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Google is now offering embeddable previews for any book included in the Google Book Search collection. Several libraries including the University of California and the University of Texas Libraries are incorporating the previews into their online catalogs. Online bookstores and other companies are also taking advantage of the new feature. Want to check it out yourself? Try the Preview Wizard to embed a book preview such as the one below.
Both Campus Technology and Inside Higher Ed discuss a new study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s E-Business Institute which finds that undergraduates prefer classes which utilize lecture capture technology.
“According to new research released this week by the University of Wisconsin-Madison involving about 7,500 undergraduate and graduate students, an overwhelming 82 percent of students said they would prefer courses that offer online lectures over traditional classes that do not include an online lecture component. The researchers also pointed out the implications for these findings extend well beyond the classroom.”
The Wilton Library Association has put together a list of Innovative Internet Applications in Libraries. This quick guide provides links to nearly 200 inspirational library websites in the following categories:
John Blyberg has announced the launch of the Social OPAC application suite, including the SOPAC Drupal module which will integrate your library catalog system with the Drupal content management system to offer patrons social features found in today’s leading online communities such as tagging, ratings, and reviews. You can see it in action by checking out the Darien Library catalog. These are some of the features:
Faceted browsing
Ability to remove search limiters
Saved searches
Integrated renewals, holds placement, and fine payment
User Ratings
User Tagging
User Reviews
It is also completely customizable. If you are considering using a social OPAC in your library, you can download the software and find more information on The Social OPAC website. The software is free and open source.
Educause has published another of it’s 7 things articles, this time filling everyone in about 7 Things You Should Know About Zotero. If you’re doing any sort of research or have a need to create bibliographies of online resources, you may want to check out this article which answers these questions about the popular Firefox extension:
What is it?
Who’s doing it?
How does it work?
Why is it significant?
What are the downsides?
Where is it going?
What are the implications for teaching and learning?
The latest video from Common Craft offers Web Search Strategies in Plain English. It gives tips on ways to conduct effective search engine queries including phrase searching, keyword searching, and implied Boolean operators.
Worldcat users can now classify items with tags according to the most recent issue of OCLC Abstracts. Users must be logged in to apply these categories or keywords as WorldCat’s tags are linked with individual accounts. OCLC has plans to roll out related functionality such as tag searches.
OCLC has been busy - this announcement comes right on the heels of the launch of their iPhone application.
The Spotlight Ideas blog has compiled a mega-list of 250 of the very best blog articles posted in the areas of Advertising, Marketing, Media & PR. Anyone interested in marketing, brand development, PR, blogging, or social media will want to bookmark this one. The posts are divided into the following categories, with the number of articles listed beside each:
The Shapiro Library at the University of Michigan has become the first university library to install an Espresso Book Machine, also known as “the ATM of books”, which prints public domain books in a matter of 5-7 minutes. The service is available to researchers, students and the public at a cost of $10 per book. According to their recent press release:
“The printing process begins with a reader selecting a digitized book from U-M’s pre-1923 collection or from another online source, such as the Open Content Alliance. Most books printed prior to the early 1920s can be reprinted without seeking the permission from whomever holds the copyright. Then the file is downloaded to the Espresso Book Machine, where it is formatted, printed and perfect bound with a four-color cover.”
I’ve recently been conducting phone interviews for a course I’m teaching and wanted a way to record the talks so that students could download them. While I had heard of several good programs for doing this on a Mac, I hadn’t gotten any enthusiastic recommendations for Windows applications. I’ve tested out several methods, and one that I’ve found works well is using Skype’s free computer -to-computer calling along with a free program named Call Graph.
Call Graph detects when you dial into a call and begins recording as soon as the person on the other end picks up. Recording can be paused, restarted, and stopped at any point. The application automatically saves the recording in either an mp3 or wav format when you hang up. Call Graph tags each call with the recipient’s name and tags can easily be added or changed for further indexing. Compatible with Windows and Linux.
Author of Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky gave a much discussed keynote at yesterday’s Web 2.0 Expo in NYC titled It’s Not Information Overload. It’s Filter Failure. In his talk he posits that the problem is not the enormous amount of information which is now available, but that we don’t have proper filters for it. Here’s a link to his PowerPoint presentation and a video of his presentation. And here is more coverage of his keynote:
Pew Internet and American Life releases a new study which shows that nearly all (97%) American teens play computer, console, or cell phone games, and that they allow for significant social interaction and civic engagement. This is the first national study of this kind and included a survey of 1,102 teens aged 12-17. Key findings include:
Fully 97% of teens ages 12-17 play computer, web, portable, or console games.
50% of teens played games “yesterday.”
86% of teens play on a console like the Xbox, PlayStation, or Wii.
73% play games on a desktop or a laptop computer.
60% use a portable gaming device like a Sony PlayStation Portable, a Nintendo DS, or a Game Boy.
48% use a cell phone or handheld organizer to play games.
65% of game-playing teens play with other people who are in the room with them.
27% play games with people who they connect with through the internet.
82% play games alone, although 71% of this group also plays with others.
“Longitudinal and quasi-experimental studies have identified a set of civic learning opportunities (such as simulations of civic or political activities, helping others, and debating ethical issues) that promote civic outcomes among youth. Many of these civic learning opportunities parallel particular elements of video game play. We call these elements of game play “civic gaming experiences,” and the survey assesses how many of these experiences teens had. Teens were categorized into three groups—those with the least civic gaming experiences, those with average civic gaming experiences, and those with the most civic gaming experiences. Teens with the most (top 25%) civic gaming experiences were more likely to report interest and engagement in civic and political activities than teens with the fewest (bottom 25%).”
If anyone is interested in open licenses, I interviewed Jimmy Wales this morning on that topic. He was kind enough to agree to speak with me as a part of the course I’m teaching at San Jose State University on the Open Movement and Libraries. And since I am making all of my course materials openly available under a Creative Commons license I thought it would be useful to share this for those interested. I have also interviewed Stephen Downes of the National Research Council in Canada, and Nicole Engard of LibLime, and I have interviews lined up with more incredibly smart people so stay tuned.
Here are the questions I asked Jimmy Wales and here’s the link to the (10 minute) interview:
You are a member of the board at Creative Commons which is a worldwide project which straddles the gap between full copyright and the public domain, offering new choices for creators, can you start off by telling us a bit about more about that?
How is it that you first became interested in Open licenses?
Many people, including the authors of the Open Source Definition, the Free Software Definition and the PLOS’ Open Access Definition insist that commercial uses must be permissible in order for content to be considered free, how do you think this reconciles with Creative Commons’ non-commercial clause?
Wikipedia uses copyleft (GFDL) and you are also on the board of Creative Commons, both of which have licenses which demand that derivative works be licensed with the same original license, do you often find incompatibility issues?
The Wikia community is also using Open licensing of content, can you tell us a bit about that?
Can you tell us a bit about your latest project Wikia Search and how you are using open licensing there?
It seems as though you’ve headed initiatives which have contributed or incorporated nearly all of the topics we are covering in our course - open-source software, open access, open education, and open licensing; Why do you think it’s important to promote Open licensing and Open in general?
The SlideShare blog has recently begun a series of blog posts called Slide Tips which are incredibly useful articles from the world’s leading presentation experts. You can subscribe to the series via RSS or have it delivered to your email box. A couple that I found particularly helpful are:
Palin Ningthoujam at Mashable comes up with 11 Tools to Help You Save Sites for Reading Later. One that looks particularly interesting is the Greasemonkey script FriendFeed Read Later which adds a “later” button and a “read later” interface tab to keep track of those conversations and news items you want to check in on in the future.
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