Are you a 598er?

For those following the tweets this week you probably saw some of us discussing a class meet-up on SL. Well a few of us managed to get together. Gabber Delicioso (GC), Isobel Jinx (JH), Mira Delicioso (TK), Oracle Rothmanay (RR) and me, Himawari Yuhara.

The final verdict--- Wandering around dazed and confused as a group is a lot more fun then wandering dazed and confused by yourself.

We met up and figured out how to teleport to Info Island where we marveled at the Mystery Manor. After a brief stop at the Christie Cottage, Gabber and Oracle asked me to show them where the Santa was I had talked about in a previous post. We tromped on over to the winter wonderland display, sat on Santa's lap and took pictures.
































Gabbers and Oracle take turns on Santa's lap.


About this time is when Mira and Isobel joined us. We talked for a bit, tried to figure out some technical problems and I learned how to stop flying without landing in a tangled heap.

Another pic:

We decided to look at the Banned Books area of the Info Island. Once of us had been there previous and she wanted to show us.

While waiting for the teleport invitation we were approached by a male avatar. However, before we received an answer to that all important question that would determine if we would be willing to speak with him or not --"Are you a 598er?"--It was time to teleport.

Once the area rendered it was indeed worth looking around. After a brief rendition of Romeo and Juliet, however, it was time for us to part ways.

Johnson redux

As I stated in my last post on "Everything Bad is Good For You", I think Johnson makes a very convincing argument. I have in the past argued the benefits of table top RPGs but I had never thought about this in the context of video games, movies and TV. There is much more to all of these then their content. That said, I don't believe the content can be completely ignored. There is some content that simply is not appropriate for certain ages/players. As librarians, we are called to provide information and materials without judgment or bias and I believe in that very strongly. On the other hand, we have separate sections for children, YAs and adults for a reason.

So what can we learn-

• We now have more ammunition for defending programs like video game nights and movie nights. (Its about more then just pulling kids into the library)
• If we don't offer such programs, then it would be a good idea to start
• This is one more way libraries can help bridge the digital divide, by making video games available to kids who can't play at home and thus are missing the benefits
• It could be worthwhile to create some information literacy games (as some libraries have already done)
• We shouldn't make assumptions at least until we have tried something ourselves
• We can use pop culture to spark interest in delving deeper into a subject (Like Ninja Gaiden? Take a look at these books/programs/web resources about Japanese weapons!)

Class suggestions

I have really enjoyed this class. The subject matter works very well in an online form, using the technologies as part of the class really reinforces what we are learning.

As for what changes I would make, here are a few suggestions.

I would keep the ‘monkeys with typewriters’ reading, it makes for a great discussion starter.

The Social Life on Information, however, I really did not benefit from as much. I would replace this, perhaps in favor of specific blog posts of professionals using this technology.

Several people have mentioned moving social networking to an earlier point in the class. I agree. That would give us more time to explore how these can be used and would be helpful in connecting with classmates.

As I mentioned in my previous post, a SL class met up would be fun and helpful.

Second Life

After reading some of the other blog posts I'm not sure if i should be relived or disappointed that my time in SL was so ... quiet.

The first time I logged on, I spent some time in the learning area just trying to figure things out. I spent some time working on my appearance but was rather disappointed that I could change so many tiny details like lip thickness but could not change my clothes. I talked to one girl(?) what was even more lost and confused then I was. (She had somehow gotten stuck as a glowing cloud) She eventually decided to try logging out and back in again and at this point my computer was running so slow that I logged out as well.

The second time, I tried changing my hair so at least that would be different from everyone else, however the 'hair' my avatar came with was apparently attached to her hat and the hair I could change was an entirely different entity. After creating a truly bizarre look, I scrapped it all and went out to explore. I landed in this Japanese garden/pavilion area that was quite pretty (though I felt a bit jealous of the several avatars in very pretty dresses that I saw).

I wondered about the burning Christmas tree, played with a ball and then moved on to Info Island.

By this time my computer was running really slow, to the point where my avatar was walking in slow motion when she was moving at all. I eventually managed to sit on Santa's lap and got a snapshot after my camera angle stopped freaking out.

