This is the Real McCoy!

Posted on December 3, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

Michael Habib’s Masters Thesis: Academic Library 2.0
This is the Real McCoy!

I’ve just fininshed doing a batch of marking for Master’s students whose task it was to create pathways and electronic information packets for a chosen audience, and to analyse the development and implementation of these ……..and, well, they were nice ………. but not within ‘cooee‘ of what you can read in Michael Habib’s Masters Thesis for his MLS, which is available for download at http://etd.ils.unc.edu/dspace/handle/1901/356

I’ve read through the paper twice, and was thrilled by two things.

A university is allowing graduates to write about directions in a Web 2.0 world.
The quality of Michael’s paper – which is just great!

The definition of Library 2.0 (and it’s purpose) is grounded in its roots in Web 2.0. Read Michael’s paper as it is a great overview of Web 2.0, as well as being something of a compass for navigating ourselves through to a new future.

Of relevance to Australians is Michael’s discussion of intellectual freedom and knowledge usage.

He says:

…librarians have always trusted that the majority of their users strive to distinguish that which is good and true. This is the foundation of the principles of democracy, academic scholarship, and intellectual freedom. However, Academic Library 2.0 demands a more explicit trust in the majority. This explicit trust necessary for Library 2.0 is rooted in the principles of academic scholarship and intellectual freedom.

…..Information literacy classes would instruct students and faculty in the use of these and other Web 2.0 services. Instruction would also teach students about responsible content creation. This would include teaching them about intellectual property so that they could maintain appropriate control over their contributions

Michael also pushes more possibilities, e.g.

….An API would also be available to allow students and faculty to develop mashups of library system datasets and other datasets.

….A built in RSS reader would enable students to pull in data from various sources such as a friend’s favorites or new recommended materials. This would present students with a snapshot of what is occurring in their areas of study.

The thesis represents a good review of the Web 2.0 literature related to libraries, and poses some good ideas and templates. Michael plans to develop an Acadmic Library 2.0 Wiki to continue the conversation.

Good one Michael!! Congratualtions on making it to the end 🙂

Comments are welcome at his post: http://mchabib.blogspot.com/2006/11/toward-academic-library-20-developme

The value of knowledge!

Posted on December 2, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

I spent today, Saturday, at The Kings School, working closely with professional colleagues from the School Library Association of NSW, doing some strategic planning for 2007 and beyond.

ASLANSW Planning Day One way or other we covered a lot of ‘territory’, driven by our need to respond to the constantly changing landscape of learning of students, and the needs of ‘school 2.0’. Admitedly we didn’t actually use that term all day, but School 2.0 was actually what was pushing the strategic planning. Amongst other things, the results of our planning saw professional development initiatives for 2007 that have a strong digital and Web 2.0 focus, alongside literature and learning.

We spent a lot of time talking about ‘knowledge’ – including knowledge access, knowledge creation, learning networks and connective knowledge. Knowledge will underpin our future thinking and planning and I am planning on writing a paper on this topic in the coming months, and plan to deliver a presentation early in 2007 on a ‘knowledge commons’ as the new direction for blended learning – merging school libraries further into the main knowledge work of a school. We need knowledge specialists to support knowledge processing (finding, thinking, creating), not librarians shelving books or recording videos.

After the action research I undertook this year in 5 schools on digital learning I am as convinced as ever that teachers and students can benefit from a ‘knowledge expert’ at the school. (The results of this research will be published in 2007).
In addition, we will be responding to the NSW Board of Studies HSC: All My Own Work program that is designed to strengthen the capacity of HSC students to follow the principles and practices of good scholarship, including understanding and valuing ethical practices related to locating and using information as part of their HSC program.

The program has been developed as part of the NSW Government’s Respect and Responsibility strategy and complements other approaches such as brochures for teachers, students and parents and strengthened student and teacher declarations for the HSC. The HSC: All My Own Work program is integrated with other NSW syllabuses and programs. The program is designed to be delivered flexibly as self-paced learning modules, and is now available online for schools, for online delivery, and quiz completion. We will be running workshops in Sydney in term 1, and hope to repeat these in country areas later in the year.

Great day everyone!

Google – altruism or what?

