Week 10: Everafter--Thing #Infinity and DRM

Today an article from Sarah Houghton-Jan (Librarian in Black) came up on my RSS feed to remind me of how the muddle in Digital Management Rights has so far not righted itself. Her article took me to a variety of sites, including  Librarians Against DRM, so the blog goes on! I will try to add more next week.

Week 9: Thing #23

There has been an interesting thread on Calibk12 during the last couple of days concerning creative commons versus a physical site. David Loertscher posed the following questions:

If you combine the textbook budget, the library budget, the technology budget, and the salaries attached, at what point does it become cheaper to provide and maintain a virtual learning commons?

In answering this question, consider the safe and free Google Apps for Education, Open source textbooks, the growing number of free ebooks, etc., etc., etc... along side the movement toward blended and online education?

What is the appropriate mix of physical and virtual learning commons right now? In six months? And, how fast is this all changing? And, what should we as teacher librarians be prepared to provide leadership for?

None of these questions carries much weight for me right now--my library had virtually no budget except salaries and maintenance this year--and those are about to be cut, at least partially. A creative commons needs to have funding from somewhere in order to staff and maintain even a virtual site. Students still need a "safe and free" physical environment in which to work, not just digitize their products.

Nevertheless, I see much potential for a creative commons in a world of, at least partial, virtual education. Students are now able to collaborate in ways never dreamed of; thinking this can only go on in the physical proximity of a school or school library no longer is logical. Just as many workers now telecommute--and do so interacting with other employees--students will begin to this routinely. Some of our students are currently taking classes online. There is real potential in going to school, to a building, on fewer days--especially for high school students. We currently encourage them to use cloud based productivity tools and collaboration and project based learning are the order of the day. Or are they? Many of our students do not have access to any digital equipment outside school. Cell phones may become the productivity tools of the very near future--I have had students use them in the library, but they still do not print and are of little use for word processing.

The idea of creative commons is more than freedom of space and time, easy collaboration, and a few million free or inexpensive apps that allow quick access and adaptation. There is an international, multicultural, gender-free, and ageless quality to the world arena where the creative commons fits. It also has some multi-dimensional, untamed, and frightening aspects. Privacy and personal rights are at risk and need to be scrutinized very carefully by each of us.

Ethics is a much bigger issue now than in the past--at least digital ethics. Copyright laws are much more difficult to understand, much fuzzier in concept, for professionals as well as for students of any age. Piracy is rampant and responsibility is nil. Teaching and enforcing rules against plagiarism is mind boggling at times, so finding ways to make it comprehensible is difficult. I was impressed with the Duke publication "Tales from the Public Domain." I have bookmarked it and sent it to English and government teachers.

I started School Library Learning 2.0 fairly early--in the fall after it had been announced. I did not finish it then, but figured I would "someday." In the interim, I have done many, most, nearly all, at one training or another, preparing for a lesson, or just out of personal interest. The most useful part has probably been doing a sustained blog--I have created several for different purposes, but always abandon them after the original event. So, this has been a good exercise for me--especially anything to do with images because I really hate working with them. I got a little more practice.

Thanks for the opportunity.

Week 9: Thing #22--eBooks and Audio Books

My Kindle and I have a personal relationship. Sure, I really resent paying for content that I cannot share. True, I can get the same content on my smart phone. Yes, check out my PC when I am on the road and my Kindle got kidnapped by my husband (he gets his own for Father's Day). If I recommend a book I am reading on the Kindle, he hovers until I am done, waiting like a book vulture until he gets/takes his turn. I occasionally will finish a book on my phone so that he can start something on the Kindle--do not tell this to Amazon.

Of course, there is free content. Project Gutenberg's time has come! What they have been salvaging for the public for decades has now moved into the public forum and it isn't just librarians who know about it anymore. However, I have spent many hours searching through their catalog and found some fairly unfriendly looking texts--obvious formatting problems.... None the less, Gutenberg is free to the public and saving our resources from extinction by maintaining them in a digital format.

