I'm writing this post via Google Docs on my son's computer in Virginia. I became aware of web-based applications via Google Calendar and the browser bar at the top of the screen. Since I regularly use three different computers in the course of my day, and I work on both windows and mac platforms, I need both transportability and platform transparency. The suite of applications that Google now offers meets my need for both.
My use of web-based tools began with Google Calendar (discussed earlier in this blog) and increased when my son-in-law posted Christmas shopping lists on Google Docs. Finally, I broke down and signed-up for a Gmail account because its spam blocker was better than the free one used by my ISP. I suppose my next investigation should be of Google Scholar for journal articles and other documents posted on the web.
Anyway, I find the word processor in Google Docs easy to use, resembling the familiar MS Word interface. I like its spell checker, and now to find out how well it posts to my blog . . .
As a full-feature word processor Google Docs isn't robust enough, but for everyday use it's just fine. I guess if I were creating a document that needed robust features I wouldn't house it online anyway.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
pbWiki - Thing #17
Wow, I've been away for a month. Not that December' is busy for anyone ;-).
I started working on the wiki things (16 & 17) during November, and soon recognized that it would take some concentration to really understand how they worked and to learn to edit material well. So, I postponed my learning activity until the holiday break. Today (12/30) I'm sitting at my son's computer in Virginia, waiting for them to return from Texas, and taking the time to play with thing #17.
It was easy enough to establish an account on pbWiki, and to find the list of favorite pages. I entered my blog in the favorite blog (general) list. I don't know why my entry looks different from the others. I think I followed the model. Ah, the wonders of html.
I added an entry to the favorite wine page. I love an Italian white wine made from the Cortese grape in the Piedmont region called Gavi. My favorite label is Princepessa Gavi which sells for around $14.00. It's great with seafood and for drinking on those hot summer evenings when its green apple and citrus palette slakes one's thirst.
OK, I think I'm over my slight roadblock and can continue with the remaining things.
Happy new year everyone! May 2009 be prosperous for all!
I started working on the wiki things (16 & 17) during November, and soon recognized that it would take some concentration to really understand how they worked and to learn to edit material well. So, I postponed my learning activity until the holiday break. Today (12/30) I'm sitting at my son's computer in Virginia, waiting for them to return from Texas, and taking the time to play with thing #17.
It was easy enough to establish an account on pbWiki, and to find the list of favorite pages. I entered my blog in the favorite blog (general) list. I don't know why my entry looks different from the others. I think I followed the model. Ah, the wonders of html.
I added an entry to the favorite wine page. I love an Italian white wine made from the Cortese grape in the Piedmont region called Gavi. My favorite label is Princepessa Gavi which sells for around $14.00. It's great with seafood and for drinking on those hot summer evenings when its green apple and citrus palette slakes one's thirst.
OK, I think I'm over my slight roadblock and can continue with the remaining things.
Happy new year everyone! May 2009 be prosperous for all!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Dylan Robert Hall
Enjoy some photos of the newest member of our family. Dylan Robert Hall was born on Tuesday, November 26, 2008, to Michael and Lara Hall. Dylan is the couple's first baby, and Bill & Shelly Hall's 5th grandchild. After a shaky start, Dylan's health has improved dramatically and he is no longer in intensive care. Thanks to all who prayed for his healing, and Blessings to our wonderful Lord and King for His grace!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
ANTHRAX SCARE AT MICHIGAN
Received this in an email this morning. Don't know the source, but given the season it seemed appropriate.
ANTHRAX SCARE AT MICHIGAN
Michigan football practice was delayed nearly two hours late this morning after a player reported finding an unknown white powdery substance on the practice field. Head coach Rich Rodriguez immediately suspended practice while police and federal agents were called to investigate.
After a complete analysis, FBI forensic experts determined that the white substance, unknown to the players, was the goal line. Practice was resumed this afternoon after special agents decided the team was unlikely to encounter the substance again.
Enjoy! Go Bucks!
ANTHRAX SCARE AT MICHIGAN
Michigan football practice was delayed nearly two hours late this morning after a player reported finding an unknown white powdery substance on the practice field. Head coach Rich Rodriguez immediately suspended practice while police and federal agents were called to investigate.
After a complete analysis, FBI forensic experts determined that the white substance, unknown to the players, was the goal line. Practice was resumed this afternoon after special agents decided the team was unlikely to encounter the substance again.
