marketing

Increasing Your Knowledge Base

/ dwakimoto

Knowledge management is one of the latest buzzwords (buzzphrase?). While it might get annoying to keep hearing about “knowledge management” no one can doubt its importance. But it isn’t just about knowledge management, you first need to have a knowledge base in order to have something to manage! So, in today’s turbulent economic times, I thought it would appropriate to share some interesting links and resources for expanding your knowledge base and taking care of business.

There is a great article on Lisjobs.com about how Multiple Knowledge Bases=Multiple Job Opportunities. I highly suggest checking it out because as everyone says, you never know where your next opportunity will take you or when it will be presented to you. And aren’t librarians some of the best people in the world when it comes to increasing our knowledge and being “Jack/Jill of all trades”?

Talking about knowing more and making connections, have you heard about linked data? If not, check out this great post on ReadWriteWeb.com on Linked Data. Definitely check out the TED talk and get ready for linked data. I think this is a fantastic opportunity, especially for use in reference questions!

And, because a post on increasing knowledge bases definitely needs to touch on employment, check out Beyond the Job. This is a great website to come to for information about professional development and tips for everyone . Really, it is great and it has an RSS feed so really, no excuse not to check it out.

Everyone should understand the importance of taking control of their data and profiles that are available online. However, you might not know about Google Profiles. So check out the information on Lifehacker about how you can create your own Google Profile.

Lastly, check out Business Week’s article on making decisions outside your comfort zone. It is always good to get outside your comfort zone once in a while. Plus it will help you increase your practical knowledge base.

That is it from the Waki Librarian. Have a great Friday and weekend. More next week.

Books in Social Networking

/ dwakimoto / 2 Comments

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer. Somehow, I always picture summer as being quiet in the library (as in I’ll be able to get everything done that I couldn’t during the academic year) and yet, it never ends up being as quiet as I imagine it.

But no matter, I still have had some time to round up some interesting tidbits when it comes to books, networking and even photo manipulation. So without further ado here they are:

First there is Bookseer. I love the look of this site: old fashioned art and an amazingly simple interface. You just type in the title and author of a book you just read, and Bookseer comes back with recommendations from Amazon, BookArmy and LibraryThing. This is a great use of recommendations from these sites and Bookseer is much better about recommending “what to read next” than a lot of other programs I’ve used. I especially love that below the recommendations there is a line that says “Of course, you could go ask your local bookshop or your local library.” So go forth and play–it might even help with some reader advisory questions. Though, as Bookseer acknowledges, nothing beats a knowledgeable human being for talking about books and recommendations.

So, do you participate in social networks? How about those networks especially for bibliophiles? Well, check out 100 places to connect with bibliophiles. This is a great annotated list of places online where you can indulge and share your love of books and reading. I am a fan of GoodReads, mainly because another friend recommended it to me. And that’s what this list and social networks are about, connecting people together–and what better way to connect than over a book?

So have you got the social networking down pat, but still feel awkward about networking, as in at conferences, events and for work? Then check out this article from The New York Times on networking for introverts. These are some commonsense tips on networking that are worth reviewing before you go out to an event that you hope to use as a networking opportunity. I think what helped me most with networking is to not call it networking. If I just think of it as talking with people, it becomes a lot easier. So what are your favorite networking tips?

And finally, we need to end on something completely off topic and fun. So check out the ever-helpful Lifehacker’s article on Repper. This is fun and turns your photos into abstract patterns that are great for background graphics. When you are ready to play, just go over to repper.studioludens.com. Repper has a very intuitive interface and it is really fun. Plus, I love that all the patterns that are created are licensed under a Creative Commons license. So check it out and let me know what you think.

Have a great day and I’ll be back with more technology and library related news later this week.

Thoughts on a Friday

/ dwakimoto

Don’t you just love Fridays? Even if you have to work on Saturday, like me, Fridays are still great. Everyone is just in a better mood and it seems like everyone is more relaxed. So in honor of Friday, I have an assortment of goodies from Wired. Tech on a Friday; can life get any better?

So, just to be clear, I have nothing against Apple or Macs in general. I will give it up to Apple for running some of the savviest marketing campaigns ever–they’re so good that they make people forget that Apple is a huge corporation that has massive amounts of proprietary formats. I mean Apple is genius at marketing. Not to mention, they have some very nice products.

With that said, I have to now say that I love this article: “Why the Japanese Hate the iPhone.” It isn’t surprising in any way as, by and large, Japanese products sell better in Japan than products from other countries. Also, as the article notes, Japan is lightyears ahead of other parts of the world in advancing technology and using it in new ways. Stories on cellphones, anyone? I personally think this is a good challenge for Apple to come up with a cutting-edge, maybe even bleeding-edge, cellphone.

