by David Lee King on September 29, 2007
Click To Play
Quicktime version | YouTube version
I’ve owned an iPhone for about two months now, and thought I’d make a video sharing my likes and dislikes.Dislikes:
- Stocks icon – works great, but I could care less about the stock market, so it’s not terribly useful to me
- Calendar – again works great… but I have a work calendar and an everything else calendar… so I have both synced up to Google Calendar. That works fine. Usually. [translation=I haven't quite figured it all out yet].
Likes: Pretty much everything else. Ease-of-use is awesome. Included apps are great. I originally thought I’d get a Treo, but waited for the iPhone to come out to see what it was like… and haven’t been disappointed!
Update: I had a little trouble viewing the video, so I’ve been playing around with it. It should work now! And there’s a .mov and a YouTube version now, too.
Tagged as:
apple,
iphone,
video
by David Lee King on September 28, 2007
Hey – want to live in Topeka and work at my library? We are looking for a Digital Services Supervisor – here’s the description:
We’re looking for someone in love with systems, servers, tech projects, and change. Someone capable of bringing cutting-edge ideas to the table and who thrives in a culture of teamwork. Someone who finds satisfaction in enabling the majority to do great things through technology.
Position Summary: Reporting to the Digital Branch & Services Manager [ed - that's me!], the Digital Services Supervisor supervises a Systems Administrator, a Database Administrator, and three Help Desk Technicians. This position also is responsible for installing, supporting, and maintaining the library’s servers, assisting with the development, implementation and management of systems, managing networks and communications, and overseeing the provision of regular and on-call technical support and training to users.
And follow this link to the detailed job description. Sound like fun? Then send in your application!
Tagged as:
jobs,
server admin
by David Lee King on September 27, 2007
I just gave a presentation at the Allegheny County Library Association on Web 2.0 and emerging trends. it was fun! This group of librarians is very lively – during the presentation, there were lots of great questions were asked and there was some fun discussion, too. That type of interaction certainly makes it much easier for me!
Thanks, ACLA, for a great time!
Here’s a copy of my presentation (warning – it’s a rather large PDF file, so it might take awhile to download).
Tagged as:
Presentations,
Web 2.0
by David Lee King on September 20, 2007
More than one blogger this week has been pontificating on the wonders of the Wyoming Library Campaign’s mudflap girl. Here she is:
<sarcasm and nasty disagreeable Dave starts here>
I’m sorry, Wyoming. I realize that you hired “a team of Wyoming library public relations specialists” and that those professionals “have been planning this campaign for months.”
And I know you state the goal of the mudflap babe is to first allow people to see the babe, and then to somehow… miraculously… get from the mudflap babe to the realization that “There is something for me at the library, and I can grow, explore and wonder.”
Uhm… I just don’t see how the mudflap girl does that! See, I grew up in the midwest. Driving down I-70. Behind trucks. Big trucks. Lots of trucks. With mudflaps. Those mudflaps looked like the one below:
When I was a kid, everyone and my sister understood that those truckers liked scantily-clad women, that those truckers had pretty much no respect for women, and treated them as sex objects. That was just a given – especially when you tacked on all the silly sexist trucker songs and movies that were also popular when I was a kid.
[I asked my wife to take a peek. She said "but that's a naked lady!"]
Sorry, Wyoming. I simply do not see how mudflap babe shows me that libraries are “reliable and exciting.” Or how said hottie shows me that libraries “add value to our lives.” Whose value? Certainly not the women being treated as eye candy.
< / sarcasm off>
Tagged as:
blogger,
marketing,
mudflap girl
by David Lee King on September 18, 2007
by David Lee King on September 13, 2007
I’ve been working on an upcoming presentation, and I was looking for a way to discuss the concept of web as platform and how that might impact libraries… and came up with this:
Before web 2.0, people came to the library to do stuff at the library – they came in to check out books, read magazines, do research, etc. Even with computer use and the “old web,” they still came to the library and probably thought they were doing stuff at the library. The library was a destination – a place to visit.
But with the advent of web 2.0 and especially with the concept of web as platform, this has changed. Now, people come to the library to access the web… and then [digitally] go somewhere else. They aren’t really using the library’s resources (well, other than the internet line). They possibly think of themselves as going somewhere else – be that Runescape or Facebook, YouTube or various blogs.In this emerging model,
the library is no longer a destination.Instead,
the library provides access to a destination… outside of the library!
Just a little shift to ponder!
by David Lee King on September 11, 2007
Do you guys know about the Education Institute online courses and seminars? They frequently put together a great set of online sessions (and your truly sometimes presents one, too). here’s what they have going on this fall:
Technology Tuesday Series
Check em out!
by David Lee King on September 11, 2007
Ryan Deschamps at The Other Librarian recently posted about Facebook and libraries. It’s a thought-provoking article – go read it! Here are some tidbits from the article:
“So let me start with the Facebook library search application. It is
fine, but my opinion is that few people besides librarians are going to
add the applications to their profiles. The technology is Web 2.0, but
the strategy is still Library 1.0.”
and
“… the model is still, “I am librarian. I can help. Come to me (ie. my
Facebook page) and I will serve.” The applications, though offering
marginally better service for little cost, are not taking advantage of
what Facebook offers its clients.”
Then Ryan goes on to discuss his thoughts on what might work for libraries in Facebook. I agree with him – sticking the same ole library 1.0 stuff (in this case, a bad ILS search interface) into a 2.0 tool (i.e., Facebook) doesn’t make one hip, cool, or popular. Another example? Putting excruciating bibliographic instruction seminars on the intricacies of database searching on YouTube. I’ve seen some of those. They aren’t watched.
But if putting the traditional library into 2.0 tools doesn’t work, well then… what does? From Ryan again: “A Facebook application should be something your average person wants to show their friends.” He goes on: “In the end, the reason students will say they do not want to see
librarians and educators on Facebook is that the culture of Libraries
clashes with the culture of Facebook … If we can establish rapport with the Facebook community, we will matter
to them.” Ryan then provides thoughts on the Facebook culture.
So… how do you learn a new tool’s culture? By PLAYING with it. Experiencing it. Using it. Play with Facebook. Gather 100 friends and see what happens. Connect to some Facebook apps, join some Facebook groups. Poke people. Browse – see who’s using Facebook in your neck of the woods. Then figure out what you can add that those people (your customers, after all) might find interesting or useful.
by David Lee King on September 10, 2007
Pretend for a second that your organization is hiring a new administrator – a library director, assistant/deputy director, or something similar. What 2.0 questions might you ask? Here’s a list of 10 questions from the Logic+Emotion blog to ask a marketing agency executive:
- Do you read blogs. Which ones?
- Do you have a personal blog? What’s it about?
- Do you participate in at least one social network? Which one?
- Have you ever uploaded a video online? What did you use to do it?
- What’s your favorite search engine. Why?
- Have you ever used an online classified service like craigslist?
- Besides making phone calls—how else do you use your mobile phone?
- Have you ever registered a domain name?
- Do you use social bookmarks or tagging?
- Do you use a feed reader of some sort? Which one? Why?
The author goes on to explain: “You are looking for a sense of understanding that only comes with
experiencing something for yourself … It’s not important
to have done everything in this list—but it’s critical to have done
SOME of it.” The goal is to find a basic level of understanding, to find (in this case) a marketing executive that gets new media, new media outlets, and understands how customers digitally interact.
Now – think back to that library administrator. How might he/she answer these questions? Better yet – HOW would you want these questions answered?
Something to think about…