Enjoy! Go Bucks!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
A Trio of Titles
A Trio of Titles from Carnivalesque Films
http://www.carnivalesquefilms.com
Documentary filmmakers David Redmon and Ashley Sabin portray the survival challenges faced by disaster victims and the working poor. They combine video, 8mm and 16mm film footage into raw and unedited collages, and present them to the viewer in a kaleidoscopic, mashed together style. Redmon and Sabin present unforgettable and moving images through their approach to verité.
Mardi Gras: Made in China is an award-winning documentary that explores the relationship between the gaily-colored strings of beads awarded for provocative behavior in New Orleans, and the young migrant Chinese workers who manufacture them. The young men and women work at least 12 hours every day running machines and hand painting figurines while living at the factory compound and away from their families. The documentary contains interview footage of workers, bosses, owners, and Mardi gras revelers incorporated as a collage to relate the stressful lives of the young workers and to express the attitudes of both labor and management. The DVD contains feature length (73 minutes) and educational (PG) versions (52 min.), deleted scenes, and special features including interviews with principal workers. The Mardi gras scenes contain some sexual exposure.
Kamp Katrina depicts life in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans residents Dave and Ms. Pearl open their backyard to the displaced, converting their garden into a tent city. The award-winning documentary follows the lives of the residents of Kamp Katrina through the next six months as they attempt to rebuild their lives following the devastation. Living life on the basest of levels is raw and stressful, but the personalities who make up the backyard community become indelibly etched into the heart. Scenes of the post Katrina destruction are incredibly gripping. There are both feature length (75 minutes) and educational versions (48 min.) of the film. There is considerable profanity throughout.
Intimidad introduces 21-year-olds Camilo and Cecy, a young Mexican couple trying to establish their home. They struggle to earn a living working low wage factory jobs and while living apart from their two-year old daughter, Loida. The stress placed upon their marriage climaxes while on a Christmas visit to see their daughter, when Cecy decides to remain with her family and not return to the couple’s home in Reynosa. Finally, love wins out as Cecy and Loida join Camilo, buy land, and build a small house. (72 minutes).
reviews by William Hall for the Nebraska Library Association Journal
http://www.carnivalesquefilms.com
Documentary filmmakers David Redmon and Ashley Sabin portray the survival challenges faced by disaster victims and the working poor. They combine video, 8mm and 16mm film footage into raw and unedited collages, and present them to the viewer in a kaleidoscopic, mashed together style. Redmon and Sabin present unforgettable and moving images through their approach to verité.
Mardi Gras: Made in China is an award-winning documentary that explores the relationship between the gaily-colored strings of beads awarded for provocative behavior in New Orleans, and the young migrant Chinese workers who manufacture them. The young men and women work at least 12 hours every day running machines and hand painting figurines while living at the factory compound and away from their families. The documentary contains interview footage of workers, bosses, owners, and Mardi gras revelers incorporated as a collage to relate the stressful lives of the young workers and to express the attitudes of both labor and management. The DVD contains feature length (73 minutes) and educational (PG) versions (52 min.), deleted scenes, and special features including interviews with principal workers. The Mardi gras scenes contain some sexual exposure.
Kamp Katrina depicts life in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans residents Dave and Ms. Pearl open their backyard to the displaced, converting their garden into a tent city. The award-winning documentary follows the lives of the residents of Kamp Katrina through the next six months as they attempt to rebuild their lives following the devastation. Living life on the basest of levels is raw and stressful, but the personalities who make up the backyard community become indelibly etched into the heart. Scenes of the post Katrina destruction are incredibly gripping. There are both feature length (75 minutes) and educational versions (48 min.) of the film. There is considerable profanity throughout.
Intimidad introduces 21-year-olds Camilo and Cecy, a young Mexican couple trying to establish their home. They struggle to earn a living working low wage factory jobs and while living apart from their two-year old daughter, Loida. The stress placed upon their marriage climaxes while on a Christmas visit to see their daughter, when Cecy decides to remain with her family and not return to the couple’s home in Reynosa. Finally, love wins out as Cecy and Loida join Camilo, buy land, and build a small house. (72 minutes).
reviews by William Hall for the Nebraska Library Association Journal
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Creativity – the Fast-track to Your New Life
Recently I read three seminal books on the 21st Century, the characteristics of the new American worker, and the future of the American job market. I first gained understanding of the business forces that provide a leveling effect on world commerce by reading Thomas L. Friedman’s The World is Flat (2006). Friedman points to the growing and competing economies in China and India where engineers can design and implement technology as good as the United States, and for a cheaper price. In order to compete and to serve the consumer American corporations are forced to utilize foreign workers to lower their production costs. Of course, foreign competition is a major reason for corporation downsizing and the loss of repetitive and lower skilled jobs.
