Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Announcing: CiL Blog Posts List

Last Thursday I asked my Twitterverse if anyone was compiling a list of blog post links from CiL, hoping to take a look at posts from some of the sessions I was considering but didn't end up attending. Such a list can also be useful for those who didn't attend at all.

My tweet only got responses from non-attendees who thought such a list was a lovely idea.

So I made one and just posted it on the Computers in Libraries wiki: http://cil2009.pbwiki.com/Blog-Posts-List

Hopefully the pages are fairly straightforward (if not, edit them! I love wikis for that reason).

As far as the methodology goes, I used several resources from the CiL wiki, including the Technorati link to CiL2009-tagged posts and the list of Bloggers at the conference. Aside from that, I trolled my Google Reader for anyone else and included my notes on this blog and the posts on the InfoToday Blog. I've started going back through the #cil2009 Twitter feed, but thus far haven't seen much of anything that wasn't found already, so I'm making the list available and will add any links from Twitter as I find it.

Friday, April 3, 2009

B303: Mobile Library Apps

B303: Mobile Library Apps
Handhelds at UCHC School of Medicine (UConn) -Sheryl Bai, Benjamin Smith

Library PDA Program
-have supported handhelds since 2001
-library purchased PDAs for staff
-in-service amongst librarians to learn abt PDAs and the databases
-offered first PDA class in 2002
-faculty champion program -hand-selected faculty loaned PDAs loaded w/ databases
-student champion program -loaned PDAs to students for a semester
-in 2004, medical students req'd to purchase PDA & download library material
-PDA clinic
-PDA tune-ups
-provide PDA syncing station
-create PDA website & tutorials
-participate in problem-based learning courses
-licensing of PDA software


current PDA initiative
1. PDA requirement
2. meet w/ faculty -what databases?
3. test handhelds (handouts online: http://www.infotoday.com/cil2009/day.asp?day=Wednesday#session_B303)
4. create instructions
5. letters to students -recommended PDAs
6. PDA champions -meet w/ select group of students, instruct on installing dbs, so they can help others
7. PDA clinics
8. demo databases
9. orientation
some considerations
-handheld platform
-windows mobile 2003 or mobile 5
-version of windows mobile (in-house application needs windows)
-smartphones

smartphones
-two devices in one
-cheaper
-phone contract
-screen resolution (can be lower than on PDA)
-touch screen (not all have the capability)
-windows

pocket pc software utilities (handout)
-dotpocket.com
-faronics deepfreeze (faronics.com)


DCPL Mobile Library Apps -Chris Tonjes, Aaron Schmidt
[I left during this part of the session -my brain was getting too overloaded]

B302: Mobile Usability: Tips, Research, & Practices

B302: Mobile Usability: Tips, Research, & Practices

Mobile Phone Reference 101 -Michael Sauers, Christa Burns
not going to talk about the iPhone b/c not all of us own one! ;)

most users have traditional phones (flip-phones, etc)
Google via SMS; text to 46645 (e.g. weather 22202)
SMS via email -text goes to your email address

if you have a smartphone & use non-phone functions, make sure you have a data plan, preferably an unlimited data plan

mobile amazon.com; can now buy books via text message, too
library thing mobile (can look up what you own while at bookstore)
mobile wikipedia (mobile.wikipedia.org)

not everyone is comfortable installing apps on their phone
-m.ebuddy.com gives mobile interface to access IM services (AIM, MSN, etc.)
google maps app, incl. streetview (has screen 'please don't use while driving!')

Mobile Informatics -Jim Hahn
PPT: http://www.infotoday.com/cil2009/day.asp?day=Wednesday#session_B302

C301: CM Tools: Drupal, Joomla, & Rumba

C301: CM Tools: Drupal, Joomla, & Rumba
How to not have to use drupal: taking Joomla and Drupal to task with ModX CMS -Ryan Deschamps

