu/Inside/06/0310/announce.shtml]

Web Feeds: The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread!

[http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/LITAForum2005.ppt] 140 + slides

BTW: Not Only Is Iowa The Home Of The First Digital Computer

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atanasoff%E2%80%93Berry_Computer]

But > “Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa, USA invented the first loaf-at-a-time bread-slicing machine.”

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliced_bread]

This Just In: Web Feeds for Enhanced Library Services,” Knowledge Quest 33, no. 3 (January/February 2005): 38-41.

[http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/ThisJustIn.pdf]

But Gave Them Up For Lent [:->

BTW-BTW-BTW >

Of Course I'd Access The Results In A TagCloud [:->]

e-JOY !

/Gerry

Gerry McKiernan
Associate Professor
Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University Library
Ames IA 50011

Follow Me On Twitter > http://twitter.com/GMcKBlogs

>>>Minds On Fire > Social Neural Networks > The Future Of Human Evolution >>>

[http://bit.ly/b3VOP6]

RSS > TagCloud > 4 > CD : WebFeed-Based TagClouds For Collection Development > i-CD

2010-07-27T19:20:00.005-05:00

Colleagues/

I am greatly interested in learning of any/all past/present/future initiatives in which an Abstracts/Indexes search results webfeed (RSS; Atom; Etc.) is Mashed into aTagCloud that displays the frequency of terms from the citation and abstracts for the RSS results.

I currently subscribe to a variety of altering services and wish to go Beyond The Linear Review of entries in order to expedite the identification of potential candidates for further consideration.

[http://bit.ly/g0LqU]

My current interest is to use the mashup to visualize RSS search updates from Dissertations & Theses @ Iowa State University in order to keep abreast of the current and emerging research for departments which I have assigned responsibility to inform my Collection Development activities.

BTW: Believe It Or Not I Do Have A Real Job And Do Real (And Virtual) Work [(:-)]:

“I currently have primary responsibilities for Collection Development, Instruction, and Reference and Research Services in Chemical and Biological Engineering; Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering; Environment Sciences; Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering; and Mechanical Engineering … .”
[http://draft.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490]

IMHO > Other applications Of "The MashUp" Are Unlimited >

E.G.

Tracking Current/Emerging Research From All Schools That Participate In Dissertations & Theses.

And/Or

Those That Participate In The Open Access Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations program.

And/Or >>>

Any Source (Database/Site/Etc) That Provides A Web Feed >>>

And Not

Just To Track Research Trends >>>

RSS readers that have a tagcloud functionality are of particular interest !!!

BTW >

I’ve just discovered one that looks promising > MagicReader> (“Your most recent RSS entries in a cloud representation”) >>>

[https://launchpad.net/magicreader]

I will continue to Google but would like to Tap The Wisdom Of The Web as well.

BTW> As some know, I’ve long had an interest in Information Visualization >

The Big Picture (sm): Visual Browsing in Web and non-Web Databases

[http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/BigPic.htm]

“E-Journals and Information Visualization. New Age Navigation: Innovative Information Interfaces for Electronic Journals

[http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/NewAge.pdf]

New Age Navigation: Innovative e-Journal Interfaces

[http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/NewAgeIL.ppt]

Please respond as a Comment on this blog entry so that Collective Communities to which this posting has been sent will benefit

!!! Thanks A Million !!!

BTW > Don't Forget To Put On Your SunGlasses Before Clicking On My New Quote [:->]

/Gerry

Gerry McKiernan

Associate Professor
Science and Technology Librarian
Iowa State University Library
Ames IA 50011

Follow Me On Twitter > http://twitter.com/GMcKBlogs

>>>Minds On Fire > Social Neural Networks > The Future Of Human Evolution >>>

[http://bit.ly/b3VOP6]

Quick Links: Appeals and Grievances, Conduct Policy, Mediation of Disputes

2010-07-25T11:17:00.000-05:00

Current: Faculty Handbook (as of 21 Aug 2009)

Major policy revisions include:

1.Policy on content and confidentiality of external letters in the promotion and tenure process and the selection of external reviewers (section 5.3.3.1)

2.Sponsored funding of projects (section 8.3.1)

3.Faculty grievance procedures (all of chapter 9)

4.Admissions requirements (section 10.2)

5.Development of courses and curricula (section 10.8)

Archive: 2008c, 2008b, 2008a, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 1999, 1998

>>> Quick Links: Appeals and Grievances, Conduct Policy, Mediation of Disputes <<<

Source

[http://www.provost.iastate.edu/faculty/handbook/]

Is It Me Or Does The ' Quick Links ' Cause One To Ponder The WorkPlace Issues At ISU?

SlideWorld > A Medical PowerPoint Slide Presentations Search Engine

2010-06-14T17:51:00.001-05:00

SlideWorld

[http://www.slideworld.org/]

is a Powerful resource for Powerpoint Slide Presentations. It is a web resource designed to facilitate educational process of medical professionals. As you know slide presentations have become one of the key ways of facilitating education and a way of communicating new scientific developments. Academic faculties and clinicians in practice from worldwide have contributed to the web portal.

[snip]

Our Goal(Online Medical Slides Library)

Our goal is to facilitate a presentation sharing community for medical practitioners and health enthusiasts. The presentations suffice the needs of both academic and community practice. We have an exhaustive range of quality presentations directly from the high profile medical practitioners on subjects like pathology, pediatrics, allergy, gynecology, alternative medicine etc.

Slideworld is an assimilation of knowledge and enthusiasm and serves as a venue for promoting quality medical Presentations.

Our stated goal is to establish a Digital Library where worldwide academic and community practice clinicians can share their presentations and communicate their ideas to those with similar interests.

The freely available slide presentations, maintaining acknowledgement of authorship, also serve as a venue for promoting various institutions and practices.

Source

[http://www.slideworld.org/aboutus.aspx]

!!! Thanks To > Herve Basset > My Linked In Colleague / For The HeadsUp !!!

[http://scienceintelligence.wordpress.com/]

DEEP > DART-Europe E-Theses Portal

2010-01-30T14:54:00.001-06:00

DART-Europe is a partnership of research libraries and library consortia who are working together to improve global access to European research theses. DART-Europe is endorsed by LIBER (Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche), and it is the European Working Group of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD).

[http://www.dart-europe.eu/basic-search.php]

The DART-Europe partners help to provide researchers with a single European Portal for the discovery of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs), and they participate in advocacy to influence future European e-theses developments. DART-Europe offers partners a European networking forum on ETD issues, and may provide the opportunity to submit collaborative funding applications to achieve DART-Europe's vision for ETDs.

DART-Europe is resourced through partner contributions.

Partners support the following principles:

1.DART-Europe will encourage the creation, discovery and use of European e-theses, and will maintain a central Portal for e-thesis aggregation and access.

2.European libraries and consortia are invited to contribute metadata to the DART-Europe Portal. Contributors will determine the terms and conditions under which their metadata are contributed.

3.DART-Europe welcomes the contribution by partners of resources to support the management, discovery, usability and preservation of e-theses, and to further the aims and objectives of DART-Europe.

4.Partners will designate one representative to act as a contact for DART-Europe, and will nominate at least one representative to participate in the DART-Europe email lists.

5.DART-Europe welcomes offers from partners to host DART-Europe Project Board meetings, as occasion demands.

6.Partners will help to secure DART-Europe's status as an international network of excellence in information, expertise and resources relating to ETDs.

7.DART-Europe will be administered by UCL (University College London) and governed by a Board consisting of representatives of partner organisations. The constitution and Terms of Reference of the governing Board will be determined and from time to time reviewed by the Board.

Source

[http://www.dart-europe.eu/About/info.php]

DART-Europe Documents and Downloads

[http://www.dart-europe.eu/About/documents/docs.php]

Participating Institutions

[http://www.dart-europe.eu/browse-list.php?index=institution]

Diplom.de > Diploma Agency > Master's Theses / Bachelor Theses

2010-01-30T12:35:00.001-06:00

Thousands of high quality theses, bachelor thesis, master, master's theses, state examination theses, dissertations and similar work ... .

■Search

[http://www.diplom.de/zwksearch]

About our search function you can search by entering keywords in our product range for suitable diploma, Bachelor's or Master's work.

■Catalog

[http://www.diplom.de/diplom-diplomarbeiten-bachelorarbeiten-masterabeiten-katalog.html]

In our directory you can browse over 500 categories, after a suitable topic for your work.

■New Works

[http://www.diplom.de/diplomarbeiten-bachelorarbeiten-masterabeiten-neu.html]

Our new Diploma, Bachelor's and Master's work can be viewed at this point.

■Bestsellers

[http://www.diplom.de/diplomarbeit-bachelorarbeit-masterabeit-bestseller.html]

Our bestsellers are presented in this section.

■Winning projects

[http://www.diplom.de/studienpreis-praemierte-diplomarbeiten-bachelorarbeiten-masterabeiten.html?&no_cache=1]

Our study with a price winning Diploma, Bachelor's and Master's work, we have dedicated a separate heading. The current study are given as prizes and competitions.

■Newsletter

[http://www.diplom.de/newsletter-diplomarbeiten-bachelorarbeiten-masterabeiten.html]

Our Diploma newsletter you regularly about our new titles in our program.

Source

[http://www.diplom.de/diplomarbeiten-bachelorarbeiten-masterabeiten.html]

Ordering Information

[http://www.diplom.de/informationen.html]

Prices For Final Theses

The prices include the VAT of the various theses and other academic studies are shown in the catalog (EUR 18.00 and EUR 148.00) The standard price is EUR 48.00 to EUR 38.00 for books and eBooks.

[http://www.diplom.de/preise-abschlussarbeiten.html]

NDLTD > Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations

2010-01-30T11:29:00.001-06:00

The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination and preservation of electronic analogues to the traditional paper-based theses and dissertations.

Mission and Goals

Mission

The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination and preservation of electronic analogues to traditional paper-based theses and dissertations. The NDLTD assists students and universities in using electronic publishing and digital libraries to more effectively share knowledge in order to unlock the potential benefits worldwide.

Find ETDs

Search and Browse ETDs - Production Services

Browse or search through several ETD collections, typically across multiple institutions at once.
Select the collection / service you would like to search or browse through >

> VTLS Visualizer / ETD search and discovery system powered by VTLS.

[http://thumper.vtls.com:6080/visualizer/] [83,3716 Records] [01-30-10]

> Scirus ETD Search / ETD search and discovery system powered by Scirus

This search service is provided courtesy of Scirus, based on data harvested from the Union Archive hosted by OCLC.