Friedman then argues that the American economy can only remain competitive by supplying jobs skills that no one else can replicate. He and Daniel Pink believe that the creative skill of synthesis, or symphony as Pink puts it, is what allows for new product development and new and better approaches to job tasking (Pink, 2006, p. 130). Both authors believe that this skill cannot be downsized or outsourced to foreign countries. Friedman states that the job market is changing so quickly that today’s undergraduates will have to prepare for jobs that don’t even yet exist.
The next book that impressed me was Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class (2002). Florida observes the changing American job market and notices the rapid increase in what he terms “creative class” jobs, and the decline of older service industry jobs. Florida also notices where the people who work in creative class industries reside, and lists communities around the country that are supporting creative individuals’ lifestyles. He believes that creative people are drawn to these areas as places to be inspired, to be engaged, and to live, and that they then search for jobs that will allow them to exercise their creativity. That’s a 180-degree change from the older idea of moving to where the job is located. Among the markers of communities that attract creative class people are: Technology, Talent, and Tolerance of diversity (Florida, 2002, p. 249).
What Daniel Pink accomplishes in A Whole New Mind (2006) is to define the skills that identify Florida’s “creative class.” These are the kinds of skills that will allow today’s undergraduates to be successful in the new job market. Truty (2006) stated: “Pink . . . posits that happiness and professional success require mastery of the "six senses" ("design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning"), all of which emerge from the right hemisphere of the brain.” In order to prepare their graduates to be leaders in the new economy some of the nation’s leading colleges, like Carleton College, in Northfield, MN, are seeking ways of infusing right-brain creativity into every class. Carleton even hired a Dean of the Arts to advise other professors how to design creativity-based curricula for their students.
What effect will right-brained “creative class” patrons and emerging technologies have on libraries? Thomas Frey (2008), Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute, a futuristic think tank, argued that for libraries to remain relevant they must adapt to the experience culture [“creative class” and right-brainers] by providing experiential opportunities. He suggested exercise rooms so that people can read or listen while staying in shape, multi-sensory mini-theaters, recording studios for creating pod and video casts, soundproof rooms for music practice, drama studios for patrons to role play stories they are reading, and art studios with one-way mirrors so that patrons can either create, or perhaps more importantly, can view and experience the act of creating.
Ah, Pink’s design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning set in motion.
Reference List
Florida, R. (2004). The rise of the creative class: . . . And how it’s transforming work, leisure, community, & everyday life. New York: Basic Books.
Frey, T. (2006). The future of libraries: Beginning the great transformation. Retrieved on October 24, 2008 from http://www.davinciinstitute.com/page.php?ID=120.
Friedman, T. L. (2006). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Pink, D. L. (2006). A whole new mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future. New York: Penguin.
Truty, D. (2006, March 1). [Review of the book A whole new mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future]. Choice. Retrieved October 24, 2008, from Bowker’s Books in Print Database.
Friedman then argues that the American economy can only remain competitive by supplying jobs skills that no one else can replicate. He and Daniel Pink believe that the creative skill of synthesis, or symphony as Pink puts it, is what allows for new product development and new and better approaches to job tasking (Pink, 2006, p. 130). Both authors believe that this skill cannot be downsized or outsourced to foreign countries. Friedman states that the job market is changing so quickly that today’s undergraduates will have to prepare for jobs that don’t even yet exist.
The next book that impressed me was Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class (2002). Florida observes the changing American job market and notices the rapid increase in what he terms “creative class” jobs, and the decline of older service industry jobs. Florida also notices where the people who work in creative class industries reside, and lists communities around the country that are supporting creative individuals’ lifestyles. He believes that creative people are drawn to these areas as places to be inspired, to be engaged, and to live, and that they then search for jobs that will allow them to exercise their creativity. That’s a 180-degree change from the older idea of moving to where the job is located. Among the markers of communities that attract creative class people are: Technology, Talent, and Tolerance of diversity (Florida, 2002, p. 249).
