Author: dwakimoto

Personal Content Management

/ dwakimoto

By Gary Price from ResourceShelf

Lots of information is out there: how can we share it with others, how can we save it, and what do we do with it? We need to think about the persistence of data and information.

Personal Information Management
Everyone defines personal information management differently and everyone wants information wherever they want it, when they want it. Hard to talk about generalities when talking about mobile information because there are so many different devices/platforms.

Need to get a mobile website first! Don’t go for a specialized app just for iPhone! (Yay!)

Backup, backup, backup your data!

Shout-out for the WayBack Machine and Internet Archive. If all else fails (and you don’t have a backup), check out the Internet Archives.

Either pay now or pay now when it comes to backing up your data. It is better to pay for the external storage and online backup now before your hard drive crashes. Example: Mozy, Carbonite. Think about how easy it is to restore your data when considering which service to use.

Bibliographic Managers
If you do a lot of research, bibliographic managers are vital to save you research time. Two free options:
Zotero: Zotero everywhere initiative is going on and soon will be able to use Zotero on Chrome, IE, and mobile in addition to Firefox. (This is fabulous as it will greatly increase the usefulness of Zotero.)
Mendeley: another bibliographic manager option.

Social Media preservation
Preserving Tweets: check out Twapper Keeper. It permanently archives tweets–you can even search for archives via keywords and hashtags (you can see tweets from previous Internet Librarian conferences via this service). You can also download the information to a database or spreadsheet and it is free. Very cool, especially for creating thematic archives.

Dropbox: great way to backup small amounts of data (for free) or you can pay for more storage space. Also a great option for sharing large files.

Instapaper: will optimize a page for mobile web so you can read articles/pages later. For iPhone
Read it Later: Similar service for Android

Summary
Take the time to think about how you are preserving your data before your hard drive crashes! If you want to know about digital preservation and digital standards, I highly suggest taking a look at recent research and white papers in archival science. This is another area where the two allied professions overlap a lot and is a great opportunity for collaboration so we aren’t reinventing the wheel but instead can move forward together in the preservation and curation of digital data. One of the most interesting facts about digital preservation is that while pages, links, content on the web are ephemeral (everyone has experienced linkrot), it is almost impossible to delete all evidence of content when it is published online. The eternal conundrum of the digital archivist!

Internet Librarian: Tuesday Keynote Panel Discussion

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Panel Discussion with:
Mike Ridley, CIO & Chief Librarian, University of Guelph
Donna Scheeder, Deputy CIO, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress
Jim Peterson, Technical Coordinator, CIO, Goodnight Memorial Library in Franklin Kentucky

Mike Ridley and his Role
Talking about the integration of the role of CIO and Chief Librarian. Looking at transformation in an academic setting, also business practices that change the university. “Herding cats” Teaching, research, and learning are changing and see where we are going.

Donna Scheeder and her Role
Works in the COngressional Research Service which only serves Congress. Has separate technology operation from LoC. Has decided it is time to recognize that information management goes hand in hand with technology= Office of Information Management & Technology created. Does a lot of content management, digital life cycle= records management. (Again, we see the concept of records management coming up in these talks on content creation and preservation. This is a great opportunity to collaborate with the allied field of records management (ARMA))

Jim Peterson and his Role
Stepped in for a speaker who couldn’t make it and it’s his first conference! He is from a very small library and has a great attitude about work and people in general. (Great to hear at this conference.) At ALA Conference walking around with his Director and talking to vendors said, “I’m the Geek. She’s the Wallet.” Love it. Lots of freedom in what he can do and research he can do, so Jim loves his job.

Significant changes and challenges

Mike Ridley
Need to bridge the tension between library and enterprise IT: “The iCampus: One community. Many neighborhoods.” Challenge: Tech Populism because everyone is their own IT Department (individuals carrying around lots of computing power, mobile devices, trying new things, etc.). Tribal Identities: faculty, students, staff, professional perspectives–difficult to integrate all the tribes (again check out Seth Godin’s book, Tribes, for more information about creating and leveraging tribes).

He thinks the Information Age is over because everybody is in the information business. Need to a new metaphor: Age of Imagination. Need to figure out what we can do differently and do better. Lots of opportunities, but need to be creative and think differently. Think about Open Organizations: need faster, mobile, adaptable organizations (and have the ability to fail).

Our advantage is that we are ignorant of what the answers will be and use this abiguity as a strength in order to think outside the box.

