Full circle or what is old is new again.....

Smashing is what I would say about Mashups and API. I think it truly reflects the cleverness of some folks. It could be compared to things that are so common place today, but are someone's clever insight into opening a can with a pull tab, or making light switches glow in the dark, obvious after you see it, but did not think of it. Taking common programs and working them in a new way to synthesize the information or data to be more useful, easier understood, and possibly even providing new insights. Being a practical person, many of the Mashups that I look at caused me to think,"I will never use that". For instance "lifestream" - were everything you do on the web is captured and presented so that your "followers" can see what you are up to at any given moment. Gee, my life is not that boring that I need to see what others are doing to get ideas about what I should be doing. Then again I looked at the followers and they were all of a certain age...young. In some ways this is replacing the town square and the "Mall" where we would hang out with friends and talk about what we are doing. Now it is virtual. Not for me. It is too much an invasion of privacy which is discussed below.

Another Mashup was "typeracer" providing the opportunity to compete with unknown thousands of other folks entering information onto their facebook page, web page, or blog. It provides the top performers "something to brag about". Well I guess when your world is online, and those who can talk the fastest...type the fastest...get the most. Interesting, but I can spend my time in a more productive fashion.

Let me interject here that I found the readings on API and Mashups very interesting. Some of it was deeper than I need, but it is helpful to understand how the programs are working. It was also a good place to learn about some new web sites and to explore some new links.

I did not find the explaination of Rollyo to be clear. I will need to go back and poke around some more to fully understand what is going on there and if there is any potential use for me. The privacy issue is near and dear to my heart. To visualize my image of putting too much personal information out on the web I would imagine it this way: have a thousand people in a large room, you are standing in the middle with a spotlight only on you, everyone can see you, but you cannot see anyone else. In other words you have no idea who is looking at you or your information. The 9,000+ entries for "privacy" indicate that it continues to be a hot topic. Bloggers were concerned with site privacy; about governement privacy protection; intellectual freedom and privacy; there were generational perspectives on privacy where young folks did not think it to be a big deal and older folks where up in arms...; and then there is Google that everyone likes to beat upon, and how Google is the worst when it comes to privacy protection. I am all in favor of privacy protection.

This have been a fascinating course and I am just delighted that I put the effort into it rather than being a Ludite. I need to force myself to be more technologically involved but I find it pulls me away from other activities that are established in my life. I have had some great chats with folks from all over the world thanks to facebook. I have re-connected with friends and former co-workers and I believe made some new friends in the process. I do hope that the Web 2.0 course work, with all the links, will be available for some time in the future. I say this because I plan to review what I have done, and turn around and offer an "introduction" to the various 2.0 technologies to my co-worker. I will at least be able to tell them a bit about each one, show them what it is, and provide some links for them to go and practice on their own. If the course director is still reading this far down...thank you...for a great experience.

Library Cheer

This is the video I used in my department presentation. It provided a rousing ending to my one person show.

Moving target

We have monthly all staff meetings where I work. At each meeting a different department presents the role of each staff member and the "work" of that department. This is a way to instruct new employees and remind the long term folks. Last February was the Library presentation. Being solo, I put together a PowerPoint but wanted to leave them laughing. I searched YouTube and found the video "Library Cheer" which I used to end my presentation. It was great fun and everyone enjoyed.

I don't see myself as a producer or subject of a YouTube video. I like to fly under the radar. The organization has produced a YouTub video about the nursing profession that has been very successful.

Regarding Podcasting and this library, I think it would be a novel way to provide introductions to various dimensions of the library...the collection...how to use the scanner.....and databases available. Will I ever get to the point of actually creating on remains to be see. This course has certainly immersed me in technology much more than I have been. It is also teaching me how time consuming it can be to keep up with readers, blogs, and keeping posts fresh and engaging.

