Library Lady

1. Most interesting picture from Flickr and why I chose it.

The tag I searched was libraries. This picture is in a home and the caption says the books are organized by hard covers, nonfiction, cookbooks, and paperbacks. But it also looks as though they are arranged by color. One of the things I teach about the Dewey Decimal system is that in the old days, before Dewey, books were sometimes arranged by color – not a great system, but pretty! So this is a good example of what that would look like.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/craftcreativity/3539093117/

2. Technorati

I find this site a bit tedious: small print, lots of clicking. But it does have a filter to search entire post or tags only and a filter for posts, blogs, photos, or videos. I liked the section on Tags that gives suggestions for other related tags. My search for libraries resulted in 31,144 posts.

To answer the question, was I amazed or disappointed, I would say amazed just because I don’t know enough to be disappointed. All these search capabilities are amazing to me.

3. I was very impressed with del.ico.us. The name is clever. It gave great results for my libraries search, and there are always other tags offered for further rabbit trails.

COMPARE:

BROWSER-BASED AGGREGATOR vs. WEB-BASED AGGREGATOR

Mac vs. Google Reader

• Captures URLs in one place to keep updated on new posts
• Number of unread posts are in parenthesis behind the title of the blog/site
• Number goes away or decreases when posts are opened
• Can be added to Bookmarks Bar for easy access
• Ability to sort articles

CONTRAST:

BROWSER-BASED AGGREGATOR

• Can be accessed only from one computer
• Easy to bookmark from an open blog & added to
• Fewer options for organizing feeds
• No “summary” statements or first line
• No sign in
• Simple set up – just create a new bookmark folder

WEB-BASED AGGREGATOR

• Can be accessed from any compute
• Must open reader to subscribe to a blog/site. (There may be an easier way but this was my experience)
• Options for managing feeds, sharing, etc.
• Provides title of each blog entry and the first line. Clicking on title will provide summary depending on the site (e.g. NPR)
• Have to sign in
• Have to wait for activation via email

Overall, I like the simplicity of the browser-based aggregator. I have only done it on my Mac so it may be a different experience on the PC. But I do like the ability to use any computer that the web-based aggregator allows.

1. I think there would be value in an RSS feeder for the students in my content area, Library. It is a great way to organize one’s favorite sites thus saving time going here and there to read blogs or look at various websites.

2. I would have my students subscribe to author blogs/websites. I ran across a sort of aggregator for authors’ blogs at www.goodreads.com. Many authors have their own blogs or websites. A student could keep current with his/her favorite author and write comments to the author. If we were doing research on a subject in science or social studies, students could subscribe to blogs or websites on their subjects.

3. Students could subscribe to my blog and send comments to me. This would help their writing skills and possibly their critical thinking skills.

1. Pick three topics

The three topics I chose are not really technology-related. I chose subjects that relate to my profession as a school librarian. There are technology issues inherent in a couple of my topics: information literacy, and school libraries. The third topic I chose is a reading incentive program called Battle of the Books.

2. Which search engine worked better than the others.

Overall, I liked the set up of IceRocket. It was uncluttered and used a larger font than some of the others, especially Technorati.

3. This is what I found using a Boolean search in the prescribed blog search engines:

• Bloglines:

“Information Literacy” (17,300)

I copied a few URLs that I found especially interesting with notes or titles to help me remember what they were about.

http://www.librarystudentjournal.org/index.php/lsj/article/viewArticle/76/172

Creating a successful information literacy program for distance students

http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/2009/06/information-literacy-in-second-life.html

“the adoption of appropriate information behaviour to identify, through whatever channel or medium, information well fitted to information needs, leading to wise and ethical use of information in society.”