[http://www.ndltd.org/serviceproviders/scirus-etd-search]

Source

[http://www.ndltd.org/find]

Goals

The NDLTD’s programs help universities to:

improve graduate education through more effective sharing of research
enhance the potential value of intellectual property;
increase the speed at which research methods and results are shared; and
participate in digital libraries, by collecting, cataloging, archiving, and making accessible electronic theses and dissertations worldwide.

The NDLTD also directly assists graduate students by:

teaching about the value of electronic publishing and digital libraries and
providing guidance, standards, and technology for the submission of electronic theses

Source

[http://www.ndltd.org/about/mission-and-goals]

Institutional Members

[http://www.ndltd.org/about/members/ndltd-members]

Documentation

[http://www.ndltd.org/documentation]

News

[http://www.ndltd.org/news]

About NDLTD

[http://www.ndltd.org/about]

ADT > Australasian Digital Theses Program

2010-01-22T19:21:00.002-06:00

The aim of the [Australasian Digital Theses] ADT program is to establish a distributed database of digital versions of theses produced by the postgraduate research students at Australian universities. The theses will be available worldwide via the web. The ideal behind the program is to provide access to, and promote Australian research to the international community.

Search Site

[http://adt.caul.edu.au/]

The initial project was funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) - Research Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (RIEF) Scheme grant (1997/1998).

The ADT concept was an initiative of 7 Australian universities (listed below) in association with the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL).

The ADT model was developed by the 7 original project partners during 1998-1999. The program was then opened up to all CAUL members (all Australian universities) in July 2000. The original 7 partners will continue to guide and advise the national group in their role as the ADT Steering Committee.

The original ADT membership group:

University of New South Wales (lead institution)
University of Melbourne
University of Queensland
University of Sydney
Australian National University
Curtin University of Technology
Griffith University

ADT Program Overview

The ADT program is designed to improve access to, and enhance transfer of, the research information contained in theses by providing a full text version available from the desktop via the web. The retrieval is enhanced by the inclusion of metadata tags in the documents which are given a higher weighting by the more sophisticated search engines.

It is also designed to provide a new model for deposit and archiving of theses that takes into account the tools and technologies that students are now using to prepare their theses.

The program has two major components, digitisation of theses as part of the deposit process and the digitisation of a selected number of frequently requested existing theses. As each University is responsible for maintaining an archival copy of the theses of their own institution, each participant in the program will mount their own theses on a server located in their respective institution. The participants will use the same database configuration, standards and metadata system to ensure compatibility. The document format will be Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) ensuring that the data is independent of the platform on which it is created. Adobe PDF ensures that a high quality printed version can be provided if needed. Acrobat is relatively easy to use, with a high quality free reader readily available. PDF has also become an electronic publishing standard.

Source

[http://adt.caul.edu.au/about/aimsoverview/]

!!! Thanks To / Natalya Godbold / PhD Candidate / Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences / University of Technology, Sydney / For The HeadsUp !!!

EThOS: Free Downloads Of UK Dissertations/Theses From The British Library

2010-01-19T19:21:00.001-06:00

Colleagues/

Earlier today I (re)discovered EThOS, the database of UK dissertations and theses provided by the British Library >

[http://ethos.bl.uk/Home.do]

[I saw a demo of a prototype [?] of the service by the developers [?] at a conference in England in 2008]

Among other services, EThOS allows one to search / select / and in some/many cases download the full-text of items of interest FREE of charge!

"The aim of EThOS is:

To offer a 'single point of access' where researchers the world over can access ALL theses produced by UK Higher Education
To support Higher Education Institutions through the transition from print to e-theses
To help UK Higher Education Institutions expand available content by digitising paper theses
To demonstrate the quality of UK research and help attract students and research investment into UK HE.

To achieve this, EThOS offers a coherent and consistent interface by implementing a central 'hub' comprising an e-store and a digitisation suite at The British Library site in Boston Spa, Yorkshire. The hub automatically harvests e-theses from Institutional Repositories and digitises paper theses from participating institutions to offer the single point of access.

Many UK institutions support Open Access to their theses, so download of their digital and digitised theses is free to the researcher. A small number of participating institutions may not be able to offer Open Access and in this case the researcher may have to pay for the digitisation.

Where a thesis must be digitised before supply, you can expect a short delay. However, you will be informed when the thesis is ready for collection and you can then log on to the system and download it.

EThOS can only offer the theses of participating institutions. While we expect a large number of institutions to take part, we cannot supply from an institutions which chooses not to. In this case, you should approach the institution's library directly to gain access to a thesis."

>>> "Search across 250,000+ theses for free and order full text quickly and easily" <<<

Source

[http://ethos.bl.uk/About.do]

FAQ >

[http://ethos.bl.uk/Faq.do]

/Gerry

TechJournalContents

2009-11-22T15:12:00.005-06:00

TechJournalContents [http://www.techxtra.ac.uk/techtocs/] is a new free service that enables a user to “search across the current issues of more than 4,500 scholarly technology journals from multiple publishers” … to find the most research articles in a wide range of scientific, technical, and social science disciplines.

Approximately 400 of the journals searched by TechJournalContents are freely available on Open Access ; access to the full text of search results from other journals will depend on the status of a current institutional or personal subscription. Users can save TechJournalContents searches as an RSS feed that provides notifications of matching results using a feedreader (e.g., Google Reader or Bloglines).

Springer, Emerald, Inderscience, Wiley Interscience, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, IEEE, Sage, AIP, and IMechE, are among the publishers whose technology-related journals are indexed by TechJournalContents

The core behind the service is the journalTOCs API [http://www.journaltocs.hw.ac.uk/api/] , produced by the journalTOCs Project [http://www.journaltocs.hw.ac.uk/], based at the ICBL, Heriot-Watt University, and is being managed by Santy Chumbe ; a project blog, journalTOCsAPI, is available [ http://www.journaltocs.hw.ac.uk/API/blog/]

TechJournalContents is a component of TechXtra [http://www.techxtra.ac.uk/] a service which helps one “find articles, books, the best websites, the latest industry news, job announcements, technical reports, technical data, full text eprints, the latest research, thesis & dissertations, teaching and learning resources and more, in engineering, mathematics and computing.”

Source

Roddy MacLeod, Senior Engineering Faculty Librarian, Heriot-Watt University Library, Edinburgh, Scotland, and co-editor, Internet Resources Newsletter [http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/], a "free monthly electronic for academics, students, engineers, scientists and social scientists”published since October 1994.

[http://techxtranews.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/new-techjournalcontents-search-current-issues-of-4500-technology-journals/]

Engineering Pathway > Engineering Education Wing Of The NSDL

2009-11-14T13:38:00.005-06:00

The Engineering Pathway [http://www.engineeringpathway.com/] is a portal to high-quality teaching and learning resources in engineering, applied science and math, computer science / information technology, and engineering technology and is designed for use by K-12 and university educators and students. The K-12 engineering curriculum uses engineering as a vehicle for the integration of hands-on science and mathematics through real-world designs and applications that inspire the creativity of youth.

[http://www.engineeringpathway.com/ep/hEd/search/search_adv.jhtml]

Users may search over K-12 engineering lessons and activities, as well as other K-12 resources, by many criteria - including content focus area, grade level and educational standards. K-12 community resources include professional development opportunities and research findings. Higher education resources may be discovered by multiple criteria including discipline, audience, resource type, title, author/creator, special topics, or by selected collection. Higher education community resources include support for ABET accreditation, research and scholarship, curricula development and extracurricular activities for students.

Additional features include outreach information and materials, diversity resources, professional society and career planning information, personalized workspace, the ability to contribute and comment on resources, and hosted search services.

The Engineering Pathway's goal is to provide resources that help teachers, parents, faculty, and practicing engineers to inspire more of today's students to follow an engineering path as their way to understand and improve the world.

Our Goals

Beginning with our November 2005 launch, our goals are to:

Merge NEEDS and TeachEngineering into a unified K-gray engineering educational digital library
Significantly and sustainably grow high-quality resources
Align the unified curricular materials with appropriate undergraduate and K-12 educational standards
Grow the participation of content providers and users
Enhance quality control and review protocols for content
Expand gender equity and ethnic diversity components by cataloging and reviewing curricular resources created by female-centric and minority-serving organizations

Also Links To

Help for First Time Users / Contacts / Collaborators / Evaluation / Publications / EP Flyer (PDF)

Source

[http://www.engineeringpathway.com/ep/about/index.jhtml]

Engineering Pathway Is The Engineering Education Wing Of The National Science Digital Library [http://nsdl.org/].

The National Science Digital Library (NSDL) was created by the National Science Foundation to provide organized access to high quality resources and tools that support innovations in teaching and learning at all levels of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.

As a national network of learning environments, resources, and partnerships, NSDL seeks to serve a vital role as STEM educational cyberlearning for the nation, meeting the informational and technological needs of educators and learners at all levels.

Source

[http://nsdl.org/about/]

State of the Blogosphere 2009

2009-10-28T19:46:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2009 report, which will be released in five consecutive daily segments.

Since 2004, our annual study has followed the growth and trends in the blogosphere. For the second time, we surveyed bloggers directly. They were generous with their thoughts and insights. Thanks to all of the bloggers who took the time to respond to our survey.

In a world that’s constantly changing — shocked by financial catastrophe and political upheaval, yet still moving faster every day — not much is constant. But as the 2009 State of the Blogosphere survey demonstrates, the growth of the blogosphere's influence on subjects ranging from business to politics to the way information travels through communities continues to flourish. In a year when revolutions and elections were organized by blogs, bloggers are blogging more than ever, and the State of the Blogosphere is strong.

The Report

Day 1 — Who Are the Bloggers?
Day 2 — The What and Why of Blogging
Day 3 — The How of Blogging
Day 4 — Monetization And Revenue Generation, Brands in the Blogosphere
Day 5 — 2009 Trends: Political Impact of Blogging, Twitter Usage

Source

[http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2009-introduction/]

Smithsonian to Host Online Conference on Climate Change | September 29 > October 1 2009

2009-09-21T14:19:00.004-05:00

PRESS RELEASE > Sept. 16, 2009

The Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies will host “Climate Change,” a three-day, free, education online conference Sept. 29 through Oct. 1. This is the second in a series of SCEMS conferences where researchers and curators from around the Smithsonian Institution come together to address a single subject.