CMS: something to develop a website w/o having to do straight code
should do three things:
-facilitate division of labor (code vs. content vs. design)
-support the overall development of the site
-ensure best practices/standards
Halifax public libraries

it's not about the front end -can/will look the same no matter the backend
-it's all about the cockpit
idea is to make the experience easier for staff so they can do what makes your clients/patrons happy

why joomla?
-#1 in terms of market share
-huge community of support
-templates can be edited from the Admin utility
-overall kinder interface on the backend
-rated highly on OpenSourceCMS website (opensourcecms.com -demos, ratings, etc)
-we didn't know better
(drupal a little more 'gnome-ish')

why we switched
-ultimately it wasn't working
-painful upgrade from 1.0 to 1.5, so looked at the other products as alternatives
-learned a lot of things about CMSs in developing on Joomla; it's not that great for some things
-difficult to assign specific areas -couldn't limit access, gave access to more than just one area

things I like about ModX
-has fine-grain user access -set up groups of people w/ access to only specific sections
-template is html w/ bits of syntax to define what will be brought in (menu, etc.)
-community support more engaged & helpful -size of community isn't as important
-lot of flexibility -not getting in the way as much
-template variables -could use to put in CC license, for example

things I don't like about ModX
-still needs some work -documentation issues (have to learn & ask questions a lot)
-labels not the greatest
-some syntax knowledge required

final analysis:
-go to open source CMS
-joomla: great for an intranet
-community engagement > community size
-future: "application framework" rather than "content management system"


Drupal -open source CMS (John Blyberg)

open source CMS of the year for past two years (PACT publishing?)
-commitment to building loyal & passionate community
~250,000 websites sonybmg, theonion
scales really nicely -out of the box, will work for 100,000+ records

key features:
-not as easy as Joomla -steep learning curve (photoshop elements vs. full-blown photoshop)
-content
-every piece of content called a "node"
-associates bits of info w/ that node
-blog post = content type (title, body, tags)
-content construction kit (CCK) -create new content types, modules from admin interface

-taxonomy
-can do different classification systems for different content types
-can use taxonomies to set up structure of site (can put content in more than one place)

-templating system
-PHP template (industry standard PHP templating)
-if you don't like how something looks, you can make it look how you want it to
-allows for aggregation

-API system
-the crux of drupal
-drupal is built on its own API
-api.drupal.org

-drupal.org/handbooks
--drupal is extremely well-documented
they built SOPAC on top of drupal; represents great investment of time and work and assessment that drupal will be around for a long time

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Evening Session: Dead & Innovative Technologies

Evening Session: Dead & Innovative Technologies

Marshall's view of library technology
-pragmatic approach -adopt technologies that support the strategic mission of the libraries
-"help libraries be better libraries"
-long view of the impact of technology on libraries
-not so much a mover and shaker but a survivor

urgency for innovation
-libraries are good at taking the tech of the current gen and applying it to the reality of their last gen & calling it next gen
-not so great track record at moving forward at the pace of change of society, media, and tech
-transition to electronic content has been underway for a decade, yet we still lack effective tools to manage them effectively
-need to have a mastery of search and delivery that surpasses the commercial realm, yet we continue to cling to hopelessly ineffective tools

life cycles
-dead -we know that it's dead, not good investments
-should be dead -continues to be used, but holds libs back
-emerging & innovative

computer architectures
-dead: mainframe, proprietary platforms
-dying: client/server computing
-emerging & innovative: web-based computing, cloud computing, service-oriented architecture

library automation deployment models
-dead or dying: standalone lib automation
emerging & innovative: shared automation implement (consortia, regional, state, nat'l), new models of collaboration, resource sharing among groups of peer institutions

library interfaces
-dead: text-based interfaces, any non-web interface
-emerging: rich internet applications
dead
-libary interfaces designed to make librarians happy...
emerging
-library interfaces designed to make our users happy

dying
web 2.0
-libs have latched on to web 2.0 as an almost fixed model to shape their understanding of the computing, while the rest of the world has pushed forward
-we've taken web 2.0 and shoved it into a silo
-we have not brought the concepts into the fundamental infrasturcture that powers libs. it's an add-on
-web 2.0 apps often jettison users away from library's web site. counter to the strategy of funneling users in to the web fabric that delivers its content & services

emerging & innovative
-socially aware, enterprise-level lib auto.
-lib auto. frameworks built from the ground up as a collab app
-social interaction not an afterghought
-treats user-supplied data as assets that we organize, manage, and preserve


Dead/Alive -Amanda Etches-Johnson
5 things -technologies, ideas- are they dead or alive?

blogs are dead
-as soon as something gets on whitehouse.gov, it's not trendy anymore (jessamyn)
-engaging, authentic blogs are alive and well

Twitter is dead
-as soon as your cable company friends you, the technology is at least not trendy, if not dead

