Final Project

FYI, my final is posted here. It is also, as required, linked to from my student page.

Johnson reading, Part 2

Towards the end of the reading, Johnson made a comment that saved this entire book for me - "moderation in everything." Yes, video games and television are good for you - they encourage critical thinking and problem solving skills, but sitting in front of them for too long can lead to behavior problems and weight problems (I've seen it happen).

Anyway, what does this mean for libraries and schools? Integration of technology. I'm lucky to work in a school where technology is embraced - students are in the computer lab for at least a half hour each week, plus there are two mobile laptop labs, along with digital still and video cameras, and all kinds of educational software available for teacher and student use. Technology isn't seamlessly integrated yet - some teachers are using their SmartBoards solely as projection screens, not interactive learning tools - but integration will come with education. Teachers and librarians need to be educated in how to best harness educational technology to benefit their students and patrons.

If I ran the circus...

I really wouldn't change too much. This has been a really informative, entertaining, and practical class. I reviewed some things I already knew a lot about (blogs, social bookmarking), and tried some things I never thought I'd try (Facebook, Second Life). Overall, I learned a lot, and I'll certainly put it to practice, whether personally or professionally.

Now that the nice stuff's out of the way, there are a couple of things I'd change. First of all, I'd clarify the grading procedure and make sure to comment on posts. When I checked my grades in eCompanion, I always found one lone comment relative to one of my posts, when some weeks there were several required posts. If I ran the class, I'd make comments about each post, preferably directly on the students' blogs. I think that if students take the time to write the posts (or papers, or whatever), the professor should take the time to grade them and make individual comments (this goes into a larger argument on my distaste for profs who use TAs to grade everything - a prof chooses to teach a course, he should be able to handle the grading - but I digress).

Going along with the former point is I would make sure that each week's assignment included commenting on classmates blog posts. We only had to do this for a couple weeks, but it would have been nice to have done it every week.

Aside from that, I thought the course content was great and I enjoyed the class!

Play a game

I played "Tower Blocks" on Facebook, via mindjolt.com. I played against my boyfriend, Mike. Well, I didn't exactly play against him, but we played concurrently, trying to beat each other's scores. Listen for guest appearances from my boyfriend and my parents.

Screencasting recap

Screencasting - great, except when it's not.

I normally use a Mac, and when I attempted to adjust my resolution to 800x600, the recommended size for screencasting, my screen got all pixelated and was difficult to navigate. Thankfully, I had borrowed a Dell laptop from my school library for another class project. I was able to install Jing and successfully screencast from there.

I also found it helpful to do a dry run of my screencast. I made sure I knew my script, the links worked (learned that one the hard way), and I wasn't near any ringing phones or loudmouth, whiny cats (again, learned the hard way). Part of the Jing screencasting experience is ensuring the screencast is shorter than 5 minutes, something that talkative me had trouble with at first. But after a few practice runs, I was able to get the hang of not being so verbose.

Does pop culture sophisticatedly deliver stupidity?

In response to the question about the Johnson reading: yes and no. I agree with what he says about television and film, as far as developing more complex storylines and making the reader mentally participate in the series, rather than a watching a self-contained episode (like most Law & Order and CSI shows). Johnson also makes a good argument for gaming, with the benefits of problem-solving and storytelling. But, most video games don't allow for true imaginative exploration (unless of course, you're the one developing the game). That's where reading truly wins - a reader has to develop the book's world in his mind's eye, whereas with video games, the player is presented with a pre-visualized world. This is why books are almost always better than the movies made from them: the reader has the "creative control" over how the book is presented.

Time for another personal anecdote: I was studying abroad in England when the first Harry Potter (and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone) movie was released. I had gotten about halfway through the book before I saw the movie, and I had envisioned a completely different world than what I saw on screen, and it ruined the book for me. It was a few months before I could pick up the book again to finish reading it. Since, I've become a huge Harry Potter book and movie fan, but I still have trouble correlating what I see in my mind's eye to what I see on the screen.

Which console for me?

If I were in charge of buying a gaming system for my library... well, first of that, I doubt that'd ever happen, because I work in a public school library, and we barely have enough time for computers and library instruction, let alone time to play video games. However, if I was to buy a video game system for a library...

First, I'd take into consideration the capabilities and limitations of various systems. I know from personal experience that the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii can wirelessly connect to other global users, and all three systems use wireless controllers. The Xbox and Wii allow up to 4 controllers to be connected at a time, while the PS3 allows up to 7 controllers to be connected via Bluetooth technology.