I wandered around info island a little bit, there were only a few people there and no one talked to me. I explored the library and then found a nice couch to curl up on in the manga section.

Overall SL is a lot to take in all at once. I think as I became more comfortable with the world it would be a lot more fun. If possible I thing a class meetup in SL would be a lot of fun, giving us a social interaction without having to deal with some of the stranger strangers.

In Which I Fail at Kicking a Soccer Ball

I checked out the miniclip games website because it looked like it had a lot of games with multiple players rather then trying to find a certain friend on the web and challenging them.

I found a penguin game that looked cute and attempted to play that.

Warning: The following screencast contains much confused wanderings.

You can see me play here.

Chosing a console

These are the questions that would help inform my decision--

• What is popular at the moment? While I don't want to follow every fad, I do want a system that will draw people in.


• Does it tend to have more multi-player games or single player games?


• Pricing, how much extras you need to buy?


• Range of appeal


• Who is my target audience? Will I only be running teen game nights, or is there interest in family game nights as well?
  
• What kind of space do I have?
• Are there certain games that my teen group (or other patrons) have expressed interest in?
  

Most of my decision will be based on community profiling and seeing where my patron's interest lies. Once I have a sense of that, I would check out the official web pages for each system, which should also give me an overview of the games they offer. I would check out Wired for reviews of the major systems.

http://www.wired.com/reviews/productlisting/gaming_gear

Jenny Levine's presentation also gave some links that would be helpful for researching staring a gaming program in the library. I would also look at what other libraries have and how those systems are working for them.

For information of what games would be a good choice for the library, Gamespot has some good reviews.

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews.html

I would choose to buy a Wii for the library. It has a wide range of multi-player games and can appeal to a wider range of audience and experience levels. The motion sensing aspect also have a large 'cool' factor.

Depending on my budget, I would also like to get an xBox 360 for variety, the excellent graphics and to appeal to the more serious gamers.

Screencasting

I have found the following to be helpful:

• Always do a test run to make sure everything is working properly
• At the same time check where/how new windows appear so that they will be inside your recording area
• If possible try to avoid having to resize windows during the screencast
• I haven't tried reading from a script, but mentally going over what I want to say is very helpful
• The more I screencast the easier it is

Video games are good for you

Is pop culture just stupidity in a brightly colored package?

I admit I don't watch a lot of TV or play a lot of video games. Mainly because I don't have the time too. I do play table top D&D and have since I was 12 so I'm fairly aware of the gaming community, even if I'm not 'up' on the video game end of things. I'm used to defending the benefits of RPG games, but I've never really put to much though into the benefits of video/computer games before.

I have to say, Johnson makes a pretty convincing argument. The fact that his argument is used along with several other very good sources to make a convincing argument for games in the library reinforces this argument in my mind.

So no, I do not think that popular culture is simply delivering stupidity. I admit, I'm not particularly trilled with the content of some TV shows or video games (particularly compared to some of the really excellent shows that have been cancelled *coughfireflycough*), but I agree that the plot of the show or game is not all there is to it.

Johnson articulates this very well. A lot of the benefits that I would list off to defend my playing "that evil D&D game" also apply to video games and TV/movies. There is a large social factor. Many of the games can be played together, and even the single player games become social when your friends also play. The same goes for movies and TV shows. People like to talk about what they are watching and playing. There are countless online communities dedicated to fans of TV shows, movies, games and books. There are even communities dedicated to certain romantic pairings within a TV show. And through these communities, people can meet others who share their tastes and speculate what will happen next or who will end up with who.

For me playing D&D made me use math skills and gave me an understanding of probability. Decision making and problem solving are a large part of the game, and this transfers to video games as well.

I would also say that a certain amount of escapism is good. There are times when I've had a bad day, or I'm tired or I have something on my mind and I need to lay all that down and focus on someone completely unrelated for a while. Watch TV or playing games as a way to give us a break can be a very good thing.

