Archive for August 2007

Two new tools will allow you to quickly and easily embed Flickr slideshows into your website or blog.

with flickrSLiDR

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

with PictoBrowser

More and more librarians are making their conference presentations publicly available, giving everyone a glimpse into distant professional events. Here are a few of the latest:

• Podcasting/ Vodcasting In Academic Libraries
  David Free presentation at Digital Libraries a la Carte 2007 Ticer Institute
• Library 2.0 Means Better Service
  Marylaine Block presentation for the British Columbia Library Association
• Finding Time to Learn about Emerging Technologies
  Kathryn Greenhill presentation for the Perth “Library 2.0 on the loose” unconference

A recent post from Lifehacker, 13 book hacks for the library crowd, shares some interesting “book hacks” designed to help us get the most out of our printed resources. Some of these tips include:

• Track checked out books with Library Books
• Get overdue notifications with Library Elf
• Search libraries and booksellers simultaneously with Book Burro
• Use BibMe to create bibliographies
• Get CliffsNotes with LitSum
• Get literature excerpts emailed to you daily with DailyLit
• Swap books with PaperBack Swap
• Find free public domain books at Project Gutenberg
• Get public domain audiobooks from LibriVox
• Check out prices on the go with ISBNSpy

PC Magazine selects 100 new or unknown Web sites in the following categories:

• Info, Reference, and Search
• Health and Food
• Lifestyle and Entertainment
• Money and Career
• Music
• News, Politics, and Government
• Reading
• Shopping, Classifieds, and Travel
• Tech: Download and DIY
• Tech: Gaming
• Tech: Hardware News and Blogs
• Tech: Software and Internet Blogs
• Video
• Web Apps

Got a training session planned? Need to get up-to-speed with the latest technologies? Check out these quick (under 4 minutes each) Common Craft videos:

• Social Bookmarking in Plain English
• RSS in Plain English
• Wikis in Plain English
• Social Networking in Plain English

via Groundswell

There’s been quite a buzz lately about whether Facebook can or should be used in a professional capacity. What do you think? Check out these links and leave your opinion in the comments!

• 12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally (Web Worker Daily)
• Facebook at Work - Slacking or Networking? (Read/WriteWeb)
• Confessions of a LinkedIn Dropout (Business Week)
• Facebook Is NOT For Business (Publishing 2.0)
• Fogeys Flock to Facebook (Business Week)
• How Can Business People Use Facebook to Manage Professional Contacts? (Video) (Web Community Forum)

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A new 68-page report commissioned by Fox Interactive Media - Never Ending Friending: A Journey into Social Networking - explores topics such as an insider’s view of social networking, creating brand value in social networking communities, and implications for brands and agencies. Key findings of this market research study include:

• “Social networking sites…represent a fundamental shift in the way people interact with each other and with other media”
• “Adherents of social networking – utilize their preferred social-networking sites at all hours of the day and night”
• “The primary function of social networking sites and experiences is to enrich existing relationships.”
• “The social networking environment provides uniquely fertile terrain for brands to establish meaningful relationships”
• “MySpace is the most popular social networking destination”
• “Social networking users are not monolithic. In fact, they comprise a diverse range of ages, motivations, and interests”
• “SN marketing creates value both from B2C (Advertising) and C2C (the momentum effect).”
• “Adding in “the momentum effect” from the C2C aspect of SN Marketing pushes the total ROI well beyond the average ROI of other media”
• “Almost all the C2C value comes from seeing the brand within their social network. This pass along media impact is so strong that we term it the “momentum effect.”
• “The secret to activating the momentum effect appears to revolve around giving consumers the opportunity to share their own story using the brand as a symbol and reference point”

Via Micro Persuasion.

Priced for a student’s budget - free - open source desktop software presents a viable alternative to commercial software packages for those who can’t shell out the big $$$. I’ve never personally been an open-source zealot myself, but at these prices - you can’t afford not to consider them! These programs all run on multiple platforms (yes, even Windows!), and are surprisingly easy to download and install.

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Office Suites - OpenOffice is the multi-lingual, multi-platform productivity solution which includes a word processor, spreadsheet program, presentation application, database creator, and math and drawing programs. All of the programs are very similar to the Microsoft Office applications and are compatible with their files. As an MS Office user, I found them all quite intuitive to use and had no problems opening my MS Word and other files. Compare to Microsoft Office at $399

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Project Management - Released only days ago, OpenProj is a free project management application which aims to be a complete replacement for Microsoft Project. It operates on multiple platforms, is compatible with MSProject files, and offers advanced scheduling and project management features including Gantt charts, PERT Charts and more. During my test of the software, it did indeed offer impressive functionality, and successfully opened my Microsoft Project file without any loss of data or formatting. Compare to Microsoft Project at $999.95.

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Image Editing - GIMP is a free image editor similar to Adobe Photoshop. It offers a lot of functionality including working with layers, channels, paths, filters, and more. GIMP is compatible with Photoshop and many other file types. As a die-hard Photoshop user, I don’t know if I could make the transition as GIMP seems to lack some of my favorite PS tools such as adjustment layers, specifically Levels and Curves. But for many people who are not spoiled…er…accustomed to Photoshop’s advanced image editing features, GIMP is worth a look. Compare to Adobe Photoshop CS3 at $649

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Organization - qOrganizer is a new open-source general organizer which was just released a couple of days ago. It includes a calendar and schedule, to-do list, and journal/notes sections. Extras for students include a booklet section where they can enter and track their grades as well as absences. Think MS Outlook without the contacts and email functionality.