[http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/professional_development/conference/2009/climate_change/index.html]

“Climate Change” will feature sessions that everyone will find interesting: Some sessions will be of special interest to educators while others will engage entire classrooms and the general public. Throughout the conference, participants can explore Smithsonian research and collections related to the evidence, impact and response to climate change. Alongside Smithsonian scientists and curators, the public can look at the issues surrounding climate change from the perspectives of science, history and art.

“We’re excited to offer this online seminar on such an important and timely topic as climate change. The Smithsonian, with its experts, collections and partners is uniquely qualified to do so,” said Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian. “Our first seminar, on Abraham Lincoln, was a resounding success that started an online dialogue that continues today—here and abroad.”

The conference will show the depth of research that the Smithsonian can bring to a current problem. Smithsonian scientists and other experts will lead participants in explorations of Smithsonian research on this important issue via live presentations, moderated forums and demonstrations. Through live streaming, speakers will respond to questions and comments from the audience. All of the conference sessions will be recorded and archived and can be replayed at any time via the Web at http://www.SmithsonianEducation.org

Among the presenters are:

Bert Drake, senior scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, who leads two major studies of the impact of atmospheric carbon dioxide on ecosystems
Don Moore, associate director for animal care at the National Zoo, who helps create conservation-management plans for wildlife
Scott Wing, paleontologist at the National Museum of Natural History, who specializes in prehistoric plant life and its reactions to climate change

Registration is open to everyone at [http://www.SmithsonianEducation.org/Climate] , which also features a blog about climate change and an archive of the first online conference, “Abraham Lincoln,” which attracted more than 3,000 participants on six continents.

Source

http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/opa_climate_change_release.htm

Program A/V Available

> Introduction: Welcome from Secretary G. Wayne Clough
>> Day 1: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 – “The Big Picture”
>>> Day 2: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 – “The Long View”
>>>> Day 3: Thursday, October 1, 2009 – “Today and Tomorrow”

[http://www.smithsonianconference.org/climate/program/]

Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data

2009-09-14T15:46:00.020-05:00

Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data / Edited by Nicole C. Engard / Foreword by Jenny Levine

2009 / 352 pp. / Softbound / ISBN 978-1-57387-372-7 / Regular Price $39.50

As web users become more savvy and demanding, libraries are looking for new ways to allow patron participation and keep their websites dynamically and collaboratively up-to-date. Mashups—web applications that combine freely available data from various sources to create something new—can be one very powerful way to meet patrons’ expectations and provide exemplary web-based service.

In Library Mashups, Nicole C. Engard and 25 contributors from all over the world walk readers through definitions, summaries, and practical uses of mashups in libraries. Examples range from ways to allow those without programming skills to make simple website updates, to modifying the library OPAC, to using popular sites like Flickr, Yahoo!, LibraryThing, Google Maps, and Delicious to share and combine digital content. This essential guide is required reading for all libraries and librarians seeking a dynamic, interactive web presence.

Table Of Contents

Foreword –- Jenny Levine

Introduction — Nicole C. Engard

I: What Are Mashups

1. What is a Mashup? / Darlene Fichter, Data Library Coordinator at the University of Saskatchewan Library and IT advisor for the Indigenous Studies Portal

2. Behind the Scenes: Some Technical Details / Librarian at Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Bonaria Biancu

3. Content Sources & Mashing Them Up / Ross Singer, Interoperability and Open Standards Champion at Talis

4. Mashing up w/ Librarian Knowledge / Thomas Brevik, library at the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy and former president of the Norwegian Library Association Special Interest Group for Information and Communication Technology (SIKT)

II: Mashing up Library Websites

5. Information in Context / Brian Herzog, reference librarian at the Chelmsford Public Library

6. Mashing up the Library Website / Lichen Rancourt is the Head of Technology at Manchester City Library and contributor to Scriblio

7. Piping out Library Data / Nicole C. Engard, book editor

8. Mashups @Librarians Interact / Corey Wallis from the THALI group in Australia

III: Mashing up Catalog Data

9. Library Catalog Mashup: Using Blacklight to Expose Collections / Bess Sadler, Metadata Specialist for User Projects for the University of Virginia Library; Joseph Gilbert, Head of the Scholars’ Lab at the University of Virginia Library; and Matt Mitchell

10. Breaking into the OPAC / Tim Spalding, founder of LibraryThing

11. Mashups with ‡biblios.net Web Services /Joshua Ferraro, CEO at LibLime

12. SOPAC 2.0: The Thrashable, Mashable Catalog / John Blyberg, Assistant Director for Innovation and User Experience at Darien Library

13. Creating Mashups with the WorldCat API and Other WorldCat Affiliate Tools / Karen Coombs, Head of Web Services at the University of Houston Libraries

IV. Maps, Pictures & Video … Oh My!

14. Flickr and Digital Image Collections / Jeremy McWilliams and Mark Dahl from the Lewis & Clark College Library

15. Blip.tv and Digital Video Collections in the Library / Jason Clark, Digital Initiatives Librarian at Montana State University Library

16. “Where’s the nearest computer lab?”: Mapping Up Campus / Derik Badman, Digital Services Librarian at Temple University

17. Repository Map Mashup / Stuart Lewis, Team Leader & Project Manager at Aberystwyth University

V. Adding Value to your Services

18. The LibraryThing API and Libraries / Robin Hastings, Information Technology Manager for the Missouri River Regional Library in Jefferson City, MO

19. ZACK Bookmaps / Wolfram Schneider

20. Federated Database Search Mashup / Stephen Hedges, Karl Jendretzky and Laura Solomon

21. Electronic Dissertation Mashups Using SRU / Michael C. Witt from Purdue University

TOC Source

[http://mashups.web2learning.net/toc]

Associated Chapter Links

[http://mashups.web2learning.net/links]

Glossary

[http://mashups.web2learning.net/glossary]

Associated Past And Future Presentations Related To Book Contents

[http://mashups.web2learning.net/presentations]

Source

[http://mashups.web2learning.net/]

Working for the Climate: Renewable Energy & the Green Job [R]evolution

2009-09-14T14:48:00.011-05:00

[snip]
The climate crisis and the financial crisis are not two competing issues that need to be addressed separately by the world community. The solution to one is, in fact, the answer to the other. Investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy helps the economy by increasing employment in the power sector, while reducing energy costs and easing the over-use of precious natural resources. By making the switch to renewable energy we can halt the carbon dioxide building up in the atmosphere and create a path away from irreversible climate change.

Working for the Climate is a study to determine the potential for 'green jobs' in the energy sector, and how this potential compares to a business-as-usual approach, with little or no action being taken to avert climate change. We found that, under the Energy [R]evolution scenario, there would be an overall increase of around 2 million power sector jobs over the next 20 years; and with an Energy [R]evolution in place, there would be more than 8 million jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency - three times the amount of jobs under the business-as-usual approach.

Date published > 14 September 2009 / Format > Adobe PDF / Number of pages > 72 / [Publisher > GreenPeace International / European Renewable Energy Council]

Full Text Available

[http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/working-for-the-climate.pdf]

ENERGY SECTOR JOBS TO 2030: A GLOBAL ANALYSIS / Final Report (Background Document [117 pp.])

[http://www.greenpeace.org/international/assets/binaries/energy-sector-jobs-to-2030.pdf]

Source

[http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/working-for-the-climate]

Engineering in K-12 Education: Understanding the Status and Improving the Prospects

2009-09-10T14:57:00.005-05:00

WASHINGTON -- The introduction of K-12 engineering education has the potential to improve student learning and achievement in science and mathematics, increase awareness about what engineers do and of engineering as a potential career, and boost students' technological literacy, according to a new report from the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council. The report examines the status and nature of efforts to teach engineering in U.S. schools.

"The problem solving, systems thinking, and teamwork aspects of engineering can benefit all students, whether or not they ever pursue an engineering career," said Linda Katehi, chancellor of the University of California, Davis, and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "A K-12 education that does not include at least some exposure to engineering is a lost opportunity for students and for the nation."

Engineering education at the K-12 level should emphasize engineering design and a creative problem-solving process, the committee said. It should include relevant concepts in mathematics, science, and technology, as well as support the development of skills many believe essential for the 21st century, including systems thinking, collaboration, and communication.

While science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction is collectively referred to as "STEM education," the report finds that the engineering component is often absent in policy discussions and in the classroom. In fact, engineering might be called the missing letter in STEM, the report says.

In preparing the report, the committee conducted an in-depth analysis of 15 K-12 engineering curricula; reviewed scientific literature related to learning engineering concepts and skills; evaluated evidence on the impact of K-12 engineering education initiatives; and collected preliminary information about pre-collegiate engineering education programs in other countries.

The committee found that engineering education opportunities in K-12 schools have expanded considerably in the past 15 years. Since the early 1990s, the report estimates, about 6 million children have been exposed to some formal engineering coursework. However, this number is still small compared with the overall number of students in K-12 schools (approximately 56 million in 2008). The committee noted that many challenges remain to expanding the availability and improving the quality of these programs, including the absence of content standards to guide development of instructional materials, limited pre-service education for engineering teachers, and structural and policy impediments to including this new subject in an already crowded school curriculum.

With these challenges in mind, the committee recommended that:

>>> The National Science Foundation or U.S. Department of Education fund research to determine how science inquiry and mathematical reasoning can be connected to engineering design in curricula and professional development;

>>> Foundations and federal agencies with an interest in K-12 engineering education conduct long-term research to confirm and refine findings of studies of the impacts of engineering education;

>>> The American Society of Engineering Education begin a national dialogue on preparing K-12 engineering teachers, and on the pros and cons of establishing a formal credentialing process; and

>>> Philanthropic foundations or federal agencies with an interest in STEM education and school reform identify models of implementation for K-12 engineering education that will work for different American school systems.

The committee also noted the importance of clarifying the meaning of "STEM literacy" and of developing curricula that would particularly appeal to groups typically underrepresented in engineering, such as girls, African Americans, and Hispanics.

[more]

Source

[http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12635]

Full Text Avialable At

[http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12635]

Podcast

[https://exchange.iastate.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://video.nationalacademies.org/ramgen/news/isbn/090809.rm]

Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom

2009-08-19T12:36:00.011-05:00

New York Times / August 19, 2009, 1:08 pm /

Updated: 1:29 pm / Steve Lohr

Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning:

A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies

A recent 93-page report on online education, conducted by SRI International for the Department of Education, has a starchy academic title, but a most intriguing conclusion:

“On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”

The report examined the comparative research on online versus traditional classroom teaching from 1996 to 2008. Some of it was in K-12 settings, but most of the comparative studies were done in colleges and adult continuing-education programs of various kinds, from medical training to the military.