What Daniel Pink accomplishes in A Whole New Mind (2006) is to define the skills that identify Florida’s “creative class.” These are the kinds of skills that will allow today’s undergraduates to be successful in the new job market. Truty (2006) stated: “Pink . . . posits that happiness and professional success require mastery of the "six senses" ("design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning"), all of which emerge from the right hemisphere of the brain.” In order to prepare their graduates to be leaders in the new economy some of the nation’s leading colleges, like Carleton College, in Northfield, MN, are seeking ways of infusing right-brain creativity into every class. Carleton even hired a Dean of the Arts to advise other professors how to design creativity-based curricula for their students.
What effect will right-brained “creative class” patrons and emerging technologies have on libraries? Thomas Frey (2008), Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute, a futuristic think tank, argued that for libraries to remain relevant they must adapt to the experience culture [“creative class” and right-brainers] by providing experiential opportunities. He suggested exercise rooms so that people can read or listen while staying in shape, multi-sensory mini-theaters, recording studios for creating pod and video casts, soundproof rooms for music practice, drama studios for patrons to role play stories they are reading, and art studios with one-way mirrors so that patrons can either create, or perhaps more importantly, can view and experience the act of creating.
Ah, Pink’s design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning set in motion.
Reference List
Florida, R. (2004). The rise of the creative class: . . . And how it’s transforming work, leisure, community, & everyday life. New York: Basic Books.
Frey, T. (2006). The future of libraries: Beginning the great transformation. Retrieved on October 24, 2008 from http://www.davinciinstitute.com/page.php?ID=120.
Friedman, T. L. (2006). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Pink, D. L. (2006). A whole new mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future. New York: Penguin.
Truty, D. (2006, March 1). [Review of the book A whole new mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future]. Choice. Retrieved October 24, 2008, from Bowker’s Books in Print Database.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Thing #15: Web/Library 2.0
Tom Storey’s (2006) definition of Web 2.0 is the best I’ve seen to date.
“In Web 2.0, the Web becomes the center of a new digital lifestyle that changes our culture and touches every aspect of our lives. The Web moves from simply being sites and search engines to a shared network space that drives work, research, education, entertainment and social activities—essentially everything people do. You and your mobile and non-mobile devices—PDA, MP3, laptop, cell phone, camera, PC, TV, etc.—are always online, connected to one another and to the Web.” http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/1.htm
In the next paragraph Storey says that the Web itself becomes the operating platform rather than our PCs. One of the benefits of a web-based platform is the transparency of the software to accommodate different browsers and operating systems. As a Mac user living in a Windows world I certainly welcome platform transparency. Another benefit, of course, is the availability of our content no matter where we are, and no matter on what machine we’re accessing the web. On this blog I’ve already documented my experiences with using Del.icio.us as a web 2.0 bookmarking application.
I believe that Michael Casey and Laura Savastinuk (2006) have hit the nail on the head when they write:
“In the current library world—particularly in public institutions—we are accustomed to focusing our services on those customers we already reach. . . . Libraries are in the habit of providing the same services and the same programs to the same groups. We grow comfortable with our provisions and we fail to change.” http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6365200.html.
Not only do we keep dipping into the same well, we, ourselves, as librarians grow too comfortable with already developed skills, and are reluctant to learn new ones. Perhaps it’s the fear of technology, but we have to push beyond that. Our patrons are becoming more and more technologically savvy, even the preschoolers. Michael Stephens writes:
“If we learn to learn, it doesn’t matter that this week’s hot technology is Twitter and next week’s even shinier tool is something else. We can still figure it out, use our foundational knowledge to make sense of it and decide if it works in our situation.” http://tametheweb.com/
In addition, the patrons that aren’t tech savvy are looking to us to help them become so. While working as a PSA at the Millard Branch patrons would daily come to my station asking for help in establishing an email account, searching for jobs on the web, and writing resumes. I’m sure that this is a common occurrence at other branches as well. It’s heartrending to see 50 year old workers who have never learned to type trying to negotiate online applications. They have no other choice as many employers no longer accept paper, phone calls or walk-in applications. A large part of our profession is service, and as our patrons needs change, so must our service skills.