Legal issues lend a foreboding overtone to collectors of eBooks. As I illustrated from personal experience, it is difficult to share content. Moreover, one publisher has recently put libraries on notice that eBook purchases will expire after a certain number of checkouts, supposedly reflecting a similar demise that occurs with print and digital on-ground materials. Considering that the purchaser or borrow must bring his own container to the well of knowledge, there is a certain outrage on behalf of libraries.

Every delivery system of intellectual property has always been transient. Parchment deteriorated and was hard to come by. Mold corrupts print, heat warps wax, vinyl, and plastics, needles scratch away sound.... eBook delivery will change too, giving way to other media. At that time, the eBook and audio delivery of the moment will change and publishers can recharge for content with the new media. This is a time to be wary, to protect user rights and to encourage access.

All that said, I am reminded of the power of the access we have to such amazing public domain works as Elizabeth Blackwell's A Curious Herbal digitized and copywritten for presentation to the public through the British Library. It could be sitting on the shelves of a very few academic or museum libraries...unavailable, even unknown, to the general public. Who knew that Jane Austen created her own History of  England--and viewed in her own handwriting?

The advertising on Read.Print is a bit overwhelming. I think this is the point where reading online becomes unlikely, at least for me. Interacting with the text is a very personal, inverted sort of exercise. When icons, advertising, and formatting become so obvious, for obvious reasons, that they detract from the contextual interaction, the reaction is negative. Profit is the motive for this site--fortunately, no one needs to go here.

Some of these resources offered audio as well as print. At my house,  we love audio books and I have found apps for my droid phone, computer, and, now, Kindle. The quality of Kindle audio has been poor--digitized and hard to listen to. So, imagine my pleasure in finding Audible--and then going to eHow to discover that I can download AudibleManager software to my computer, download the audiobook(s), then transfer to the Kindle. It will be my next Kindle adventure.

Week 9: Thing #21--Podcasts

Podcasting offers teachers and librarians numerous options for both push and pull operations. As suggested, I went to Podcast.com and looked for podcasts that would appeal to me. Since I am an NPR and CSPAN junkie, I am now in newstalk heaven. Access to Cartalk no longer depends on being in my car doing errands on Saturday or Sunday morning as I can get the a podcast download anytime. It just shows up in my RSS feed.

While I enjoyed  "Circulate This: Stories from the School Library," I felt it was preaching to the choir--and that it is too long to use for outreach to students, teachers, or the community. Perhaps it should be broken into sound bytes and added, by speaker, to websites or presentations. It does, however, serve as an example of what could be done using student and parent voices for advocacy.

I found great resources at places like the Library of Congress (curricula) and Edutopia (how-to-ideas). I also made certain that everything I tried, or liked worked will at my site--while I can download iTunes at home, the site is filtered at my school. We just recently got access to YouTube--after years of missing a great resource. Using podcasts as a teaching resource--pulling content--offers content or publishing on demand that can be accessed by students twenty-four/seven. The breadth of the content is, well, breadth-taking.

However, podcasting is not just a pull technology. Teachers can also use it to create content in the classroom, by having students collaborate to make presentations in a 21st Century environment. For a library site, book reviews are an obvious use. But tutorials can also be student-created--using an OPAC is much more interesting if it is a peer voice explaining it. Classroom projects, available to classmates, family, and the world give dignity and purpose to learning--again in the time shift that the Internet provides.

I spent a great deal of time looking at podcast directories and listening to various uses for the technology. Video is so easy to upload now that it seems a bit mundane at times. But still, driving down the road listening to Car Talk on Thursday gives me great pleasure.

Week 9: Thing #20--YouTube

March of the Librarians YouTube, 2007

As I watched this YouTube video, I was taken back to the Painted Desert productions that augmented the curricula of the 50s and 60s social science classes where I learned pretty much of what I know today about wildlife and geography. Now, of course, we have similar topics over-covered at Imax theaters where I have been bored numerous in a larger format about fish or alligators. While librarians watching March of the Librarians were no doubt amused, anyone else would have been catatonic. Gotta wonder what alligators in Louisiana would think about watching themselves and their habitat interpreted on the big screen?