Donna Scheeder
Challenge is how to get an enterprise approach to how to allocate resources. Challenge of how we add value: we need to understand the environment of the organization and then we can add value for our organizations. External challenges: telework is becoming popular; proliferation of types of devices (difficult for optimizing content for different types of devices). First goal is to keep the services running, then look at what customers want and be able to adapt quickly, and align the resources. Security is a major issue (need to be cognizant of the value of information and how to keep these assets secure).

Jim Peterson
“Under the hood, we are all the same.” Jim discussed an easy place to save money: kilowatt meters because IT takes a lot of power and this is an issue for IT. IT’s ability to cut costs can really help the rest of the library and organization. Think about working together, instead of working at cross-purposes.

One of the largest challenges is the budget crunch. But there are great technologies being developed and improved: open source software. etc. Change your thinking and change the way you do business (and save money in the process).

“IT is more than just the geek you call when something happens. We are the facilitor of information. It doesn’t matter if we are a one-man show or the Library of Congress, we are here to help you.”

What do you think the amazing proliferation of devices connecting to the internet will mean for libraries?.

Donna Scheeder
We need to decide where we want the library to be, if the library is the screens. Why can’t we take the library to more places where people are? We need to be in places such as airports, mobile devices, places with “dwell time.”

Mike Ridley
The internet will get so big that we won’t notice it anymore. Libraries will be everywhere, all the time, no matter what you are doing. Libraries may have a branding problem and disappear and we need to think about how we deliver value in that space.

Jim Peterson
Libraries might disappear as we know them today, agrees with Mike. But librarians are important because they know how to search and find what you need. We will be stronger and better positioned because we already know about information.

Need to also be visible via talking with their legislators.

Communication is super-importants:tips?

Jim Peterson
Show a solid business case for what you want to do. If you can show it will save money or improve services, it is an easier sell. Don’t forget about the bottom line. Example: Jim got a test server in order to test open software and new technologies, and do research. It has allowed the library to implement many technologies.

Donna Scheeder
Align goals with greater goals of the larger organization. Think like a user. Think like the decision-makers, echoing Jim’s point.

Mike Ridley
Becoming allergic to the word “user” need to think about “participants” instead. Need to think about how to move to a space of shared goals. Need to make yourself visible in your organizations. Develop a level of tolerance of other tribes’ perspectives.

Summary
A very interesting and funny discussion about challenges, changes, and opportunities facing libraries in regards to technology and innovation. Massive props to Jim Peterson for stepping in and presenting at his first Internet Librarian 2010 conference. He gave a good talk and has a great attitude and ideas for saving money in IT and libraries. Yay, for people who want to work together!

Online Content

/ dwakimoto

by Megan Fox

Looking at what content is available and what users are using on their mobile devices, as well as how you can search for mobile content. Data access now surpasses voice use on mobile phones. Lots of time spent on emails, news, sports, social networking, movie information, games etc. on mobile devices.

Need to think about what we are recreating on mobile sites and apps. (Check out earlier blog posts on Mobile Technology Workshops and location based apps for examples of using and creating mobile sites and applications). Many catalog vendors are creating mobile apps and sites now too. Many libraries are creating their own when they do not like the vendors’ offerings. LibraryThing has Library Anywhere available for overlaying over the OPAC (does cost money). Federated web search tools: WebSearch app and Speedy Search are two examples.

Many vendors and services now have mobile interfaces. For example, EBSCO, LibGuides, etc. Also, small mobile collections of ebooks, streaming music and films are being made available. Some libraries are checking out mobile devices with collections downloaded on the device, others make the collections available to their users to use on their own devices.

Harvard Libraries mobile site goes deeper to give help with research: lots of searching on databases and research help.

Need to be aware of content resources outside of the library in the app stores. Can find relevant apps under categories such as finance, health, etc. GetJar App World: second most number of apps after iPhone app store.

Texting
Need to not forget texting–great to have texting reference service. Not everyone has a smartphone! Texting is still a powerful and simple way of providing reference service and finding content.

Voice
Important to remember about the ability to search via voice and lots of speech-to-text applications. This is becoming very popular. Dragon Search App is a very important player.

Touchscreen
Motion and gesture are now important in how we can search and execute functions on the smartphones. Lots of applications using gesture to create functionality.

Location aware
Location aware applications are very important for searching. (For more information, check out earlier post on Foursquare and other location based social networks.) Used a lot in public transit, finding restaurants, etc.

Visual searching
Can now do visual searching via our phones because they have cameras. For example, use Google Goggles by taking a photo of a book and then get more information about the book. Another player is oMoby. Also included in this category are barcode readers (like QR Codes). RedLaser app searches WorldCat–very cool. Neustar is trying to come up with standards for barcodes so you won’t have to download a lot of barcode reader apps. Augmented reality is also another way to use visual searching.

