Wow--there were so many good ideas on the California Curriculum Connections wiki that I was a little hard-pressed to come up with something meaningful to contribute. However, here was my post, under "Wikis":
Idea #37 - Many of the teachers at my school loop, or have the same group of students for one grade and again for the next grade the following year. Looping has some advantages; one of them is that the students develop a strong bond with each other. A class wiki could be set up to keep students in touch during the summer vacation. Kids could report on their travels, activities, and the books they have been reading and want to recommend to others.
I think wikis are at their best when the input solicited is creative, rather than factual. Reliability does not come into question so much. Using a wiki as a source of good ideas is terrific.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Week 7 - Thing 16 - Wikis
Wikis are a great social networking concept. Using them for specific events, like the CSLA Conference, can provide a forum where everyone who would like to can contribute. It goes well beyond the informational web page, in that an opportunity and means to add your input is provided.
The idea of using a wiki for a classroom is pretty cool. The class members can make up the community, and soliciting input from them gives value to each participant. I can see possibilities for book discussions, etc.
One of the strengths of wikis, the idea that anyone can contribute, can also become a pitfall. One who uses a wiki as a source of information needs to understand that the information may or may not be valid since the contributions are not authoritative. The user must beware and verify information for him/herself.
The idea of using a wiki for a classroom is pretty cool. The class members can make up the community, and soliciting input from them gives value to each participant. I can see possibilities for book discussions, etc.
One of the strengths of wikis, the idea that anyone can contribute, can also become a pitfall. One who uses a wiki as a source of information needs to understand that the information may or may not be valid since the contributions are not authoritative. The user must beware and verify information for him/herself.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Week 6 - Thing 15 - Library 2.0
I absolutely agree with the statement, "Others within the profession have asserted that libraries have always been 2.0: collaborative, customer friendly and welcoming." I am among the 'others.' I'm afraid, however, that that has most often not been the general public image of libraries and librarians. I see the proverbial, sour-faced shushing librarian in sensible shoes as the antithesis of collaborative, customer friendly and welcoming.
I would add "flexible" to that list of adjectives to more closely reflect what Library 2.0 is about. When I was first studying to become a librarian back in the early 70s, it would have been challenging to imagine the focus of libraries today. Even taking this class, online, no less, would have been a huge mind stretch for me. Surely unless libraries and their personnel are ready to change with the times, even ahead of the times, we run the risk of obsolescence. Someone recently defined life as "a series of changes," and success as "our ability to manage life's changes." When we view those inevitable changes as opportunities for growth and success, that attitude will keep us in the 2.0 mode and beyond.
I also like Wikipedia's statement: "With Library 2.0, library services are frequently evaluated and updated to meet the changing needs of library users. Library 2.0 also calls for libraries to encourage user participation and feedback in the development and maintaining of library services." I need to consider what this means in terms of "my" libraries. Certainly improved two-way communication is essential. The "door" needs to be open, and responsiveness is crucial.
I would add "flexible" to that list of adjectives to more closely reflect what Library 2.0 is about. When I was first studying to become a librarian back in the early 70s, it would have been challenging to imagine the focus of libraries today. Even taking this class, online, no less, would have been a huge mind stretch for me. Surely unless libraries and their personnel are ready to change with the times, even ahead of the times, we run the risk of obsolescence. Someone recently defined life as "a series of changes," and success as "our ability to manage life's changes." When we view those inevitable changes as opportunities for growth and success, that attitude will keep us in the 2.0 mode and beyond.
I also like Wikipedia's statement: "With Library 2.0, library services are frequently evaluated and updated to meet the changing needs of library users. Library 2.0 also calls for libraries to encourage user participation and feedback in the development and maintaining of library services." I need to consider what this means in terms of "my" libraries. Certainly improved two-way communication is essential. The "door" needs to be open, and responsiveness is crucial.
Week 6 - Thing 14 - Technorati
The exposure to all these sites and concepts is great! I must admit I'm a little overwhelmed with new ideas, but that's a good thing.
I finally realized that in order to do the keyword search for "School Library Learning 2.0" in the various areas, Blog posts, tags and Blog directory, it was necessary to use the "advanced" search mode. Apparently the drop-down menu next to the search box, referenced in the Technorati Tour video is only available in logged-in mode. Of course the results are different. It was quite fun to see our our blogs come up in the Technorati search.
By searching Blog posts, I got 1729 results, most of them from our own CSLA participants. It made me feel right at home. Results are listed by the most recent posts, and by clicking, you go to the actual blog page. I did notice that if you go down to about page 3 or 4, you start coming across seemingly random generated words in a blog that bring you to a page of advertisements, not a bona fide blog. But by far, searching Blog posts yields the most hits.
Searching tags, I came up with 3 blog posts and some visual media. Apparently it would require someone using "School Library Learning 2.0" as a tag in order to be located by Technoriti's search function. Fewer of us have used that more cumbersome tag.
The blog directory resulted in 7 results. When you click on one of them, you get a sampling of the blog along with a link to the actual blog.
