umbopos world

MY BLACKBIRDS MATE

2007-11-23T21:41:00.000-08:00

# 18 AID LEARNING 2.0

2007-11-23T19:01:00.000-08:00

Started AID Learning apprehensive, even a little hostile. It was obligatory.
I am not so young. I dont use the internet, except at work, and only when neccessary, which is increasingly often.
Struck a number of technical problems regularly, because I am not at all familiar with the widespread technical jargon, buzzwurds, acronyms etc.
I had to ask for assistance when stuck.
I was most surprised and gobsmacked by what I found was "out there".
For a while I saw things through the eyes of a sociologist/anthropologist.
"Out there" was a major subculture of technology addicts, electronic junkies, hurriedly consuming a barrage of dumbed down "stuff"- the world of blogs, feeds and tags re food recipes rock bands,shopping fads, consumption of junk culture, junk news, junk commentaries, junk conversations.The endless consumption of gimmicks,by people communicating in a lingo of their own.Not unlike that of street gangs, pop groups or drug addicts.
I thought; What has this to do with libraries?
Was this some kind of American youth sub-culture incomprehensible to me?
But then I began to have second thoughts .
I had to change some of my views, adjust some of my attitudes.
Through masses and masses of junk, some items of substance began to take shape.
I was impressed by FLICKR.
I saw some limited uses of tagging.
I sensed some limited value in wikis.
I discovered podcasts.
I was impressed by Worldcat.
I was pleased by ZOHO WRITER.
I was delighted by GOOGLE MAPS.
To me the conclusion is obvious.
We need to cherry pick the array of "applications" available, where there are gains to be made.
What we must avoid is to slavishly impose on our library all that is new, as a crude form of ideology. Dumbing down worries me most.
Unfortunately , like everybody else, I have had to hurry through the literature, cut corners, skim read in all sorts of circumstances, all whilst doing regular duties at work.
I was not always able to think things through thoroughly.
I was only able to give brief passing comments. I was overwhelmed by so much strange technical jargon.
But I have definitely benefited from participating in this learning program.
I feel chastened, somewhat subdued, and have experienced some shift in some of my attitudes.
P.S. I am still haunted by the prospect of dumbing down of the SLV by the ideological concepts in "Library 2.0".

# 17 ON LIBRARY 2.0 and WEB 2.0

2007-11-23T14:47:00.000-08:00

" Library 2.0" is an amorphous and nebulous term, and means different things to different people.
At the best it encompasses attempts to see library collections and services from a users point of view; rather than from the traditional view regarding the organization of, and access to, a library's collection, held by librarians.
Hence the push to make libraries more user friendly by simplifying access to information, and engaging users input into library processes.
At the worst, "Library 2.0" is not much more than a convenient marketing label, encompassing a wide range of largely unrelated technical "applications", stemming from the IT industry.
A repackaging and supplementing of "Web 2.0"?
Is "Library 2.0" really a single separate entity?
On an individual basis, some "Web 2.0" applications may have their place in the day to day activities of habitual internet users- RSS,Social Bookmarking, Tagging,Video Sharing ,etc.
They suit some people living in the fast lane, hooked on rapidly finding and consuming an ever increasing barrage of largely brief, shallow, and trite trivia, cascading through the internet.
But should a major reference library plunge headlong into this inevitably dumbing down process?
The central aspect of "Library 2.0" seems to be an obsession with "customer participation", users becoming "engaged", "user generated contact and interaction" with libraries, and libraries "actively creating a digital community".
Libraries are to provide "customer driven offerings".
Umbopo asks: Is all this code for dumbing down?
Ours is a major REFERENCE LIBRARY, with a unique historical research collection.
Its role and function is quite diferent from that of your local suburban library branch.
Obviously SLV is no longer a nineteenth century gentlemen's reading room.
We face a different kind of public today, than we did a few decades ago.
Further education is no longer restricted to an "intellectual" elite.Clearly we have to keep that in mind as we continue to re-evaluate our library services.As always, we need to monitor library users needs,in particular ,where , how, and why they fail to find what they seek. Many users still continue to fail at the most basic level.
But we should maintain standards, and attempt to elevate an increasing number of potential users to that standard.
By all means make use of new technology to improve the utility of the SLV catalogues.
Worldcat is impresive.
Library Labs less so... it is cluttered with junk opinions and defacto ads.
Perhaps we have something to learn from Worldcat, with its useful clustered search results.
But Umbopo says: Beware of COMMUNITY blogs, wikis, tags, and other "user engagement tools"!
Lets not be stampeded by downmarket fads!
Lets not jump on every passing bandwagon!
Improving results obtained by library users does not neccessarily mean imposing more and more electronic playthings!
Just because something flickers, beeps, and is coloured,does not mean it is a better source of information!
Already the SLV has undergone a significant dumbing down process.
A significant number of people come in only to do free hotmails, watch pornography, join chat groups, play computergames, download rock groups, gamble, purchase goods online , do their banking , etc etc.
Naturally all this activates the clickers at the door.
This provides statistics re "visitor experience"!
This in turn results in more funding for more electronic playthings, coming from a populist government.
We experience more and more "happenings".
We experience more crowds and more noise.
We experience endless streams of primary school children herded through the premises to play with paper Ned Kelly masks , etc, etc.
(But this results in more clicks at the door)
Academics , scholars, researchers, and historians are now using the Baillieu as their preferred port of call.
(Fewer clicks at the door lost here)
Umbopo asks: Perhaps we are already experiencing our own version of " Libraries 2.0"?
Umbopo is saddened and worried , lest the SLV be gradually transformed into a free CBD electronic fun park, an electronic amusement centre: geared for, aimed at, and driven by the demands of the lowest common denominator!
Is this " Library 2.0"? Is this the heralded "Big Bang" ?
Umbopo started work here as a reference librarian, but now faces the prospect of retiring as a fun park attendant.
Such is Umbopo's world.

