Technology

Friday Grab Bag

/ dwakimoto

It is finally Friday. I don’t know about you, but this week has felt very long to me. So for this Friday I have a grab bag of bits and pieces I’ve been bookmarking throughout the last couple of weeks. I hope some of them are useful for you.

This article, Web 2.0 fails to excite today’s researchers, is an interesting look at the slow adoption of Web 2.0 for research and publication efforts by academics. Overall, I found the article to be insightful and full of good resources for those who want to explore the web applications for those academics who want to explore more social and open access ways of distributing and collaborating on research.

However, I’m a little puzzled by this sentence: “After all, it only takes one or two librarians to provide a library with a veneer of embracing Web 2.0 technologies.” It seemed quite out of place and I’m not quite sure what the point was supposed to be by including this in the article. Many libraries actually are doing quite a bit with Web 2.0 technologies in their libraries and are connecting with their users in new and more meaningful ways. I’m not sure why there needed to be a swipe at librarians in an article about academics. The academics could probably learn a thing or two about using technology if they asked a librarian.

But if you actually like to collaborate online, you should check out Lifehacker’s great article on the Top 10 web collaboration tools (that aren’t Google Wave). Great set of tools, but what else would you expect from Lifehacker?

Also from Lifehacker is a list of the Top 10 underhyped webapps, 2009 edition. Trust me, you will find something new that you will be able to use via this post. I happen to love the PDF to Word application and am looking forward to playing around more with Aviary. What is your favorite web app that is underhyped?

Finally, because it is Friday, I’ll leave you with the xkcd cartoon of the day. And yes, it is definitely scary! Have a great weekend!

"scary" from xkcd.com

Findability

/ dwakimoto

Well, this week has been crazy and it is only Wednesday. So much to do, so much information to process and catalog, and so little time! So this problem got me thinking about findability. Don’t you think that part of the reason for information overload is not just that there is so much information out there, but that there it is also difficult to organize all the information so you can actually find it again when you need it? I do. So here are some really interesting bits of news and tools to help you control the information you have in your life.

Because one of my areas of interest is history, I am super excited about DocumentCloud. It will be a great resource for searching for primary source materials on the web. Anything that makes searching easier is a good thing–especially a service that is using open standards and working with many different organizations.

Here is a great resource if you are scratching your head trying to make sense of a journal’s Eigenfactor. This is a great resource for looking up Eigenfactors and also a great source to help yourself and/or your users understand Eigenfactors. How does this relate to findability? You now know where to find and search Eigenfactors and this is definitely a good thing.

This is a fantastic article from The New York Times: Mining the web for feelings, not facts. This is an interesting look at analyzing social media to understand people’s feelings (sentiments) and using that information to provide better services, marketing, etc. This would be a great tool for libraries to monitor what their users are saying about them (if anything). I’m going to be using this in my class, I hope, when we are talking about uses of the social web later this quarter.

And of course, Lifehacker comes to the rescue once again with a brilliant post about creating a filing system workflow. Even though we live in the Digital Age, there is always paper to file and using these tips will help you keep the paper deluge under control.

Hope some of these tips help you. See you later with more tech tips and library trends.

Working in Less Time

/ dwakimoto

I taught my first classes of the quarter yesterday, so the quarter finally feels like it has begun. It is crazy busy in the library as both new and returning students attempt to use our new printing system and navigate all the hurdles of registering for classes and finding textbooks on the cheap. Therefore, being able to get more done in less time is a really appealing to me. I think it is one of the reasons I like working from home occasionally. At home, I get more done in four hours than I can get done most days at work because I can truly focus in on what I’m doing at home. This post has some links to great articles and tools to help you get more done and actually have a life outside of work.

Lifehacker has a great article on the best sounds for getting work done. If you like to listen to music while you work, definitely check out this article. You might find some new favorite music to listen to while you are cranking out the reports.