Slide show – UK

http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/06/20/revolution-process-of-iran-and-information-literacy

(R)Evolution Process of Iran and Information Literacy

A lot of the blogs/organization sites were aimed at college/university IL.

http://librarytraining.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/information-literacy-in-the-age-of-amateurs-how-google-and-web-2-0-affects-librarians-support-of-information-literacy/

Information literacy in the age of amateurs : how Google and Web 2.0 affects librarian’s support of Information Literacy

http://markhepworthsblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/metaphors-people-use-to-teach.html

“School Libraries” (7,630 posts)

http://www.infosherpas.com/libr246-11/node/853

rss in school libraries

http://www.sla.org.uk/blg-school-libraries-in-action.php

School Library Assn. weblog

“Battle of the Books” (1,120 posts)

Posts from blogs and organizations about this subject. Lists of books. Videos of competitions.

• BlogScope

I searched “information literacy” and what I got was over 4 million results because it just picked up the word “information.” This happened with my other topics, too. So I didn’t pursue this search engine.

• BlogSearch.

“Information Literacy” (74,273 posts)

Most of the discussion focuses on academic libraries, but the discussions are valid for all libraries.

http://mwcclibrary.blogspot.com/2009/06/project-information-literacy-videos.html

Project Information Literacy Videos

http://tilt.lib.utsystem.edu/

Texas Information Literacy Tutorial – Univ. of Texas. Offline 8-14-09

http://alsaands.blogspot.com/2009/05/passing-of-tilt.html

Relates to the removal of above tutorial

http://lonewolflibrarian.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/teaching-mediainformation-literacy-06-18-09/

Video by Cory Doctorow about information literacy.

ttp://www.educause.edu/ELI/GettingPastGooglePerspectiveso/156767

PDF resource

http://www.educause.edu/blog/gbayne/PodcastInformationLiteracyinth/167152

Podcast: Information Literacy in the Digital Age

http://guides.library.ucla.edu/content.php?pid=33500&sid=245471

Teach Information Literacy & Critical Thinking! Lessons/evaluation tools.

“School Librarians” (37,514 posts)

Much of the discussion centered on the need for school libraries in the 21^st century. Librarians will need to make the shift to a more technological-savvy generation.

“Battle of the Books” (8,641 posts)

Information, lists, news reports.

• IceRocket - mostly blogs

“Information Literacy” (2,021 posts)

http://uweoconnect.extn.washington.edu/publicmbeinfolit/

Dr. Mike Eisenberg slide show on Information Literacy

http://beeslearning.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/information-literacy-eisenberg-input/

http://janelibrary2.blogspot.com/2009/06/time-to-move-on.html

Lost her job as school librarian

“School Librarians” (696 posts)

The fate of school libraries is a hot topic in the blogs.

“Battle of the Books” (462 posts)

Accounts of participating in Battle of the Books, lists, etc.

• Sphere

I couldn’t figure out how to search on this one.

• Technorati

“Information Literacy” (623 results)

This search engine posted videos on the topic which I thought was helpful.

http://inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2009/what-not-to-do-when-applying-for-library-jobs/

Good advice. Also, I loved the name of this blog: In the Library with the Lead Pipe.

“School Libraries” (497 results)

Includes video links

“Battle of the Books” (27 results)

Includes video links

4. Describe which blog search engine worked best and why you believe it was a better tool.

I addressed this earlier in #2. With the exception of BlogScope and Sphere, there were features I liked on all of them. But I liked the relatively unclutteredness of IceRocket, and the Big Buzz feature that appears to put 10 blogs in order by the most recent, as well as Twitter, MySpace, News and Images. It’s just tidy.

5. Explain how you would use blog search engines with students.

Assuming my students had created blogs, I would have the students search topics, possibly related to reading/literacy, book reviews, recommended books, and information literacy. What I don’t know is how to connect students with other student blogs. They might get kind of bored reading adult blogs.

1. Was the process straightforward or did it require you to search for help?

Edublog: I had to go to help to figure out how to do a blogroll. The instructions stated that the Links tab would be in my Dashboard, but that is not where I found it; it was under Write. Once there, the process was very simple.