A

#16 PODCASTS

2007-11-23T14:25:00.000-08:00

Explored podcast directory Podcast.net
Many subject groupings of items offered.Also, title,presenter,location etc. search options available.
Yet most items found were just downmarket junk!
Tried known local radio program "Late night live"
Scored hits for archived programs, but could not get any of them to play!
When visited ABC RN website direct ,to obtain podcast - no problems!
Tried some foreign language podcasts listed in directory- some play, some dont.
Tried politics and government listing- found mainly acres and acres of trivia and opinionated junk from downmarket "shows".
Best tactic is to home in on a known quality source, eg. ABC RN, BBC , and go for a known quality program.
Visited ABC Radio National.
Tested Boyer Lectures,Late Night Live,Hindsight etc. All work.. no technical problems.
Added HINDSIGHT RSS feed to my Google Reader Account. It worked. No technical problems!
ABC Radio National has not yet gone downmarket, and still offers a number of quality, objective,thought provoking programs available on podcast.
SLV could make use of this "application" by making earphones available to potential "poddies", at a terminal in the AV section in AMPA.

# VIDEO SHARING WEBSITES

2007-11-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

Checked YOUTUBE.
Found very, very few items of SUBSTANCE or value.
Found mainly very brief CLIPS , not full length videos.
Struck constant technical problems esp. "buffering", but learned patience, and second attempts could overcome some problems.
Checked SCIENCE HACK.
Again - very brief clips.
Sought info. on "tangents"- nix.
Tried "phosgene"-nix.
Instead was offered "alternatives" on unrelated subjects , plus ads and ads and ads!
Obtained more positive results on "How it is made" series.-some limited value here.
Tried TEACHER TUBE.
Yet again, a few very short "clips", "grabs", but next to nothing of substance.
Some items on history and politics very opinionated, simplistic, and even misguiding.
Plenty of stupid comments tagged on everywhere.
The chances of finding what you are actually seeking are miniscule. (how well even Wikipedia compares with Teacher Tube!)
Pity the young generation if the "tubes" above constitute education today.
Tried emailing a couple of items to myself from the Ref, desk terminal. They arrived , but would not open and play.
Technical problems dominated this exercise.
Cannot see any value for SLV ,or its users from this Video sharing application.
P.S. Succeeded in embedding video clip "Prairie Chicken Dance" into my blog!(see below)
Takes some time to load, but it works!
The most intelligent clip I could find on the Teacher Tube .
It saved my day!

PRAIRIE CHICKEN DANCE

2007-11-21T20:18:00.000-08:00

# 13 TECHNOLOGY

2007-11-14T20:17:00.000-08:00

Over the years there have been obvious benefits to the SLV stemming from advances in technology.
Our online voyager catalogue leaves the old card catalogue for dead- the latter simply could not function in todays world.
Our users can order books from home, before arriving at the library.
Our users can access from home a number of quality databases (eg G.B. House of Commons.
Sessional Papers), encyclopaedias, textbooks, and a selection of full text journals.
The SLV online digitized picture collection offers so much that until recently was unknown and unused.
Communicating with our patrons via email has greatly simplified and speeded up the transmission of information.
The accessioning of periodicals and the selection and ordering of books, have been significantly upgraded and streamlined via new technology.
The daily internal administration processes of the SLV have been transformed for the better by the application of modern technology.
We are currently working on a project to enable federated searching to take place across our catalogues.
Technology in itself is neither good or bad.
Obviously we must continue to monitor what is happening "out there" in technologyland.
We should select this and that, here and there, now and then, if we can benefit from it, if it is relevant to us as a major reference and research library
But we must not be stampeded into taking on board purile fads, and playthings, simply because they are based on something"electronic" they are popular with yobbos , and somebody else is using it.
Remember the parable of the emperor's clothes!
We must not allow technology to become an ideology, and the SLV must not become an ideology driven institution.
P.S Umbopo sometimes suffers from technology fatigue. As soon as he masters the kiddies version of some new contraption,its replaced by something newer!
Umbopo's mind feel overloaded, it tires .
Umbopo seeks out the company of blackbirds and potato plants for solace and reinvigoration.

