Author: rdlankes

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Participatory Networks at Midwinter

The final version of the Participatory Network Technology Brief (http://iis.syr.edu/projects/PNOpen/) developed for the ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy will be releassed at ALA Midwinter. The full brief will be available via the web. Many, many thanks to those who took the time to comment on the first public draft.

There was an active period of comments on the public draft of the Participatory Networks paper from mid-October to the first part of December. The comments came in three forms: e-mail to the authors, postings to a web based bulletin board systems, and comments and edits to the paper posted as a collaboratively edited WIKI. Commenters ranged from noted members of the library community, such as Karen Schneider, Walt Crawford and John Buschman to library science students. The most active mode of comments was the bulletin board and e-mail. Few actual edits were made to the WIKI site, with most participants choosing, instead, to leave comments via the WIKI.

The table below summaries the nature of the comments, and the anticipated effect in the final document:

Comment Thread Discussion Anticipated Effect
Library 2.0 Commenters felt the work of the Library 2.0 community was not well represented here, and that a lot of good work done was missed. The Library 2.0 section of the document will be reworked to acknowledge the work of Library 2.0, and discuss a participatory librarianship model as a means of advancing the work of the Library 2.0 community. Many of the commercial Web 2.0 examples have been supplemented or replaced with Library 2.0 examples.
Use of the term â??Conversationâ?? Several commenters felt the use of the word â??conversationâ?? was incorrect, or at best, straining the meaning of the word. Conversation was presented as an informal exchange of ideas between people. The authors clarified the use of conversation and highlighted the use of â??Conversation Theory.â?? A separate theoretical piece is anticipated.
Commercialization of Libraries The use of Web 2.0 technologies and the text seems to promote the use of commercial ideas in the library, and therefore seems to advocate for making the library online more commercial in nature. More library examples were used to highlight how commercially developed technologies does not require commercialization. It was also noted tht there are some libraries in commercial settings.

There will be two presentations on the brief at ALA Midwinter. The first Friday January 19, 2007 to the advisory board of ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy and the second, an open meeting, on Saturday January 20, 2007. The Saturday briefing will be part of the “Washington Office Update Session” 8:00 A.M.â??10:00 A.M., Washington Convention Center, Rooms 611-614.

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Yo! Second Life Cribs – Virtual Dave Style

So I decided to check out second life for real. Even bought myself a piece of property and built a modest office (see movie below). Feel free to stop by and visit (search for “Virtual Dave’s Office”).

next week I’m actually teaching a class (my digital libraries class working on Massive Scale Librarianship) in Second Life. This should be fun.

Slcribs

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Massive Scale Librarianship

“Massive Scale Librarianship” Plenary Presentation, Charleston Conference, Charleston, SC.
Thursday, November 9th, 2006

Abstract: There are two types of discontinuities faced by a field: those you expect, and those that you don’t. The Internet was an unexpected event in librarianship. Few could look at the early days of telnet, gopher, and even the web and truly appreciate its impact on libraries. Yet even so, library science has adapted. Not always elegantly, not always completely, but adapted. Unlike the Internet that had a largely unexpected impact, very large scale computing is an obvious coming challenge. We know computing power, storage and bandwidth are going to increase. Knowing this, it is incumbent upon the library and information science field to consider what is a world like where you can walk around with the entire contents of the Internet in your pocket.
Slides: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/Presentations/2006/Charleston.pdf
Audio: https://davidlankes.org/rdlankes/pod/Charleston.mp3

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“Massive Scale Librarianship” Plenary Presentation, Charleston Conference, Charleston, SC.

Slides available at: /rdlankes/Presentations/2006/Charleston.pdf

You can also download and listen to an audio recording of the presentation here (or through my Podcast): /rdlankes/pod/Charleston.mp3

There are two types of discontinuities faced by a field: those you expect, and those that you don’t. The Internet was an unexpected event in librarianship. Few could look at the early days of telnet, gopher, and even the web and truly appreciate its impact on libraries. Yet even so, library science has adapted. Not always elegantly, not always completely, but adapted. Unlike the Internet that had a largely unexpected impact, very large scale computing is an obvious coming challenge. We know computing power, storage and bandwidth are going to increase. Knowing this, it is incumbent upon the library and information science field to consider what is a world like where you can walk around with the entire contents of the Internet in your pocket.

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Upcoming Presentations

For those interested, here is a list of presentations I have coming up.

  • November 9: Charleston Conference, Charleston, SC “Massive Scale Librarianship“
  • January 16: ALISE, Seattle, WA “Information seeking behaviors: Habits of practice of K-12 educators and learners“
  • January 30: Information Online Conference, Sydney, AU “Changing Face of Service“
  • February 2: Information Online Satellite Event, Sydney, AU “Using Virtual Reference to Rule the World“
  • April 17-18: Connecticut Library Association’s Annual Conference, New Hartford, CT Speaking on IMLS Study on the Library Workforce in the 21st Century
  • May 2: Amigos Conference, Dallas TX Speaking on Participatory Librarians
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The Perils of Free Web Services

In case you hadn’t noticed, I MoBlog. For those who don’t know, MoBlogging is blogging from your mobile phone, and most folks use it to post pictures from their phone cameras right to the web (see the bottom of the menu bar on the left). To do this, I send the pictures (via MMS if you care) to a service called TextAmerica. And it has been a really good service and free. Easy to use, and some easy ways to integrate it into my regular blog.

Then, two days ago I got an e-mail telling me that they would now only allow free accounts to have 50 pictures in it (not unreasonable). They would delete free accounts with more (like mine). Now this wouldn’t be so bad if they let you download all your pictures off of the site….they don’t. Turned that option off a year ago. The only way to get your pictures (besides manually doing it one by one) is to pay an external service to burn them to CD or DVD and send it to you (about $30 for mine).

OK, this is far from a rant. I knew when I signed up for a free service things might change. I have never put any critical pictures there anyway (after all, I have yet to see a good camera in a phone). Just seems a little….um….crass to make you buy back the pictures you put on the free service if you want to keep them (or pay a monthly fee).

Meanwhile, I think I’m switching over to FLICKR to do this (not quite as easy on the phone side, but much cooler on the web side).

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MacArthur Investing $50 Million in Digital Learning

Today the MacArthur Foundation is rolling out a big push into digital media and youth. They are working hard to create a field in the area with researchers and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines. I’ve been a part of this effort as an author for their MacArthur book series devoted to the topic (mine is a chapter on technology and credibility in the credibility volume).

Here’s a snip from the press release:

New York, NY, October 19, 2006 â?? The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation today announced plans to build the emerging field of digital media and learning, committing $50 million over five years to the effort. The Foundation will fund research and innovative projects focused on understanding the impact of the widespread use of digital media on our youth and how they learn.

â??This is the first generation to grow up digital â?? coming of age in a world where computers, the internet, videogames, and cell phones are common, and where expressing themselves through these tools is the norm,â?? said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton, who announced the new initiative today. â??Given how present these technologies are in their lives, do young people act, think and learn differently today? And what are the implications for education and for society? MacArthur will encourage this discussion, fund research, support innovation, and engage those who can make judgments about these difficult but critical questions.â??

More information is available here.