Mascot

My life in pictures

I guess if there was a Murphy's law of computer programs, I experienced it with this project. Photo sharing was suppose to be the easiest part of the course, but for me became my nightmare. I struggled for some time the other day with trying to get the photo to upload to the blog. Today when I logged in, there is a message explaining that the problem with uploading photos has been fixed. Ugh! None the less, I still needed a programing tech to come and check the code since my picture appeared twice on the post and not in the box it was suppose to be in. Part of the problem may be that I used a less popular photo sharing site, "Web Shots" where I already have some albums posted. I had similar difficulties with posting the entire album from Web Shots onto Facebook. I have not given up the ship and will continue to try to make the postings to Facebook work.

Vaction 2007

Here we are at the Florida Welcome Center where we stopped for a free cup of orange juice. The picture is hazy because the camera was in the air conditioned car and here we are standing out in the heat and humidity.

Common point of reference

Reflecting on a concept to pull together web office tools the memory of using a protractor appeared. On a central point all of the the other points in the circle were related, and in some way any point that may be between the circle and the central point. Well to my mind whatever we may be working on, i.e., spread sheet, PowerPoint or document, is the central point and anyone who is within the circle (has permission) can access and edit the "central point". In this way a virtual office exist around documents rather than people. It is a whole new way of thinking and doing business, and I like it. I did not have trouble working on documents, spreadsheets, etc. online, but some of the folks I invited to "work with me" did. It is a growing technology and as time goes by folks will learn and become more comfortable. My crystal ball is cloudy on what the future holds but I do think it will take a generation for this to happen. Some of us grew up learning all the "body language" skills, face to face encounters and how to "act professionally". The generations coming up are learning the same skills only with a technology edge to them and how to read a post and somehow know the verasity of the content and reliability of the source. It is only in hindsight that we will learn what pioneers we are as we layer new technology on top of our "old" interpersonal skills and fill out our bloggs and facebook entries.

I like what you like

"I like what you like in your bookmarks and since you are an expert I accept what you have bookmarked as reliable and useful information." This is the only the only rational I can find for social bookmarking. I can see this tool saving me, a solo librarian, time by letting staff know that I have pulled together in one place Internet resources for them. It is like an extension of a virtual file in the library where all types of sundry information is kept on the off chance you will need it. It is also an extension of the reference section, where I have provided quality control on the resources that are most applicable to our situation and research needs. Once our intra-net is established I know I will be making sure there is room for all types of virtual library tools for the staff to use. In some ways it will give me peace of mind knowing that at least they have access to quality sites, now I have no idea where they are looking for their information.

small talk

I find my experience with facebook and Linkedin much like my experience with cocktail parties, lots of talk and movement, but little to really connect me with folks. As a solo librarian I long for the Annual Meeting so that I can have a real connection with my peers, something that is missing from my daily schedule. I guess it is a basic human need to be mixing among "folks like us". Being of a certain age, I did not grow up with the electronic word but instead needed to grow into the electronic frame of mind. Little did I know that when I signed up for Linkedin more than a year ago I was ahead of curve. I see it as a way to be "out there" professionally and to be a bit more visible than I am working at my desk. I believe that social networking can be used to connect MLA members but there needs to be growth and development on both sides. The technology needs to develop more degrees of revelation for personal information and ways to facilitate connections. Not knowing who is signed on to what tool makes it difficult to make the connection unless it has been done through a former technology...e-mail and even a phone call. Not sure of the age statistics for medical librarians but I would guess that most of us are growing into the Web 2.0 technologies and we need to give ourselves some time to explore and discover the "value" to these technologies. For myself as a solo librarian my days are full at work and so there has never been time for me to "surf" aimlessly, I have too much to do. Evenings I am usually too tired to sit infront of the computer since I have already done that for five hours or more. In time I believe social networking will become more and more common, we just need to give it a chance.
Given the very special nature of the ANA library...professional nursing (non-clinical) and only for headquarters staff, at present I cannot see a value for Facebook or MySpace for the library. As it is now I am afraid to advertise my services for fear of generating more demands on my time as I see project slip away due to neglect. Unless it can be a genuine labor/time saving device, it will need to wait until later.
I was very hesitant to put my name out on the web in Facebook. First off there is the possibility of making it easier for identity theft if someone takes the time to connect the dots. And who of us knows how in some past encounter we may have said or done the wrong thing, or not done the wrong thing, just upset someone. Well this makes it easier for that person to attack us or if they are technologically savey to manipulate our identity and generate ill will. Yes, I believe there are genuine concerns regarding privacy. This may be part of why it is difficult to find out who is on Facebook in the first place, not just the fact that I am an old fart trying to use something that is "cool" technology for younger generation.
I think I covered what I did not like about the Facebook experience. What I did like is that I was able to connect with a friend in Malaysia and Chicago in a new and unique way. I suspect that those connections may lead to others. I also was surprised to find out an old friend is on Facebook and we were able to connect through this experience.

