Discovery 14 – Online Databases
Discover
The internet is a wonderful source of information and it is literally true that anyone can publish anything on the internet. This free, uncensored publishing produces a lot of misleading information, especially when it comes to important topics like medicine and law. One way to find reliable information is to choose a reliable source, such as an online database.
An online database is a collection of information about a particular topic which is written, selected and organised by experts and professionals in a particular field. Some databases are collections of articles from newspapers, magazines and other publications like encyclopedias. Usually the database contains the full text (and sometimes pictures, animation and videos) that you would see in the printed version of the publication.
Some online databases are free, most are not. Subscription costs vary from hundreds of dollars to several thousands, so are beyond the reach of most individuals. Therefore, businesses and institutions usually subscribe to databases on behalf of their employees and customers. CityLibraries Townsville subscribes to several online databases, much like we subscribe to printed papers and magazines. The subscription and licence agreements determine how we and our members can access the databases.
Some of these online databases have been adding Web 2.0 features to their services. Let’s take a look…
Play
1) Head to the History Reference Centre and login using your library barcode number.
Search for any topic of interest. Once you see the results list, have a look at the top of the list for the orange RSS feed icon. You can add this feed to your feed reader (that you first set up in Discovery no. 4). Any new articles or items added to this database, that match your search, will be sent as an alert in your RSS feed reader.
2) While logged in to this database, check out the Visual Search feature. Strictly speaking, it’s probably not a web 2.0 feature, but it does indicate a “user-centered” way of thinking (presenting search results graphically instead of lists of text), which corresponds to a web 2.0 way of working.
3) Your Tutor takes advantage of some online comunciation tools like Instant Messaging, that we played with in Discovery 9.
4) Visit the online databases available from the State Library of Queensland. (If you haven’t done so previously, you will need to register for a QPL account, using your CityLibraries Townsville card. Registration is free and you get immediate access after email verification).
- scroll down and log into the Proquest Science Journals database
- perform a search on a topic of your choice
- as you find relevant results that interest you, mark them with a tick
- when you are done marking results, click on the Marked Items folder and use the “create a web page” feature to create an html file from your marked records
- use the “Edit” utility to make comments on your web page
- after saving your comments, e-mail the web page to yourself and a colleague
Connect
Use these tools to set up some useful alerts or reference pages for your work.
Blog about your experiences in this Discovery exercise.
1 comment September 30, 2009
Discovery 13 – Social Networking
Discover
Discover social networking by watching this video:
Social networking services, as defined by Wikipedia, are “primarily web based and provide a collection of various ways for users to interact, such as chat, messaging, email, video, voice chat, file sharing, blogging, discussion groups.” Many of Gene Smith’s building blocks of social sites will be found by users at various sites.
- Identity—a way of uniquely identifying people in the system
- Presence—a way of knowing who is online, available, or otherwise nearby
- Relationships—a way of describing how two users in the system are related (e.g. in Flickr, people can be contacts, friends, or family)
- Conversations—a way of talking to other people through the system
- Groups—a way of forming communities of interest
- Reputation—a way of knowing the status of other people in the system (Who’s a good citizen? Who can be trusted?)
- Sharing—a way of sharing things that are meaningful to participants (like photos or videos)
It is worth noting that most socail networks incorporate tools already discussed in our other Discovery exercises —blogging, micro-blogging, photo and video sharing, and IM.
Earlier this year, the Pew Internet and American Life Project published a research report that said:
The share of adult internet users who have a profile on an online social network site has more than quadrupled in the past four years — from 8% in 2005 to 35% now (Dec 2008)
75% of adults aged 18-24 use these networks
One of the more popular social networking sites, Facebook, was originally launched for students at Harvard College. Its membership was opened up and expanded to include almost anyone who has an e-mail address. Facebook recently announced it had 300 million registered users. Users, in addition to setting up profiles and linking to people and networks, can also pick and choose from thousands of applications.
Ning is social networking service that allow anyone to build their own free social site via a set of integrated Web tools. Ning offers a site to anyone for free and displays ads on Ning pages to provide revenue. Features include the creation of groups, discussion forums, integrated blogs, RSS feeds, tag clouds, integrated video and photos, and personal page customization.
Ravelry is another very popular social networking site with a dedicated focus. It is a knit and crochet community, where you can:
- Organise. Organise your projects, stash, needles, and more.
- Share. Show off your work. Share your ideas and techniques.