Over the 12-year span, the report found 99 studies in which there were quantitative comparisons of online and classroom performance for the same courses. The analysis for the Department of Education found that, on average, students doing some or all of the course online would rank in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile.

That is a modest but statistically meaningful difference.

“The study’s major significance lies in demonstrating that online learning today is not just better than nothing — it actually tends to be better than conventional instruction,” said Barbara Means, the study’s lead author and an educational psychologist at SRI International.

This hardly means that we’ll be saying good-bye to classrooms. But the report does suggest that online education could be set to expand sharply over the next few years, as evidence mounts of its value.

Until fairly recently, online education amounted to little more than electronic versions of the old-line correspondence courses. That has really changed with arrival of Web-based video, instant messaging and collaboration tools. The real promise of online education, experts say, is providing learning experiences that are more tailored to individual students than is possible in classrooms. That enables more “learning by doing,” which many students find more engaging and useful.

[snip]

“We are at an inflection point in online education,” said Philip R. Regier, the dean of Arizona State University’s Online and Extended Campus program. Mr. Regier sees things evolving fairly rapidly, accelerated by the increasing use of social networking technology. More and more, students will help and teach each other, he said. [snip]

“The technology will be used to create learning communities among students in new ways,” Mr. Regier said. “People are correct when they say online education will take things out the classroom. But they are wrong, I think, when they assume it will make learning an independent, personal activity. Learning has to occur in a community.”

Source

[http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/]

Full Text Available At

[http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf]

News Coverage

Meta-Analysis: Is Blended Learning Most Effective?

[http://thejournal.com/articles/2009/07/01/meta-analysis-is-blended-learning-most-effective.aspx]

JISC Academic Database Assessment Tool (ADAT)

2009-08-07T11:28:00.010-05:00

The JISC Academic Database Assessment Tool (ADAT) aims to help libraries to make informed decisions about future subscriptions to bibliographic databases.

Compare Journal Title Lists
Search to compare title lists of major bibliographic and full text databases.
View Database Dashboards
View visual dashboards showing charts and stats for each database.
Database Title List Updates
Review dates that title lists in ADAT were last updated by suppliers.
Compare Database Platforms
Generate tables comparing the key features of database platforms.
Compare eBook Platforms
Compare and contrast the core functionality of eBook platforms.
Sign Up for Alerts
Receive email alerts notifying you when suppliers update listings.

[http://www.jisc-adat.com/adat/home.pl]

The site provides access to detailed information and title lists for major bibliographic and full text databases, and key service information for database and eBook content platforms.

In each case the information has been provided directly by the relevant suppliers and is presented here as a resource to assist librarians in their purchasing decisions. The site provides functionality to compare databases automatically. Any combination of databases can be compared in order to generate lists of relevant titles.

[http://www.jisc-adat.com/adat/help_about.pl]

Boxing Cats > The Library Of Congress Has YouTube Channel

2009-04-12T17:54:00.002-05:00

YouTube, and Now We Do Too

Posted / April 7th, 2009 / Matt Raymond

Well, this is a day that has been a long time in coming. The Library of Congress has been working for several months now so that we could “do YouTube right.” When you’re the stewards of the world’s largest collection of audiovisual materials ... nothing less would be expected of you, and our own YouTube channel has now gone public.

[http://www.youtube.com/user/LibraryOfCongress]

We are starting with more than 70 videos, arranged in the following playlists: 2008 National Book Festival author presentations, the Books and Beyond author series, Journeys and Crossings (a series of curator discussions), “Westinghouse” industrial films from 1904 [snip], scholar discussions from the John W. Kluge Center, and the earliest movies made by Thomas Edison, including the first moving image ever mad (curiously enough, a sneeze by a man named Fred Ott).

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Ott]

But this is just the beginning. We have made a conscious decision that we’re not just going to upload a bunch of videos and then walk away. As with our popular Flickr pilot project, we intend to keep uploading additional content. [snip]

Not so incidentally, all of the videos we post on YouTube will also be available at LOC.gov ... [and] on American Memory ... .

Source

[http://www.loc.gov/blog/?p=467 ]

Library of Congress YouTube Playlist

2008 National Book Festival / 13 Videos / View readings from some of your favorite authors, poets and storytellers from the National Book Festival, in Washington DC on Sept. 27, 2008.

Books and Beyond / 2 Videos / Public talks at the Library of Congress by authors of recently-published books, sponsored by the Center for the Book.

Journeys and Crossings / 8 Videos / Bringing to life some of the Library's most exciting and historically significant materials ... .

Early Films: Westinghouse, 1904 / 21 Videos / Classic historic industrial films from the Westinghouse Works, produced in April-May 1904. [snip]

Kluge Center Series: Prominent Scholars on Current Topics / 9 Videos / At the Library's John W. Kluge Center, prominent scholars present public lectures, book talks and workshops as part of the Library's ongoing mission of sharing its knowledge with the public.

Early Films: Edison Companies / 20 Videos / Beginning in the late 1880s, Thomas Edison's labs not only built the equipment for filming and projecting films, but produced popular content for the new medium.

Source

Library of Congress YouTube Playlist

[http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=LibraryOfCongress&view=playlists]

Mobile Learning: Transforming The Delivery Of Education And Training

2009-04-12T12:51:00.016-05:00

Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training / Edited by Mohamed Ally

Athabasca University Press / March 2009 / 978-1-897425-44-2 (e-book) / 978-1-897425-43-5 (SC) / $39.95

This collection is for anyone interested in the use of mobile technology for various distance learning applications. Readers will discover how to design learning materials for delivery on mobile technology and become familiar with the best practices of other educators, trainers, and researchers in the field, as well as the most recent initiatives in mobile learning research. Businesses and governments can learn how to deliver timely information to staff using mobile devices. Professors can use this book as a textbook for courses on distance education, mobile learning, and educational technology.

Copyright: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. It may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that the original author is credited.

Download The Entire Book OR Select a Chapter Or Section

Download FRONT MATTER / Download TABLE OF CONTENTS / Download FOREWORD / Download CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS / Download INTRODUCTION

PART ONE: Advances in Mobile Learning

Download / Chapter 1: Current State of Mobile Learning / John Traxler

Download / Chapter 2: A Model for Framing Mobile Learning / Marguerite L. Koole

PART TWO: Research on Mobile Learning

Download / Chapter 3 / Mobile Distance Learning with PDAs: Development and Testing of Pedagogical and System Solutions Supporting Mobile Distance Learners / Torstein Rekkedal and Aleksander Dye

Download / Chapter 4 / Using Mobile Learning to Enhance the Quality of Nursing Practice Education / Richard F. Kenny, Caroline Park, Jocelyne M. C. Van Neste-Kenny, Pamela A. Burton, and Jan Meiers

Download / Chapter 5 / Informal Learning Evidence in Online Communities of Mobile Device Enthusiasts / Gill Clough, Ann C. Jones, Patrick McAndrew, and Eileen Scanlon

Download / Chapter 6 / M-learning: Positioning Educators for a Mobile, Connected Future / Kristine Peters

PART THREE: Applications of Mobile Learning

Download / Chapter 7 / Practitioners as Innovators: Emergent Practice in Personal Mobile Teaching, Learning, Work, and Leisure / Agnes Kukulska-Hulme and John Pettit

Download / Chapter 8 / Design and Development of Multimedia Learning Objects for Mobile Phones / Claire Bradley, Richard Haynes, John Cook, Tom Boyle, and Carl Smith

Download / Chapter 9 / From E-learning to Mobile Learning: New Opportunities / Michelle Pieri and Davide Diamantini

Download / Chapter 10 / MobilED – Mobile Tools and Services Platform for Formal and Informal Learning / Merryl Ford and Teemu Leinonen

Download / Chapter 11 / Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of M-learning within an International Distance Education Programme / Jon Gregson and Dolf Jordaan

Download / Chapter 12 / Using Mobile Technologies for Multimedia Tours in a Traditional Museum Setting / Laura Naismith and M. Paul Smith

Download / Chapter 13 / Use of Mobile Technology for Teacher Training / Jocelyn Wishart

Download Conclusion / Download Glossary / Download Index

About the Editor

Mohamed Ally is a Professor in the Centre for Distance Education at Athabasca University, where he teaches and researches the educational uses of mobile technology, mobile libraries, and workplace learning. Dr. Ally is on the boards of the International Federation of Training & Development Organizations and the International Association of Mobile Learning.

Source

[http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120155]

Related

The Second International m-Libraries Conference, held and sponsored by the University of British Columbia in conjunction with Athabasca University, The Open University and Thompson Rivers University, will be held June 23rd and 24th of 2009 at University of British Columbia's Vancouver campus.

[http://m-libraries2009.ubc.ca/]

SEE ALSO MOBILE LIBRARIES BLOG

[http://mobile-libraries.blogspot.com/]

WSJ: The Facebook Generation Vs. The Fortune 500

2009-03-26T17:03:00.004-05:00

Wall Street Journal / Gary Hamel’s Management 2.0 / March 24, 2009 / 5:38 PM ET

The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500

The experience of growing up online will profoundly shape the workplace expectations of “Generation F” – the Facebook Generation. At a minimum, they’ll expect the social environment of work to reflect the social context of the Web, [snip].

If your company hopes to attract the most creative and energetic members of Gen F, it will need to understand these Internet-derived expectations, and then reinvent its management practices accordingly. [snip]

With that in mind, I compiled a list of 12 work-relevant characteristics of online life. These are the post-bureaucratic realities that tomorrow’s employees will use as yardsticks in determining whether your company is “with it” or “past it.” [snip]

1. All ideas compete on an equal footing. On the Web, every idea has the chance to gain a following—or not, and no one has the power to kill off a subversive idea or squelch an embarrassing debate. [snip]

2. Contribution counts for more than credentials. When you post a video to YouTube, no one asks you if you went to film school. When you write a blog, no one cares whether you have a journalism degree. [snip] . On the Web, what counts is not your resume, but what you can contribute.

3. Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed. In any Web forum there are some individuals who command more respect and attention than others—and have more influence as a consequence. [snip] On the Web, authority trickles up, not down.