Posted on December 1, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

I had to follow up my last post, prompted by a friend, to comment on the constant rollout of stuff from Google. I’m a fan on the one hand, and then I worry on the other. Google’s technology playground, GoogleLabs, is seemingly always cooking up cool new things. The graduates of GoogleLabs soon find a place in the digital mainstream. I liked Google Desktop, for a while, then gave up a few months ago as in reality I do not work on only one computer and not enought stuff transfered – so Desktop had too many limitations. Even the indexing fails at times! I have of course dabbled with other Google goodies, and make good use of Picassa. And I am curious to see how Google Suggest shapes up. It’s fascinating to watch the hits – worth showing teachers and students.

At the back of my mind, however, is the Googlification of all things online as posed by that great flash video EPIC2015. Was 2004 really the year everything began? Can’t you just see all these Google things leading to the Evolving Personalised Information Construct?

Regardless, a Google product that has been getting some ‘press’ in the blogosphere is The Literacy Project.

Ira at SpecEdChange says ” Google has pulled together a vast collection of literacy resources into an on-line Literacy Project that can help educators assemble books, information, videos, book groups, blogs, and much more.

Take a look around, you’ll find fascinating things that may spark all sorts of classroom ideas. There are easy to follow directions for creating tech-enhanced on-line book groups, developing school-wide blogs, or for adding your own school literacy videos to this project”.

Ho Hum. I’m going to wait to see what teachers in schools can do with this.

Tom Hoffman in Emerging Technologies quoted Andy Carvin who comes down a bit on Google:

My guess is that other educational bloggers will have similar reactions. Not unlike the Google Literacy project launched the previous week, Google for Educators seems more like a promotional stunt, lacking in any new resources tailored for educators. Given Google’s superpower strength in the Web 2.0 universe, one might expect them to focus their resources a bit more on developing tools and services that teachers and students could really use.

Tom also complains about advertising – fair enough – but how else will we get lots of apps for free in schools?

In the meantime I do feel that the Google Literacy Project pulls together into one space various tools that we can use in our Web 2.0 learning environment – and from my point of view, having them together in one Project (or portal) makes it much easier to promote to reluctant teachers.

It’s just the quality that’s the issue isn’t it? But I do like fun!! So go try this out now….

From Dean Shareski:

This is just plain good fun. Spell with Flickr was fun but this is really cool. Type any name or phrase and geogreeting finds buildings that will spell your phrase.

The page itself actually finds and shows the building locations as it builds your name.

The world (school) in 2007…. 2027?

Posted on November 24, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt shares his views of the world in 2007 – putting things nicely in context for those new to appreciating the significant changes taking place in our networked world. A good read, and lots of “oh yeh” moments.

Some highlights:

The internet is much more than a technology—it’s a completely different way of organising our lives. But its success is built on technological superiority: protocols and open standards that are ingenious in their simplicity.

In 2007 we’ll witness the increasing dominance of open internet standards.

Driving this change is a profound technological shift in computer science.

Sophisticated browsers and technologies like LAMP or AJAX—not neon lights or Greek heroes but simple building blocks that enable people to produce and distribute content—are critical in this new world. They are the kind of technologies that transform audio, video, text and digital data into intuitive, easy-to-use services. They make Google, MySpace, YouTube, Gmail, Yahoo! and Microsoft Live possible, and they haven’t even entered adolescence.

Today we live in the clouds. We’re moving into the era of “cloud” computing, with information and applications hosted in the diffuse atmosphere of cyberspace rather than on specific processors and silicon racks. The network will truly be the computer.

The lesson is compelling: put simple, intuitive technology in the hands of users and they will create content and share it. The fastest-growing parts of the internet all involve direct human interaction. Think about the blogging phenomenon and social networking sites like MySpace in America, Bebo in Britain, Orkut in Brazil, CyWorld in Korea and Mixi in Japan. In 2007 the virtual communities so prevalent in Asia and among students will become mainstream. Online communities are thriving and growing. The internet is helping to satisfy our most fundamental human needs—our desire for knowledge, communication and a sense of belonging.

So what do we do about learning 2007? Spot the difference to start with!

Recognise that our learners are involved in “an architecture of participation” rather than just being consumers of information and knowledge.