Looking for a "popular" blog. Hmmmmm. There are thousands of blogs out there that are of no interest whatsoever to me. It's actually quite fascinating to see what people do with their time (I should talk...) and what grabs their attention. Looking at the list of popular blogs, I am left a little cold. They are predominantly about extreme high technology or rabid politics. So I decided to start from the bottom of the list and search up. Aha. I settled on this one. Ths author just seems to be a down-to-earth ordinary person, with some tech skills, no doubt. She makes comments on her daily life and what is going on in the greater world. This is probably a little ho-hum for most of you, but I found it to be less demanding than most. Simply a slice of life.
Thoughts about tagging: Tagging is powerful. We librarians who deal with subject headings all the time know how important they are for indexing. Those of us who have been tempted to create our own subject headings and divert from Minnie Sears should be thrilled by the opportunity to go wild and create tags that are meaningful to us. However, we need to rely on our training with standard subject headings to try to keep those tags fairly mainstream so that they will be useful.
Beelerspace's article on flat hierarchies was interesting. However I'm not sure I entirely "get it" yet.
I finally realized that in order to do the keyword search for "School Library Learning 2.0" in the various areas, Blog posts, tags and Blog directory, it was necessary to use the "advanced" search mode. Apparently the drop-down menu next to the search box, referenced in the Technorati Tour video is only available in logged-in mode. Of course the results are different. It was quite fun to see our our blogs come up in the Technorati search.
By searching Blog posts, I got 1729 results, most of them from our own CSLA participants. It made me feel right at home. Results are listed by the most recent posts, and by clicking, you go to the actual blog page. I did notice that if you go down to about page 3 or 4, you start coming across seemingly random generated words in a blog that bring you to a page of advertisements, not a bona fide blog. But by far, searching Blog posts yields the most hits.
Searching tags, I came up with 3 blog posts and some visual media. Apparently it would require someone using "School Library Learning 2.0" as a tag in order to be located by Technoriti's search function. Fewer of us have used that more cumbersome tag.
The blog directory resulted in 7 results. When you click on one of them, you get a sampling of the blog along with a link to the actual blog.
Looking for a "popular" blog. Hmmmmm. There are thousands of blogs out there that are of no interest whatsoever to me. It's actually quite fascinating to see what people do with their time (I should talk...) and what grabs their attention. Looking at the list of popular blogs, I am left a little cold. They are predominantly about extreme high technology or rabid politics. So I decided to start from the bottom of the list and search up. Aha. I settled on this one. Ths author just seems to be a down-to-earth ordinary person, with some tech skills, no doubt. She makes comments on her daily life and what is going on in the greater world. This is probably a little ho-hum for most of you, but I found it to be less demanding than most. Simply a slice of life.
Thoughts about tagging: Tagging is powerful. We librarians who deal with subject headings all the time know how important they are for indexing. Those of us who have been tempted to create our own subject headings and divert from Minnie Sears should be thrilled by the opportunity to go wild and create tags that are meaningful to us. However, we need to rely on our training with standard subject headings to try to keep those tags fairly mainstream so that they will be useful.
Beelerspace's article on flat hierarchies was interesting. However I'm not sure I entirely "get it" yet.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Week 6 - Thing 13
First of all, our 2.0 team knows that the Del.icio.us tutorial link isn't working, right?
Viewing what other people have bookmarked in Del.icio.us was a giant diversion (read: way to lose track of time)! I found myself delving into "100 Tips to Improve Your Life." Yikes! Each of the tips had a link to a larger article, sometimes with additional lengthy lists. Whew.
More later. I still have about 64 tips to explore!
I can see that this is a powerful concept for accessing useful websites. By tagging, a user can access targeted information and locate sites they might otherwise miss. It goes beyond simply using a search engine.
For those of us who use computers in different locations, it is handy to be able to have access to personal bookmarks wherever we may be.
Librarians are information brokers. As we try to find information-rich, appropriate sites for students and also teach them how to do their own searching, De.licio.us is a nice addition to our bag of tricks!
Viewing what other people have bookmarked in Del.icio.us was a giant diversion (read: way to lose track of time)! I found myself delving into "100 Tips to Improve Your Life." Yikes! Each of the tips had a link to a larger article, sometimes with additional lengthy lists. Whew.
More later. I still have about 64 tips to explore!
I can see that this is a powerful concept for accessing useful websites. By tagging, a user can access targeted information and locate sites they might otherwise miss. It goes beyond simply using a search engine.
For those of us who use computers in different locations, it is handy to be able to have access to personal bookmarks wherever we may be.
Librarians are information brokers. As we try to find information-rich, appropriate sites for students and also teach them how to do their own searching, De.licio.us is a nice addition to our bag of tricks!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Week 5-Thing 12
Creating a Rollyo for Kids' Books was easier than I expected. I just used sites that I had already bookmarked.
Help from Rob was appreciated for getting it posted here!
Help from Rob was appreciated for getting it posted here!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Week 5-Thing 11 - Ning
OK, I joined the Teacher-Librarian Ning. This is something I wouldn't have done without a nudge from School Library Learning 2.0. I think the library listserve suits my needs quite well, and I haven't really felt the need to join a network community of this sort. It's interesting though, and I will have to pursue it a bit before dismissing it so quickly.
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