# 13 WEB 2.0 WINNERS

2007-11-14T20:10:00.000-08:00

Chose GOOGLE MAPS
Was impressed by the quality and utility of the product...can home in , can manoevre around, can drag maps.
Selected "Essendon Australia" Immediate result. Homed in on my street.
Saw own property outlined and correctly numbered!
Satellite image also available.
Interactive maps facility for those who need it. How to get there. What to find there.
Most impressive.

# 12 ZOHO WRITER

2007-11-14T20:02:00.000-08:00

Visited ZOHO WRITER
Registered, explored site.
Scanned FAQ section, found it very helpful.
Was impressed by the range of facilities and options offered.
Created a "document'.
Sent it as an email to myself, html & pdf format.
Also posted document to my blog.(see Current Periodicals Display Rack) below.
p.s. messy appearance due to my low word processor skills,but will do better next time.

CURRENT PERIODICALS DISPLAY RACK

2007-11-12T22:28:00.001-08:00

CURRENT PERIODICALS DISPLAY RACK

We have a CURRENT PERIODICALS DISPLAY RACK situated at the back of the
Redmond Barry Reading Room.
It carries 288 titles numbered 1-288,arranged in DDC order.
Four folders accompany the collection. They list the titles displayed (in alphabetical order),
indicating their position on the rack.
The items on the rack consist of a selection of the latest issues of the more substantial
and well known magazines from Australia and abroad.
A large number of subjects is covered by the selection; science,computers,book reviews,
sociology, womens studies,economics,business,ships,trains,cars,health,fashion,ecology,
gardening,architecture,politics,military matters,sport,general news,etc.,etc.
We are pleasantly surprised how well patronized the display rack continues to be,despite
the obvious competition for current information provided by the internet.
Young and old,men and women, they continue to browse and self-service from the array of
titles in front of them.
Browsing an open access current collection for new and sometimes unexpected information,
still plays a pleasurable and rewarding role.
An electronic database search on a narrow topic can amass a wide range of hits, but browsing
for the yet unknown,continues to provide a distinct function.

#10 FLICKR

2007-11-07T21:22:00.000-08:00

Experimented with Flickr- was pleasantly surprised.
Tried "St Peters Church" and Riga... obtained a range of views from SPC and of SPC.
High quality photos. The option to vary the size.Most impressive.
Tried "Blackbird"
Obtained many pages of hits...large range of choices of birds ,male and female, fledgelings,nests,groups of birds,...various poses, activities etc.
Found "Melbourne Architecture" group posting, with links to individual contributors,useful and informative. Good to see attempts to apply uniform rules to both captions and tags. Good to find "see" references.
Generally the value and artistic quality of items posted on Flickr ranges from first class to inconsequential and irrelevant; from pictures of historic buildings of the worlds towns ,large and small,to personal holiday snapshots.
The huge number of postings on all imaginable subjects must inevitably lead to some cluttering,despite rules re captions and tags.
No doubt more and more searching will be required to separate the wheat from the chaff, but the choice of quality pictures is enormous.
Umbopo is currently participating in a massive weeding project in our reference centre,to reflect changing user patterns ,and remove irrelevant and unused items.
He had no hesitation in weeding out half a dozen volumes of " illustration indexes ", from past decades ,to the stacks, with Flickr in mind.
Is Flickr ... is good !

