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Exploring New Technologies For the Public Library

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Class Overview <ul><li>The purpose of this class is to learn about new technologies from the computer user’s point of view. </li></ul><ul><li>(The second class will focus on utilizing these technologies to reach your patrons.) </li></ul>

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Class Goals <ul><li>To learn about a variety of new technologies available to computer users. </li></ul>

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Class Objectives <ul><li>Participants will have a firm understanding of the concepts of social software, tagging, and using RSS feeds. </li></ul>

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Class Outcomes <ul><li>Participants will be able: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>To recognize and use social software features </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>To customize a start page </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>To search for and subscribe to RSS feeds </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>To add tags to online media </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>To edit and add pages to a wiki </li></ul></ul>

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Social software <ul><li>Tools that allows users to communicate via computers. </li></ul>

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The social Web has gone mainstream

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Early examples of social software <ul><li>Listservs </li></ul><ul><li>Usenet </li></ul><ul><li>Mailing Lists </li></ul>

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Newer examples <ul><li>Blogs: A way for individuals to post their daily thoughts or opinions to a Website </li></ul><ul><li>Bookmarking: Find your favorite sites from any computer </li></ul><ul><li>Calendars: Present an online calendar </li></ul><ul><li>Catalogs for Media: Keep track of your books, movies, and music online </li></ul><ul><li>Wikis: An electronic chalkboard </li></ul><ul><li>Social Networking Sites: Make friends, share photos, chat all from one online location </li></ul>

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Making them social <ul><li>Most of these activities could be done privately, but social software makes your information public and accessible to the online world. </li></ul>

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Reasons for examining social software: <ul><li>To stay current with technology trends </li></ul><ul><li>To be able to communicate in new ways with our patrons </li></ul><ul><li>To be able to assist our patrons </li></ul><ul><li>To incorporate new technologies into the library world </li></ul><ul><li>To make informed decisions when purchasing library software </li></ul>

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Future thoughts… <ul><li>Throughout the class, think about ways in which this technology would enhance the ways in which library information is managed and disseminated. </li></ul>

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Blogs

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Definition of a Blog… <ul><li>A blog is simply a Website. </li></ul><ul><li>The author posts entries to the blog. </li></ul><ul><li>The newest entry is found at the top of the blog. </li></ul><ul><li>Older entries follow the newest. </li></ul><ul><li>Entries are archived for easier retrieval. </li></ul>

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Blogs can be… <ul><li>Interactive </li></ul><ul><li>(Oftentimes) Free </li></ul><ul><li>A more personal and flexible way to communicate online than a stagnant Website </li></ul><ul><li>Easy to use & edit </li></ul>

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Blogs can be, II… <ul><li>Accessible through the library’s URL, if available </li></ul><ul><li>As easy or as complex as the librarian’s skill level </li></ul><ul><li>Accessed and changed (with password) from any online location </li></ul><ul><li>Visually attractive thanks to the provided templates </li></ul>

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However… <ul><li>The simplest editing of your blog’s template involves HTML code (which can be done completely in class!) </li></ul><ul><li>Blogging requires the at least some basic knowledge of computer/Web skills. </li></ul><ul><li>There can be potential problems when the server is down. </li></ul>

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Examples of library blogs <ul><li>Let’s take a few minutes and look at some examples of blogs created for public libraries. </li></ul><ul><li>Please see your Links Page for more examples. </li></ul>

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Enhancing the blog… <ul><li>Notice the use of an online bibliography of books created from an Amazon list. </li></ul>Tip: This is also known as a widget!

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Browsing the posts… <ul><li>Notice how the author has added subject headings to each of her posts… </li></ul>

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Browsing a blog <ul><li>By adding these subject headings, it is possible to browse past posts by subject. </li></ul>

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Links in a blog… <ul><li>Notice how they take advantage of the blog to provide links to useful sites. </li></ul>

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Preparing for the next class <ul><li>Think about the type of blog you want to create. </li></ul><ul><li>Think about a name for your blog. (www. yourname .blogspot.com) </li></ul><ul><li>Gather or write some press releases and some digital photos of the library and library activities. </li></ul>

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Personal Start Pages

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Definition of a Start Page <ul><li>This is a page that you can personalize to meet your needs. You can add a Google search box, your favorite news information, the local weather, and a variety of other information that you want to know at a glance. </li></ul>

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Why examine start pages? <ul><li>Start pages can also act as news readers, which we will learn about shortly. </li></ul><ul><li>They can also act as a roaming homepage for your patrons who want to save their personal bookmarks, news feeds and up to 1 GB of personal files. </li></ul><ul><li>Imagine only having to teach your patrons to log into one site and having all of their favorites and other Web-based tools available to them! </li></ul>

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Getting used to the flexibility <ul><li>Watch how easy it is to change the appearance of your start page. </li></ul>

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Moving boxes around the page Click the light blue header of the box, look for the four-sided “move” arrow, and drag and release where you want the box to land.