As long as we are on the topic of technology, we’ve got to talk about netbooks. I love netbooks. Although the keyboards can feel a bit cramped at times, nothing beats only having to carry around 2.5 pounds of netbook versus 6+ pounds of laptop. I take my Dell mini 9 with me to conferences and live blog sessions. It is so handy and allows me to do just about everything I need. If you are on the go a lot, and resist bringing a laptop with you because of the weight, get a netbook and I assure you it will change the way you work.

Now, in honor of the Comic Arts Conference at WonderCon 2009 being held in San Francisco (and our very own Doug Highsmith speaking), I had to include this article on the Secret Lives of Comic Store Employees. It is a great article that has interviews with numerous comic store employees. Maybe it’s just because I finished reading Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes last night or the fact that I just love graphic novels and comic art, but I totally think we need to be giving more attention to this format of literature.

Happy Friday! Enjoy the weekend and the Waki Librarian will be back next week with more fun.

Security, Cataloging and Value

/ dwakimoto

Happy Tuesday, faithful reader. It is getting crazy here at work with the winter quarter coming to a close and all the students out in force trying to negotiate higher grades with less work. But I digress. Today, once again, I have a seemingly vast array of completely unrelated topics to talk about, but I assure you it all makes sense, or at least it should by the time we are finished.

Today I want to talk about security, not just because we are in the midst of a recession and security sounds like a good thing, but because we live in a technology-filled world and need to be able to properly secure our hardware and software. So here, from Lifehacker is a must read post on how to Properly Erase Your Physical Media. Really, take the time to read this post if you read nothing else today. It is amazing how lax people can be about wiping their data. I recently bought a refurbished cell phone and, lo and behold, all the old contacts, pictures and calendar were still on the phone. Luckily for the person, I’m nice and simply deleted everything, but someone else could have used the personal information. So be safe, not sorry and have some fun destroying your data before getting rid of your digital devices.

Speaking of security, one issue you don’t hear a lot about is security in Web 2.0 applications. Luckily for us, Librarian in Black has a post on the Top Web 2.0 Security Threats which links to a 15 page pdf on the topic. Just something good to be aware of, especially for any of us who are coding and editing Web 2.0 gadgets, widgets and other fun stuff.

So from security, we move to cataloging because even if you have really secure data, it doesn’t really do you much good if you can’t find what you want when you need it. Enter in Lifehacker’s 5 Best Movie Cataloging Tools. I love applications that make life easier, more organized and are pretty. And since many of these applications can be used for more than just movie cataloging, you can really get organized. And you’ll never be buy the same movie twice, saving money and those annoying return rituals.

So cataloging your home library or home movie collection is definitely helpful and adds value to your collection, but what about library value? I know that many libraries are trying to show that they are even more important in these, frankly, extremely bad economic times. So in case you didn’t see it the first time it was making its way around the blogosphere, check out the Denver Public Library Value Calculator. I really like the fact that this calculator converts value into dollar amounts which seems to be a good way of catching people’s attention.

Lastly, on the subject of value, here is an article on Tools for Landing a Better Job. No, I’m not looking for a job–I love my work, but for those who are, here is a list of 10 tools to help you with your job searching, interviewing and landing a new job. Most of the tips are pretty basic, but it is always good for review. And for those, who like me, are quite happy with their current positions, it never hurts to take a look at resume and CV tips so you can keep your CV current.

Have a great day and remember to step away from your computer at least once today. See you later this week.

Friday's Trend Watch

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Happy Friday! I hope everyone has a great weekend planned. But before we get to the weekend, there is one more work day this week which leaves time for another post.

Today is all about the future. That came out sounding a lot more profound than I imagined, but really we all do need to be forward looking and thinking. And no, faithful reader, I am not going to launch into a rant about abusing non-sustainable resources and overconsumption. Today I am going to talk about libraries, technology and the future because that is what my work, and I’m sure a lot of your work, is all about.

First, from the wonderful Shifted Librarian is this post about choosing your social media drug. One, I just like the title of the article and two, it is a great look at why people choose different social media sites to use. I love how now that Twitter, Friendfeed, and Facebook have been around for a while, people are starting to write about not only the shiny, new factor of these sites but potential drawbacks. I have to completely agree that “FriendFeed is Twitter on speed, while Facebook is Twitter on Ritalin.” Like I always say, just step away slowly from your mobile device, laptop, desktop or other Internet equipped device, and go take a nice walk outside. Your overworked brain will thank you.