Ning rhymes with Jing

The major benefit of Ning is also its greatest drawback. The reason why Myspace and Facebook are so popular is because so many people are on them. In order for social networks to work there needs to be a large group of people using the sites, adding friends and creating content. While there are several reasons why I personally prefer Facebook to Myspace for my private (though can I really say its private?) life, the main one and the reason I decided to create a Facebook profile is--my friends are on Facebook. If none of your friends are on a SNS then it isn't really worth joining.

Ning allows you to create and customize your own, selective, social network. Getting enough people to join your network and contribute, especially when competing with the big boys of SNSs is very difficult. If your purpose is to create a social network of your library users, you are better off creating profiles on Myspace and Facebook and trying to connect to your users there. Frankly, there isn't that much to draw them to yet another social network service.

However, if your have a specific purpose in mind, targeted to a specific group and want to be able to control the setting (especially privacy) then Ning is a great tool to use. For example, you may want to use Ning to add dimension to your book groups at the library. You can post reminders of the next meeting date and book to be read, host discussions before and after the group meets, post about upcoming library events of potential interest, and share reviews and discussions of others books members enjoy and recommend. "The book we are reading this month reminds me of this other book I read..." or if the novel is set in a certain location, like London, a member could post pictures of places mentioned in the book from the trip they took to London. There is a lot of possibility for Ning to enhance your library programs and connections with your patrons, if used correctly.

Ultimately, you need to assess what you what to accomplish and what your needs are before you can determine if Ning is the right tool for the job.

Because all the cool kids are doing it

heather's Dewey Decimal Section:

944 France & Monaco

heather = 8510858 = 851+085+8 = 944


Class:
900 History & Geography


Contains:
Travel, biographies, ancient history, and histories of continents.



What it says about you:
You're connected to your past and value the things that have happened to you. You've had some conflicted times in your life, but they've brought you to where you are today and you don't ignore it.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

Boyd's library lessons

What lessons can libraries take from Boyd observations?

I think Gabrielle stated it the best in her post here:

http://gcscils598f08.blogspot.com/2008/11/danah-boyd-library-infolessons-1.html

Libraries have committed themselves to reaching out to diverse groups. A major part of being a librarian is finding out who our patrons are, what they need and meeting those needs. Preschool story time, employment information, ESL help, LGBTQ collections and many, many more all come out of the commitment to serve all our patrons. So if our patrons use a diverse range of social network sites (be it for reasons of class, ethnicity, economic standing or simply personal preference) we need to be prepared to bring our services to where they are, rather then expecting them to conform to one website of our choosing.

Sticky? Y/Y?

Why are places like Facebook and Myspace so 'sticky'?

I decided visual aids would help answer this question, so have another screencast.

http://screencast.com/t/w32PmVKJhI

Facebook how to

Click the link below to view a screencast of how to add photos to your Facebook profile.

http://screencast.com/t/ZwJCfcrxI

Favorite Videos

There were a lot of cute, fun and educational videos, but two stood out as my favorites.




I love dressing up, my closet is full of RenFaire garb and I've done some anime 'cosplay' as well. Steam punk as a genre intrigues me, and I love Steve's outfit and the creativeness of this idea.

The second video I really enjoyed was the "Do you want a treat video?" seen here. I love cats and this video shows just one of the reasons why.

Place a hold on a book in less then 5 min!

This short and easy tutorial shows you how to place a hold on a book using the Morris County Inter Library Loan system. You can do this from your home computer, then, like magic, the book will be sent to your home library to be picked up at your convenience!

View it here.

Flickr photots

We have a lot in common. As someone else pointed out, we all seem to have a caffeine addiction (tea, coffee, or other). We are all extremely busy trying to juggle school, work and life. Many of us posted pictures of the important people and pets in our lives.

Getting to campus appears to be an obstacle course for many of us. We have established places where we eat or grab a snack. At home we have routines as well. We all have a space where we do our work (sometimes shared with others). Many of us like to have a snack or something to drink while working. Most of us like books and surround ourselves with them.

While the people, places and food that are an important part of our life differ, we can each say that there is a person, a place and a certain kind of tea/coffee/snack that is important to us.

It is in the details that we differ. Some of us take the train, some of us drive. We have different hobbies. Some people like to travel, some like to ski. JC has a favorite pair of socks, SC likes mushrooms and has a cool pair of goggles.

