Thinking about MySpace and other Free Third-Party Services

I have a MySpace account. I have signed up, posted a blog, and started gathering friends. I even uploaded a video. It’s sorta cool, and I can see the networking opportunities in it for people. And I can also see how a library could use this type of social networking service to post events, get [...]

Gaming in Academia

I read this article on the Duke University website a few weeks ago, and was intrigued by what was said about incorporating gaming into the classroom. The article talked about the Center for Instructional Technology Showcase that was held on April 27, and I found the plenary session, titled “Serious Games: Digital Game-Based Learning in [...]

Interesting backwash about the L2 Class

Here’s some interesting reading about ALA’s Library 2.0 class. Start here:

Addressing the critics
Library 2.0 via a 1.0 Delivery Company - read the post, then the comments.
Similar (possibly - I might be reading too much into this) post here

 The short version?

The company doing ALA’s L2 program decided to make the class blogs, podcasts, etc open - [...]

Good quotes from Kathy Sierra

I don’t know how she does it, but Sierra’s blog, Creating Passionate Users, always has great posts and provides much thought fodder for me. here are some quotes from a recent post:

“Good usability is like water flowing downhill”
“Playing the game should be challenging. The interface should be brainless.”

And an excerpt: “But while my earlier comments [...]

Better Microphones for Podcasting

In my post on Pointers for Successful Webcasting, I mentioned buying a better microphone, and also going one step further and setting up a podcasting studio as ways to improve your podcast and webcast sound quality. This post goes into a little more detail on microphones.
To do a podcast, you need a way to record [...]

The “Linger Zone”

Check out this Business Week article on overhauling McDonalds… Here’s a quote from part of the slide show connected to the article:
“McDonald’s has played with the café format for years. After its McCafés
took off in Australia, it tried the concept in the U.S. without much
success. Now it will integrate the look in restaurants in an [...]

Personal Tagging Can Be Funny Sometimes…

I’m finding the current continuance of Gormangate sorta funny, and I’m not planning to say much about it [gripping the keyboard with sweaty palms] “must … resist … urge … to … yip … and … yawp … !”
But I will comment on this: the tags and linkwords being generated around the current ALA president [...]

Check out Categoriz!

If you’re interested in web 2.0 sites (or just like to spend LOTS of time goofing off), check out this website: www.categoriz.com
It’s a HUGE list of categorized web 2.0 sites!
web 2.0 library 2.0

Another Web 2.0 Class Tomorrow

I’m teaching another one of my 4-hour Introduction to Web 2.0 classes tomorrow, and I’m changing it up a bit.
Defining the conept of Web 2.0 to primarily non-techie librarians is HARD! So this time, I’m going into a bit more detail. This time, I have the class broken down this way:
1. Brief intro to web [...]

OCLC and RLG to Combine!

Go here and read…
OCLC and RLG will combine (officially) on July 1, 2006. RLG will become “a new division of OCLC Programs and Research.” Wow.