Archive for February 2012

The folks at the Pew Internet and American Life Project have announced a new report titled Millennials will benefit and suffer due to their hyperconnected lives. Janna Quitney Anderson, Elon University and Lee Rainie, Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project have issued this report based on an online survey of 1,021 technology stakeholders and critics.

“In a survey about the future of the internet, technology experts and stakeholders were fairly evenly split as to whether the younger generation’s always-on connection to people and information will turn out to be a net positive or a net negative by 2020. They said many of the young people growing up hyperconnected to each other and the mobile Web and counting on the internet as their external brain will be nimble, quick-acting multitaskers who will do well in key respects.

At the same time, these experts predicted that the impact of networked living on today’s young will drive them to thirst for instant gratification, settle for quick choices, and lack patience.”

If you’re looking to defend the ROI of social media efforts in your organization, you’ll want to check out Phil Mershon’s 5 Social Media Marketing Trends: New Research at the Social Media Examiner. This is an excellent article chock-full of stats and infographics to support these five claims:

• #1: The Benefits Derived from Social Media are Increasing
• #2: More Businesses are Investing in Social Media
• #3: Measuring ROI is One of the Top Challenges Faced by Marketers
• #4: Marketing Agencies View the Value of Social Media Marketing Differently
• #5: An Integrated Social Media Plan Leads to Greater Financial Results

This is another topic that I give a 3-hour workshop on, and since the Personal Digital Archiving Series was so popular I thought I’d share the content of this one as well. To start off, here’s the workshop description:

Web users spend an average of 8–10 seconds and three clicks on your Web site looking for what they need before they get frustrated and click away. Whether you are developing a new Web site or redesigning an existing one, it is imperative to determine an intuitive and usable navigational structure and taxonomy for your user community. Card sorting is a technique used in the information architecture field to determine a classification scheme that speaks to your user population. Discover how to use this quick and inexpensive technique to understand how your users think about your Web site and its content. Learn how to run both an open and a closed card sort, analyze the results, and make recommendations based on your data. This workshop explores both online and offline card-sorting techniques as well as analysis software. Make sure your information is findable and increase usability by involving your users in the process of designing your Web site — they will thank you for it!

Overview

Card Sorting is a method or technique for discovering how website users categorize information so that you can design your information structure in a way which is navigable and findable by your users. The method involves asking participants to sort sets of cards which have items, names, pages, or sections of your website printed on them into groups that make sense to them, and sometimes to assign labels to those groups.

What a Card Sort Can Provide

“Card sorting studies can provide insight into users’ mental models, illuminating the ways they often tacitly group, sort, and label tasks and content within their own heads” – Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.

• Input into a website’s organizational structure
• Suggestions for navigational systems, menus, and taxonomies
• Identify problem or misunderstood areas of your website
• Insight into organizational trends such as whether users prefer to organize your information by format, subject, task, or business group

Different Types of Card Sorts

An Open Card Sort is one in which participants are given a stack of cards, each with website items printed on them, and are asked to sort them into piles of items which seem to belong together. They are also asked to describe each of these piles by writing labels on blank cards and assigning them to card groups.

• Open card sorts are useful at the outset of a new website or redesign project
• They are great discovery tools

A Closed Card Sort is one in which participants are given both the stack of cards and a group of labels and must sort the cards into these existing categories.  These pre-existing labels may be from an established website, or may have been gleaned from an open card sort which was previously given.

• Closed card sorts are useful when you feel that you already have the most effective labels for your website content, yet want to test them out
• They are great tools for validation

Card Sort Variations – Card sorts can be varied and adapted for particular needs, it isn’t necessary to keep strictly to this formula for instance, additional tasks may be added such as user surveys, questions about particular terms, or tasks such as asking participants to set aside cards which they feel should be on the front page, or requesting that participants organize their groups of items into content trees with items placed in a structured order.

Online vs. Live Card Sorting is a matter of taste and what you have the capability of doing.  Live card sorts are very low-tech, cost-efficient, and easy to prepare for, however, involve recruiting volunteers to physically come to a testing site as well as the time commitment of the card sort administator to hold each study.  However, participants do have the opportunity to ask questions during a live card sort and administrators have the opportunity to listen in on participant discussions which can yield additional insight.  Online card sorts can cost money depending on which tool you choose, however, they are quite easy to prepare for and do not require any time commitment from an administrator to give the study – volunteers can sign on and take the test themselves without needing to physically come to a testing site.

Holding Individual vs. Group Card Sorts is also a matter of preference as well as the availability of volunteers to partake in the sorts.  Having groups conduct card sorts has the advantage sparking conversations between participants.  Observing administrators will be able to make note of the points raised during these informal chats which can provide additional insight into the information design process.  A disadvantage, however, is that a group consensus is usually reached to complete the sort which may discount some individual’s mental models of information organization and can be counter-productive for this task.