4. Leaders serve rather than preside. On the Web, every leader is a servant leader; no one has the power to command or sanction. Credible arguments, demonstrated expertise and selfless behavior are the only levers for getting things done through other people. [snip]

5. Tasks are chosen, not assigned. The Web is an opt-in economy. Whether contributing to a blog, working on an open source project, or sharing advice in a forum, people choose to work on the things that interest them. [snip]

6. Groups are self-defining and -organizing. On the Web, you get to choose your compatriots. In any online community, you have the freedom to link up with some individuals and ignore the rest, to share deeply with some folks and not at all with others. [snip]

7. Resources get attracted, not allocated.In large organizations, resources get allocated top-down, ... [snip]. On the Web, human effort flows towards ideas and projects that are attractive ... and away from those that aren’t. [snip]

8. Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it. The Web is also a gift economy. To gain influence and status, you have to give away your expertise and content. [snip] Online, there are a lot of incentives to share, and few incentives to hoard.

9. Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed. On the Internet, truly smart ideas rapidly gain a following no matter how disruptive they may be. The Web is a near-perfect medium for aggregating the wisdom of the crowd—whether in formally organized opinion markets or in casual discussion groups.[snip]

10. Users can veto most policy decisions. As many Internet moguls have learned to their sorrow, online users are opinionated and vociferous—and will quickly attack any decision or policy change that seems contrary to the community’s interests. [snip]

11. Intrinsic rewards matter most. The web is a testament to the power of intrinsic rewards. Think of all the articles contributed to Wikipedia, all the open source software created, all the advice freely given— [snip]. Money’s great, but so is recognition and the joy of accomplishment.

12. Hackers are heroes. Large organizations tend to make life uncomfortable for activists and rabble-rousers—however constructive they may be. In contrast, online communities frequently embrace those with strong anti-authoritarian views. On the Web, muckraking malcontents are frequently celebrated as champions of the Internet’s democratic values— [snip]

These features of Web-based life are written into the social DNA of Generation F—and mostly missing from the managerial DNA of the average Fortune 500 company. [snip]

[snip]

[Gary Hamel]

Source

[http://blogs.wsj.com/management/2009/03/24/the-facebook-generation-vs-the-fortune-500/]

The Guardian: Blogging / Podcasting / Twitter / Wikipedia - The Future Of (UK) Education?

2009-03-25T18:00:00.010-05:00

Pupils to Study Twitter and Blogs in Primary Schools Shake-up

• New curriculum will give teachers more freedom
• Second world war and Victoria not compulsory

Children will no longer have to study the Victorians or the second world war under proposals to overhaul the primary school curriculum, the Guardian has learned.

However, the draft plans will require children to master Twitter and Wikipedia and give teachers far more freedom to decide what youngsters should be concentrating on in classes.

The proposed curriculum, which would mark the biggest change to primary schooling in a decade, strips away hundreds of specifications about the scientific, geographical and historical knowledge pupils must accumulate before they are 11 to allow schools greater flexibility in what they teach.

It emphasises traditional areas of learning - including phonics, the chronology of history and mental arithmetic - but includes more modern media and web-based skills as well as a greater focus on environmental education.

The plans have been drawn up by Sir Jim Rose, the former Ofsted chief who was appointed by ministers to overhaul the primary school curriculum, and are due to be published next month.

The papers seen by the Guardian are draft plans for the detailed content of each of six core "learning areas" that Rose is proposing should replace the current 13 standalone subject areas.

The proposals would require:

• Children to leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of communication. They must gain "fluency" in handwriting and keyboard skills, and learn how to use a spellchecker alongside how to spell.

• Children to be able to place historical events within a chronology. [snip]

• Less emphasis on the use of calculators than in the current curriculum.

• An understanding of physical development, health and wellbeing programme, ... .

The six core areas are: understanding English, communication and languages, mathematical understanding, scientific and technological understanding, human, social and environmental understanding, understanding physical health and wellbeing, and understanding arts and design.

John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, said: "It seems to jump on the latest trends such as Wikipedia and Twitter. [snip]

Traditional books and written texts are downplayed in response to web-based learning."

Teresa Cremin, president of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, said: "We are very pleased to see a higher profile given to oracy but we are concerned that there seems to be no drama in the upper primary years linked to literacy. [snip]

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "They are much more sensible programmes of study. We are pleased they give the profession much more flexibility to meet the needs of their pupils. Children need to be enthused by learning, so they want to learn and gain the skills which will enable them to learn in later life.[snip]

[snip]

The Department for Children, Schools and Families, which initially refused to comment on the leaked report, issued a statement last night setting out its "general position" on history in primary schools. "Of course pupils in primary school will learn about major periods including the Romans, the Tudors and the Victorians and will be taught to understand a broad chronology of major events in this country and the wider world," it said.

Source

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/25/primary-schools-twitter-curriculum]

Companion Audio

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/audio/2009/mar/25/primary-school-curriculum-computer]

NOTE: What Will They Do Next? Sanction Membership In Social Networks [:-)

GIS For Visualization Of Library Usage Data And Holdings

2009-02-19T10:22:00.015-06:00

Visualisation of Library Data / Informationszentrum Chemie Biologie Pharmazie / Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)
The Chemistry Biology Pharmacy Information Center of the Federal Institute of Technology (Zurich, Switzerland) has mashed a Geographic Information System (GIS) with library usage and holdings data to create Several Most Impressive Visualizations

[http://www.infochembio.ethz.ch/en/holdings.html]

Also

Shelf occupation (HCI G 5)

Circulations 2008 (HCI G 5)

Acquisitions 2008 (HCI G 5)

Distribution of publication years (as of end of 2008, HCI G 5)

Current circulations (HCI G 5)

Current acquisitions of this month (HCI G 5)

Missing works (all works missing since 2001, current, HCI G 5)

Relative usage of circulations (Number of circulations / number of titles on shelf, as of end of 2008, HCI G 5)

Relative usage of titles (Used titles / number of titles on shelf, as of end of 2008, HCI G 5)

System requirements for data visualisation: Java browser plugin, Java Run Time Environment version 1.4 or later. A large amount of data is displayed in a Java applet of 1200 pixel x 800 pixel size and a wide screen is recommended.

Source

[http://www.infochembio.ethz.ch/en/holdings.html]

Martin Brändle / The DeveloperOfTheProject / Has Requested Feedback / His E-Mail Is / braendle@chem.ethz.ch /

WebQubed: Web 2.0 Mixed and Mashed

2009-02-17T11:01:00.008-06:00

Colleagues/

While I believe that many Web 2.0 developments are quite Innovative, I sense that the integration of Web 2.0 technologies are/is not as Radical as they could be …

For Example:

Are There Current Web 2.0 Mashups / Services / Sites / Etc. That Allow A User To:

>Add a relevant audio / photo / video / etc. TO a PDF / Word / TXT / document ?

>>Add a tag to relevant audio / photo / text / video / etc. that is linked to a relevant audio / photo / text / video / etc.

>>> Add a linked-tag to national catalog record (via Open WordCat[?])? To a local OPAC record ( A PennTags & Plus) ?

The Question(s) Of The Day is:

To What Degree Has The Wide Variety Of Media Been Integrated Into Other Media ? / To What Degree Has Such Media Been Mixed And Mashed To Create A New Medium ?

>>And Most Importantly<<

How Might Libraries Benefit From Such Integration?

BTW: I have created a Global Facebook Group that is “devoted to consideration and discussion of any and all (Im)Possible / (Im)Probable intergrations of Any and All Web 2.0 technologies” which is available at

[ http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=50352429799 ]

BTW: I Am Aware of All Things Web 2.0

[http://www.allthingsweb2.com/]

>> !!! Let The Radical Thinking Begin !!! <<

Your Thoughts ? / Reactions ?

/Gerry

Free YouTube College Lecture Downloads

2009-02-14T11:53:00.004-06:00

New From YouTube: Free Downloads of College Lectures / David Shieh

The Chronicle of Higher Education / Wired Campus / February 13 2009

YouTube began testing a new feature that lets users download videos posted to the site from partner institutions — including colleges — rather than just watching the videos in a streaming format. That means people can grab lectures from Duke and Stanford Universities and several institutions in the University of California system to watch any time, with or without an Internet connection.

YouTube partners have the option of charging users for such downloads, but all the universities have offered to make their lecture videos free instead, using Creative Commons licenses that restrict usage to non-commercial purposes and prohibit derivative work.

[snip]

Scott Stocker, director of Web communications for Stanford, said the university had made audio and video content available for download through Apple’s iTunesU since 2007. But Mr. Stocker said that iTunesU and YouTube attract different audiences: Users of iTunesU generally search out content to download to their devices, while YouTube users stumble upon content through videos embedded on blogs or links shared among friends.

Mr. Stocker said Stanford had no plans to charge money for its video downloads, since the university sees giving away lectures as part of its educational mission.

[snip]

Source

[http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3615/new-from-youtube-free-downloads-of-college-lectures]

Related

YouTube Goes Offline

[http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=Mp1pWVLh3_Y]

Web Conferencing Systems For (Distance) Education?

2009-02-07T10:45:00.014-06:00

Colleagues/

An associate of mine from our College of Veterinary Medicine is in the process of evaluating Web Conferencing Systems for their Distance Education /Learning program.

In addition to an extensive literature review that I am conducting, he/we greatly are greatly interested in Any and All Personal/ Professional Recommendations of Web Conferencing Systems that others currently are using and/or formerly used for Distance (or Other) Education(al) initiatives.

We are particularly interested in Personal/Professional Comparisons Of Web Conferencing Systems.

Please Post Any and All Recommendation On This Blog Entry and/or On The Wall Of The Facebook Group Devoted To Web Conferencing For Libraries At

[http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60516806184]

BTW: Wikipedia Has A Nice Comparison Chart That Compares Systems:

License / Capacity / Linux / Mac OS X / Microsoft Windows / Audio Support / Video Support / Chat Support / Desktop Sharing Support / Upload PPT / Upload PDF

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_conferencing_software]

BTW: Citations/Links To Recent/Key Reports/Literature On Web Conferencing Systems Would Be Most Appreciated / Thanks !!!

Regards,

/Gerry

Academic Earth: Video Lectures By Top Scholars

2009-02-03T11:57:00.005-06:00

Academic Earth

Thousands Of Video Lectures From The World's Top Scholars

Academic Earth is an organization founded with the goal of giving everyone on earth access to a world-class education.