- Discover. Find new designs & yarns. Make friends. Try new things.
Play
Facebook requires registration in order to view any profiles of members.
1. Register for the site and add 2-3 friends. Leave a comment at the bottom of this post so others can find and ‘friend’ you.
2. Complete a profile, write on at least one wall and join at least one group. Here are some possible Facebook Groups to join: (Groups are only visible when logged in to Facebook.)
Library 2.0 Interest Group
Libraries Using Facebook Pages
Librarians and Facebook
Read through the Top Ten Facebook Apps for Librarians and consider using some of them.
Top Ten Facebook Apps for Librarians – Part One
Top Ten Facebook Apps for Librarians – Part Two
Top Ten Facebook Apps for Librarians – Part Three
If you like, register with one of the other social networking sites mentioned above (or any other you may have heard of) and join up with other library staff and library-related groups. Some library-related Ning groups:
- Classroom 2.0: http://www.classroom20.com/
- Library 2.0: http://library20.ning.com/
- TeacherLibrarian: http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/
Connect
Write a blog post about what you thought of social networking sites. Here are some questions to get you thinking:
Which library-related or non-library groups did you join in Facebook (or other networks) and why?
Reflect on why Facebook may be the fastest growing social network. Is that reputation deserved?
How might public libraries use Facebook to deliver library services to the public?
2 comments September 21, 2009
Discovery 12 – Web Video
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Within the few years online video hosting sites have exploded allowing users to easily to upload and share videos on the web. Among all the web 2.0 players in this area, YouTube is currently top dog, allowing users not only to upload their own video content easily, but also embed clips into their own sites/blogs easily.
Do some searching around YouTube yourself and see what the site has to offer. You’ll find everything from 1970s comedy, 1980s TV commercials, pseudo documentaries and the latest movie trailers. Of course, like any free site you’ll also find a lot stuff not worth watching too. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore and see for yourself what the site has too offer.
Play
Bored in the library one day? Maybe try…
Take a look at the library YouTube videos highlighted at Tame the Web for more inspiration.
Some other online video sites to explore:
Connect
Explore YouTube & find a video worth adding as an entry in your blog. Try to embed the video in your blog and create a blog post about your experience.
What did you like or dislike about the site and why did you choose the video that you did?
Can you see any features or components of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?
Feeling brave? Make your own video and upload it to YouTube or Google Video. Promote a library program or introduce your library to the community or something else. If you do, be sure to embed it in your blog.
Add comment September 21, 2009
Food for thought
This isn’t a discovery exercise, but something that is related to the question of why we are doing the CityLibrariesLearning program.
Watch the video, then post some thoughts on your learning blog about the statement made in the video:
Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.
Feel free to agree or disagree. 
1 comment August 19, 2009
Discovery 11 – Online collaboration – Online Docs and more
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It’s time for another movie! Grab your popcorn, sit back, relax and learn about Google Docs.
The availability and use of online productivity web-based applications (think word processing and spreadsheets) has exploded over the past few years and for good reasons! These powerful applications provide users with the ability to create and share documents over the internet without the need of installed desktop applications. Some experts speculate that this emerging trend may mean the death to Microsoft Office and other software-based productivity tools, while others think web-based applications have their place, but not in the office. But no matter which side of the office suite platform you side with, on this both sides seem to agree: web-based apps have their place.
One large benefit to web-based applications it that they eliminate the need to worry about different software versions or file types as you email documents or move from PC to PC or Windows to Mac! You can create a document at home, but work on it anywhere that has an Internet connection. Another bonus is that they easily accommodate collaboration by allowing multiple users to edit the same file (with versioning) and provide users the ability to easily save and convert documents as multiple file types (including HTML and PDF). And, you can even use many of these tools, such as Zoho Writer and Google Docs to author and publish posts to your blog. It’s this type of integration with other Web 2.0 tools that also makes web-based apps so appealing.
Play
For this discovery exercise, take a tour of Google’s version of web-based word processing, Google Docs, register and create some simple documents.
There are many more web-based apps to play with and explore, so if you are already familiar with Google Docs, try another one like Zoho which offers a range of applications. Zoho Writer is the word processo
r. It allows instant collaboration, inline commenting and chat facilities. It allows multiple users to work on a document simultaneously, you can import Microsoft Word (DOC), OpenOffice text (ODT & SXW), HTML, RTF, JPG, GIF, & PNG files. Options include sharing documents only with your colleagues/friends or you can publish them for public view. Take the Zoho Writer tour.