How people find stuff on their phones:
1. Bookmarks, 2. URLs, 3. Searching (searching is still only third in the way people find information).
Now people are doing casual browsing and serendipitous searching as part of “killing time:” aka “incidental search.” Now, social augmented reality is important (Socialight is an important player) aka augmented humanity, reality mining, personalized precision search.

Identity theft and privacy concerns are growing as we use more mobile apps. No one has any easy answers to these issues, but we need to keep them in mind when creating and launching mobile services.

Summary
Mobile devices now allow us to get content on our devices without using the desktop. We need to be aware of what is available via mobile sites and native apps, but not forget about simpler technologies such as texting (because not everyone has a smartphone). We also need to be aware of the multiple avenues that users find information on their mobile devices and understand new ways of searching in order to be relevant in the mobile world.

Break from Library: Monterey Bay Aquarium

/ dwakimoto

Hi, dear readers. We have a break in the scheduled programming of Internet Librarian 2010 updates in order to talk about the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Now I’m a bit biased, as I’ll get into later, but I think everyone at the conference should take a break and go see this awesome aquarium.

So why am I biased? Well, for one thing a UCSC alumnus founded the aquarium (go Banana Slugs!). But mainly, it’s because one of my closest friends, Monika, works at the aquarium as an aviculturist. (If you go and see her, be sure to be nice and say hi.)

Monika at the Hot Pink Flamingos Exhibit

Monika at the Hot Pink Flamingos Exhibit

Not only is the Monterey Bay Aquarium a beautiful aquarium and lovely place, it is a great place to see technology being used wonderfully for education in a fun way. We can learn a lot about deploying technology in ways that really work. In the Hot Pink Flamingos exhibit, they have used video cameras and touchscreen computers in order to engage visitors to publicly pledge to do one thing that will help the planet (such as eating less meat, driving less, writing to your representatives, etc.). How could we use technology in ways that engage our users and are intuitive? Something to think about as you are going through the aquarium.

photo of avocets

Avocets

Oh, and the aviary is fantastic too, as you can see from the above photo. So take a break and go learn about the fantastically cool seahorses, the interesting eels, and the lovely birds. Then come on back to the conference refreshed and energized to dive back into the technological fray!

Managing Online Identity

/ dwakimoto

Talking about how to present a consistent voice and identity across multiple platforms online.

Keep it Consistent!: Creating & Maintaining an Online Identity
by Jennifer Koerber, Boston Public Library
We have parts of ourselves all over the web: Facebook accounts, Twitter accounts, blogs, YouTube, etc. How can we remind our patrons that they are still dealing with our library?
Need to have consistent visual presentation:

Same language

  • Use the same name everywhere
  • Claim your name so you have it when you want it
  • Create a short list of related names
  • Pick something identifiable and easy to remember
  • Don’t be cute
  • Create generic email adn chat usernames: functional usernames that forward to staff
  • Stay true to your writing voice; create style guides if you have a team of writers
  • Users will create their own tags: get used to it 🙂
  • Give them your tags and they’ll use them

Visual display

  • Use same color scheme
  • Think about your fonts
  • Create lovely banners that can brand your site
  • Get a logo and use it

Managing Today’s e-Library
SuHui Ho from University of California, San Diego

Talking a lot about social media and today we are talking about specifically about managing and staffing today’s e-library.

There has been an evolution from physical to virtual services both in the library world and in other areas (ex. buying books, renting movies, etc.). Collections are also now virtual–journal databases, LibGuides, screencasting, outreach online via social media.

“The web has fundamentally changed the way the library conducts its business.”
e-library mirrors the brick and mortar library in services and content: need to think about more than the library’s website. We need to think about the online presence in social networks, mobile websites, geolocation apps, etc.

We need to think about content life cycle management. Time to talk with your archivist and records manager–we’ve been discussing these issues for years.

Staffing model for e-library: not a one size fits all solution. Need to assign staff to maintain the e-library; we cannot rely on one webmaster. Unless we write in these tasks into the job descriptions, we will not be effective at maintaining our e-libraries. Don’t just rely on staff enthusiasm.

Virtual Customer Support
by Colleen Brazil, Sno-Isle Libraries

Example using the OverDrive product to create a customer support system (database backend). Had a lot of support requests when the libraries started to use Overdrive–patrons needed help in figuring out OverDrive.

“Don’t throw your customers to the DRM wolves.” Need to give your customers support–don’t give into the chaos.