Blogspot: I had the most difficulty figuring out blogroll on this site. I encountered the term “Follower” and that threw me off for a bit. Then there was Reading List that I could follow publicly or privately. I added to this list, but the links didn’t appear on the sidebar of my blog. So finally I went to the Layout tab and it was there I found out to add a gadget and then the blog links showed up. It was made easier by clicking on Google Reader so that all (or the ones I chose) just appeared on the blogroll. They could be removed or renamed easily.

WordPress: Word press was probably the easiest and was similar to edublog in the ease of adding a link. “Links” was on the dashboard and it was very simple to add a link to the blogroll.

2. Which site was the easiest to accomplish this task?

WordPress was the easiest for me in my estimation.

3. If you were to choose one blog site over the other two, would you factor in the difficulty of adding tools like a blogroll to the site?

The less complicated the better. I would definitely consider the ease of adding tools to a site.

4. Would you have your students add a blogroll to their blog site? What could you learn from students based on the blogs they subscribe? (You may want to consider what a person could learn about you looking at your blogroll.)

I think these links could take students to seem interesting places, places I might not want to go. I’m unclear if the links have to be just to blogs. I used some websites, not just blogs. I don’t know if that is kosher or not. I think I would have them add a site or two (maybe prescriptive) just so they had the practice. There is not enough time to monitor all the links. What they do at home is one thing. Of course at school, I don’t know how many links would be blocked anyway.

Items to address in this post include:

• Did the sites have any instruction for setting up your blog?

1.  blogspot.com:  there were many helps for setting up a blog, including a video tour and links that explained terms, and help.

2.  edublogs.org:  this site was fairly straight forward – not a lot of instruction or explanation, just start.  Once the blog is created is when I need more instruction on what to do.

3.  wordpress.com:  there was some brief instructions and then just submitting user name, password, email address, etc.  I had to wait to receive activation in my email and this took a long time.  I finally had to contact support.

• Were directions needed or was the process self-explanatory on each site?

1.  blogspot.com:  I think directions are always needed for novices.  Sites can’t assume that everyone is techno savy even though someone not interested in this medium would probably not be visiting te site.  One might say the process is self-explanatory provided you read everything and follow links which gets cumbursome and annoying.

2.  edublogs.org:  the directions were sparse and again the process is somewhat intuitive and self-explanatory, but one has to read and click a lot to really get the hang of it.

3.  wordpress.com:  I think they assume you know a lot about the technology involved, but I thought the explanations were good and necessary.

• Can you control who sees your blog on each site?

1.  blogspot.com:  yes

2.  edublog.org:  yes

3.  wordpress.com:  yes

• Can you control comments on each site?

1.  blogspot.com:  yes

2.  edublog.org:  yes

3.  wordpress.com:  yes

• If you were going to have students setup a blog, which of these sites would you choose at this point?

I would probably choose edublogs.org

• Explain why you chose that site over the other two?

This site seems to be established specifically for teachers and students with helpful suggestions for its use.  It seems easy to set up and get started.   One thing I like about the other sites is that you choose your own password.  Edublogs.org assigns one via email.  I don’t know if there’s a way to change it, but it is not easy to remember what it is.

• If you were to have students setup a blog on your chosen site, what type of information would you give the student prior to getting started?

I would tell them basic blog vocabulary terms so they know what to expect, e.g., dashboard, tags, categories, etc.

• Overall, did you find setting up a blog easy or was it frustrating, and why?

Overall easy, but a little frustrating because I wasn’t familiar with terms and couldn’t figure out how to write and then save and post something right away.  It was a lot of trial and error, but I guess that’s how you learn.

 

I have been listenting to and reading Alexander McCall Smith books.   I just finished Tea Time for the Traditionally Built - newest in the No.1 Ladies Detective series.  Smith’s wit and wisdom resonate with me, and the slow pace of Botswana life is soothing to my spirit.  I’ve been listening to the 44 Scotland Street series.  The characters are memorable and their characterization laughable.

My first summer read was the 2009 Newbery winner, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.  I’m not aware of all its competition for the award, but I can see the appeal of this book.  It is believable fantasy.  I was easily drawn into the story and accepted the premise unequivocally.   I think that is the hallmark of good fantasy.