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AJAX technology <ul><li>Being able to alter your Web pages is done with the use of AJAX or Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. </li></ul><ul><li>It is used to make Web applications faster to use and change. </li></ul>

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Editing the content <ul><li>Click on the “edit” link at the top of each box to edit the content. </li></ul><ul><li>Let’s look at the Webnote box… </li></ul><ul><li>Save and Close Edit when finished. </li></ul>

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News Readers (or Aggregators) <ul><li>Start pages can also act as news readers. </li></ul><ul><li>What are news readers? </li></ul>

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Definition of a News Reader <ul><li>A news reader does just what its name implies: It reads the news. Essentially, it gathers the news headlines and compiles them in one place for you to read. Theoretically, this saves you time; the information you want to know about is forwarded to your news reader. </li></ul>

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Pull v. push <ul><li>Without newsreaders, we have to pull the information out of news sources. We have to visit sites and skim through the information to find what interests us. </li></ul>

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Push v. pull <ul><li>Using feeds, once we subscribe to a news source, all of the information is automatically pushed to us. We can skim a variety of news articles relevant to us from one location. </li></ul><ul><li>It is like having your own customized newspaper. </li></ul>

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News Reader Examples <ul><li>There are dedicated News Readers, such as Bloglines, which only act as an aggregator, and there are News Readers which are incorporated into a Start Page, such as ones from Google, MyYahoo!, Windows Live, Netvibes, among many others. </li></ul>

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Types of feeds <ul><li>You might have noticed small icons on some of your favorite sites labeled: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>RSS </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>ATOM, </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>XML </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>FEED </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>This is the Website’s way of advertising their feed! </li></ul></ul>

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Definition of feeds <ul><li>Strictly speaking, feeds are documents. They are often written in XML and to the untrained eye they might look a little like HTML code you’ve seen. As we will see, you subscribe to feeds with your news reader. </li></ul>

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What a feed looks like

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Adding content to the page <ul><li>Click on “Add content.” </li></ul>

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Searching for a feed <ul><li>Click on “Add my feed.” </li></ul>

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Finding your feed <ul><li>Enter the name of a Web site. </li></ul>

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Add feed to your page

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Where to find feeds <ul><li>On a Website, look for a feed on one of the sidebars or at the bottom of the page. </li></ul><ul><li>Visit CNN and find their feed link. </li></ul>

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Subscribing to a feed…

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Selecting a feed <ul><li>Click on the RSS 2.0 feed to find the URL. </li></ul>

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Subscribing to a feed… <ul><li>Copy the URL from the browser. </li></ul>

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Adding your feed… <ul><li>Return to your start page. </li></ul><ul><li>Click on “add my feed.” </li></ul><ul><li>Paste your URL into this box and click “add.” </li></ul>

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Library applications <ul><li>Imagine being able to post a closing notice on your library blog and having that message go to everyone who subscribes to that blog. </li></ul><ul><li>You could send out programming reminders or information about new books. </li></ul>

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AJAX Technology <ul><li>AJAX technologies are found in many different places. </li></ul><ul><li>In My Yahoo! Account: </li></ul>RSS Feeds!

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Enticing patrons to subscribe to the feed <ul><li>Create an interesting and frequently updated blog with feeds (like the one we’ll be creating in the next class!). </li></ul><ul><li>Hold patron classes on how to use the blog, how to create a news reader account, and how to subscribe to the library’s blog through a news reader or through their email account. </li></ul>

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Enticing your patrons, II <ul><li>Add links to the blog from your current library site. </li></ul><ul><li>Provide print and online information about the blog and feeds. </li></ul><ul><li>Ask all of your staff members to contribute to the blog! </li></ul>

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Tagging… (You’re it!) <ul><li>Think of tagging as assigning keywords to an item. </li></ul>

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Why tag? <ul><li>Tagging helps you find: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Bookmarks </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Media </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Books </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Blog postings </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Photos </li></ul></ul>

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Finding photos in

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Tags help you find content

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Boolean searching with tags <ul><li>Find compound tags with a Boolean search… </li></ul>

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Deciding which tags to use… <ul><li>That’s the fun of tagging; there are no rules dictating which tags you must use. </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Instead of using: Cookery, Italian </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Use what makes sense to you: Italian recipes or Italian cooking </li></ul></ul>

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Terminology to know… <ul><li>Using non-regulated keywords (or tags) is called “Folksonomy” </li></ul><ul><li>Folks (for people) ‘onomy’ (for taxonomy.) </li></ul>

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You tag your bookmarks

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You tag your blog posts <ul><li>The blog’s author ‘tags’ or assigns a keyword or two to the post. </li></ul>

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You search for blog posts with tags

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You tag in Amazon… Add your own tags into the Amazon database. Keep your tags public for all to see or change them to private.

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Tagging with Library Thing

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Registering for Library Thing <ul><li>Enter a user name; remember, the world will be able to see this name! </li></ul><ul><li>Enter a password that does not include symbols. </li></ul>

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Adding titles to your library… <ul><li>Enter the title or author of a book and press submit. </li></ul><ul><li>(These records will probably come from Amazon, as that is the default database.) </li></ul>

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Adding books… <ul><li>After clicking on the title of the desired record, the book has been added to your catalog. </li></ul>

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Assigning tags… Add tags you will remember.