Information Architecture is dead
-it's all about user experience right now
-it's not about building that great taxonomy or a foolproof nav, it's about the user experience

Second Life is dead
-no, seriously, there's like nobody there

usability is alive and well
-doesn't have to be big & expensive -can be as simple as card sorting or doing rapid prototypes on paper
-can be as simple as writing content that your users "get"
test your f***ing labels ->Karen Coombs

Your spime is in my library -Aaron Schmidt

post-desktop situation
ubiquitous computing -ubicomp; everyware, internet of things, ambient intelligence
-your banana's gonna have a URI and be able to talk to your car

?UI -no one knows what the user interface is gonna look like
analog -> digital
there's a lot of money to be made

RFID chips are becoming really cheap -pennies per chip rather than dollars
old people -home is aware of your health status?
RFIP dust -smart dust, MEMs
QR codes
netflix, hulu, kindle & kindle iPhone app
dropbox -efficient distribution
andriod operating system from google -set top box for TV?
Extended Environments Markup Language (EEML) -pachube
ipso
mobilizy -app for google phone -can tell you info about where you are (tourists, etc.)
ambient umbrella -lets know you if there's rain in the day's forecast
space in time object (SPIME) -meat package w/ RFID tag, know history of your food

question for libraries: what are we supposed to do?
-if everything has a URI, what are the catalogers going to do?

Books: Everyware -Adam Greenfield
Shaping Things -Bruce Stirling


Darlene Fichter
everything needs a tag!

Predictions
mass media revolution -> personal media revolution
-end of rabbit ears? or the decline of TV as we know it?
"Farewell Information, it's a Media Age" -Paul Saffo, table 1

things I know
#1 technology can actually hurt you sometimes

#2 the forecast is cloudy (cloud computing, tag cloud)
-time to open the adult collection in your library and generate revenue!
-how in the hell is putting more computers & gaming systems into the library 'green'?
-cloud computing is going to be like a tornado for your library
-it's time for one catalog to rule them all -should be a service in the cloud
-one database to rule them all ->google scholar will be gone if the economy continues as it is -won't generate enough revenue
-reference -don't want to talk about that (it's one thing to pick on cataloging people...)

#3 these technologies MUST die
-Windows Vista ::won't miss this view:: 2005-2009
-power cords -never want to have to plug anything in again in my life


Stephen Abram
in dog years, I'm dead

using the hyatt as a model for library land
-keep the bar closed all day
-never make eye contact with customers
-keep the coffee counter closed most of the day
-staff should move as slowly as possible, backwards in time as possible
-if you feminize the mens' room, don't make your sign say where men should go
-"putting the frown in out logo every day!"

public library: like wikipedia, only it takes 4 hours (comic)
what's dead? -vinyl

watching change
-kids, seniors, zoomers
-election polling
-olympics yahoo vs. nbc
-telephones, readers
-the economy -nuff said
-newspapers-Detroit cancelled home delivery two days ago & Sun Times Media Group today
-Encarta died yesterday (oct 31, 2009)
-kindle & skype for iPhone
-Wikia search-dead pooled today by Jimmy Wales

what is the deadest tech for libraries?
-people with their heads up...
when your kids' stuffed animals have a social life on the internet, it's no longer a fad
are going to a totally build it yourself world? imagine IKEA merging with GM...
-when journalism goes away, assemble your own newspaper

will reading matter? audiobooks and eBooks... and google
it's reading that matters, not books -don't worry about the container (it's about knowledge, not the container)

what does your best borrowed report look like?
how do your community content reviews do?
do you offer podcasts?
are your content displays (physical or virtual) innovative?
can you circulate books from anywhere?
are we going to be the tree falling in the forest?
can the modern director use data?
the people in charge of leading school organizations into the 21st century often are the least knowledgeable about the 21st cent
how are our libraries evolving?

top 10 unintentionally worst URLs
whorepresents.com
expertsexchange
penisland.net
therapistfinder.com
powergenitalia.com
molestationnursery.com
ipanywhere.com
cummingfirst.com -First Cumming Methodist Church
speedofart.com
gotahoe.com
Favorite filtering disasters
specialist
middlesex county
PDF -portable document format
magnum cum laude
canadian business and current affairs
inner tube
president bush
fcuk
what's your bread and butter? it's not about storing the stuff like we're an inventory

Stupid librarian tricks
-my education was substandard
-the OPAC sucks
-come for books!
-market to our cardholders
-open source is free
-we can protect children

Getting their attention? Fuck Google, Ask Me! -advertisers ultimately control what shows up on the first page of results

[I thought this was a great, entertaining-and-thought-provoking session. And the desserts provided were good, too!]