I absolutely love and support this thought: “If you need to work better, maybe try working less”. I find that scheduling deadlines and tasks definitely keeps me on target and I get more accomplished than when I have more amorphous goals for the day or week. And I completely agree that it seems like we operate under the assumption that being at work late into the night or overworking and under-sleeping are signs of greatness or badges of honor. But actually taking time off and having a life makes one not only a happier, healthier individual, but someone who will actually be able to accomplish more. It is great to have some studies backing this common sense idea.

If you still haven’t used Wolfram Alpha, you really need to go there and check out what everyone is talking about. Wolfram Alpha’s retirement calculations is just another great feature of Wolfram and especially appealing in today’s turbulent economic times. It is another tool to add to your arsenal while you are planning your retirement.

This is a fantastic post on being at the point of need for our users. This post has some excellent tips and ideas that I think libraries need to think about implementing for the sake of our users.

Well, that is all from the Waki Librarian for today. I’m off to hold office hours. Enjoy the rest of your day and don’t forget to read and grow!

Why Innovation

/ dwakimoto

We are a week away from classes starting for Fall Quarter at my university which means the campus is gearing up and faculty members are frantically trying to finish the prep for their courses. All of this leads me to the question of why we need innovation and why it isn’t happening so many times.

Now not to rehash everything that has already been said, I direct your attention to a 2006 presentation titled “Are We Ready for Massive Library Innovation?” by Stephen Abram at San Jose State University. You can find the link to the webcast here: Fall 2006 Colloquia List.

Abram makes a great case for libraries and innovation; a theme that can also be seen in his latest column in SLA’s Information Outlook. Now, I wish that a call for massive innovation from 2006 did not still resonate because we were all being so innovative, but it seems like we are still battling the same resistance to change and fear of innovating. I think, therefore, we heartily need to embrace Web 2.0’s mantra that everything is beta and it is better just to try something new than analyze it to death. Sure we’ll make mistakes, but if we listen to and work with our users, at least we’ll also make improvements and learn something. Failing isn’t the worst thing that can happen; not being relevant is the worst thing that can happen.

As my biology professors always said: there are only two states–change and death. So we are either changing or we are dying. I for one pick changing to death.

So is your library innovative? Do you support innovation? Do you welcome learning something new and trying something different? Are you willing to give up control to create community and let your users have a say in the creation of information and context in your library? I’d love to hear what other people are doing to foster an environment that embraces innovation because I’d try to implement them at my library.

While you are on San Jose’s School of Library and Information Science Colloquia page, you should check out some of their other archived presentations. This is really a great use of technology and they even closed captioned the videos and make them available for streaming and downloading in a variety of places and formats. This is something I wish more libraries would do–a great use of technology for PR and it incorporates accessibility. Plus, there are just some really interesting talks.

This is an older video, but in case you haven’t seen it and need some more reasons why we need to be innovative check out the “Did You Know 3.0?” video below:

Good luck being innovative, read a lot and the Waki Librarian will be back soon with more technology and library fun.

Travel, Cooking, Chrome, & Copyright

/ dwakimoto

Yes, it is another one of those potpourri days on The Waki Librarian. It is a day to show off, yet again, how cool Lifehacker is and also to help you get ramped up for the back-to-school season (even if you aren’t going back to school). So without further ado, here are the goodies of the day!

Do you travel a lot? Do you want to be more productive? Lifehacker has come up with a great list of the Top 10 Tactics for Productive Travel. I plan on utilizing some of these tips on my next cross-country trip. Now if we could only get all the airports to offer free wi-fi…

Next we need to offer a happy belated birthday to Google Chrome. This is only belated because I hadn’t gotten around to linking to this great post on Lifehacker. Definitely check out the time lapsed video on the creation of the Google Chrome cake. I am a total Google Chrome convert and can’t wait to see what new tweaks and upgrades this next year will bring for Chrome.

Of course, with school having started (or soon starting) we have to talk about copyright. So here is a question for you, Should Copyright of Academic Works be Abolished? Full disclaimer: I haven’t finished this article yet, but I think it is a really interesting idea and would be very helpful to the open access movement.

