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Yes, you really can create a website with blog software. It’s a great workaround for those who don’t want to deal with the heavy lifting of coding. Aaron Schmidt and David Lisa are talking about it right this minute…
David (left) and Aaron talking about using blogs as websites.
Some reasons that this is a good way to work is that it’s fast and easy to post content, and that you can change the look (or “theme”) of the site with a touch of a button. Also, as Aaron said, “blogs write good code” so search engines can find it easily; this helps your site rank high in search results.
Search expert Greg Notess had some words of wisdom for “datamining conversations” on the Net—and some cautions. This isn’t just about following on Facebook what someone had for dinner. Be aware of the public-ness and searchability of what’s now available online. It’s aggregating the information in a different way that can creep people out. And, remember—Once you’ve sent something out, even as a private email, it’s possible it could get shared.
He reminded the audience that we still have access to long-term discussions—Usenet discussions are still available as Google Groups (especially useful for conversations about computing in the ‘70s and ‘80s), whether you like it or not, these are still out there. More email discussion lists have moved their content onto the web. Some limit to members only for archive search. Some still do not have web-based search—but search is still possible.
Summize offers some incredible conversation search options. It added Twitter search and was then bought by Twitter (Search.twitter.com). He showed people in the other conference rooms at IL twittering in realtime about the wi-fi at the conference! It seems that the tag “IL2008” was the most active on Twitter this morning. Advanced search lets you specify geographic location – for example, within 15 miles of Bozeman, MT. Notess says it’s fascinating to search the Twitter space even though he doesn’t Twitter himself frequently. He reminded users that you can set your Twitters to private – so only your friends will see the tweets. But check occasionally to see if it shows up – it’s not perfect protection. The same cautions apply to Facebook, which offers many privacy protections to users, but only if you take advantage of the settings.
He also reminded people to check other places where conversations occur – blogs (comments and trackbacks), and Web 2.0 sites (look at comments and ratings, responses). Lots of good tips and cautions. Thanks, Greg.
Paula J. Hane
News Bureau Chief, Information Today, Inc.
I moved downstairs to the online marketing session. Lauren Stokes, Las Vegas-Clark County public library, starts off with blogs. There are staff blogs and patron blogs. She finds she gets better feedback from the staff with the blog format. Read me Vegas is book discussion blog, with Tuesday Trivia and Random Thursday. Tie databases into discussion. Librarian’s Brain is for patrons. It has tutors, games, tips, lesson plans.
To promote the collection created site called Books, Movies & More. Use BookLetters for CMS. Circulation is up. Materials put on the revolving list immediately become popular. Looks to me like a plug for push technology.
She’s also got a data challenge game. Covers website evaluations and comparisons; asks questions about databases and search strategies. Thre’s another one about The Great Gatsby. Petstacular and Neon’s Brain Blaster are other information literacy games.
Now it’s a computer switch to Geert van den Boogaard from DOK, Delft, Netherlands. www.dok.info His topic is "Connect to people in a library." He’s an industrial designer. Library Concept Center has listening chairs with combination of music. To market effectively, must understand audience. DOK Agora project has large multimedia screen in library. The idea is for people to tell their own story, have their own exhibition. Publish the best stories in the local newspaper. Digital Art is a project for the art library. Put LED screen in classroom and put different digitized art work up every day. Then compare digitized version with real one. Narrowcasting system used at DOK serves as in-house information system and directional signage. It runs on Nintendo Wii. DOK uses Bluetooth to greet users walking into the library with a picture, if patron has activated Bluetooth connection. They’ve got a FlickR photostream.
Yes, DOK both stocks books and prints books. They have rights to the art works so they can use. Want patrons to see something new every time they enter library. They build it, then see what people think of it.