My school district only lately allowed the use of YouTube. The County Office of Education had for decades provided a film library (need I say Painted Desert?) and then offered United Streaming/Discovery Streaming. Eventually, they were forced to recognize that YouTube and public media offered more content with excellent quality for free and they turned on access--just last year. Discovery Streaming will be a thing of the past next year as budgets tighten and younger teachers go first to their computers or iPhones to find content. Recognizing change and adapting to it is one of the challenges facing educators and librarians. Providing 24/7 access to information is only beginning to become a goal in my school district, which has been thinking 8/5 for quite awhile.

I looked at a lot of library tutorial because I see a need for them in my library, but found only a few that I thought were appealing. Examples of YouTube videos that I might model because they were brief, yet offered great information:

One I did like: The Library Minute: Top 5 Resources for Online Students

Most were either cut and dried (practical), or just too cute. Like a lesson plan, there needs to be a good anticipatory set--but the entire tutorial cannot just depend on that. Several had very good, or eye-catching, introductions, but then when into  dry and boring screen shots with moving cursors and typed instructions. A little goes a long way. Another concern: Very fast pictures, fast-talking speakers, fast, moving through instructions. Or slow, droning voices, moving endlessly forward. Just because it CAN be done does not mean that it SHOULD.

Animoto is embarrassingly easy to use. I "created" a sample using a few images on my computer: unfortunately there is no noticeable logic or sense to it. It was made from odds and ends of pictures on my hard-drive, several of them from Flickr and stored side by side in the folder. I chose a theme, clicked and downloaded, added a song from the Animoto inventory. I am looking forward to using Animoto--it fits my style.

The uses are astronomical both because it is so easy to use and because it can be so appealing to given audiences. The possibilities abound for use for advocacy, for advertising, for tutorials, for family photos. I am going to get serious and do an MLA citation Animoto for Senior Project next year. And a family album. As mentioned before, I am photophobic and hate (or am frightened by) photo/image/video. I can take 'em, I just cannot manipulate them. This looks like scrapbooking on steroids, but I will try it.

Honest, I'll fix it.

Week 8: Thing #19 Check Out LibraryThing

I love LibraryThing. I have a lifetime membership and many books on my virtual shelves. Scanning barcodes from my cell phone to LibraryThing has become a whole hobby. At Costco, I scan to see if I read the paperback title, released again because of the author's newest hardcover title. How many times have I taken a "new" title home, just to realize, seven pages in, that I know this book? Share books with friends? Look at lists of books catalogued by other readers. Mobile LibraryThing is my absolute favorite cell phone app.

Early Reviewers is a great resource and I have received several books--the books are free, members request the titles they are interested in owning, and magically, if you win the lottery, the book comes in the mail. Book recipients are asked to add a review to the selection. What fun. This year, they offered SantaThing--members can sign up to send books to a secret pal and receive books back. It did not go off without a hitch--in fact, people were still receiving their books in late February. The tags, book cover searches, all personalize my site--and make it useful to others. Mining lists from other users is also a great way to add to my library. At this point, my LibraryThing represents a short list of my lifetime reading and has little to do with my physical library, either at work or home.

LibraryThing now offers catalog enhancements, available by mobile, to holdings in libraries all over the place including Los Gatos, CA. On their record the LibraryThing.com entry for the Glass Castle looked like this:

Reviews from LibraryThing.com: Enhanced Content:Editorial Reviews
 see reviews/add a review 272 reviews (  ) 

According to the Bowker article on "How Libraries are using LibraryThing," libraries can subscribe to packages and services that can add value to library records., including reader's advisory, tag-based discovery, and patron and LibraryThing reviews.  This is the short list--many other enhancements are available. The implication is, I think, that the user/patron can be more in control of their own searches, less dependent on the library staff to decipher MARC record content and searches. Whether that results in better information for the patron will decide on long-term usage.

