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Tag Archives | Web 2.0

Internet Librarian After Dark

At Internet Librarian 2011 we will have two evening sessions – the traditional Gaming & Gadgets Petting Zoo on Sunday evening  and The Great Web Tools Face-Off on Tuesday night.

On Sunday night we will be gathering in one of the conference center ballrooms for refreshments and a chance to play with and explore gaming systems and new gadgets and gear. This special session is led by gamer/gadget gurus Aaron Schmidt, Amy Buckland (@jambina), Royce Kitts (@roycekitts), Erik Boekesteijn (@erikboekesteijn), and Jaap Van de Geer. Com join our gamers and gadget lovers for an evening of fun and playing. Bring your latest games and gadgets and try out each other’s. Discover if you are a secret guitar hero, winning Wii bowler, or rank as a dancing DDR expert.

On Tuesday night we have The Great Web Tools Face-Off from 7:30 PM until 9:00 PM.

There are tools, tools, tools, but this event features learn, learn, learn while having fun! Our panel has ideas, but be sure to bring yours too! If we want to improve collaborative work, productivity, data representation, and research, what are the best Web tools to use?

The Game Plan!

Three periods of play jam-packed with ideas, tips and tricks — and even penalties and power plays! Team 1 (Blue Jerseys) takes on Team 2 (Red Jerseys) with captains and players while referees keep the pace going, and there is additional color commentary and expert analysis between periods. The game will be fast-paced, so be ready to tweet your cheers.

Moving Beyond 2.0

Remember when everything and everybody had to be 2.0? That was the phrase that defined a library as being modern, cutting-edge, and “with it.” But is there life beyond 2.0? Meredith Farkas started this session by saying she wasn’t going to talk about the “Rah Rah” stuff, which is more the exception than the rule. When she asked the audience how many were not getting the ROI they expected from their 2.0 projects, every hand in the room went up! Now that tells you a lot. She listed several reasons why 2.0 projects fail: People get into it because it’s “cool,” not because it actually fills a need. It’s not as free as you think when you consider staff time. To be sucessful, get to know your users, build things they want, give staff time, plan your projects, align projects with library goals, and assess the impact the project has. Lori Bell described libraries and library services in Second Life, although she admitted Second Life isn’t for everyone. She thinks virtual worlds will lead to the 3D web. Michelle Spirnger talked about the Library of Congress’ projects using Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, iTunes University, and FaceBook. She thinks that 2.0 is no longer cutting edge and recommends both quantitative and qualitative assesments. It’s not just how many people visit your site, it’s how they engage with it. Do they comment, retweet? Summing up the session was Helen Blowers who noted that Learning 2.0 and 23 Things, although very popular, are technology driven, approached from a tools perspective. However, 2.0 should really be about attitude and conversation. It should have an engagement model. She quoted Clay Shirky saying that tools get socially interesting when the technology gets boring. She concluded that social media, as a term, has supplanted 2.0.

Marydee Ojala, Editor, ONLINE: Exploring Technology & Resources for Information Professionals

Campus Strategic Planning Embraces a Wiki

Adelphi University in New York faced the task of devising a new 3-year strategic plan. It chose PBWiki (www.pbwiki.com) as its tool of choice. (PBWiki took honorable mention in the AIIP Technology Award.) According to Andrew White, it took like 60 seconds to download and install the tool.

Why use a wiki?

  • Introduce staff to new technologies
  • Demonstrate the power of Web 2.0 collaboration
  • Allow for input from off-site staff
  • Training opportunities
  • Group activity

After the success of this project, the staff looked for additional uses for the tool, including web design. The project garnered the increased participation of staff (“everybody”) and was deemed easy to use. The tool truly became a social facilitator.

Paula J. Hane
News Bureau Chief, Information Today, Inc.