Connect
1. Sign up for an account in Google and/or Zoho.
2. Create a document. Upload an existing document to your account. See if you save your document as a PDF or another file version.
3. Publish the document (Public) and post the link on your blog for others to view and/or edit. (*Note: the important part of this exercise to learn and play with web-based apps. If you don’t want to put your document in your blog or link to it, you do not have to, just make sure you blog about your experiences.)
4. Blog about the tools’ ease of use, potential in the library, and other thoughts
Add comment August 19, 2009
Discovery 10 – Online Collaboration – Wikis
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What’s a Wiki? Watch and learn…
A wiki is a collaborative website and authoring tool that allows users to easily add, remove and edit content. Wikipedia, the online open-community encyclopedia, is the largest and perhaps the most well-known of these knowledge sharing tools. With the benefits that wikis provide, the use and popularity of these tools is exploding.
Some of the benefits that make wikis so attractive:
- Anyone (registered or unregistered, if unrestricted) can add, edit or delete content;
- Tracking tools within wikis allow you to easily keep up on what been changed and by whom;
- Earlier versions of a page can be viewed and reinstated when needed;
- Users do not need to know special computer code (HTML) in order to apply styles to text or add and edit content. In most cases, if you have used Word to edit a document, then you an edit a wiki.
As the use of wikis has grown over the last few years, libraries have begun to use them to collaborate and share knowledge. Among their applications are pathfinder or subject guide wikis, book review wikis, conference wikis and even library best practices wikis.
Play
Some staff of CityLibraries have already dipped their toes in the water with these two wikis
- CityLibraries Information to Consider for the review of Information Services
- Looking back… memories of Townsville a project from the Lifelong learning team.
Have a browse through some of these wikis to see how people are using them.
Connect
Your task for this discovery exercise is to add some comments, links or other content to the CityLibraries Information to Consider wiki. The review of Information Services is something that every staff member can contribute to (especially if you don’t work on an Information Desk – we really need to hear your views!).
Create a blog post about your experience.
- What did you find interesting about the wiki concept?
- What types of applications within libraries and schools might work well with a wiki?
- Many teachers/faculty “ban” Wikipedia as a source for student research. What do you think of the practice of limiting information by format?
- Which did you think of the experience of editing a wiki?
Well done – you have finished another Discovery exercise!
1 comment August 19, 2009
Discovery 9 – Communicating Online
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Image courtesy of DailyPic
This discovery exercise is going to take a look at some online communication tools that you may already be familiar yet – indeed you may use some of them almost constantly already. But how might a public library service use these ‘every-day’ tools to better reach our customers?
The tools we’ll look at are:
- Instant Messaging
- Text Messaging / Texting / SMS
- Web Conferencing
Instant Messaging (IM)
IM is real-time online communication between two or more people. Think of it as very fast email exchange between two people! Each person needs to log into the same IM service, and know each others IM name (much like you need to know someone’s phone number before you phone them). Messages are typed and sent to the other person, and sometimes files (pictures, videos etc) can be shared as well. IM is useful because of the immediate response you can get form another person.
Some more information on IM from How Stuff Works and Wikipedia.
Text Messaging / Texting / SMS (Short Message Service)
If you have a mobile phone you probably know about SMS (or text messaging). This service lets you send short messages of up to 160 characters via your mobile phone. There is a basic cost, which you pay as part of your mobile phone plan or pre-paid account.
Read more about SMS at Optus or Telstra.
Web Conferencing
You can conduct or attend live meetings, training or presentations over the internet using web conferencing. This service allows you to sit at your own computer and connect to the conference over the internet. Sometimes this requires a downloaded application on your computer but it can also be a web-based application where you simply enter a URL into your browser to enter the live meeting. These web-based applications use either Java or Flash technology. A webinar is a type of web conference. A webinar can be one-way, with the speaker giving a presentation or it can be collaborative including question and answer or discussion sessions to allow full participation between the audience and the presenter.
Play
Instant Messaging (IM)
Join up and start chatting! There are stand-alone IM services, but increasingly IM functions are built into social network sites like Facebook. Some IM services require downloads onto your computer and some work totally online. Some popular online ones are:
- AIM Express
- Windows Live Messenger (was MSN Messenger)
- Google Gmail Chat
- Meebo
1. Register with an IM service. Share your IM name on your blog, or share it with friends, family and workmates. Organise a IM chat with someone at another library branch during work hours if you need to practice (Warren and Neal are happy to chat!)