[http://www.academicearth.org/]

As more and more high quality educational content becomes available online for free, we ask ourselves, what are the real barriers to achieving a world class education? At Academic Earth, we are working to identify these barriers and find innovative ways to use technology to increase the ease of learning.

We are building a user-friendly educational ecosystem that will give internet users around the world the ability to easily find, interact with, and learn from full video courses and lectures from the world’s leading scholars. Our goal is to bring the best content together in one place and create an environment that in which that content is remarkably easy to use and in which user contributions make existing content increasingly valuable.

We invite those who share our passion to explore our website, participate in our online community, and help us continue to find new ways to make learning easier for everyone.

Source

[http://www.academicearth.org/about]

FAQ

[http://www.academicearth.org/pages/faq]

Subjects

[http://www.academicearth.org/subjects/]

Universities

[http://www.academicearth.org/universities/]

Instructors

[http://www.academicearth.org/speakers/]

Advanced Search

[http://www.academicearth.org/lectures/advanced]

Terms of Use

[http://www.academicearth.org/pages/terms-of-use]

Facebook Page

[http://www.facebook.com/pages/Academic-Earth/11544573198]

News Coverage

The Chroncile of Higher Education / Wired Campus / February 2,2009

New For-Profit Web Site Repackages Free Lecture Videos From Colleges / Jeffrey R. Young

[http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3591/new-for-profit-web-site-repackages-free-lecture-videos-from-colleges] [Subscribers Only ?]

Web Conferencing in Libraries

2009-02-01T10:29:00.003-06:00

Colleagues/

In addition to library use of Wimba. I am also interest in the use of other Web Conferencing systems.

The Name Of The Facebook Group created for Wimba has been changed to Web Conferencing in Libraries but has the identical Group ID

[http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60516806184]

/Gerry

Wimba In Libraries

2009-01-30T15:13:00.011-06:00

Colleagues/

On Thursday January 29 2009, I attended presentation about Wimba and its various features, functionalities, and uses, sponsored by Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT):

Adding Virtual Collaboration to Your Courses Using Wimba Classroom and Wimba Voice Tools

Wimba Voice is a web-based voice solution that facilitates and promotes vocal instruction, collaboration, coaching, and assessment. Wimba Classroom is currently being pilot tested for potential use by ISU instructors. All Wimba tools are fully integrated with the ISU WebCT

[http://www.celt.iastate.edu/events/homepage.html] .

I Was Quite Impressed Not Only By The Reps But With The Wimba Technology Itself

[http://www.wimba.com/] .

Wimba is a leading provider of collaborative learning software solutions and services to the Further/Higher Education and K-12 markets. Wimba’s Publishing Services and Solutions are widely adopted in academic publishing.

From its inception almost a decade ago, Wimba has been solely focused on education and committed to harnessing the most powerful element of teaching—the human element—so that facial expressions, vocal intonations, hand gesticulation, real-time discussion, creativity and passion can be conveyed in the on-line learning environment.

The Wimba Collaboration Suite™ of products, which includes – the Wimba Classroom™ virtual learning environment, the Wimba Pronto™ academic messaging platform, the Wimba Voice™ audio tool, and the Wimba Create™ content authoring tool –enables institutions to bridge the gap between technology and pedagogy by supplementing course management systems with the proven disciplines of in-person learning environments.

Wimba’s customers include hundreds of secondary, higher and further education institutions from around the world. Our development efforts center on empowering and equipping the teachers and students of these institutions with real solutions for teaching and learning in the 21st Century.

Wimba is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Cambridge, United Kingdom; and Atlanta, Georgia.

Source

[http://www.wimba.com/company/]

A Demo Is Available (Registration Required)

[http://www.wimba.com/demos/]

As Are Events

Meet Wimba at an In-Person Event near you or join us virtually for one of our Distinguished Lecture Series, Wimba Online Workshops presentations, or Live Product or CMS Integration Demo.

[http://www.wimba.com/company/events/]

And Archived Events

[http://www.wimba.com/company/events/archived/]

A Customers Page Is Also Available

[http://www.wimba.com/customers/]

The Quesion

I Am Greatly Interested In Learning Of Any And All Libraries That Are Currently Using Wimba (For Any And All Services).

I Have Created A Facebook Group To Provide A Forum In Which Current Users As Well As Interested Individuals Can Discuss Wimba And Its Actual And Potential Uses.

The Global Facebook Group Can Be Joined At

[http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60516806184]

In addition to library use of Wimba. I am also interest in the use of other Web Conferencing systems.

The Name Of The Facebook Group created for Wimba has been changed to Web Conferencing in Libraries but has the identical Group ID

[http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60516806184]

/Gerry

National Technical Reports Library

2009-01-22T16:35:00.002-06:00

To further enhance accessibility to the NTIS collection,

[http://www.ntis.gov/]

NTIS will be launching the National Technical Reports Library (NTRL) during early Spring 2009.

The NTRL will provide access to:

Bibliographic records of more than 2,000,000 technical reports
Downloadable full text of 500,000 of these reports in Portable Document Format

[https://ntrl.ntis.gov/login/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fsearch%2fIndex.aspx]

The NTRL operates on a subscription-based system interface that allows users to do queries on the large NTIS bibliographic database. The intent is to broadly expand and improve access to millions of bibliographic records (pre-1960 to present) and 500k full-text documents in Portable Document Format that are directly linked to the bibliographic database.

If interested in learning more about the NTRL in greater detail, please write to NTRLhelpdesk@ntis.gov.

TeacherTube: Teach The World

2009-01-20T14:10:00.005-06:00

TeacherTube officially launched on March 6, 2007.

[http://www.teachertube.com/]

Our goal is to provide an online community for sharing instructional videos. We seek to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners. It is a site to provide anytime, anywhere professional development with teachers teaching teachers. As well, it is a site where teachers can post videos designed for students to view in order to learn a concept or skill.

TeacherTube was the idea of Jason Smith, a 14-year veteran educator. Jason has been a teacher, coach, campus administrator and district administrator in public schools. He asked the question, "Why can't teachers, students, and schools utilize the power of the read/write web for learning?" To overcome barriers, he decided to just create a site and get started trying to help. He turned to his brother, Adam, who is a younger, digital native, with technical skills. Adam used his skills to develop the site and found a web host. Soon, Jason's wife, Jodie, joined the team to start populating the site with videos and help improve the communication. She too has 14 years of experience in education as a classroom teacher, campus technology integrator, and district curriculum coordinator.

With TeacherTube, community members can:

upload, tag and share videos worldwide
upload support files to attach your educational actvities, assessments, lesson plans, notes, and other file formats to your video
browse hundreds of videos uploaded by community members.
find, join and create video groups to connect with people who have similar interests
customize the experience by subscribing to member videos, saving favorites, and creating playlists
integrate TeacherTube videos on websites using video embeds or APIs

Make videos public or private - users can elect to broadcast their videos publicly or share them privately with those they invite.

Most importantly, TeacherTube community members are a major part of the evolution of the site. Members are encouraged to not only upload educationally relevant videos, but also to make constructive comments and use the rating system to show appreciation for videos of value to one as an educator or learner. Users also have the ability to preserve the integrity of the site by flagging inappropriate videos. [snip]. With more collegial commentary and discussion through messaging and responses, the quality of this resource will only increase.

The service is free for everyone. We always encourage our users to contact us with thoughts, suggestions, or other feedback. We do have a vision for TeacherTube to truly be a better alternative to other video storage sites. With the community's help, it can become more interactive and engaging for all teachers and learners.

We invite everyone to keep up with what's going on with TeacherTube by reading the TeacherTube Blog(s)

[http://www.teachertube.com/blog.php].

Please let us know if you need help using TeacherTube or if you have a suggestion.

Source

[http://www.teachertube.com/about.php]

LUTube: University of Leeds UTube

2009-01-19T10:05:00.003-06:00

LUTube is the new service at Leeds that will allow staff and students to share and watch online videos. You can log in and upload your content in most standard video formats and it will automatically be converted and optimised for viewing on the web.

[http://lutube.leeds.ac.uk/]

You will be able to choose who you want to be able to watch your securely hosted video and embed your video into other websites such as the VLE or your blog.

LUTube's functionality includes:

Video upload and conversion to Flash format from .wmv, .flv, .mov, .avi, .mpg/mpeg, .mp4, .3gp, .ogg
Automatically generated embed code allows videos to be displayed on other sites
Categorise content with tagging, description and copyright information
Comment and reply to other users discussing videos on LUTube
Create, develop and customise your own LUTube channel
Subscribe to other user's channels
Create and join custom groups (coming soon)
Choose to restrict content to logged in users only, faculty, school, module or selected
individuals or groups (coming soon).
Browse schools and faculties for content (coming soon)
Search for videos by tags, titles and users (coming soon)
Collect selected resources from across LUTube and assemble then in one location (coming soon)

LUTube blog

[https://elgg.leeds.ac.uk/videosharing/weblog/]

Source

[http://lutube.leeds.ac.uk/info]

YouTube: The Reference Tool

2009-01-18T11:20:00.003-06:00

New York Times / January 18, 2009 / Ping

At First, Funny Videos. Now, a Reference Tool / By MIGUEL HELFT

FACED with writing a school report on an Australian animal, Tyler Kennedy began where many students begin these days: by searching the Internet. But Tyler didn’t use Google or Yahoo. He searched for information about the platypus on YouTube.

“I found some videos that gave me pretty good information about how it mates, how it survives, what it eats,” Tyler said. Similarly, when Tyler gets stuck on one of his favorite games on the Wii, he searches YouTube for tips on how to move forward. [snip]

While he favors YouTube for searches, he said he also turns to Google from time to time.

Tyler’s way of experiencing the Web — primarily through video — may not be mainstream, at least not yet. But his use of YouTube as his favorite search engine underscores a shift that is much broader than the quirky habits of children.

The explosion of all types of video content on YouTube and other sites is quickly transforming online video from a medium strictly for entertainment and news into one that is also a reference tool. As a result, video search, on YouTube and across other sites, is rapidly morphing into a new entry point into the Web, one that could rival mainstream search for many types of queries.

[snip]

And now YouTube, conceived as a video hosting and sharing site, has become a bona fide search tool. Searches on it in the United States recently edged out those on Yahoo, which had long been the No. 2 search engine, behind Google. (Google, incidentally, owns YouTube.) In November, Americans conducted nearly 2.8 billion searches on YouTube, about 200 million more than on Yahoo, according to comScore.

