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August 31, 2007
Wall Street Journal Article on Wikipedia comments
The Wall Street Journal had an article a few weeks ago about the discussion tab in Wikipedia. I've never really bothered much looking at this background information related to the articles but I could see where this might become an actual area of research in the future. While you may have to slog through a number of inane comments of little consequence from people whose entire lives are Wikipedia, some comments also represent scholarly dialog and debate on some important issues and can be traced by date and time stamps. Scholars and non-scholars contribute to Wikipedia and the comments made in articles represent an interesting take on the scholarly process. Encyclopedia Britanica doesn't have an open process for justifying to the public the thought and research behind an entry. People have always assumed what was published was "truth." Now there's a more transparent process.
Here's another interesting note about Wikipedia. There has long been the suspicion that interested parties go into Wikipedia and anonymously edit entries to make themselves, their constituents or their companies look better. Using a database called Wikipedia Scanner it is now possible to track the IP address of these anonymous edits to articles on Wikipedia which makes for some interesting finds. Using Wikipedia Scanner you can look up an "anonymous" editor's IP address and see where their computer is located. Editing an article which bad mouths Allstate Insurance? You're in trouble if your IP address is included within that corporations range. Better be careful. University of Michigan IP addresses are listed on the database.
Here's an example of an unsigned edit with an IP address of 71.214.240.169.
A Wired blog lists a number of examples of questionable edits within Wikipedia and asks readers to vote for the most flagrant conflict of interest.
Posted by swortman at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2007
Now I think this is reasonable...
Mingle2 - Dating Site
Posted by swortman at 05:07 PM | Comments (0)
August 23, 2007
BIG Games
Jennifer Nardine gave an interesting talk at our Mlibrary 2.0 Project Share. She talked about going to the ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium in Chicago earlier this summer.
Greg Trefry, director of the Come Out and Play Festival spoke at this event on “Big Fun, Big Learning: Transforming the World Through Play”. The games Trefry talked about included:
Organizing a huge pillow fight in New York City
“You Are Not Here”, described as an urban tourism mash-up.
“Cruel 2 B Kind”, a game of benevolent assassination
“Payphone Warriors”, “Control the Payphones and Control the City”
Jennifer said Greg Trefry believes libraries are an ideal place for big games; they have specific locations, they have collections of things, and they have a number of different codes or unique identifies, like LC numbers which could for giant scavenger hunt style games.
There was an interesting twist on big games reported earlier this summer. Professors studying “swarm theory” randomly assigned the numbers 1-9 to 81 people who had to pin their number to their shirt. These people then worked on organizing themselves in a 9 by 9 grid, in an attempt to cooperatively solve a Sudoku puzzle. The results? It couldn’t be done without a couple of people giving up and directing the group. I guess it’s back to the drawing board for these researchers.
The Undergraduate Library sounds committed to gaming in some form or another which is great. I look forward to seeing what they come up with. It should be fun!
Posted by swortman at 02:50 PM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2007
Speed Traps and Social Networking
Here's a novel idea for social networking, the Speed Trap Exchange. Sponsored by the National Motorist Association, this is a list of speed traps, organized by state and then by cities which people have submitted and yes, Ann Arbor is on the list. Many of the Ann Arbor entries are duplicates but enough disgruntled motorists seem to have been stopped near Huron Parkway and Washtenaw that you'd better be careful the next time you're in that area!
Posted by swortman at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2007
Wrap-up of 13 Things
I found completing the 13 Things project for MLibrary 2.0 a lot of fun, very interesting and educational. It took some time but it was worth it. Some of the things were more fun than others but being able to blog about each one allows time to reflect on both the good and the bad and to contemplate how some of these tools might be used to better serve researchers using library resources, whether here in this building or, as is more often the case online.
I think one of the best ideas I've found for considering Library 2.0 is from Laura Cohen's blog, Library 2.0: An Academic Perspective, where she wrote the widely circulated A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto. American Libraries journal graphically represents these 19 promises created by Laura as an old torn sheet of paper tacked to a wall, similar to Martin Luther's 95 Theses which led to the Protestant Reformation when it was tacked to the door of the Catholic church back in 1517. These 19 points may not be as historic as Luther's 95 but they may help to reform libraries and the way librarians think about their work.
I would challenge staff at the University of Michigan to take the time to discuss Laura Cohen's 19 points and define what it is we will do here, both as a team and as individuals to help lead the University of Michigan Library into the future.
Posted by swortman at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)
Graduate Library Technical Services Flickr Set
Alexis Zirpoli has created an entertaining and educational group of pictures in Flickr on how items go through processing in Grad Technical Services in order to get on the library shelves.
Great job, Alexis. It's projects like this that could help to personalize this big library system, help us get to know one another and demonstrate the importance of each job here.
Which library division will create the next Flickr story on "What we do?"
Here's another humorous take on technical services from Arlington Heights Public Library.
Posted by swortman at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2007
More on Next Generation OPACs
I'm pretty sure I finished the 13 things required by MLibrary 2.0. I think I could talk a little more about the next generation library catalog and compare more. I did that a few weeks ago but never wrote in this blog.
NINES
A big thumbs up for NINES, the Networked Infrastructure for Nineteenth-century Electronic Scholarship, mainly from UVa. Here are a few thoughts.
I like the way you put in the search term and it anticipates what you may be looking for in the form; enter homo...and it gives you choices of homosexual (135), homosexuality (120), homosexuals (14), homoerotic (70), etc. Each of these words has the number of entries available listed after it. This is even before you search!
You can search a social network of contributed content, add to that content and make notes about other submitted content. This is a very interesting collaborative tool for scholars interested in 19th century culture.
AADL
Major thumbs down on the Ann Arbor District Library SOPAC tag cloud. The main problem is that no one seems to be using it so everything or most things don't have more than a couple of tags so there are way too many tiny words, not enough variety on the size of the words to make a difference to anyone. The sidebar, showing the most popular tags, most recently added tags and random tags seem more helpful.
NCSU
I like the organization of North Caroline State's online catalog for several reasons. While it results page looks busy at first, it gives you a lot of information without having to click through several pages to find something. You see the list of items, whether or not any are currently available, call number and library where the item is located. You also see which call number range has the most items from your search and can narrow the search by time periods, author's name, library location, genre, subject, format, and on and on. All of this information is very helpful for fine tuning a search if you're just starting from scratch on a topic.
Posted by swortman at 01:21 PM | Comments (0)
Hatcher Library on YouTube & Flickr
YouTube
Have you seen Hatcher Library on YouTube? It's called "Harlan Hatcher Graduate Labyrinth" and I'm sure everyone at U-M has had similar experiences trying to find their way in this library. It's a combination of two buildings from two different eras. The oldest section of the library faces the diag . I'm pretty sure when it was originally built in 1920 it was a "closed stacks" library, which means only library workers were allowed to retrieve materials from the shelves. Those who wanted materials from the library just made requests at a front desk and waited for the things to be delivered to them. That's probably why this part of the library is so unfriendly and awkward for students. Multiple attempts to update this four-floor section have added to the labyrinth affect.
Then to add more craziness to this building another eight-floor building was attached to the old library in 1970 which uses completely different staircases and elevators but has the same name. The main connection between the two buildings is on the second floor, although there are staircases and entrances to the old building on other floors if you know what you're doing. The secret to finding things is to understand what the library catalog is trying to tell you when it specifies a book is located either in Hatcher North or Hatcher South. North is the old, facing the diag and South is, well, the tall library behind it with eight floors. Hmmm, trying to explain it I guess it IS pretty complicated. If anyone has any suggestions let me know and we'll create a new video, "Secrets to the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Labyrinth."
I think it makes a great tongue-in-cheek orientation.
Flickr
Yeah for Alexis Z. in technical services for being mentioned by Jessamyn West for her flickr set on how a book gets processed in the library. Not only will this be a great resource for explaining why people can't get a book instantly from the library, it will also introduce those people who do all that behind the scenes work to the rest of us in the library system here. Thanks for all your work tech services!
Congratulations Alexis. Great job!
There is also a Hatcher Graduate Library Group on Flickr, if you're interested in joining or adding some pictures.
Posted by swortman at 07:27 AM | Comments (4)
August 06, 2007
13 Things Out of Order - Number 6
Facebook is fun but is it really a professional tool? There's an blog post about this a few weeks ago that really doesn't say too much that's new but more of a confirmation.
Since having a Facebook profile for a few months I have used it a number of different ways. At first my youngest daughter thought it was so funny she had all her friends friend me so now I have 20-somethings all over the U.S. as friends. They may not use me as a librarian or ask me a question but I suppose it could happen. If they even glance at my profile they can see facebook applications related to library catalogs and books I'm reading so that might lead to something.
I also have friends from ALA and we can communicate easily using facebook and compare new library 2.0 ideas, facebook apps and ways to professionally use facebook.
I have to say I don't use my facebook groups as much as I could to communicate with others but that should be a great tool to develop communities and share information.
I love the idea of being able to add myself to women's studies classes through facebook but haven't used this to contact anyone yet. I admit students probably think it's sort of creepy. They all look 18 or 19 and then - there's my picture. I wouldn't have wanted to see my mother's picture in facebook or her friends if had been around when I was that age. I let Women's Studies faculty and grad students know I have a facebook account and minutes after I sent the email a PhD student asked to be my friend. It will be interested to see, as the fall semester starts if having this account will add any value to networking with my department for reference and/or instruction.
Posted by swortman at 05:01 PM | Comments (0)
Continuing on with the 13 things - Podcasts - Yuck!
I was on vacation during the podcast presentation and haven't had the chance to look at the resource information, if there is any posted on the Library 2.0 web site. I have been struggling through the podcasts, for some reason. I can't figure out how to subscribe to podcasts from the major aggregators link itunes. itunes has been very frustrating. First I assumed I could just go to a site and find an rss feed for subscriptions but I'm not finding it. I go to store, they try to sell me a mouse, a nano, whatever. I go to the itunes and podcasts link and they want me to download itunes. I try downloading it and first it says I don't have permission. I try again and I get it installed but
where am I?
what do I do?
do I even need this thing to subscribe to podcasts?
I give up on itunes temporarily and just search podcasts in Google. I get to podcast.net. I try searching for a good podcast which might be related to women's studies. I click on a link for "society and culture" then find a link for "women." I end up with a lot of useless podcasts on religion, weddings and fashion.
I give up again and go back to my Google results list. I find an Yahoo! Podcasts, which has a nifty cloud of tags to search. Found a lame podcast called BloggingHeads.tv. I didn't listen to it long enough to figure out the point of the podcast because the audio was so poor I couldn't make out what they were saying.
A little farther down the list from the BloggingHeads.tv I found a podcast I of interest, Addicted to Race. I originally thought I had to install some Yahoo tool to be able to subscribe to this but looking closer discovered I didn't so, phew, I managed to subscribe to this feed.
I subscribed to NPR:Book Tour and already subscribed to some podcasts by the Library of Congress so I can cross off thing number 9. I'm still going back and figure out itunes. I feel so old!
Posted by swortman at 03:54 PM | Comments (0)
August 03, 2007
Finding Your Lost Dog Using a Social Network
Here's a practical way of using social networking. Last year my dog, Rosie decided to casually walk out the our yard. She's not one of these sprinter dogs who constantly needs to be leashed, otherwise they're off in a flash. She's smarter than that. She will stay in the yard while I'm gardening or reading for a while, maybe even for hours and it's only when I start to forget that she's there that she wanders farther and farther away until I look up and she's gone. Once she's out of eye contact she's on the lam.
Well, last year this happened one afternoon so I jumped in my car and drove around, calling for her but to no avail. I gave up searching because she always comes back once she's hungry or bored but it got later and later. I called my daughter in Ypsi and told her about it, concerned that the dog might have been hit by a car or picked up by someone, because she is after all an attractive dog. Finally I gave up and went to bed that night minus my pet.
My daughter called the next day and told me she thought she found the dog, "In Ypsi?", I asked.
"Well, not exactly."
The night the dog had gone missing my daughter posted a notice on the local metropolitan Detroit community of the blog Live Journal with a picture of the dog and the general area where she was last seen. Someone in that community answered her, saying she had seen the dog around Buhr pool the day before and had heard that one of the lifeguards took the dog home and was going to bring her back to Buhr that morning and try to find the owner.
I called the pool office, went over there an hour later and my dog and I were reunited. Happy ending, all thanks to the Internet and social networking.
Posted by swortman at 10:15 AM | Comments (1)
August 02, 2007
What are People Saying About Us?
Overheard on the diag yesterday:
Guy on Roller Blades to Young Couple:
"Hey, can you guys tell me where the Undergraduate Library is?"
Young couple looks at each other for 3 beats...
Young guy of couple finally says:
"Eh, the library is right there."
He points to the Graduate Library.
Maybe it's a habit from working at the IC desk but I can't resist as I'm walking by, on my way to lunch so I finally yell over to them, "The Undergraduate Library is right next door to that library."
These may be new students but I doubt it. This is yet another reality check that for those that work in a library. We may think we are essential and that students couldn't live without us but to many students, as a place at least we are barely on the radar screen.
I was heartened on my walk back from North U. that same day, though to overhear the word library in another passing conversation from a student who sounded as if he was familiar with the concept of the library, might be able to identify a campus library on a map and actually used it.
These two examples of the word "library" used in conversation, happening within a few minutes of each other struck me as interesting. You might try keeping your ears open this semester to find out how other students are talking about us. It could be an enlightening exercise.
Posted by swortman at 08:06 AM | Comments (1)