Another issue facing our libraries is that of accessing materials not owned by our systems. Fortunately, we have ebooks, audiobooks, and movie streaming (although not for Mac users!). We have downloadable journal articles via full-text online databases. So, the main issue is acquiring books for our patrons from other sources. Yes, we have ILL, and yes WorldCat is making it easier to request an item, but we still have to deal with time delay. If the item is a research document we may have no other choice since there are few copies available. But if it is a readily available book, but not in our collection, Amazon and others can supply the text in a matter of a couple of days. Sometimes these books can even be downloaded. How will we answer this challenge?
I’m excited about the newly developed and developing tools available via Web 2.0, and I am eager to see the transformation of our libraries into the infocommunities of the future.
References
Casey, M. E. and Savastanuk, L. C. (2006, September 1). Library 2.0: Service for the next-generation library. Library Journal. Retrieved October 19, 2008 from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6365200.html.
Stephens, M. (2008. October 24). SLA IT Bulletin: Digital Focus: Michael Stephens. Tame the Web. Retreived October 29, 2008 from http://tametheweb.com/.
Storey, T. (2006). Web 2.0: Where will the next generation web take libraries? Web 2.0 Retrieved October 29, 2008 from http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/1.htm.
“In Web 2.0, the Web becomes the center of a new digital lifestyle that changes our culture and touches every aspect of our lives. The Web moves from simply being sites and search engines to a shared network space that drives work, research, education, entertainment and social activities—essentially everything people do. You and your mobile and non-mobile devices—PDA, MP3, laptop, cell phone, camera, PC, TV, etc.—are always online, connected to one another and to the Web.” http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/1.htm
In the next paragraph Storey says that the Web itself becomes the operating platform rather than our PCs. One of the benefits of a web-based platform is the transparency of the software to accommodate different browsers and operating systems. As a Mac user living in a Windows world I certainly welcome platform transparency. Another benefit, of course, is the availability of our content no matter where we are, and no matter on what machine we’re accessing the web. On this blog I’ve already documented my experiences with using Del.icio.us as a web 2.0 bookmarking application.
I believe that Michael Casey and Laura Savastinuk (2006) have hit the nail on the head when they write:
“In the current library world—particularly in public institutions—we are accustomed to focusing our services on those customers we already reach. . . . Libraries are in the habit of providing the same services and the same programs to the same groups. We grow comfortable with our provisions and we fail to change.” http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6365200.html.
Not only do we keep dipping into the same well, we, ourselves, as librarians grow too comfortable with already developed skills, and are reluctant to learn new ones. Perhaps it’s the fear of technology, but we have to push beyond that. Our patrons are becoming more and more technologically savvy, even the preschoolers. Michael Stephens writes:
“If we learn to learn, it doesn’t matter that this week’s hot technology is Twitter and next week’s even shinier tool is something else. We can still figure it out, use our foundational knowledge to make sense of it and decide if it works in our situation.” http://tametheweb.com/
In addition, the patrons that aren’t tech savvy are looking to us to help them become so. While working as a PSA at the Millard Branch patrons would daily come to my station asking for help in establishing an email account, searching for jobs on the web, and writing resumes. I’m sure that this is a common occurrence at other branches as well. It’s heartrending to see 50 year old workers who have never learned to type trying to negotiate online applications. They have no other choice as many employers no longer accept paper, phone calls or walk-in applications. A large part of our profession is service, and as our patrons needs change, so must our service skills.
Another issue facing our libraries is that of accessing materials not owned by our systems. Fortunately, we have ebooks, audiobooks, and movie streaming (although not for Mac users!). We have downloadable journal articles via full-text online databases. So, the main issue is acquiring books for our patrons from other sources. Yes, we have ILL, and yes WorldCat is making it easier to request an item, but we still have to deal with time delay. If the item is a research document we may have no other choice since there are few copies available. But if it is a readily available book, but not in our collection, Amazon and others can supply the text in a matter of a couple of days. Sometimes these books can even be downloaded. How will we answer this challenge?
I’m excited about the newly developed and developing tools available via Web 2.0, and I am eager to see the transformation of our libraries into the infocommunities of the future.
References
Casey, M. E. and Savastanuk, L. C. (2006, September 1). Library 2.0: Service for the next-generation library. Library Journal. Retrieved October 19, 2008 from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6365200.html.
Stephens, M. (2008. October 24). SLA IT Bulletin: Digital Focus: Michael Stephens. Tame the Web. Retreived October 29, 2008 from http://tametheweb.com/.
Storey, T. (2006). Web 2.0: Where will the next generation web take libraries? Web 2.0 Retrieved October 29, 2008 from http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/1.htm.
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