The photographs we take give an insight into who we are and what is important to us. We get to see an aspect of our classmates that we would never have seen in a classroom.

Educational vs. Entertainment

Do educational videos stand a chance against videos made for entertainment?

I feel it depends on the video. Common Craft makes some very entertaining short videos that are very educational. However, many people would rather watch a video of a dog chasing its tail then an hour long video of someone lecturing at a chalkboard. The great thing about videos and the Internet now is the possibilities. It is possible to create a video that includes recorded footage (for example- of a lecture), then cuts to images that support and enhance the point (like charts and graphs) or to photographs (a historical lecture could make great use of this). Music, and sound effects can also be added in.

Image a lecture given by a history professor that is recorded and placed on the web exactly as is. Unless the professor is a phenomenal public speaker, the video will probably only be watched by students who are assigned to watch it. Now image the professor is creating this lecture/video for the web. He may include the best clips of his live lecture, but then he cuts to a photograph of FDR and plays a clip of FDR's "Nothing to fear" speech. Then he cuts to video clip of a news broadcast about race riots. Then a slide is displayed with the major points he is trying to make while audio plays of him discussing these points. Instead of one 2 hour video, the Professor decides to break it up (by time period, by major point) and posts a series of 20 min videos. Done well, this could attract the attention of people who are interested in the topic, not just students who are forced to watch the video (and who are probably skimming it).

I believe educational videos have a place on the web and can be a great way to supplement in-class learning and written material. However, the creator of the video has to have their audience in mind and put effort into creating a video that is lively and stimulating and will increase the audience's interest in the topic, not make them zone out. It requires more work on the producers end, but the end result is far more valuable.

Entertainment videos will always be more popular, because they are, well, entertaining. However, educational does not have to mean dull. Educational videos can be entertaining and are indeed far more likely to get their point across and stick with the audience if they are entertaining.

After all, I still remember how much I enjoyed "Donald Duck in Mathematics Land" when I was a kid.

Rochester Children's Book Festival

This weekend I attended the Rochester Children's Book Festival. The following video is a sort of travelogue of the experience. It combines video and still pictures. I took some other videos of the trip, but they did not come out well.

The trip itself was a lot of fun, even though I had to wake up at 4:30 am Saturday to drive to Rochester, stayed over at a hotel and didn't get home till this evening.





or view it here on YouTube.

Note: There is a mistake in the audio. I am not actually in the picture with Paul Zelinsky.

Strong Female Characters for Girls

This little video was inspired by a presentation I did for my materials for children class. I believe that for girls to be 'strong' (however you want to define that) they need to see, read and hear stories with active, witty and strong female characters. I love fairy tales, but sometimes I need stories where the Princess rescues the Prince from the dragon.



Click to play

Or see it here.

Chasing our tail....?

Warning: Contains questions and no answers.

The question I'm interested in is not so much can we utilize the long tail, but how far down it should librarians/libraries go?

Imagine for a moment that the limits between the library and the end of the long tail are removed. We have a consortium of libraries that can each rival the shelf space of the Strand bookstore. We have a crack team of digital archivists, unlimited digital storage space for all media formats and ebook reader technology has evolved to the point where skimming, searching and reading digital books is as easy or even more so then reading the print version. Say we can chase the long tail to the very end and collect within the library all the infinite niche markets.

Should we?

Should we collect every book, magazine, video, audio recording, blog, podcast, and picture ever created? After all just about everything could potentially be important to someone. Does anyone care what Jane's cousin is feeding her baby for breakfast. Probably not. But you never know, years down the line a sociologist may do a study on what people in the early 21st Century were blogging about. So should we collect as much quantity as possible?

Or should we as librarians focus on quality? Should we continue evaluating what we add to our collection and only select the 'best' and 'highest quality' sources? Who determines what is considered a 'quality' or 'worthwhile' source. Which is more important, the opinion of a learned/self-important (choose you adjective) scholar or the rating on Digg?

On the one hand 'one man's trash is another man's treasure', on the other hand we have an infinite number of monkeys with typewriters. Are we serving all our niche markets no matter how obscure, or are we chasing our own tail?