STATE LIBRARY

2007-11-06T19:17:00.001-08:00

#8 TAGGING

2007-11-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

Mixed feelings.
There are advantages and downsides to tagging.
One can create a virtual bibliography of websites useful to oneself, and possibly to others.
One can even rate the websites, and access them from anywhere.
It is possible for a researcher to pursue the work of another in a chosen field, and follow the trail of (apparently) related sources, possibly stumbling onto missed information,and variations in a search not thought of.
A teacher can, (by tagging websites), create a product his students can be directed to follow thr ough, via username. Such a wisely created bibliography of websites can alleviate the inadequate searching skills (and even poor evaluation of hits scored), of a significant number of students.
An additional advantage of tagging can be that a person, expert in a particular subject, can evaluate the contents of a website, better than a search engine scoring mechanical key word hits.
Yet so much depends on the quality of the input of users.
There are obvious disadvantages and dangers in social bookmarking,in that people may tag websites only because numerous others have done so... everybodys tagging them, therefore they must be good!
The values of users obviously come into it; choice is not necessarily based on the objectivity and quality of the information in the website.
The absence of true hierarchical and controlled subject headings can lead to many irrelevant hits; after all,most social bookmarking is done by amateurs.
From the literature scanned, it appears a number of libraries are experimenting with dumbing down processes,because their users find subject classification ,and library catalogues in general ,too difficult.
Yet tagging is crude.
Bundling is some improvement on tagging alone,but does not attain the level of hierarchical subjact headings.
SLV CHAT tagging is in part organized by bundling.It is useful in the context of the service provided.
However , it does not appear SLV has much to gain from tagging/bundling schemes to replace the present classification in our catalogue.
Ours is a major reference and research library.
Our collection has many sophisticated and complicated items that cannot be adequately identified and pinpointed by popular buzzwords used in tags.
Our catalogue already allows users to click on author,subject and topic headings attached to each record, to arrive at related works.
Nor do we ned to "empower" our users by soliciting their comments (regarding individual items held) into our catalogues.
SLV is a major reference and research library.
It is not a suburban community centre. It does not have to" socialize" its books.
Umbopo says; No to technologically driven and politically correct dumbing down.

MY BLACKBIRD FRIEND

2007-10-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

My blackbird friend is building a nest!
For the last few days she has been gathering dry grass and darting off to a secret destination
Early yesterday morning as I was watering my small potato patch, she hopped up oh so close , time and time again, to pick up blobs of mud and wet grass.
How intelligent and discerning she is!
I continue to be careful not to disturb her, and she in turn accepts me as a low risk member of her surroundings.
Little things ,true, but it keeps me going ,day in, day out; as I continue to be blitzed by so much surperfluous electronic junk.

#6 RSS

2007-10-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

Mixed experiences ...mixed feelings.
In principle ,and sometimes in practice, newsfeeds have value in that they can save time ,where regular monitoring of a particular topic is involved.
A big plus in the endproduct is that the items are ranked chronologically , the most recent postings first, dated, even by the hour.
However great care has to be taken to set up the system properly, to exclude irrelevant hits, and oh so much junk surging through the internet.
Tried several sources.
Tried TOPIXNET eg "water restrictions Melbourne" and obtained very good results.
However was annoyed by the barrage of ads.
Tried FEEDSTER .. key words " corruption" and" Latvia".. obtained some irrelevant unrelated hits.
Tried "Vladimir Putin" restricted to newsfeds only, but obtained information from blog sources as well.

Lesson learnt.
Take great care to restrict information from reputable sources eg Breaking news fron NYT etc
So much bland trivia , secondhand information cascading down everywhere!

#4 WIKIS

2007-10-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

Big doubts re unrestricted user input where libraries provide a venue for chatterboxes, amateurs,busybodies and exhibitionists.
Danger of creating a collage of bland trivia, disjointed snippits,hearsay and downright misleading information.
Without quality control we are inviting technology driven graffiti.
Yet despite these dangers and pitfalls , all the news is not bad.
The Princeton Public Library's Booklover's Wiki cannot be discounted, despite a huge variation in the quality of the contributions.
Internal library wikis created and altered only by authorized staff (deemed qualified to comment in a specific subject field), could provide some value.
Unusual and potent sources of information not traceable via the library's catalogue or via standard textbooks, may be known to a staf member and added to a SUBJECT GUIDE.
Some periodic editing may be required, so as not to let the finished product degenerate into a non hierarchical clutter of unrelated items.
An ELECTRONIC REFERENCE DESK MANUAL that can easily and quickly be updated and expanded, seems a goer.

Perhaps we could produce a "select list of new books added to the collection" wiki, as a service to the increasing number of offsite users, to supplement the current weekly new books display on site
Perhaps.
Umbopo is somewhat sceptical, but is keeping his mind's door ajar.
He has even managed to make a small contribution to the SLV TRAINING WIKI.

text creation

2007-10-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

At the back of my house I have a garden.
There I have made friends with a blackbird. She was very timid at first, being bullied by her mate and by some wattle birds. I leave some moist breadcrumbs for her. She backs off whenI approach, but hops back as I leave. Sometimes she sits at the feeding spot waiting for me. When I am outside enjoying sunlight and fresh air ,she comes up to me (at a distance) and observes me. Perhaps she has something to communicate?.
I find all this pleasurable and rewarding.

2007-10-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

this is not a genuine blog. i have to do a blog as part of my training requirements at work.