I am pretty disciplined about reading my feeds in the morning, keeping up with friends on social sites and trying out new applications when I hear about them, but a lot of people say they don’t have the time to do this. Yeah, it takes time to try to keep up with everything (and no one can keep up with everything!), but if it is important to you, or to your job, you have to make the time. Or, you could just read the wonderful Michael Stephens’ post on trendspotting and catch up on a whole lot of news for libraries and technology in 2009 pretty quickly. I told you we’d be talking trends today.

Finally, in terms of watching developments and trends in the digital library world, take a look at this New York Review of Books article on Google & the Future of Books that Peggy from my library alerted me too (a while ago too, but one can only blog so much). I love the scope of this article; it talks about the Google Book Project, the Enlightenment, journal subscription prices, the open access movement, and ties it all together at the end. A superb piece of writing which brings up many points to ponder on this Friday about what exactly are we gaining and losing in this new digital, digitizing world and what role libraries will play in it.

Now you know I can’t leave off a Friday post in a completely serious manner, because sometimes the brain needs a little brain candy because the heavy thoughts and issues can’t be processed on Fridays. Like I said before, step away from the computer. Or, watch my favorite Vlogbrothers video below: “How Nerdfighters Drop Insults.” Yes, a YouTube video about insulting with Shakespeare and cataloging home libraries. And yes, my students love this video almost as much as I do. Have a great weekend!

Online Northwest 2009 Keynote

/ dwakimoto

Keynote by Dr. BJ Fogg, from Stanford

Title: The New World of Persuasive Technology

Talking about technology and behavior change, especially online video
Computers and persuasion (captology, coined the term)

We can create machines that influence how people behave, changing human behavior

Europe and the US academics are working on persuasive technology

The web is a platform for persuasion:
Every website has a persuasive intent (key to teach our students)
All have a persuasive goal
You wouldn’t create a website unless you had a goal

Social networks are platforms for persuasion

Mobile phones will be platforms for persuasion

All about videos now. Bringing video into the context of your life.

Technology changes, but human psychology doesn’t change as quickly; it is stable.

How do you think clearly about behavior change?
Think about persuasion targets in professional life.
What behavior do you want people to do?

Fogg likes to do beneficial things with technology (therefore not in the school of business 🙂
Change the world in great ways.

3 core things that change human behavior: motivators, simplicity, and triggers

Target Behavior: Parting with your money (pledge money)
Question: When it comes to soliciting money, is personal video message better than generic email?
Email: 0% of people pledged
Video: 58% watched video, 82% of those pledged, overall 47% pledged

Why does this work? It is the experience that is persuasive–video.

Persuasion goes back a long way. (Fogg uses Wordle a lot 🙂
Goes back to Adam and Eve–what if there was facebook?

Facebook is #1 persuasive technology right now.
Did a class on Facebook
Student projects–making applications for Facebook
projects got 16 million users in 10 weeks
Secret: Think clearly & run many trials

Human Psychology:
What motivates people?
Humans are fairly predictable.
Motivators:
Pleasure and pain
Hope and fear
acceptance and rejection

Driver behind Facebook–social interaction, want social acceptance and avoid rejection

Mega-motivation: no, doesn’t get behavior change
Need more than just motivation to change behaviors

Other factors:
People need to be able to do what you ask them to do.
Easy to accomplish goals
Need motivation and ability
Simplicity is good. People don’t want to learn mostly.
People: Just give me a pill.
Make it simple and easy for people, if you want behavior change
Don’t require training

Simplicity has 6 elements:
Time
Money
Effort
Brain cycles
social deviance
non-routine

People are fine watching video; rather watch a video than read. Therefore instructional videos are great.
Demos

Humans are mostly lazy

Keypoint: reduce behavior to one choice, one step, one click.

People who like to think hard and challenge themselves are the outliers.

Add video to increase motivation for behavior change.

Either simplify or motivate in order to change the behavior if what you want to happen is not happening.

Must know which path when persuading people using technology. Code doesn’t adjust unlike people. Must think clearly about context when making videos and application.

6 Different flavors of web video (can find on the web)

Even when people have motivation and ability, you need to trigger the behavior.
Facebook has notifications, which is one reason why it is so successful

All 3 must be present at the same moment to have behavior happen (motivation, ability and trigger).

Focus on trigger and simplicity, usually have enough motivation.

Thoughts: Absolutely great speaker.

Take home message: Use more videos to trigger behaviors that you want.

Value of College and other Fun Discussions

/ dwakimoto

So it’s a rainy Friday in the Bay Area. On the one hand, that is a very good thing because we need the rain, on the other hand, it’s not because I’m still battling a cold and it just makes me want to crawl back into bed and go to sleep. But faithful readers, it will take more than a cold to keep the Waki Librarian from sharing some goodies to make your Friday a little brighter.