Solution: created a form for customers to use when they have an issue/problem and streamline the help service. First wanted the complaints to go directly to OverDrive–bad idea. Instead, the library deals with the issues.
Created more than a form: funneled requests to one channel, rules of engagement for staff, set up communication process, and got the Director’s support. This maintains personal contact with customers and use expertise from OverDrive. Resolve problems in about 24 hours.

Summary
Be consistent! A little bit of planning will save a lot of time and trouble later on. So think about how you want to present your library/organization/self and create an online identity (via language and design) that presents that image. (If you like design, the Before & After Design blog, magazine and books are fabulous for learning more about designing well)

Be aware and proactive about managing the e-library! We can’t just create something and ignore it.

Be fabulous at virtual customer support! Our users expect online services to work properly. When they don’t, it should be easy for them to find out how to get h>   Extremely Important N/A ( )Performance:     Ext

Foursquare, Location-Based Social Networks & Library Apps

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Where are You?: Location and Library Applications
by Jason Clark the Head of Digital Access and Web Services at Montana State University Libraries (he is using the hashtag #lib-location if you want more info/have a question to ask via Twitter)

Talking about location as a concept and what it means for libraries. Content is not king anymore–context is. Or in other words, how do you use location as an important data point for searching. “About half of the queries on Google have a geographic component” (Andrew Foster). Location is a metric for interest–so how do we use it?

Moving to library applications: use mapping of data (creating custom Google Maps), check-in services (Darien Library and Enoch Pratt Free Library use this), Crowdsourcing data (New York Public Library is using this on their map collection), local interest apps (NCSU WolfWalk, San Jose Public Library).

Building Geolocation applications
New W3C Geolocation API: uses Javascript and is very accurate
Yahoo Query Language Location Tables: Web Services, Server-side and/or Client-side scripting
Many other options

BooksnStuffNearby: Beta App
Created by Jason Clark. Browse to it, determines where you are, and uses WorldCat to bring back information that is relevant to your location.

Resources
Location Awhere (blog): http://locationawhere.com
Where 2.0 Conference http://where2conf.com/where2010
Geolocation API–diveintohtml5 http://diveintohtml5.org/geolocation.html

Joe Murphy on Trend of Relevancy of Information based on location
Location as trend: heightening information relevancy based on proximity. Foursquare is the most popular location based service, Gowalla is one of the least popular now. Benefit for libraries= claim your venue and use it for connecting with your patrons (can track statistics and also do promotions). Need to think about how to use location based services to connect easily with our user groups. Plus it is kind of fun.

Summary
Great session with lots of resources to use when you want to create location based applications and use location based services for your library. Context (i.e. location) of a person is a key information/data point that we need to be using when we are creating search tools and applications for our libraries.

Designing a Mobile Experience

/ dwakimoto

Presentations by: Jason Michel, Kwabena Sekyere, Dave McLaughlin

Concrete examples and demos on mobile designs. Great follow-up to Jeff’s overview of the trends in designing mobile web and native apps.

Dave McLaughlin Presentation: Hartford County Public Library
Used a JavaScript framework for designing web apps and mobile WebKit devices–nice because works on a lot of platforms. jQuery is a JavaScript framework, just released alpha release for jQuery Mobile. jQTouch= offshoot of jQuery. It has been around for about a year, has example code, no clear development timeline, etc.

HCPL mobile: has a new releases and booklists feature in their web app. Very nice looking web app. Need to have functionality to renew materials via the mobile web app–working on this in the near future.

Jason Michel and Kwabena Sekyere: Presentation on Miami University Libraries Mobile Site
Created a mobile web over native apps because more people can use and you don’t have to design for each different device. Used Drupal for the mobile site and designed for core functionalities. Nice, functional mobile website. Unfortunately server doesn’t recognize that you are coming to the site on a mobile site and will load the regular site on your phone. You have to actually type in the mobile website URL to get to the mobile site.

Summary
Another set of talks that reiterate the need to seriously focus on creating mobile web apps/mobile websites instead of native apps. Great talks, but would have been so much better if the projection system was better so even the bloggers in the back of the room could see the code on the screen. (But, of course, this isn’t the fault of the presenters–they had good demos/examples)

Mobile that Works for Your Library

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Talk by Jeff Wisniewski (University of Pittsburgh)

Yay! Time for talking about mobile technologies for the library! (We also have a virtual component for this session–very cool.) Oh, and don’t forget about the QR Code scavenger hunt.

Lots of ways to go mobile: we’ll be discussing different paths.

