Carl Sagan on the Library of Alexandria
A 'different' look at conference behaviour recognition ;)
and these lovely furry creatures!
Showing posts with label librarians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label librarians. Show all posts
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
The point of 2.0 ?!
The internet and the web - from origins as read only - is now a place where any or all can create, add and transform information.
Web 2.0, and given our interwoven relationship - Library 2.0, are very much here and now - and still growing and changing.
And this just happens to match up with the here-and-now information attitudes of the gen y / gen neXt / net gen, and all the other older but information au fait folks out there. Try convincing a 19 year old that the world does not depend upon their immediate response to a just received text message - and you just try to get their attention for anything else while they are doing so !!
Immediacy is the key - the demand, the assumption and the expectation. "I want it now, it should be right at my fingertips - like everything else is". Whether it is true or accurate or the best information/answer (or even trustworthy!) often seems to be secondary at best.
[Yes, I can hear my esteemed colleagues out there muttering and quietly crying into their coffee.]
The answers/information is expected to be out there, on tap (of keyboard or keypad) and it is to often taken to be the answer. And, yes, alot of stuff is out there and quite alot of it can be found using "the Google".
Yet is any answer the answer?!
Us library folk have always imparted the hows, whys and wherefores of information seeking.
In the physical library we had them - the users/clients/people - right at hand, ready to be grasped and encouraged (or dragged) into knowledge. The answers were in physical, obvious and logical (well mostly) places.
With great speed, things changed and keep changing - physical world and real people to deal with - if you're lucky! Real world 'visible' resources - likewise.
The truth is out there (and so many versions of it to choose from ! ;) but in many ways the ye olde information super highway is still the bumpy dirt road it once was - now it is just 18 lanes wide.
Quality and quantity - it still always comes back to these two basics.
Us library peoples, (the original and cleverest search engines), just have to keep shifting with the times - and the technology - as we have always done. And more so - we have to both keep up and be ahead in order to both meet information needs and plan for the future.
Through whatever techy means that we can best reach those who want the answers, we still have to keep teaching/showing them how to find, and - increasingly more important - to evaluate the 'answers' they find - and don't find. (Eg. there are those out there who will believe that the Great Wall of China was built to keep rabbits out - if only because "it was on the internet".)
Yes, it is an old argument but is still valid now and the pressures are greater. The sheer volume of information facing any seeker is mind-boggling. This, together with short attentions spans, and perceived immediacy of need, leaves the info worker much put upon... but we can do it!! we always have, in one form or another, the tools are just different.
There will always be information to be organised, answers to be sought and people who need to learn how to seek the right ones ...
"It's libraries, Jim, but not as we know it!"
Web 2.0, and given our interwoven relationship - Library 2.0, are very much here and now - and still growing and changing.
And this just happens to match up with the here-and-now information attitudes of the gen y / gen neXt / net gen, and all the other older but information au fait folks out there. Try convincing a 19 year old that the world does not depend upon their immediate response to a just received text message - and you just try to get their attention for anything else while they are doing so !!
Immediacy is the key - the demand, the assumption and the expectation. "I want it now, it should be right at my fingertips - like everything else is". Whether it is true or accurate or the best information/answer (or even trustworthy!) often seems to be secondary at best.
[Yes, I can hear my esteemed colleagues out there muttering and quietly crying into their coffee.]
The answers/information is expected to be out there, on tap (of keyboard or keypad) and it is to often taken to be the answer. And, yes, alot of stuff is out there and quite alot of it can be found using "the Google".
Yet is any answer the answer?!
Us library folk have always imparted the hows, whys and wherefores of information seeking.
In the physical library we had them - the users/clients/people - right at hand, ready to be grasped and encouraged (or dragged) into knowledge. The answers were in physical, obvious and logical (well mostly) places.
With great speed, things changed and keep changing - physical world and real people to deal with - if you're lucky! Real world 'visible' resources - likewise.
The truth is out there (and so many versions of it to choose from ! ;) but in many ways the ye olde information super highway is still the bumpy dirt road it once was - now it is just 18 lanes wide.
Quality and quantity - it still always comes back to these two basics.
Us library peoples, (the original and cleverest search engines), just have to keep shifting with the times - and the technology - as we have always done. And more so - we have to both keep up and be ahead in order to both meet information needs and plan for the future.
Through whatever techy means that we can best reach those who want the answers, we still have to keep teaching/showing them how to find, and - increasingly more important - to evaluate the 'answers' they find - and don't find. (Eg. there are those out there who will believe that the Great Wall of China was built to keep rabbits out - if only because "it was on the internet".)
Yes, it is an old argument but is still valid now and the pressures are greater. The sheer volume of information facing any seeker is mind-boggling. This, together with short attentions spans, and perceived immediacy of need, leaves the info worker much put upon... but we can do it!! we always have, in one form or another, the tools are just different.
There will always be information to be organised, answers to be sought and people who need to learn how to seek the right ones ...
"It's libraries, Jim, but not as we know it!"
Sunday, June 24, 2007
And here is the news...
Next on the playlist are the delights of RSS and blogs as sources(?) of news and information (or is that more like opinion, with news and information running not-so-close second and third?!)
Bloglines is one example of a reader to use to gather such joys of e-news to your browser... as if one doesn't have enough to do sorting email!
There are several others - have a play and find one you prefer.
For news around the planet, the Wolf gets some of her updates by RSS feeds from the BBC , the ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, that is!), and Crikey.
Library and information feeds/blogs/blogs with feeds, etc, are varied, to say the least.
Just a couple of the many (and sometimes worrying!) blogs out there that I try to find time to peruse include: Jenny Levine's The Shifted Librarian (interesting discussion lately on Second Life), Stephen M Cohen's LibraryStuff and the new-ish blog by power searcher Mary Ellen Bates - Librarian of Fortune.
One blog host, Blogspot, includes an index to librarians’ blogs. Unrelated to Librarians’ Internet Index, it gives an alpha list by blog name with short description. 'Wide-ranging' is an understated description! Currency seems to be bit of a problem - but we all know that difficulty in our online lives!
A sample of sites with useful - for work stuff - RSS feeds: 'The Australian' newspaper (particularly the business and IT sections), Scientific American, Parliament of Australia website and SearchEngineWatch .
A useful place for library minded readers to start learning about RSS and such tech toys is at Curtin University's RSS page.
Bloglines is one example of a reader to use to gather such joys of e-news to your browser... as if one doesn't have enough to do sorting email!
There are several others - have a play and find one you prefer.
For news around the planet, the Wolf gets some of her updates by RSS feeds from the BBC , the ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, that is!), and Crikey.
Library and information feeds/blogs/blogs with feeds, etc, are varied, to say the least.
Just a couple of the many (and sometimes worrying!) blogs out there that I try to find time to peruse include: Jenny Levine's The Shifted Librarian (interesting discussion lately on Second Life), Stephen M Cohen's LibraryStuff and the new-ish blog by power searcher Mary Ellen Bates - Librarian of Fortune.
One blog host, Blogspot, includes an index to librarians’ blogs. Unrelated to Librarians’ Internet Index, it gives an alpha list by blog name with short description. 'Wide-ranging' is an understated description! Currency seems to be bit of a problem - but we all know that difficulty in our online lives!
A sample of sites with useful - for work stuff - RSS feeds: 'The Australian' newspaper (particularly the business and IT sections), Scientific American, Parliament of Australia website and SearchEngineWatch .
A useful place for library minded readers to start learning about RSS and such tech toys is at Curtin University's RSS page.
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