Armed with this background knowledge and the experience of having played on all three systems, I'd first look for other libraries who have a gaming program, to get their input on the program. Next, I'd look for reviews of the systems, either from CNET or Consumer Reports. I'd also look into expandability (extra controllers, extra memory, the library's own internet connectivity) and cost (the system itself, games, extra controllers, possibly upgrading to wireless internet).

Finally, I'd make my choice. I'd go with the Wii. I've played on all three systems, and the Wii is the most fun. It's "Mii" feature is a fun way for users to identify themselves on the system, and the family-friendly nature of many of the games is appealing to a broad audience. On the negative side, the Wii can be somewhat dangerous (my boyfriend put a hole in his friend's basement ceiling while playing Wii baseball), so I'd definitely utilize a "referee" while the system is in use. Otherwise, the Wii has broad appeal and is easy to use. I'd recommend it.

Boyd reading

If this were a strict question, the lesson that libraries should take away from the boyd reading is that libraries should be cognizant of where they advertise online, because certain networks appeal to certain audiences. If a library is in a lower-class area, it should advertise on MySpace, where it would receive the most attention. If a library is in an upper-class area, it should advertise on Facebook, where its users are likely to be members.

What propels this disparity? How many times has MySpace been on the news as a vehicle for pedophiles and stalkers? Many. How many times has Facebook gotten the same bad rap? None that I can recall. I don't believe that either service is inherently bad or for one class only, but because it's a social networking site, users will gravitate towards the site their friends are using. Because Facebook started out as a ".edu" only site, they naturally have more college-educated users. MySpace is open to all, and doesn't require any kind of credentials, making it accessible for the working class and beyond.

Ning

Overall, Ning seems like it would be great for use in a work environment, if you work with people who are accepting of new technologies and willing to participate. For the comparison, I love pros and cons, so here we go:

Pros:
- can be set to be totally private, including a member log-in and new member approval
- because of privacy settings, would be good for office/school setting
- nice templates, easy to customize
- easy to set up, add/drop features
- allows personalized domain name (for a fee)
- if used in business, allows for younger employees to keep Facebook/MySpace accounts separate from work

Cons:
- hefty price for ad removal, extra storage
- if used in business, must educate users on how to use Ning
- has potential for being a timewaster ala Facebook/MySpace
- may be automatically blocked by some business networks

Facebook screencast

I was totally new to Facebook, so I made myself a little tutorial on how to upload and change your profile picture.

Watch it here: how to change your Facebook picture

MySpace and Facebook stickiness

So when I first looked at this question, I interpreted "sticky" to mean difficult or awkward. I had to dig a little deeper to understand that "sticky" means what keeps people coming back. The obvious draw is the social aspect of it - if all your friends are doing it, you should be too. It's easy to keep tabs on your friends this way. Aside from being a personal, customizable web space, Facebook and MySpace have a kind of built-in Twitter aspect, your "status." Your status is basically like a tweet on Twitter - it's your mood, what you're doing, how you're feeling. Aside from that, there's the popularity contest side - the more "friends" you have, the more popular you are.

I never used Facebook or MySpace before this class (before this Monday, actually). Friends of mine who use Facebook and MySpace on a regular basis say they're a good way to keep in touch with people and to coordinate group activities. I always shunned them, because I wasn't interested in being "found;" I would rather see my friends in real life than virtually. But I can see the advantages - keeping in touch quickly and easily, sharing photos and videos.

If all else fails, both of these sites would make a great interface for stalkers.

How to make a pie graph in Excel

For my screencast, I decided to create something that I could show to the 598 class as well as my students. Students in 3-5th grade use Excel to create graphs, so I thought I'd demonstrate how to create a pie graph using Excel 2007. Enjoy!

Please click here to view - http://screencast.com/t/BVV6jdla

YouTube

I've never been a huge fan of YouTube, save for looking up funny videos of animals. In fact, the whole video week was new to me overall. I was surprised at how professional some of the videos looked (and how amateur mine were in comparison). However, there were many that I enjoyed.

My favorites:

Librarians must have cardigans - I have a deep and abiding love of cardigans

Bah humbug! - my sentiments exactly

How to clean your house in a minute or less - love the use of baskets!

Addicted to the net - cause I am, too.

Thanks to those who enjoyed my videos!