First up, Photoshop tutorial. The 60 most wanted Photoshop tutorials to be exact. I’ve managed to keep Photoshop off the blog, but now must share my unending love affair with this program. I love Photoshop–it is fabulous and I know you can find free photo editing software too, which rocks, but my heart belongs to Photoshop. And now with these wonderful, free tutorials on Photoshop, I will never be able to put down my Wacom tablet and pen as I test out more interesting fire effects and painting effects.

What does this have to do with libraries? Well, I’m sure we all know of a few libraries, organizations and/or logos in need of an update or two. Now with Photoshop you can make fabulous graphics or just clean up some photos taken at your last library event. Yes, Photoshop is super-powerful and has a pretty steep learning curve, but if you like design (even a little bit) you will be so glad you learned it.

Moving on now to something that I think is right on point to our continuing discussions of libraries, education, technology and fun is this article called, “Rethink the Value of College”. It is a timely piece about how much a college education is worth in this time of economic uncertainty. It also asks the question: what is the best way to prepare young people for the changes ahead and the fact that most will have multiple careers and jobs. College is still valuable, but it must be re-evaluated and re-engineered to fit today’s paradigm. Coming to college without adequate preparedness hurts everyone and leaving college with staggering amounts of student loan debt hurts many students. We seriously need a holistic re-evaluation and re-alignment of how we educate and prepare people in our colleges and universities.

Now, of course, I can’t leave you on such a gloomy thought on a Friday. So here is one of my absolutely favorite photography blogs A Walk through Durham Township, Pennsylvania. While Kathleen Connally is somewhat uneven in her execution of her photographs, the majority are absolutely beautiful and make even this sun loving California girl think snow looks pretty. Two of my favorites are titled “My Dream Studio” and “Mr. Darcy (A Baby Pygmy Goat).” And did I mention you can RSS it?

Have a wonderful weekend. I’ll see you next week.

Quotes, Transfer Students and Marketing

/ dwakimoto

Again, no I don’t think I can tie these three ideas together. But who knows? Let’s try…

First up, this great list of the top 10 quotes of 2008 by The Yale Book of Quotations. Quick warning, if you are not into politics, or do not have a good sense of humor, you probably won’t find these funny or amusing. But I think they are hilarious, though scary. I mean, check out quote #4. And people at my work are worried about buying an extra toner cartridge. Oh, the irony.

Okay, moving on to something that is near and dear to all of our hearts in the academic world: trying to be inclusive of all the members of the student body. So why do I bring this up? I just read this great article on forgotten transfer students. I think that it is great that some universities and colleges are finally realizing that they need to help transfer students too and not ignore this part of the student body. I especially think of my own institution where “native” students must take an information literacy course but the course is not required for transfer students. I helped co-teach an instruction session on information literacy this summer and one of the students, who was a transfer student, came up after the session and said how helpful it was and how she thought it would be great to have a required course. We have an optional course that transfer students can take but not a course designed for them. Perhaps my school is too small to actually have a dedicated course as such, but surely the library could become more involved and proactive about making the transfer students feel at home. Just a thought.

So how would the library reach out to not just transfer students but the whole community? Take a look at this article on marketing by using Web 2.0 applications. Yes, I know the dreaded word “marketing.” Really, it isn’t a bad word and doesn’t mean you are selling your librarian soul to the big, bad capitalistic corporations of the world. Really, I’m serious, I am so sick of people in my field downplaying or being negative about marketing in the libraries. Marketing is a survival strategy, one that we need to perfect in order for people to perceive us as being relevant (we know we are relevant, but others need to perceive us as being relevant). Okay, off my soapbox now.

This article on marketing in a Web 2.0 world is great because it re-emphasizes that Web 2.0 is all about social connections and that by allowing customers, users and/or patrons (we can have a discussion about the choice of terms used in library discourse and their relationship to power later) to have control over a certain portion of your website and interact with each other, they actually become invested in your services and resources. Everyone wants their voice to matter and wants a way to interact with others. Humans, even librarians, are social creatures, to varying degrees. I think the library is an idea place to let people have a forum to discussion issues, ideas and *gasp* books together in an online world. Seize the positive in the messy, info-overloaded world and let’s market together!

And, the last fun bit of fluff for the day, check out The Best and Worst of Everything from BusinessWeek. Another end of the year list that is interesting and not all doom and gloom.

So tying everything together: Web 2.0 marketing is vital for companies, including libraries. Libraries could use Web 2.0 applications to reach out to transfer students in order to create a welcoming space that they could “own” at their new place of higher education. You could start a discussion around the Best and Worst of Everything from 2008 on a blog or wiki and of course link to the best quotes of 2008–because who doesn’t like a good quote? Okay, I think I’ve now tied everything together.

Enjoy your Tuesday!