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Stress Management - What better way to relieve the tension of a tough day of classes, than striving for world domination? This open-source version of Risk offers all the functionality of the Risk II software including playing games across the network or online as well as hotseat games. The only notable difference is the lack of sound effects which can be a bit disarming (excuse the pun) at first. Peace-lovers can try Open Yahtzee.

Kathryn Greenhill of Librarians Matter blogs about Why libraries should care about mobile phones, reporting on a recent study conducted by the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association and the Australian National University. According to the study, over 88% of respondents owned at least one mobile phone. she also points to an interesting video clip presentation - Why You Should Build Mobile Specific Websites for Mobile Devices. Be sure and check out her post for all the details.

For a US perspective, check out yesterday’s GigaOM post All Americans To Have Mobile Phones by 2013. Om Malik reports on research by SNL Kagan that shows that nearly 84% of the US population will have cell phones by the end of 2007.

Stephen Abram of Stephen’s Lighthouse has posted a recent presentation given to a SirsiDynix user group titled The Social Web 2.0:A Library Technology Forecast. Check out all 113 slides!

Gaming in libraries is a very hot topic this year. We are seeing gaming presentations at library conferences such as ALA Annual and Computers in Libraries, as well as entire symposiums dedicated to the theme, articles are appearing in major papers such as the Chicago Tribune, and libraries are starting to report on their successes. Here’s a quick guide to some of the resources available related to the gaming in libraries meme. If you know of any others, please share them in the comments!

Presentations

Gaming & Learning
Shu Liu, Tammy Allgood
Computers in Libraries 2007

Gaming in Libraries
Tyler Rousseau
New Jersey Library Association (NJLA)

Games without Borders: Gaming Beyond Consoles and Screens
Liz Lawley
ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium

Gaming in Academic Libraries: The Why and How
ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium

Check out 30 other sessions of the ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium, including .mp3 files and presentation slides!

Reports

The Role of Gaming in Libraries: Taking the Pulse
Scott Nicholson

Online Gaming Is More Popular than Facebook and YouTube
The Shifted Librarian

Console gaming a hit with all ages
Librarian in Black

Worldwide Online Gaming Community Reaches 217 Million People
comScore

In the News

Video games finding space in libraries
Milford Daily News

When ‘Digital Natives’ Go to the Library
Inside Higher Ed

Training for the poor moves into computer age
Chicago Tribune

Critics say ‘Oh no’ to Halo
The Daily Herald

Dewey Decimals and Dance Dance Revolution
The Escapist

Blogs Posts

Oh The Games People Play Now–In Libraries
ALA TechSource Blog

The Future of Gaming
Library Garden

Gaming? But this is an academic library
Librarians Matter

SJCPL’s Save•Point Spawns Crew Website
Skagirlie

Case Studies

Carvers Bay (SC) Branch Library: Gaming the Way to Literacy
WebJunction

Gaming section of the Library Success Wiki
See success stories, lists of libraries hosting gaming programs, etc.

Books

Gamers…in the Library?! The Why, What, and How of Videogame Tournaments for All Ages
by Eli Neiburger

Gaming and Libraries: Intersection of Services
by Jenny Levine

The Vanderbilt University Libraries have worked with Ex Libris for the past year as a development partner to create a next generation discovery tool called Primo, which works in conjunction with the library catalog.

This new tool features clustered search results by topic, creator, library collection, creation date, resource type, language, LCC Classification, and genre. It also presents results ranked by relevancy, suggests similar items and suggested new searches. The catalog also allows for user tagging and patron reviews and search queries may be saved via RSS feeds. Although other universities are working with Ex Libris, the Vanderbilt University’s AlphaSearch is the first time that the Primo product has been made available to the public.

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Atomic Learning has created a page with over 40 video tutorials which will teach you how to do everything under the sun with PBWiki. Each about 2 minutes long, these videos cover topics from using wikis in an educational setting to using the PBwiki plug-in features. Some of the videos include:

• Organizing a classroom assignment with a wiki
• Inserting a monthly calendar
• Adding a Google™ Gadget to a wiki page
• Adding a photo slideshow to a PBwiki page
• Uploading a file to your site
• Working with the Point and Click text editor
• Publicizing your wiki

Check them all out here. They’re free (for now!)

A new Nielsen/NetRatings report releases July traffic figures for visitors to major social media sites including the top 10 social networking sites, top 10 blogging platforms, and top 10 video websites. Structured nearly identically to the recent comScore report issued on July 31st, the Nielsen report presents worldwide growth figures for the social networking leaders as well.

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comScore Media Metrix has issued a report ranking the top 50 Internet properties in July. The report also includes the top 10 gaining properties which are reflective of the summer movie season as well as the top gaining categories which indicate growth in the areas of job search and travel.

An article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed discusses an ethnographic study conducted by the University of Rochester Library which explores the study schedules and research habits of undergrads. The library hired an anthropologist who used various research methods including videotaping students at work on their computers to collect information. The study has had a significant impact on library marketing, website design, and library renovation. The results of this study will be published in September 2007 by the ACRL in the upcoming “Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester“.