This or that

So far I have created a blog and a wiki. I see the blog as individual and somewhat controlled in that I am the only contributor and controlled/static in the sense that it is limited by my experience and vision. A wiki may be on a particular topic but is much more open ended and dynamic since there are hopefully a variety contributors. Working as a solo librarian I see the value of a library wiki providing the opportunity to "put out there" information that may be requested frequently and that can easily be updated. In my situation I don't see the usefullness of a library blog since the only patrons are staff and the organization has less than 200 total staff. There is just not enough that is new or exciting to warrent a blog. A wiki on the other hand could be the drafting territory of material that gets posted to the web pages. I can see a wiki being used when there is a document on a particular nursing topic, and yet various individuals in different departments contribute their unique special knowledge.

Ricky wiki

You know when someone mumbles your nickname and it sounds like another word? Well this was a flash back to my youth when I mother would call me Ricky, a nickname that is only good until you reach double digits. Well when I first heard of "wiki" I could almost hear my mother calling me.
It has taken a bit for my wiki to catch on. At first I had created a wiki centered around the geneaology research I am doing on my family. Then I realized that I am the only person who would be contribting to the wiki and abandoned that idea. So I then focused on group activites and that is when I realized the montly pot luck lunches we have would be a good candidate for a wiki.
Library specific wiki use for our special library could center around staff contributing citations of articles they have read and recommend to other staff. This is currently done on a one to one basis. Making this more of a community sharing would open the possibility of others benifitting from this type of sharing.
I have just finished a meeting of the Interagency Council on Information Resources in Nursing of which I am president. One of the main products of ICIRN is Essential Nursing Resources. ENR is a compilation of all types of references and resources used by nurses in teaching, research and patient care. By moving this resource to a wiki it would allow it to be shared more freely and most importantly we could expand the contibutors to this resource and thus increase its value. I have put the idea to ICIRN but now I will need to work to make it happen.

nursing news

As an professional association medical librarian the application of web technology creates a challenge. The library itself is for the headquarter staff only and is not open to the public nor is it a member service, especially since there is one of the me and 160,000 plus members. What I do for members of the association I do through the web. A new feature in the members only section of the association web site ( www.nursingworld.org ) that I am working on is to provide a current contents of nursing literature around specific topics. My previous plan was to run monthly searched and have the results e-mailed to me. Then I would organize the results and post them to the web. Now I believe the RSS can pretty much automate all of this process, I just need to check with content management system provider to learn how to set up RSS feeds. My plan is to use the previous searches I set up as RSS rather than e-mail, and have the updates automatically. Also inhouse I provide a monthly search of new articles on PubMed that is focused around eleven selected topics of interest to staff. Now that I know about RSS I plan to created a RSS for each of the topics so that staff can have the information as soon as it is posted in PubMed rather than waiting for my automated monthly searches. It will make the information much more timely.

Welcome

Greetings. After all of my many years of experience in many diffierent fields it is nice once again to say that I am a newbie. All of this is new to me and a way for me to learn technology and polish my communications skills.