Another development of interest:  Koha and Evergreen are just two of many open source online library catalogs available to small libraries. I checked out the offerings available at the Sitka, Alaska library, which uses Evergreen.  The catalogs search all sorts of media, and list a variety of relative hits, offering less expensive OPACs and circulation services to smaller libraries. The interface is appealing and efficient, though a little slower than what I am used to through either my public or school catalogs. Seems like a wave from the future.

I also belong to Goodreads, which I use for more of a book club atmosphere, sharing current reads and recommending new favorites to old friends. It has a cozier interface, though advertising is becoming an issue.

Week 8: Thing # 18--Online Applications & Tools

I have had a Zoho account for several years but have not used it in a long time. First it told me I wasn't registered, but then it found me and hugged my password. I have spent much more time recently in GoogleDocs, because that seems to be where our district is headed, and because I have taken some Infopeople training using it. I went back in to Zoho today and am very excited about the numerous offerings. The Zoho Writer interface is clean and  easier to use than Google Docs.

The real power of these online applications is collaboration. Our school has implemented some project based learning classrooms and is encouraging PBL throughout the curricula. We are beginning to use Google Docs in some classes, a radical change from just a couple of years ago when our district technology department actually forbid us to use it. An example of how backward thinking a forward thinking group should be: Our school network went down. We were still able to access the Internet, but could not save work to the network and we all received an emergency notice. I sent a message to our staff recommending that they use Google Docs instead, at least temporarily, and save their work in the cloud. Next morning, I received a scathing message informing me that Google Docs was unauthorized and that it was wrong to recommend it "for security reasons." I could never figure out how it was less secure to lose work than to put it on Google Docs​

Some of the links for this assignment are no longer working, so I was unable to see:

BTW: Here’s a Zoho-created document (viewable as a webpage) about some of the beneficial features of Zoho.

~or~

Here is a short list of web-based productivity applications – Note: This list was authored in ZohoWriter and exported as HTML.

​I was unable to download OpenOffice.org  because of tight school district policy, but what an opportunity this is. The interface, as far as I could tell from screen shots, looks friendly. Thier policies--free, no license fees, available for anyone to "use it for any purpose - domestic, commercial, educational, public administration" should make it highly desirable to economically challenged groups, like schools. They claim that it is compatable with other productivity tools. I tried to look at their Policies and Terms of Use, but I got an error message, which would concern me if the company association were not Oracle.

Between GoogleDocs, OpenOffice.org, and Zoho, I really like Zoho. For use at our high school, we are faily committed to the GoogleDocs suite and so I support its use. They should be aware, though, of other applications, what they will do, what they may or may not do better for diffierent purposes.

I looked at the Google Sites tutorial on YouTube (just opened at our site--unavailable for years). Then I went to the website to explore--the tutorial was from 2008 and it seems even better. My TAs are going to be assigned to create a collaborative Library Advocacy page--which will be interesting because they do not share a class hour and many do not know each other. Several of our teachers assign website creation for projects and this is a a great resource. The short personal success stories on the main page are a real hook for students and teachers and make this an easy sell.

Week 7: Thing #17--Add an entry to the Sandbox

It's true. Dead links make me frustrated. I found this assignment tedious and frustrating, probably because it just seemed all over the place and there were links that no longer worked. Still, I found some fun things to do, very apropos. We are currently using Inspiration to produce a flowchart for a WikiHow skill/direction. The list of online, free Web2.0 applications just became my next step in the assignment. I played with several of them to see which might fit our school's needs. In fact, I have been advocating Inspiration--and got a grant to install it several years ago. For planning writing assignments, a project, a presentation, it is a wonderful tool. But having it at school and not at home is one of the difficulties of the digital age--providing access when and where it is needed.

As I looked through the list of flowchart creators, I got really excited. The one I chose required a registration process that ultimately failed. Then I found Webspiration--and since I am, at this moment, teaching some students to use Inspiration (an old version)--it was a great find.

Two great wiki ideas that I found included a wiki on the school library page to allow students and teachers to make selection suggestions for print and materials. The other idea was to use wikis to create pathfinders--a really solid idea as they could be shared with teachers who could edit and add to them as necessary.