Finally, here is Lifehacker’s An Exhaustive Geek Guide to managing Your Recipes Online, because we all know that no one wants to go hunting around for a recipe while trying to make dinner. I am continually amazed by the plethora of great recipes that I can access on the web. I guess I should get it together with these recipe organizers–right now all my recipes are simply bookmarked on delicious! And if you want a recipe to get inspired, check out this awesome recipe for ice cream gyoza.

Have a great day, read a bunch and the Waki Librarian will be back with more later this week.

Good Enough?

/ dwakimoto

What does “good enough” mean to you? Are you comfortable with experimentation at work and just seeing what happens? Or do you want your work to be perfect before you share it with the world? I think, obviously, I’m kind of in the first camp and happy with beta testing. This is the theme of today’s post: being “good enough” in various contexts.

So this article by Robert Capps, “The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple is Just Fine” got me thinking about the concept of “good enough” and how it might relate to libraries. I especially like Capps’ point that accessibility will win out over quality when it comes to people choosing what products they want to buy and use. I think accessibility comes together with convenience. A lot of the time, it seems to me, that libraries wait to perfect a new service, news article or tool before implementing it under the belief that the library needs to be perceived as “perfect”. However, I would say that we need to follow the “good enough” revolution that is so prevalent in the technology sector with the release of Beta versions of software, products, etc. Perhaps if we become okay with being “good enough” and not perfect, we’ll actually be more responsive to users’ needs and more accessible for those in our communities. Just a thought.

Wikipedia is so ubiquitous that it seems almost pointless to talk about it, yet again. However the news from this article, “Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text”, made me decide to talk about Wikipedia again. This will be a very interesting talking point in my classes this fall when we discuss evaluation of sources, especially with regard to crowdsourcing, reliability and authority. So is Wikipedia “good enough” to use in research? I think it depends on the research. Although I am still a little concerned about the thesis I picked up yesterday that had a Wikipedia article listed as the first reference in the works cited list.

I think with all the craziness in the economy (especially in California), uncertainty in employment and just general funk, it is difficult to maintain a hopeful and kind attitude to everyone we come into contact with at work and outside of work. But just because it is difficult does not give us an excuse to be rude. Check out this great article by Kate Sheehan, “On Kindness, Libraries & the Big Picture”. Very well-written and timely–I think it is a great reminder to be kind. I especially like her final line in looking at the big picture: “Ultimately, we’re running libraries. It’s not rocket surgery and our mistakes and problems are aggravating, but generally speaking, no kittens will die.” Being “good enough” in this instance is being kind–to yourself and others–and not killing kittens.

More later–have a great day.

Technology and Being Social

/ dwakimoto

I feel that everything and everyone is in back-to-school mode. I went to the store the other day, fairly early in the morning, and was amazed at the crush of parents and students stocking up on supplies for the school year. And all I wanted was a pack of Post-it notes! So in the vein of back-to-school, here is today’s round-up:

This is a very interesting article from USA Today, “Are social networks making students more narcissistic?” I don’t know if social networks are to blame for an uptick in narcissism, if there is actually one. But I do think that social networks often do encourage oversharing and way too much information! Definitely take the narcissism quiz. It provides some points to think about and a very rough idea of how narcissistic you are.

For something not about narcissism, but about being social, check out The Shifted Librarian’s post on another reason for libraries to make their sites social. The Mobile Revolution is here. I just wish blogs hosted by WordPress could have the plug-in. Sigh.

And something that might help you if you are looking for places to host your videos: Lifehacker’s 5 best video sharing sites. This is great for those of us who teach classes online and also for students that have to post videos for their classes. Not to mention, just some great sites to check out for new videos to watch when you need that all important study break.

Have a great day!

College, Technology and Other Stuff

/ dwakimoto

Wow, last week in August already. Hard to believe that the summer is almost over and that some students are already back at college. Luckily my university is on the quarter system so I have another month to prepare. But in the vein of back-to-school time, here are some interesting articles to check out about college, dropout rates and other stuff.

This is an interesting article about dropout rates for college students in the United States. Definitely check out the suggestions at the end for tweaking the educational system in order to retain more students. I definitely agree that the entire remediation course idea needs to be re-engineered.