Education vs. entertainment

Ah, educational videos. When they're done well, they're great. When they're done poorly, students know it. The best educational videos that I've seen are also entertaining (edutainment?). For example, Bill Nye the Science Guy videos are fantastic. Bill Nye presents with a lot of enthusiasm and science content, and simplifies science topics without dumbing them down. These videos have their place in the classroom and in the home, as both education and entertainment.

At my school, we subscribe to a service called United Streaming, which is owned by Discovery. It offers thousands of educational videos on a range of subjects for all grades. Many of the videos are dull and difficult for young students to sit through. However, the nice thing about United Streaming is that the movies are available to download as clips, so instead of watching a full 20-minute video on the history of Thanksgiving, teachers can pick a specific 5-minute clip that pertains to their lesson. United Streaming also offers Weston Woods books on video, which are fantastic video productions of books. The illustrations are animated and the books are nicely narrated. These clips and video books are educational in the content, but entertaining in the way they're presented.

My entertainment video

This is what happens when you ask the same question to a ferret and a cat...
do you want a treat?

Watch it here:


or here.

Enjoy!

My educational video

How to make great coffee. It all starts with a French press pot.

Watch it here:


or here.

Enjoy!

Flickr project - bringing us all together

In this post about our Flickr project, I'd like to get mushy and focus on what brings us together as MLIS online students (why yes, I have had a brandy alexander in celebration of Obama's early lead).

In the scils598f08 group, it seems that family, home, and pets are important to all of us. Nearly everyone posted at least one picture from one of these categories. Personally, I posted a picture of my "second home" in VT (the home of close family friends), and a picture of my darling cat. It was nice to see that family and home are important across the board. I also think it's kind of funny how nearly none of us posted pictures of ourselves, but we've gladly posted pictures of our children/pets/homes.

In the ed experience group, there were lots of computers, books, and modes of transportation. It seems like there is a mix of strictly online and on-campus/online students in the class. I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who spends nearly as much time getting to class as I am in class. There were also some good pictures of distractions, including various drinks, pets, and toys. It's nice to see that even though we work hard, we can play hard, too.

Overall, seeing these pictures made me feel a better connection with my online classmates, only a few of whom I've met before in person, in other classes. The project was a good introduction to Flickr, which I've never used before, and also a good introduction to our classmates.

Can librarians utilize the Long Tail?

Short answer: sort of.

Long answer: I think the only way librarians can effectively utilize the Long Tail effect is by guiding patrons to the Long Tail by the power of suggestion. As I mentioned in an earlier post, librarians hold some power as "new tastemakers." If a patron is looking for a "hit" that's unavailable, the librarian can guide the patron to a "nonhit" that's similar, but part of the Long Tail, rather than the mainstream.

I do this all the time in my work. Kids will ask me for the latest, greatest book, and if it's not in, I try to guide them to something similar but less popular. I'm sure that I say "if you like [book x], then you might like [book y]" a dozen times a day. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, but it's important to me that I at least introduce the students to a new book or series.

Podcasts vs. text blogging

So... I've never really been into podcasts. I subscribe to a couple through iTunes, but I always forget to check the podcast section for updates, so I end up with dozens of unheard episodes, and I just delete them all. The way my iPod connects to my car stereo doesn't allow me to play podcasts from the directory on the iPod; I have to put them into a playlist, which is annoying and I forget about. So, podcasts aren't my modus operandi for blog consuming. For blog producing, podcasts are a nice way to add a personal touch, but I'm self-concious of how my recorded voice sounds (on the phone, I've been mistaken for a teenager; I'm 27). Recording is certainly easier than writing, but there's no "delete" button if I make a mistake; I have to either finagle with the cut function in Audacity or re-record the whole thing. Not a big deal for my 2-3 minute podcasts, but could be an issue if I was using podcasts to teach a class, a la Steve.

I really prefer text blogging, as a producer and consumer. With text blogging as a consumer, I can easily skim a post to find information that I'm interested in, and can easily skip the stuff I don't want to read. As a producer, I find that I have a good level of control over a text-based blog. I can save a half-finished draft to finish and post later, I can easily integrate links and pictures, and in general, have more editorial control.

Tell me a story...

My story is about my recent (Christmas 2007) trip to Disney World, with my boyfriend Mike and his parents. One of the things we were really excited to see was his friend Ryan, a stunt actor who plays Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular at Hollywood Studios.

Listen!



Here's the mp3 file

Here's Ryan: