The Edublog Awards polls the best library/librarian blogs each year. I checked out a couple of these for any ideas we could use:
Hey Jude had a piece (18 September 2008) on using virtual worlds and virtual interfaces to repackage learning opportunities for students. It's important to remember how popular these virtual environments are with young people in particular. Virtual worlds such as Second Life offer various courses, which might be an avenue for the library to reach those who either are not aware of the library and its services and resources, or are unable to physically get to the libary at particular times (or at all) to attend a course or event. A great Australian library blog is Kathryn Greenhill's "Librarians Matter".
Another great librarian blog, which I am sure is well-known by all is Terry Ballard's "Librarian On The Edge" blog. It's packed with great items and lots of great-looking graphics and photos. In a posting from 2 July 2008, Terry mentions his encounter with the WebJunction folks at a national library conference.
Somehow came across StoryTubes which offers children the oppportunity to "Be the star of your own movie! Tell about a favorite book by creating an online video." The competition is also open to teenagers and adults. Check out some of the winning videos at StoryTubes!
I am considering taking the plunge into SL to investigate virtual world libraries and how we might be able to use the concept here. Here's an item about them entitled "Virtual Worlds" located through the Library Success wiki site.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Cellular Storytelling
Listening to FBI radio when I heard an interesting item about novels on mobile phones. In Japan in particular, reading a novel on your mobile phone is apparently hugely popular. Novels are also written on mobile phones. For more info, check out these articles:
"In Japan, cellular storytelling is all the rage", SMH, 3 December 2007.
" a novell?, Wikipedia, viewed 9 October 2008.
"In Japan, cellular storytelling is all the rage", SMH, 3 December 2007.
" a novell?, Wikipedia, viewed 9 October 2008.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Wiki Test
OK, having chosen to use Clearwiki, I have created a test wiki which does appear to be free and private. I have put a small page of non-sensitive content there and will test the wiki to ensure it is indeed private and cannot be edited by others without invitation.
Which Wiki?
Starting a new wiki isn't quite as easy as I was led to understand from the Public Libraries Web 2.0 course. Checking for a wiki comparison, I found Wikipedia had a comparison of wiki farms which listed the various features of the various wiki software packages. Looking for a wiki that was free and private was not that simple. General speaking, free wikis are also public. This can mean public in the sense that anyone in the world can edit the wiki or that the wiki cannot be edited by anyone except those permitted by the wiki creator/s but the wiki is still viewable on the internet by anyone.
In addition, free wikis do not tend to be ad-free. Private, ad-free wikis tend to cost between $5 and $20 per month but can range up to $8000 per month! In addition, free wikis have limited storage space, eg file storage of 2 GB and per file maximum of 10 MB.
WikiMatrix is a useful site which lists all the wikis available and enables you to compare them. Using the various wiki comparison guides, I located ClearWiki which offers a free, private wiki for up to 10 users and up to 256Mb of storage. If you need to allow more users or need more space, you can upgrade and pay.
In addition, free wikis do not tend to be ad-free. Private, ad-free wikis tend to cost between $5 and $20 per month but can range up to $8000 per month! In addition, free wikis have limited storage space, eg file storage of 2 GB and per file maximum of 10 MB.
WikiMatrix is a useful site which lists all the wikis available and enables you to compare them. Using the various wiki comparison guides, I located ClearWiki which offers a free, private wiki for up to 10 users and up to 256Mb of storage. If you need to allow more users or need more space, you can upgrade and pay.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Web 2.0: changing who contributes to Web
Today I received a Netlingo 'Word of the Day' email with some interesting data on how Web 2.0 technology is changing who contributes content to the World Wide Web:
1% rule
An emerging rule of thumb that suggests that if you get a group of 100 people online, then one will create content, ten will interact with it (commenting or offering improvements) and the other 89 will just view it (also known as lurking). Earlier metrics garnered from online community sites suggested that about 80% of content was produced by 20% of the users, but the growing data due to social networking sites and blogs creates a different picture. The lesson? A Web site that demands too much interaction and content generation from users will see nine out of ten people just pass by. (http://www.netlingo.com/)
If this is the case, then there are a lot of people out there who can contribute to our library's Web 2.0 'face'.
1% rule
An emerging rule of thumb that suggests that if you get a group of 100 people online, then one will create content, ten will interact with it (commenting or offering improvements) and the other 89 will just view it (also known as lurking). Earlier metrics garnered from online community sites suggested that about 80% of content was produced by 20% of the users, but the growing data due to social networking sites and blogs creates a different picture. The lesson? A Web site that demands too much interaction and content generation from users will see nine out of ten people just pass by. (http://www.netlingo.com/)
If this is the case, then there are a lot of people out there who can contribute to our library's Web 2.0 'face'.
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