[snip]

As more video is added to the Web, the proportion of video searches that deliver satisfactory answers will grow, too. The question is, how far will video go as an alternative to text?

[snip]

Tyler’s father, Mr. Kennedy, who is a product manager at Nokia, said he has watched Tyler and his friends going from the Wii to the computer and back to the Wii enough times to understand how much the use of online video is changing. “All of us who are a certain age think of video as a medium associated with television, and not as a reference,” Mr. Kennedy said. “It’s another method of search that we don’t fully appreciate."

Source

[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/business/media/18ping.html]

Best Careers 2009: Librarian

2009-01-14T12:19:00.006-06:00

U.S. News & World Report / Best Careers 2009: Librarian / By Marty Nemko / December 11, 2008

Overview.
Forget about that image of librarians as a mousy bookworms. More and more of today's librarians must be clever interrogators, helping the patron to reframe their question more usefully. Librarians then become high-tech information sleuths, helping patrons plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital records, often starting with a clever Google search but frequently going well beyond. Librarianship is an underrated career. Most librarians love helping patrons solve their problems and, in the process, learning new things.

Librarians may also go on shopping sprees, deciding which books and online resources to buy. They may even get to put on performances, like children's puppet shows, and run other programs, like book discussion groups for elders. [snip]

[snip]

That effort to land a job will be well worth it if you're well suited to the profession: love the idea of helping people dig up information, are committed to being objective—helping people gain multiple perspectives on issues—and will remain inspired by the awareness that librarians are among our society's most empowering people.

A Day in the Life.
You work in a small municipal library, where you have to do a little of everything. You start your day by leafing through catalogs from online database publishers and book reviews in Library Journal to decide which titles to add to your collection. Next, it's out to the reference desk, where visitors regularly ask how to find something. Sometimes, it's esoteric; often, it's the bathroom. Later, you teach a class: an advanced lesson in Googling. Next, it's back to the reference desk, ... .

Smart Specialty
Special librarian. All sorts of organizations need librarians, not just public libraries. They work for colleges, law firms, hospitals, prisons, corporations, legislatures, the military, and nonprofit agencies. In fact, special librarianship is the field's fastest-growing job market. [snip]

Salary Data

Median ... $47,400
25th to 75th percentile ... $42,800-$63,700

Training

The American Library Association offers information and links regarding training, including online options.

U.S. News rankings of library programs

Learn More

[snip]

American Library Association

Medical Library Association

Special Libraries Association

[snip]

A Day in the Life: Career Options in Library and Information Science by Patricia Shontz and Richard Murray (editors)

[snip]

What's the Alternative: Career Options for Librarians and Info Pros by Rachel Gordon

And Dozens of Comments

Source

[http://tinyurl.com/9kxn9b]

Tech Therapy: Episode 36 - The Future of College Libraries

2008-11-30T13:36:00.001-06:00

Tech Therapists Scott Carlson and Warren Arbogast discuss what college libraries mean to campuses, the buildings' changing aesthetics, and how they will be designed for future use.

Treadmills? And Showers? Oh My ... [:-)

[ http://chronicle.com/techtherapy/ ]

CHE: Young Librarians, Talkin' 'Bout Their Generation

2008-11-30T13:28:00.008-06:00

Up-and-comers discuss what will change and what needs to change

Chronicle of Higher Education / Information Technology / Volume 54, Issue 8, Page A28

By SCOTT CARLSON

Most people are familiar with the stereotype of librarians. They are twenty- or thirtysomethings, with tattoos, cat's-eye glasses, and vintage clothes, schmoozing with famous authors, and playing DJ at parties in Brooklyn.

[snip]

Whether young librarians are hip or dowdy doesn't matter. What matters is what they think about the future of the library, particularly at academic institutions.

Libraries are facing a series of immense challenges: the explosion of information, a rapidly changing technological environment, shrinking budgets, pitched battles over copyright, a new world of information literacy, and continuing deficiencies in old-fashioned literacy.

[snip]

This month The Chronicle contacted eight librarians under 40 and asked them a series of questions about the future of their profession, including: [snip]

What is the future of the book? / Will there be a reference desk — yes or no? / What information services will be performed by libraries in the future, and what information services will be performed by companies and nonprofit groups? / Should the relationship between libraries and publishers change? If so, how? / Does the library profession need to diversify and draw from different populations? / What is one thing that libraries are doing right, and one thing that libraries are doing wrong? / How well did your library-science education prepare you for the field today? / What will the academic library look like in the future?

Here is what they said ………….................................

[http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i08/08a02801.htm]

Companion Audio Interviews: Young Librarians Discuss the Future of Their Profession

Joe Sanchez, U. of Texas at Austin / Libraries in virtual worlds will join physical libraries.
Susan Gibbons, U. of Rochester / Library schools need to update their curricula.
Nick Baker, Williams College / Companies like Google will bring "new blood" to libraries.
Casey Bisson, Plymouth State U. / Libraries need to be more than community centers.
Jessamyn C. West, Librarian.net / Librarians are not very "change oriented" as a culture.
Sarah Kostelecky, Institute of American Indian Arts / Diversity is important to the library profession.
Char Booth, Ohio U. / There will always be a need for librarians.
Brian Mathews, Georgia Institute of Technology /There's too much "bandwagon jumping" with new technology.

[http://chronicle.com/multimedia/]

LIFE Photo Archive Hosted by Google

2008-11-19T15:24:00.003-06:00

BLOGS / The Channel Wire / November 19, 2008

Google Resurrects Life Magazine Images

Google has opened up the Life magazine photo archives, launching an online photo gallery that offers millions of pictures that have gone unviewed for decades.

[http://images.google.com/hosted/life]

Google launched the service on Tuesday as part of its image search function, starting with roughly two million photos stretching from the 1750s to today. Google added that it plans to enter all 10 million images from Life's photo library so that they can be viewed by anyone with an Internet connection. That's a boon, considering Life has said that more than 95 percent of its photo archive has never been publicly viewed or published in the magazine
.
"This effort to bring offline images online was inspired by our mission to organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," Google software engineer Paco Galanes wrote on Google's blog. Galanes continued: "This collection of newly digitized images includes photos and etchings produced and owned by Life dating all the way back to the 1750s."

Life was established as a magazine in 1883 and eventually ceased publication in 2006.

Along with displaying the images online, Google said they can be printed for free as long as they are not being used to make money. Life's parent company, Time Warner, however, plans to sell high-resolution prints of the work though Qoop.com.

[snip]

Posted by Andrew R Hickey at 3:19 PM

Source

[http://www.crn.com/retail/212100897]

TRAIL: Technical Reports Archives and Image Library

2008-11-17T14:56:00.003-06:00

TRAIL is a Greater Western Library Alliance initiative lead by the University of Arizona in collaboration with the Center for Research Libraries and other interested supporting agencies to identify, digitize, archive, and provide persistent and unrestricted access to federal technical reports issued prior to 1975.

Project Rationale: Technical reports are a means of communicating the progress of research in fields of technology and science; they are used to communicate information for technical development throughout industry and throughout research institutions contributing to the continued development and growth of science and technology. These reports are highly detailed and contain valuable information serving specialized audiences of researchers. While availability and access to more recent (1994-current) technical report literature has greatly improved with delivery via the Internet, legacy technical report documents remain elusive to researchers. Most large research libraries across the country have sizeable collections of federally funded technical research reports—frequently a million or more reports ranging from several pages to several hundred pages. However, these collections, particularly legacy collections, are often difficult to identify and locate ... .

Pilot Project: The Pilot Project currently contains the following report series: NBS Monograph Series. Major contributions to the technical literature on various subjects related to the National Bureau of Standards and published between 1959 and 1982. These detailed reports include materials data, mathematical functions, time series, diffraction patterns, measurements, standards, methods and much more. Most of the data provided is from direct measurements. This series of technical reports is highly referenced with more than 2000 citations found in Web of Science alone. [snip]

TRAIL DATABASE [http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/techreports/index.php]

Committee Roster (By Institution)

Sinai Wood / Baylor University / Sinai_Wood@baylor.edu
Michael Culbertson /Colorado State University / michael.culbertson@colostate.edu
Marie Waltz / College and Research Libraries / mwaltz@crl.edu
Jim Dildine / GWLA Program Officer / jim@gwla.org
Alice Trussell / Kansas State University / alitrus@ksu.edu
John Phillips / Oklahoma State University / john.phillips@okstate.edu
Esther Crawford / Rice University / crawford@rice.edu
Maliaca Oxnam (Chair) / University of Arizona / oxnamm@u.library.arizona.edu
Patricia Kirkwood / University of Arkansas / pkirkwo@uark.edu
Margaret Jobe / University of Colorado, Boulder / Margaret.Jobe@colorado.edu
Martha Chantiny / University of Hawaii at Manoa / chantiny@lava.net
Dan Barkley / University of New Mexico / barkley@unm.edu
Daureen Nesdill / University of Utah / daureen.nesdill@utah.edu
Mel DeSart / University of Washington / desart@u.washington.edu

Transforming NTIS with a National Technical Reports Library

2008-11-16T13:20:00.004-06:00

Early in 2009, the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) will launch a new program, the NTIS National Technical Reports Library (NTRL), to increase and improve its utility to users. NTRL, the definitive technical reports collection, will guarantee libraries and technical information professionals easy access and perpetual availability to the full text of documents from NTIS’ comprehensive collection of federally-funded technical reports. NTIS acquires, indexes, abstracts, and archives the largest collection of U.S. government-sponsored technical reports in existence. The NTRL will be a resource for scientific discovery and will be accessible and usable to the widest possible audience, including through IP Access. Access will require a subscription, priced to enable NTIS to recover its costs.

The NTRL Library will provide access to bibliographic records plus full text content from the desktop, making broader dissemination possible. It will focus on timeliness, comprehensiveness and current awareness by providing access to libraries. It will also allow free web search of titles from the NTIS website.