This is a great question which was recently posted to Quora, I'd be interested to hear how others in the field are using QR Codes in their libraries. Please take a look and add your ideas!!

What are some uses for QR codes in public and academic libraries? 4 answers on Quora

What are some uses for QR codes in public and academic libraries?

Lauren Goode at AllThingsD writes about a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project conducted in April/May 2011, which sampled more than 2,200 U.S. adults 18 and older. The study found that privacy concerns have increased and that many are being more cautious with their friends and online content.

“More than 60 percent of social media users said last year that they deleted people from their friends lists, up from 56 percent in 2009; and 26 percent of users who keep their profiles private say they apply additional privacy settings to limit what some friends can see.

Profile “pruning” — deleting comments friends leave and untagging photos — is also on the rise, the report says.”

Proquest’s ebrary has published the findings from their 2011 Global Student E-book Survey along with a Social Media Addendum. Over 6,500 students worldwide participated in the survey. Some of the key findings from the addendum include:

• While 41% of students are currently using social media for research or study, 59% are not. Reasons for not using social media include that existing sites are not a reliable source of information.
• When asked if they would use social media to share research with peers, 58% of students indicated “likely” to “very likely,” while 43% stated “unlikely.”
• 35% students indicated they would “likely” to “very likely” pose a question to a librarian using social media, compared to 45% who would “likely” to “very likely” use social media to pose a question to faculty.
• When asked if they would use social media to connect with students with similar academic interests, 69% stated “likely” to “very likely,” while 31% stated “unlikely.”

via No Shelf Required

The staff at UX Magazine has put together a Free eBook: Six Circles – An Experience Design Framework. It is available as a free download in either pdf or ebook format.

“James Kelway started the eBook Six Circles – An Experience Design Framework as an enquiry into how different design principles can be applied to the field of digital product design. This led him to identify six core themes—the “Six Circles”:

• Persuasion
• Behavior
• Visual design
• Usability
• Interaction
• Content

Good products and services combine these themes into better experiences; they induce or entice users into engaging, and guide and assist them as they work through the experiences to reach their goals. Creating these experiences requires a holistic mindset and a multi-disciplinary approach.”

Debbie Hemley at the Social Media Examiner offers 26 Tips for Using Pinterest for Business. The Pinterest social bookmarking site has become wildly popular over the past year and businesses and organizations have begun to strategize about the best ways to leverage the social network. Here are the first five recommendations:

• #1: Add a Pinterest “Follow” and/or “Pin It” Button
• #2: Brands and Pinterest
• #3: Crowdsource
• #4: Do Follow Links
• #5: Etiquette

We want to start using the Outlook Calendar functionality more effectively at my library, and specifically we want to start using a shared calendar called “Library” to note planned vacation days, conference attendance, and other times that staff will be out of the office to make it easier for everyone to be in the loop. Since this was the first time I’ve ever used Outlook Calendar, there were a few things I wanted to know how to do. I’m coming from using Google Calendar so I found a lot of the tasks to be unintuitive comparatively. However, now that I’ve figured it out, I thought I might share what I found with anyone who’s interested. This quick guide will tell you how to accomplish the following 5 tasks in Outlook Calendar:

1. How to set up your Calendar’s main view to display everyone else’s calendars.
2. How to view multiple calendars side-by-side or overlaid on one calendar.
3. How to add events to more than one calendar at a time.
4. How to make personal events private.
5. How to set up a meeting and invite staff and other contacts.

1. How to set up your Calendar’s main view to display everyone else’s calendars.
At the top of the “Home” menu bar, select “Open Calendar”. Then choose “From Address Book”. This will give you a list of your contacts in your address book and you can choose whose calendar you want to view. It will also then add that person’s calendar to your list of “Shared Calendars” on the left navigation pane so you can toggle it on and off in the future. As you can see there are other choices as well, if you want to view someone’s calendar from outside of your organization.

2. How to view multiple calendars side-by-side or overlaid on one calendar.

First select the calendars you want to view in the left navigation pane. Next, in all views except the “Schedule View”, you will see an arrow on each tab beside the main calendar you’re viewing. You can toggle between the side-by-side and the overlaid calendar view by clicking on that arrow.

In the following screenshot we’re viewing 3 calendars overlaid on one another. Note the arrows on each tab to separate them.

3. How to add events to more than one calendar at a time.
There is no native functionality to allow you to add an event to a list of calendars simultaneously in Outlook. HOWEVER! You can create an event on both your calendar and one other quite easily by first adding the event to the secondary calendar you want it to appear on, such as “Library”, then choose “Copy to My Calendar” on the top toolbar of the event.