B205: Open Access: Green & Gold

B205: Open Access: Green & Gold

Green Open Access -Shane Beers
-unfortunately, far more complex than one might expect

What is green open access?
-making a digital document freely available on the Web -frequently referred to as "self-archiving"
-most frequently peer-reviewed research journal & conference articles
-first explicitly proposed in 1994
-important: NOT self-publishing

Why care about green OA?
-OA repositories allow institutions to manage, store, & showcase research
-potentially maximizes the usage & impact of univ research output
-potential new ways to monitor metrics for promotion & tenure

advangates of green OA
-making preprint OA before publication may hasten & increase citations
-OA postprints immediatly upon publication can do the same
-an OA document is frequently downloaded more often

methods of green OA
-locally hosted repository software (DSpace, Fedora, EPrints)
-externally hosted repositories utilizing same software
-subject-based repositories (Arxiv, RePec, E-LIS)

who is using OA content
-other researchers!
-"serials crisis" makes it difficult or impossible for libs to afford every sci journal
-developing countries lack funds for expensive journals
-people outside academia -OA material can be accessed by anyone

lack of adoption
-2008 study stated 19.4% of 346,000 sci articles published in 2006 were either gold or green OA
-about 15% of institutional research is spontaneously self-archived
-even incentives only increase self-archiving to about 30%

external barriers to adoption
-researchers themselves ->traditions, slow to change, competitive environment, may not care about OA
-copyright complications ->concerns researchers, large amount of work for staff, post-print legal issues
-publishers fear OA threatens them ->concern for loss of income, viability

internal barriers to adoption
-repositories are NOT self-sustaining
-requires top-down dedication from administration
-costs: internal management vs. external hosting
-staff to support IR: single "repository rat" model is RARELY SUCCESSFUL (Dorothea Salo)
-software platforms rarely meet needs

open access mandates
-only way to guarantee 100% self-archiving is to require it w/ a mandate
-first OA mandates in 2003
-RORAMAP (registry of open access repository material archiving policies)
-[missed]
-important US mandates: Harvard & MIT faculty, NIH Open Access made permanent
-some international surveys indicate 95% of faculty would comply w/ a self-archiving mandate, 80% willingly

future of green OA?
-hopefully more mandates
-peer-reviewed green OA repositories
-experts providing peer-review service for fees paid for by participation institution or authors
-repositories becoming sets of services rather than silos of material
-integrating green OA repositories into researcher workflow


conclusions
-growing trend of green OA awareness & support
-even w/ institutional repositories, subject-based repositories, & mandates, not even 20% of research OA
-library's role not straightforward, but certainly play a substantial part in supporting OA


Open Access & Academic Libraries -Amy Buckland

gold open access
-no price barriers
-no permission barriers

open journal systems
-part of the Public Knowledge Project
-journal management system
-locally installed
-chock full o' metadata
e.g. First Monday, McGill Journal of Education, Library Student Journal

library student journal
-open access, peer-reviewed, international
-hosted at LISHost
-run by volunteers (all currently in LIS programs except Amy)
in your library

who
-publisher: your library (everything is running & the bills are paid)
-editors/editorial board: faculties, deptartments, centres, associations
-authors/reviewers: not your concern (you just help put together)

when/where
-now
-your library

why
-publication models are changing
-many granting agencies require gold or green publishing practices
-makes the research output of your university available to everyone

how
-digital collections/services group
-install is easy (OJS in an Hour)
-getting the word out is hard
-coordinate the installation
-make MARC records available
-ensure journals are indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals

so what?
-build relationships between faculty & the library
-direct involvement in research output
-great marketing tool
-OA publications have no barriers
-future: collaboration with university presses?

C204: Evaluating, Recommending & Justifying 2.0 Tools

C204: Evaluating, Recommending & Justifying 2.0 Tools [very crowded session!]
Marydee Ojala
slides are on CiL site or in notes book p. 115

some social tools are very useful for research purposes

new tech should solve a problem, not provide a solution to a problem your org doesn't have