NTRL Collection Development will:
Focus on technical reports
Guarantee perpetual availability
Support document version control
Aim for full text retrieval
Increase historical depth
Increased subject coverage

Donald H. Hagen
Associate Director
Office of Product and Program Management
National Technical Information Service
U.S. Department of Commerce

703-605-6142 / 703-888-9538 (cell)

Source

[https://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/private/eldnet-l/2008-November/003623.html]

ACRL Guide Libraries & the Google Library Project Settlement

2008-11-16T12:18:00.021-06:00

A Guide for the Perplexed: Libraries & the Google Library Project Settlement

On October 28, 2008, after several years of legal wrangling, Google, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and the Authors Guild reached a settlement agreement concerning Google’s scanning of copyrighted works. The scanning of these works has been done in cooperation with research libraries throughout the United States. The settlement agreement requires court approval by the presiding judge in the U.S. District Court in New York because the case was brought as a class action suit on behalf of selected copyright owners.

In large part, the settlement focuses on in-copyright books that are not commercially available. Public domain works fall outside of the settlement and owners of commercially available, in-copyright books created prior to January 5, 2009, may opt-out of the settlement or opt-in to other terms with Google. As a part of the settlement agreement, Google will fund the establishment of the Book Rights Registry. The Registry, jointly run by authors and publishers, will collect and distribute royalties including an up-front payment by Google of $45 million. Users will have several new opportunities to access scanned books, both free and fee-based, via public and university libraries and through institutional subscriptions for academic, corporate, and government libraries and organizations.

Source

[http://www.arl.org/pp/ppcopyright/google/index.shtml]

PDF Full Text Available At

[http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/google-settlement-13nov08.pdf]

C&RL News: Introducing Creative Commons to Librarians, Faculty, and Students

2008-11-16T12:18:00.020-06:00

The Beauty of "Some Rights Reserved": Introducing Creative Commons to Librarians, Faculty, and Students

College & Research Library News / November 2008 /Vol. 69, No. 10 / Molly Kleinman

These are difficult times when it comes to copyright on campus. Big music companies are suing fans, publishers are suing librarians, and the principle of “fair use” is under siege everywhere. Litigation-happy content holders have fostered a climate of fear in which every student is a music pirate and every professor a book thief. While I don’t doubt that there is some copyright infringement happening on university campuses, the bigger problem by far is the chilling effect of all these lawsuits and “copyright awareness campaigns.”

Scholars and students are afraid to do the one thing that copyright law has intended from the beginning: “Promote the Progress of Science and the Useful Arts”1 by creating new works and building on the works of those who came before. Every academic librarian knows at least one sad story about a professor who couldn’t include necessary illustrations in her book because her publisher was worried about a copyright lawsuit, or a digitization project that couldn’t get approved because the copyright status of the materials was uncertain.

Additional problems result from major changes to copyright law over the last 40 years. Until recently, creators had to register their copyrights to receive protection and mark their works with a properly formatted copyright notice or the work entered automatically into the public domain, where anybody was free to reuse it however they wished.

That all changed in 1978, when the United States dropped the registration requirement; since then, copyright automatically occurs the moment a work is “fixed in a tangible medium of expression.” Now, every new work is copyrighted—lecture notes, e-mails, snapshots, doodles, presentation slides. [snip]

Enter Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that created a set of simple, easy-to-understand copyright licenses. These licenses do two things: They allow creators to share their work easily, and they allow everyone to find work that is free to use without permission. The value of those two things is enormous. Before Creative Commons licenses, there was no easy way a creator could say, “Hey world! Go ahead and use my photographs, as long as you give me attribution.”

[More]

Source / Full Text Available

[http://www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/crlnews/2008/nov/beautyofsrr.cfm]

Podcast Available

[http://www.acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider/2008/11/06/acrl-podcast-the-beauty-of-some-rights-reserved/]

Reference Librarian 2008, Vol. 49 Issue 2 Web 2.0 Articles

2008-11-16T12:18:00.014-06:00

Colleagues/

From The Latest Reference Librarian (49(2)) / 2008

[1] Text Messaging at Reference: A Preliminary Survey / Steven K. Profit

This article relates the results of a survey of academic libraries using text messaging as a means for delivering reference services. Information concerning the hardware, software, costs, staffing, hours of operation, service life, and patron use is presented.

Page Range: 129 - 134 / DOI: 10.1080/02763870802101328

[2] Second Life: A Tool for Reference and International Understanding / Christian van der Ven

The challenges that virtual reference staff volunteers in Second Life (SL) are facing are opportunities at the same time. There are a lot of differences between doing reference work in Real Life (RL/and in SL, but for the most part reference work in-world is quite the same as in the daily life of any reference specialist. In essence, that is. Of course new skills are needed, but this is just for now. In the end, working at a virtual reference desk, especially as one member on a team of international pioneers, is as exciting as it is new!

Page Range: 149 - 161 / DOI: 10.1080/02763870802101369

[3] Pencils Never Crash: The Thoughtful Integration of Technology for Reference Service / David C. Murray, Guest Columnist / iReference: Using Apple's iPhone as a Reference Tool

With eager buyers waiting in long lines to get one of their own, theiPhone burst onto the scene in the United States on June 29, 2007. Sincethen, Apple has garnered about 20% of the market for smart phones in itshome territory, despite the presence of the BlackBerry, Treo, and others.Aside from its unmatched industrial design and “coolness” factor, whatmakes the iPhone so special? And more importantly, are there ways wecould use it to deliver enhanced reference services? In this column, I’ll tryto answer these questions by sharing my experiences in putting the iPhone to the test as a reference device.

Page Range: 167 - 170 / DOI: 10.1080/02763870802101419

[4] Pending Friend Request: Reference Service Meets Online Social Networks / Kristina M. DeVoe, Column Editor / Choices Galore: Confirm, Deny, or Ignore

The growth and popularity of online social networking sites are undeniable. In the past few years, sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Ning, LinkedIn, Friendster, Flickr, Twitter, Second Life, and numerous others have burst onto the scene, capturing users’ attentions and imaginations.

Once the online destination of teenagers and college students, they have quickly become mainstream, shifting the demographic composition and the conversation. At their core, social networking sites allow users to increase and maintain personal interactions; people can find and interact with one another, share interests, make connections, and create content across multiple media forms.

Page Range: 179 - 181 DOI: 10.1080/02763870802101435

Full Text For All Articles Available Through Haworth

[http://www.haworthpress.com/]

/Gerry

Reinventing Science Librarianship: Models for the Future,October 2008 | Proceedings

2008-11-16T12:09:00.006-06:00

Proceedings from the ARL / CNI Fall Forum / October 16-17, 2008 / Arlington, Virginia

E-Science: Trends, Transformations & Responses

Convener and Moderator: Wendy Lougee, University Librarian, McKnight Presidential Professor, University of Minnesota

E-Science: Trends, Transformations & Responses

Chris Greer, Director National Coordination Office (NCO) for the multiagency Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program

A Case Study in E-Science: Building Ecological Informatics Solutions for Multi-Decadal Research

William Michener, Research Professor (Biology) and Associate Director, Long-Term Ecological Research Network Office, University of New Mexico

Making a Quantum Leap to eResearch Support

Rick Luce Vice Provost and Director of University Libraries, Emory University Libraries

Data Curation: Issues and Challenges

Convener and Moderator: James Mullins Dean of Libraries, Purdue University

Transition or Transform? Repositioning the Library for the Petabyte Era

Liz Lyon, Director, UKOLN

Research and Data

Fran Berman Director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center, UC San Diego, and Co-chair Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access

Data Curation Issues and Challenges

Sayeed Choudhury Associate Dean of University Libraries and Hodson Director of the Digital Research and Curation Center, Johns Hopkins University

Data Curation Panel

Pam Bjornson , Director-General, Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information

Supporting Virtual Organizations

Convener and Moderator: Wendy Lougee University Librarian, McKnight Presidential Professor, University of Minnesota

The Coming Age of Virtual Organizations: The Early History and Future of Geographically Distributed Collaboration

Thomas A. Finholt, Director, Collaboratory for Research on Electronic Work (CREW) and Research Professor & Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, School of Information, University of Michigan

Cyberinfrastructure for Discovery, Learning, and Engagement: The nanoHUB Experience

Mark Lundstrom Don and Carol Scifres Distinguished Professor, Director, Network for Computational Nanotechnology, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University

Reactor Panel: Supporting the Virtual Organization: A Role for Libraries?

Medha Devare Life Sciences and Bioinformatics Librarian, Mann Library, Cornell University

Reactor Panel: Supporting the Virtual Organization

D. Scott Brandt Associate Dean for Research, Purdue University Library

Lessons & New Roles: the Experience of Health Sciences Libraries

Convener and Moderator: Neil Rambo, Acting Associate Dean of University of Washington Libraries and Acting Director of the University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries

Linda Watson, President, Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries and Director, Health Sciences Libraries, University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Betsy L. Humphreys, Deputy Director, National Library of Medicine

Education for New Roles

What does the science library/informatics professional need to know and be able to do?

Convener and Moderator: Betsy Wilson, Dean of University Libraries, University of Washington

Education for Cyberscholarship

Ron Larsen Dean and Professor, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh

Reinventing Science Librarianship: Education for New Roles

Catherine Blake Assistant Professor, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Preparing e-Science Information Specialists: New Programs and Professionals

Carole L. Palmer, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Summary Reactor Panel

Convener and Moderator: Wendy Lougee, University Librarian, McKnight Presidential Professor, University of Minnesota

Carol Mandel, Dean of the Division of Libraries, New York University

Becky Lyon, Deputy Associate Director for Library Operations, National Library of Medicine

Neil Rambo, Acting Associate Dean of University of Washington Libraries and Acting Director of the University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries

Summation and Closing Observations

Clifford Lynch, Executive Director, Coalition for Networked Information

Posters on Display

Fifteen libraries contributed fourteen posters for display at the forum to showcase their organizations’ work in science librarianship. The posters are described in three categories: Tools, Programs and Services, and Organizational Models.

LibQUAL+® in the Sciences

Highlights LibQUAL+® survey responses from faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates in science/math, engineering/computer science, and health sciences across 302 libraries (including 53 ARL libraries). Reports library users’ perceptions and expectations of service quality and information literacy outcomes, such as contribution of the library to advancing in a discipline. Also reports use of the library premises, Web site, and non-library information gateways. Notably, ratings of information literacy outcomes have risen since 2004 across all user groups.

[http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/fallforumproceedings/forum08proceedings.shtml]

Reference Notes Blog Launched

2008-11-15T12:07:00.009-06:00

The Reference Notes blog was formally established on

November 15 2008.

Reference Notes is devoted to providing profiles of significant or substantive developments and news of potential interest to Reference and Research Librarians worldwide.

Resources and sources of potential interest to the Iowa State University community will be a particular focus.