Now they are

creators
contributors
communicators
collaborators
co-ordinators.

Online learning from a school’s perspective looks very different from online learning from a students perspective. Schools are still talking content management systems, learning management systems – getting excited about rolling out online classrooms. Well, they are nice for sure. But let’s not forget to plug in the web-based social networking tools – particularly if your version of LMS doesn’t include blogging, bookmarking, photosharing, chat, document collaboration, slidesharing, etc etc.

If you need help in grasping (planning for 2007 or 2027) take a look at FutureSight and discover what case-studies can tell you about the e-enabled future primary or secondary school.

Then join the conversation through School 2.0. and take a long hard look at Learning 2.0 school map. There is no one path to the school of tomorrow, so this brainstorming tool is idea for getting your planning underway.

I would say that there is nothing surer than the fact that learning and ‘cloud computing’ go hand in hand, so we had better get our school 2.0 designs underway now!

Some notes on why I am doing this!

Posted on November 22, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

Quite surprisingly, the anniversary of the first six months of this blog is about to arrive May 29……. see first post Hello World. Yikes!

To celebrate I am going to spend some time in the coming weeks tinkering with my BlogRoll….because it’s time! I can’t fit all of my Heyjude Bloglines in the roll – but there are some blogs that have provided great leadership for newcomers like myself and to whom I want to say ‘thanks for supporting innovation and change’. As a group you represent the ‘big names’ and the ’emerging names’. You pick which one you are! Without your inspiration I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t be learning at such a breath-taking pace.

When I hit the 12 month mark I hope to be able to list a significantly growing Australian list. Come on Aussies – let me know if you are out there in the blogosphere!

Here’s a recent (though well-known) arrival at Parallel Divergence.

You know, it shouldn’t be this easy to engage in such far-reaching and indepth professional learning. It has been the best six months – and I have learned more in this six months than I ever could have done any other way. Is this a true reflection of blogging…. or the rapidly changing landscape of the digital scene of Web 2.0.

I don’t know the answer to that. But I do know that the amazing personal and professional links with fellow bloggers, fellow social bookmarkers, fellow photo-sharers, fellow bloglines buddies, fellow poddies (yes, that’s what we do in Australia…truckies, roadies, firies, sparkies…) has been terrific.

Just to be different, I’m going to share another blogger with you….Alison Croggon, who provides independent theatre reviewing and discussion. She’s Australian too, and has been making her mark in the blogosphere for some time now.

I’ll let her share her own beginnings about why she is doing this!

Some notes on why I’m doing this

“honest and searching dialogue about theatre”

theatre notes

Blogging, like much else in the cyberuniverse, is a chance to be your own star. Even if no one reads your blog, there’s the mirage of public exposure. It’s peculiarly seductive. But apart from the appeal to an illusory sense of self-importance, there’s another reason to like the concept. Blogging has re-introduced the independent public commentator; but unlike underground magazines or samizdat, which were available only to the few, anyone who has a computer with an internet connection can look at a blog.

So I decided to start this blog, as an experiment. Will anyone read it? I don’t know. But I hope it will be fun to do and interesting to read.

Well I guess lots of people are actually reading her blog.

Just like mine – lots of people are reading it too.

So as I said in my first post –

Time to chuck our preconceptions away! Time to undertake a journey of discovery. Time to influence the shape of things to come.

Wiki Wonders!

Posted on November 21, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

Oh……I didn’t know there were so many! Next time you think you might like to use a wiki for some kind of collaboration online, you might want to check in at WikiMatrix first – an interesting wiki comparison tool.

The site allows you to put wikis against each other and get side by side comparisons. Plus, there are forums and articles that will help in the decision making process as well as assistance throughout the early stages of your “wiki-ing”. Very useful.

From Library Stuff.

Learning! New approaches, new spaces, new tools

Posted on November 21, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

Recently we held a 1-day mini-conference looking at the issue of learning – in new spaces with new tools. Our keynote speaker, Leanne Cameron from the Teacher Education Program Instructional Technology Centre, Macquarie University , presented some thought-provoking ideas about kids learning, and the changes they have made in adapting to the learning modes of digitally native tertiary students. Changing Learning space design, incorporating digital tools, and a 24/7 approach to learning was what it was all about. Of particular interest was the physical changes of classroom environments and resulting assessment tools – e.g. use of chat as an assessment tool.