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Quick tagging <ul><li>Click on the small “edit” text. </li></ul><ul><li>Add new tags to your book. </li></ul><ul><li>Click “Submit.” </li></ul>

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Editing the record… <ul><li>Click the pencil to edit the record. </li></ul>

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Searching your tags… When you cannot remember a title or author, enter the tag that first comes to mind about the book. Chances are you used that tag when editing the record!

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Viewing other catalogs <ul><li>This is “social” software. </li></ul><ul><li>Often times you can view other peoples’ catalogs! </li></ul>

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The social side of tagging… <ul><li>Discover other readers who enjoyed the same books as you, and view their online catalogs. </li></ul>

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Library uses for Library Thing <ul><li>Add new YA books, provide a detailed summary and review, and post a widget on the YA blog. </li></ul><ul><li>Keep track of the books used in a monthly display. </li></ul><ul><li>Basically, this database could be used as a simple way to create an online and visually stimulating bibliography for a myriad of library uses. </li></ul><ul><li>FYI: Library Thing “might” be available in the future as a true library automation system! </li></ul>

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Future thoughts… <ul><li>Imagine a library catalog that allows users to opt-in and create accounts, keep track of their past records, and edit the records – independently. Library staff would not have access to their records. </li></ul>

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Social bookmarking…

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Using your browser to bookmark <ul><li>Limitations for entering descriptive information about the site </li></ul><ul><li>Available only at one computer (or network) </li></ul><ul><li>Limited sorting capabilities </li></ul>

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Using social bookmarking <ul><li>Access your saved sites from any online computer </li></ul><ul><li>Ample area to fully annotate a site </li></ul><ul><li>Give each site multiple tags or keyword descriptions for easy retrieval </li></ul>

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Starting an account <ul><li>Sign into your Yahoo account. </li></ul><ul><li>Visit a Webpage to bookmark it… </li></ul>

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How social bookmarking works <ul><li>As you are browsing the Web, you often find pages you wish to bookmark. </li></ul><ul><li>Instead of using your browser, which can only be used from one computer, save the page to a Web-based account. </li></ul>

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Social bookmarking <ul><li>There is a Yahoo toolbar installed on your computer’s browser. </li></ul><ul><li>If you wish to continue using this account, you will need to install the toolbar onto your own computers. </li></ul>

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Saving a site <ul><li>The next time you find a site you like, click Save Site. </li></ul>

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Saving a site…

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Create a new folder

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Using bookmarks in the library <ul><li>Quickly create an online list of sites for a homework project, upcoming holidays, or hot topics </li></ul><ul><li>Annotate the bookmark to fully explain what can be found on that site – and where. </li></ul><ul><li>Post a link to the list in “high-value real estate” areas of your site or blog. </li></ul>

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Definition of a wiki <ul><li>A wiki is a type of social software that allows multiple users to edit and add content to a Website. Some wikis can be edited by anyone, while others can only be edited by a specified group. A favorite analogy is to compare wikis to “electronic chalkboards!” (UMN Libraries) </li></ul>

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Wiki Examples <ul><li>See your Links Sheet for examples of library-related wikis and wiki farms. </li></ul>

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Editing a wiki

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Editing a wiki

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Describing your changes

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Adding a new wiki page

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Adding a new wiki page

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Adding a new page Add text to your new page.

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Linking your new wiki page

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Wiki Uses in Public Libraries <ul><li>Book discussion groups </li></ul><ul><li>Collecting local history </li></ul><ul><li>Information about your town or community </li></ul><ul><li>Subject Guides </li></ul><ul><li>Readers’ advisory guides with patron input </li></ul>

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Social Calendars

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Purpose of a social calendar <ul><li>This is an effective way to disseminate event information to your library patrons. </li></ul>

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A social calendar is… <ul><li>Free </li></ul><ul><li>Easy to set up & edit </li></ul><ul><li>Edit from any computer </li></ul><ul><li>Can be used in conjunction with the blog to provide up-to-date event information </li></ul>

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Uses for a social calendar <ul><li>Reach a wide-or target-audience to keep them informed of library events </li></ul><ul><li>Can be made into an RSS feed to be sent to patrons’ personal news readers or email </li></ul><ul><li>Can be placed as a widget into the blog </li></ul>

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Goggle calendar <ul><li>Log into your Google account. </li></ul>

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Adding an event <ul><li>Click on the day to which you wish to add an event. </li></ul><ul><li>Type in the title of the event. </li></ul><ul><li>Edit the event details to give further description or times. </li></ul>

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Editing the event

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Homework <ul><li>Add a week’s worth of library events to your Google calendar. </li></ul>

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Clouds… Clouds are a visual representation of your tags. The more often a tag is used, the larger or darker it will be shown.

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Everything’s beta… Don’t be afraid to try new software that is still ‘beta!’ Some of the best things online are beta.