Speaking of change, check out this article from The Guardian on the “quiet” academic library revolution. While this might not be news to those of us that work in academic libraries, it is always nice to see articles about what work is “really like” for academic librarians. It’s all about the teaching and the technology–even on the other side of the pond.

danah boyd writes some of the most interesting pieces on technology today. Check out her “It’s easy to fall in love with technology…” article. I love that she attacks the notion “digital native”. Many of my students aren’t comfortable with technology and I get tired of reading all the articles that say that everyone under the age of 20 is a pro with every technology under the sun. Really, take the time to read this article–it has many great points to think about and discuss with your colleagues.

Finally, because it is back-to-school time, I thought we could all use Lifehacker’s 10 tricks for creatively hiding your stuff. There is nothing like a clean room to clear your mind so you can get down to work.

Finally, because everyone needs a laugh, here is xkcd’s latest flowchart on computer tech support. Enjoy!

Tech Support Cheat Sheet by xkcd.com

Tech Support Cheat Sheet by xkcd.com

Making the Digital Work for You

/ dwakimoto

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to incorporate technology into one’s life without having it take over your life. This has probably come to the fore as I’m getting ready for teaching in the fall and thinking about cleaning my office. Technology was going to make life easier, right? And yet, it seems like there is digital junk all around, especially on our hard drives.

Are you as sick as I am of logging into your email and having 60 messages waiting for you, before 9am? If so, check out this great post on alternatives to email for collaboration. I wish we could decrease the amount of email sent at my college by using some of these techniques.

Speaking of way too many unnecessary digital files, check out this article on cleaning up your “digital closet”. As someone who was trained as an archivist and has kept up on the discussions around preserving digital media and content, I can say this is a truly timely and important article. Seriously, clean up your files, migrate them if you have to, but for goodness sakes get them off your floppy disks before it’s too late! And junk the stuff you don’t need–there is a delete button for a reason.

So now that you are getting a handle on your “digital closet,” you might want to take a break and have some fun learning about college slang. UCLA has come out with another slang dictionary that can help you translate what students are saying–a very important feat for anyone who interacts with college students.

This last article is on Edupunks. These people are using and engaging with students and technology in fabulous ways to rethink the way people are educated. I think this is fascinating and really opens up a great opportunity for discussion about what are our core values when it comes to higher education.

That’s it for this Wednesday. Have a great day, read lots and the Waki Librarian will be back soon.

Tips, Tricks, and M&M's

/ dwakimoto

Sometimes, there is more to life than talking about libraries and technology. Specifically I’m thinking about M&M’s and packing fractions. I’ll get to that later. I often feel like there is way too much good stuff to talk about on the technology in libraries front, not to mention too much just fun, random stuff to share. But never fear, once again the Waki Librarian has picked out a few great articles and distractions to make your Friday a little brighter.

You probably write a lot at work, right? There are always emails, reports, proposals and grants to write. All those drafts need to be proofread and perfected before sending out. So here is an article on 10 quick tips for powerful proofwriting. These are really helpful. Do you have any tips on proofreading? I’d love to hear them.

Are you tempted to buy the iPhone or do you already own an iPhone? If it is the former rather than the latter, check out Lifehacker’s:
Bad Apple: An Argument against Buying an iPhone before you buy. I think alienating developers is a really poor move. I think the iPhone look great and have truly changed the mobile landscape, but I wonder if the way it is going is sustainable.

Okay, in a totally different vein, I know it is only the end July, but you should really take a look at Lifehacker’s guide on avoiding holiday debt. Especially with the economy being what it is, it is never to early to think about saving money during the holidays.

Because it is Friday, we need to end with something completely geeky and very fun. Check out the video about guessing the number of M&Ms in a jar. This is a fantastic use of physics and a great problem to give students! I hope my office does a guess the M&Ms in a jar contest soon so I can use packing fractions to my advantage!

Have a great weekend, read a lot and the Waki Librarian will be back next week with more.