Even just one example shows the changes possible if we use web 2.0 tools in a blended way to support learning.

For instance, running chat discussions and learning frameworks via the LAMS system, offered innovative opportunities.

..three chat sessions of the prescribed readings accounted for 20% of the total marks (and will be lifted to 25% in 2006); authoring of a LAMS sequence was compulsory, but marked only as pass or fail, with an accompanying analysis and reflection of the pedagogical design worth 35%.over a topic allows remote access, and for the teacher leader, provides a ‘transcript’ of conversations far more powerful than the usual groupwork method – particularly when tied to assessment processes.

Discussion about the changes needed in creating a Library 2.0 environment was the natural extension of these changes being noted in student learning needs.

In the blogosphere these conversations are being had all the time. I recently picked up the Conversation about the Future of Libraries from David Warlick – check out the podcast and circulate it to your colleagues. We need to keep this conversation happening.

Leanne also showed us the future automated system at Macquarie uni library for storage and delivery of books. Remember the old stacks that postgrads used to use? Catch the concept at Sonoma University Automated Retrieval System. The retrieval system provides quick access to an additional 750,000 items housed in a three-story, computer-managed shelving system located within the library building.

So where does that leave us with information management? and access to knowledge repositories? and building wise connections from what we read online or off, and as we engage with others?

On this topic I was much taken by Dave Pollard’s Adding Meaning and Value to Information. Let’s take it from another angle – the real world rather than the school world that educators seem to live in – though not our digitally native kids!

He shows us a great table exploring how we make what is written down more meaningful, more valuable. Whether online or off, this is what it is about isn’t it? He then draws an example of the cognitive and metacognitive pathway of that process.

Finally he says:

The great challenge in this task is enlightening management — the majority of executives still seem to see IT as a means to disintermediate information and get rid of the Information Professional role entirely. It has been my experience that no one in the modern organization is as under-utilized and under-appreciated as the information professional.

OK – can you hear the highly relevant echos of this sentiment in our schools?

Web 2.0 special

Posted on November 6, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

From the Weekend Magazine of Guardian Unlimited – a summary of Web 2.0 in the “Weekend Web 2.0 issue” – giving us a roundup of the creators of some of our most popular tools.

It’s great to see pictures of these people! Fun roundup. Matt at WordPress really is amazing – he just keeps on churning out those enhancements and developments – making it possible for people like me to blog like this 😉

Web 2.0 to Library 2.0 – the next publication

Posted on November 6, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

PART 1

Earlier in the year Part 1 of a two-part series of papers was published with the title Engaging the Google Generation through Web 2.0. This article was just a small effort on my part aimed at introducing teachers and teacher librarians to the world of Web 2.0. It has worked quite well for introducing newcomers to Web 2.0. I have seen copies of it with highlighter pen marking key concepts and places to visit. I have had people come to workshops and sessions with their well-thumbed article ready to learn more.
Part 2

Now Part 2 has arrived Engaging the Google Generation through Library 2.0. Perhaps it has something to offer you as well.

I was not as happy with this paper, but writing it inspired the Library 2.0 Matrix. I will have to update my Matrix on Flickr now to reflect the version presented in the article. The pace of change means that anything we read these days needs to be sifted and sorted for ideas – so I guess it’s your turn to sift right now 🙂

There are points in the article which are not correct. The editorial addition of the SCIS (Schools Cataloguing and Information Service) website review is confusing and misleading. I suspect that the writers of the review of the Second Life Library 2.0 blogspot didn’t quite understand what they were writing about. The blog is now at InfoIsland, and is a great place to get an overview of the action in SecondLife even if you don’t yet want to go into the 3D world.
Delany Library’s Delicious account is a good example of how one of our teacher- librarian is making use of the social bookmarking site to hook teachers and students into Web 2.0, as well an ensuring currency and relevancy of her library services. But it is not a ‘blog’! Sorry.

Anyway, you might find something of interest in the article, or you may like to circulate it between friends or colleagues. Enjoy!