4. How to make personal events private.
If you’re adding a personal event and you want to block out the time and note the event, but you don’t want others to be able to see or print the details of your appointment you can select the “Private” padlock icon on the top toolbar of the event.

5. How to set up a meeting and invite staff and other contacts.
To set up a meeting with invited attendees, simply go to your calendar and double-click on the day you want to schedule the meeting. Set up the time, subject, and location of the meeting and then choose “Invite Attendees” at the top of the toolbar of the event.

This will open the “Invited Event” tab. You will then want to click on “Address Book” to bring up a list of your contacts. You can then invite attendees in three different categories – those that are Required to attend, those whose attendance is Optional, and people who are Resources for the event. When you’re done selecting attendees, click “Send” and an invite will be sent to everyone selected. You’ll be notified by email when people respond by either accepting or declining the invite.

A.C. writes for The Economist’s Prospero blog about Enhanced e-books:Truly moving literature. This is a great article about the latest publishing trend to create enhanced digital editions of e-books which may included added content such as videos, images, pop up biographies, linked glossary entries, etc.

“Yet for certain kinds of book, such as biographies, cookbooks, literary classics and newer forms of interactive fiction, enhancement can add rich and startling new layers. Penguin’s forthcoming biography of Malcolm X, for instance, features rare archival footage and an interactive map of Harlem. The life of “Muhammad Ali” now comes with audio clips of him rapping about his prowess. Richard Dawkins’s “The Magic of Reality” (voted best app at the 2012 Digital Book World) and E.O. Wilson’s “Life on Earth”, are cunning fusions of documentary and textbook, with molecules and stories spinning at a finger’s touch.”

Jeff Korhan at the Social Media Examiner writes a quick guide to Mobile Marketing With QR Codes and MS Tags. More than 50% of all local web searches take place with mobile devices, so it’s more important than ever to have a smart mobile strategy.

The start of 2012 has been great for library technology stories. Here are 16 of them that you won’t want to miss. Please list any other recent library tech stories in the comments!!

Social Media

1. 5 Ways to Use Pinterest in Your Library
2. 5 More Ways to Use Pinterest in Your Library
3. How Facebook Can Help Market Your Library
4. 10 Tips for Creating a Social Media Policy for Your Library
5. NYPL: Making Collections Possible Through Collaboration

Mobile

6. 8 Essential Apps for Library Conferences

e-Books

7. So you want to start a Kindle lending program
8. E-Books and Libraries: 25 Resources
9. 61 Non-Librarian Jobs for LIS Grads
10. e-Books and School Libraries
11. Threats to Digital Lending
12. e-Book Formats and Devices Infographic
13. Publishers Put the Squeeze on Library eBook Lending
14. How to Talk to Your Patrons About Penguin & Other Publishers Not Loaning eBooks to Libraries
15. Ebooks on Fire: Controversies Surrounding Ebooks in Libraries

Archiving

16. Personal Digital Archiving iLibrarian Series

Australian librarian Kathryn Greenhill at Librarians Matter writes about Getting the Most out of an In-Person Professional Conference. It’s just the beginning of conference season so this post is perfectly timed. Kathryn shares her ideas about how conferences can make their events more engaging.

Charles Hamaker, Associate University Librarian for Collections and Technical Services at Atkins Library, University of North Carolina–Charlotte writes for Searcher Magazine about Ebooks on Fire: Controversies Surrounding Ebooks in Libraries. This is a thought-provoking article on the pressing issue of e-books in the library realm:

“Ubiquitous web and print ads tell individuals and libraries to “buy” ebooks. But long-term preservation and retention rights to stable content are not the norm, because many resellers and vendors don’t possess those rights from the publisher or author. Instead of true ownership, most ebook “purchases” are more like leases, and leases with few residual rights at that. The only way to assure continuing access and storage for an ebook is a permanent download to a device with rights not governed by strict DRM (Digital Rights Management) systems. With content delivered from a hosted service on the web (aka the cloud), the “purchaser” has no control over the content. Even Google Books bears the disclaimer:

[I]f Google or the applicable copyright holder loses the rights to provide you any Digital Content, Google will cease serving such Digital Content to you and you may lose the ability to use such Digital Content.”

Matt Petronzio at Mashable rounds up 37 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed. This excellent post recommends top stories in the categories of Editor’s Picks, Social Media, Tech & Mobile, and Business & Marketing. Here are just a few to get you started:

• Pinterest: Everything You Wanted to Know About 2012′s Hottest Startup
• 10 Social Media Tips for Bloggers
• 8 Job Search Tips From the Co-Founder of LinkedIn
• 4 Tips for Better Engagement on Facebook
• Hashtag Marketing: 9 Ways to Avert Disaster