2. Read about Instant Messaging and libraries in this Library Journal article.
Text Messaging / Texting / SMS
If you have never played with SMS, or if you don’t have a mobile phone to SMS with, try asking your work colleagues if they could show you SMS on their phones. Your supervisor may have a work mobile which you may be able to borrow and use to try SMS.
Curtin University Library in Australia has an SMS a Query reference service. This paper TXTing Librarians at Curtin (PDF 252 kb) was presented at the Information Online conference in February 2005.
Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki has an extensive list of libraries using SMS and IM for Reference and other customer service work.
Web Conferencing
The State Library of Queensland offer free training to public library staff via web conferencing. They are advertised through the opalinfo email list and the software used works well on CityLibraries staff computers. Sign up for a training session!
Connect
Post your thoughts about Instant Messaging, SMS/Texting and Webinars in your learning blog. If you already use any of these tools, share what you like about them and how you use them. If this is the first time you have used one of these services, write some ideas about how you might use it at work or home.
1 comment August 6, 2009
Discovery 8 – Keeping track
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Do you keep a list of favourites in Internet Explorer? What about bookmarks in Firefox?
Different browsers call them different things but they are all essentially the same. Favourites and bookmarks allow you to save the url (uniform resource locator or “link”) to a website in your browser for quick reference at a later date.
They are super easy to add and very useful. However how many times have you lost bookmarks? It might be that your hard drive in your computer fails or the IT guy forgets to back them up for you when he is repairing your computer.
Online bookmarking provides us with a website where we can keep a bookmarks safe from all of the aforementioned disasters. Plus you can access your online bookmarks from any internet computer, anywhere.
There are a host of online bookmarking sites but we will only cover two here. Delicious and Digg
Play
Visit Delicious and search for some topics that interest you. Look at what is popular, see who bookmarked those sites, and then keep on clicking to see what other related sites that person also bookmarked.
Visit Digg and look at the most popular articles. Try to sort them by popularity or recency. Play with some settings to organise the list. Do a search for something that interests you and see which articles have the most diggs.
Connect!
Create a user account on Delicious and bookmark some websites. Use Delicious as a search engine for interesting websites and see what is popular. You can even add an RSS feed to your aggregator of popular bookmark topics.
Create a user account on Digg and digg some articles. use this daily as a means to keep up with the bleeding edge news on any search items or currently trending topics. Use the functionality of digg to sort your list into “most dugg” or “newest first” to help organise your news items.
Finally, don’t forget to update your learning blog with some thoughts and comments about online bookmark services.
Add comment July 22, 2009
Discovery 6 – Mashups
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A music video to get you in the mood!
This is a mashup from Kutiman, a musician / artist from Israel who mashes up unrelated music videos from YouTube to create new songs and music clips.
When something like a song, picture, map or piece of text is digitised (copied or scanned so a computer can ‘read’ it), it is relatively easily to mix and mash it together with another digitised thing. The results can be entertaining and fun, like the music video above, but mashups can also help represent complex and seemingly unrelated data in new and interesting ways.
Some companies like Flickr (which we explored in our last Discovery exercise), offer a service called an API – Application programming interface. This is something like a computer program that can remix and reuse data that is supplied by you.
Play
They best way to learn is to play around with mashing up some of your own data. You’ll need the photos that you have been uploading to your Flickr account to play with these Flickr mashup tools. If you don’t have enough photos uploaded yet, you can easily use other photos available on Flickr.
- Flickr explains their API and lists some cool mashup services
- Big Huge Labs have a ton of fun stuff. (My personal favourite is the Mosaic Maker)
- Flickr Color Pickr – lets you find public photos in Flickr that match a specific color
- Spell with Flickr spells out your word or phrase with Flickr photos.
- splashr lets you present your Flickr photos in different view.
- Create your own video using still images with Animoto
- Biscuit Tin is a great way of displaying and exploring your Flickr collection
If you run out of ideas with those tools, there are heaps more available at:
- Flickrbits
- The Great Flickr Tools Collection (at Quick Online Tips)
- 17+ Things to do with your online photos (via iLibrarian)
Connect
Have a play with as many of these mashup tools as you like, and then post the results of at least one of your own mashups to your learning blog. Most of the mashup services will give easy instructions about how to save results of your mashup or how to upload it to your blog.
Add comment June 23, 2009