Why go mobile?
Estimated that within the next 5 years, that mobile internet usage will surpass desktop internet usage= “fundamental change in the landscape.” Smartphone sales are increasing and will outsell PCs by 2011, Need to be where are users are when they access the internet.
Continue reading →

Why Libraries Have a Future Keynote

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Why Libraries have a Future: Adding value to your community
by Patricia Martin (pat@litlamp.com)

“Libraries are sitting on hidden assets”
Talking about what Patricia calls the Renaissance Generation: the conditions that we are currently experiencing is what it looks like right before a renaissance.

Renaissance means:

  • Innovation
  • Experimentation
  • Disruption
  • Multidisciplinary
  • Rebirth

Defining a generation as a 30 year swath of individuals. RenGen: Generation Y and the Pioneers of the Internet; in betweeen= smaller cohort.
“Experience economy”= need to experience it to believe it, creative, collaborative, “remix culture”= Belong, Create, Understand

“Radical change makesthe established culture irrelevant.”This is what we are experiencing today.

Indicators of Renaissance:

  • Death comes first: there must be a fall
  • Facilitating medium: must have a medium that allows for sharing of information (i.e. Internet)
  • Age of enlightenment: Internet is facilitating enlightment

Basically, the RenGen is about mass creativity (via blogs, YouTube videos, etc.) and collaboration. This then affects the economy–not a factory economy any more. (This sounds a lot like the work of Seth Godin, especially his books, Linchpin and Tribes.)

Success= need to give consumers a sense of belonging, individuality, space for creativity, and “manage the human interface.” [It’s not about the technology; it’s about the people]

Old system has brand at the center; new system has the user at the center. (This is interesting, see yesterday’s post about brands and Millenials. So now it seems like it is about branding, but making the user feel like it is an extension of his/herself.)

Applying to the Library
Figure out who your “super-users” are and talk with them to create a better user experience in your library. (Talking about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs–just a side note, I don’t agree with this idea/theory)
Need to build a community and culture online–relate back to people’s humanity–it’s about the human interface (i.e. it’s still not about the tools; it’s about the people).
“The book is still the brain.”
Gold standard for a transaction is 11 seconds per transaction. Now it’s about ROT (Return on Time) instead of ROI (Return on Investment).
“The power of story is the new killer app”= “the ultimate human interface”
We need new story about the future and stories are always built on existing ones.

Summary
Social media is here to stay and is about collaboration and communication. You need to understand how to leverage this desire to creative, collaborate, and communicate. Basically, think about community and culture and how you can create this for your library. If you want another viewpoint on the subject of cloud computing, online collaboration, and creativity/humanity, check out You are not a gadget: A manifesto.

Handheld Librarians' Mobile Tech Tutorial Pre-conference Workshop

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Today’s post is on the “Handheld Librarians’ Mobile Tech Tutorial” presented by Joe Murphy and Chad Mairn as part of the pre-conference workshops at Internet Librarian 2010. (There will also be a break in our regularly scheduled programming to introduce you all to my awesome friend, Monika, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium that you should totally go visit while you are in Monterey for the conference, but more on that later.) But first, let’s talk about mobile technology. Allons-y!

We are going to have an interaction discussion session today. (Yay for doing a needs analysis! Slightly annoying though that introductions take so much time out of the workshop session time.) Going to do lots of practical examples and going to have some guest speakers.

Framework for Mobile Tech
Looking at it via a concept of mobile literacy: three components.

  • Being aware of the mobile technology landscape: look at the trends (Twitter and blogs are great for finding this information); what tech is out there; how to use it
  • Understanding their impacts: on information engagements, on information systems, and user expectations.
  • How to look at applications: how to apply the mobile tech in a savvy way in the library

Mobile Applications for Androids
App Inventor: can use to create applications for Android. (As an aside, I can’t believe I’m the only one in the audience with an Android phone! Come on, people–Android rocks!) App Inventor allows you to to create applications without knowing a lot of coding–very much like drag and drop editing. (Chad likes the idea of web apps (especially with having HTML5 now) more than mobile apps–good to know about both. Joe sees the mobile v. web apps debate as a resource development issue.) App Inventor uses Java for editing the apps. Allows you to code/create applications on your computer and see real time changes on the phone–very cool. [Having a bit of technical difficulties at the moment, but I’m excited about this tool so I hope it works.] It looks a lot like building a puzzle–cute interface. After creating your app, need to put it in the Android market so your patrons users can download the app.

Developing and Designing the Mobile Devices
“Mobile users are on the go.” You need to develop for people who are on the go–should help developing streamlined apps. Test, test, test again when designing for mobile devices! Try out everything on different phones, different browsers, etc. You need to be adaptable because technology changes a lot. (Think perpetual beta and don’t worry about throwing out an app that is no longer relevant) My library definitely needs a mobile OPAC.

Continue reading →