Librarian by Design

#SOPA #PIPA Congrats...But It's Not Over

2012-01-22T07:03:00.000-08:00

Online political discussions are not typically where you'll find this librarian - but this is different, it matters too much to me, and to so many others - I can't fathom what it would be like to go back to being a passive consumer of information. I've been empowered and know how it feels, I won't give that up without a fight.

We stopped SOPA and PIPA for now. The hard thing, as well articulated in the video below, "get ready, more is coming" - Watch as Clay Shirky explains the backstory on SOPA and PIPA in the video, and then read this Post PIPA and SOPA piece to learn why many are not in the mood to celebrate in the wake of the news that SOPA and PIPA are dead.

As CNET reported, "the lobbyists and politicians backing the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, and Protect IP haven't given up."

Video Description: "What does a bill like PIPA/SOPA mean to our shareable world? At the TED offices, Clay Shirky delivers a proper manifesto -- a call to defend our freedom to create, discuss, link and share, rather than passively consume."

"Because until we convince congress that the way to deal with copyright violation is the way copyright violation was dealt with with napster, with youtube, which is to have a trial with all the presentation of evidence and the hashing out of facts and the assessment of remedies that goes on in democratic societies, that's the way to handle it. In the meantime, the hard thing to do is to be ready. Time Warner has called and they want us all back on the couch, just consuming, not producing, not sharing. And we should say no." -Clay Shirky

Using the Web and Humans to Do Amazing Things

2011-12-31T20:36:00.000-08:00

Luis von Ahn found a way to digitize about 2.5 million books a year, at no cost--amazing, but that's not all, watch the two fascinating videos below.

YouTube description: After re-purposing CAPTCHA so each human-typed response helps digitize books, Luis von Ahn wondered how else to use small contributions by many on the Internet for greater good. At TEDxCMU, he shares how his ambitious new project, Duolingo, will help millions learn a new language while translating the Web quickly and accurately -- all for free

-- "With Duolingo you learn a language for free, and simultaneously translate the Web" - (a win-win, awesome!)

Innovative Academic Libraries...on a budget?

2011-11-21T10:17:00.000-08:00

The library director and staff at my university library have been discussing ways in which we can implement innovative changes in our library space to better meet the changing needs of our users. These conversations have been happening for some time but space changes and innovative technologies come at a cost, and budgets have never been tighter for many of us in higher education.

I'm a believer in the value of the library as a hub of the university. The videos and links below showcasing the University of Calgary's new Taylor Family Digital Library (TFDL), exemplify what is possible when a university (and a city!) fully realize the value of investing in the library (to the tune of $205 million!). The University of Calgary and others see the library as the place that can help shape the future of learning. This is an extreme example, I'm sure it's a dream come true for many on that campus, and will surely be a major draw for the institution.

Many university libraries are looking at ways to meet changing user needs. Besides smart planning, we need buy-in from university administrators in the way of dollars to implement changes. A good deal of student, faculty, and staff time is now spent in digital space. How can our libraries, especially those on a tight budget, help meet the space and technology needs of our users? What can we do to facilitate learning, to help our users build the 21st century skills needed to succeed in our digital world?

Harvard has been holding conversations on the "Future of Libraries" as have many of us in higher education.

This topic is one I have followed for some time, the "Libraries of the Future" and "Academic Libraries As Place" are blog posts I've written in the past. I believe it's time for action.

Below is a video of the grand opening this past October of the University of Calgary's Taylor Family Digital Library. For those who want to learn more about the TFDL, I'll also link to a storify.com story I created to pull in information from various sources on University of Calgary’s Taylor Family Digital Library and how it's shaping the future of learning.

Please feel free to comment on how libraries with limited budgets might begin to implement change within their space.

"The Next Generation of Digital Books"

2011-05-29T17:54:00.001-07:00

Earlier this month, I discovered Our Choice by Push Pop Press, Inc. and found it to be a pretty remarkable book. My past experience with book-apps came when the Vook was first released. I purchased the "The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen" by Eric Gower and was impressed. I enjoy vooks on my iPhone though, to me, a vook can seem a bit more like a website with embedded video in an app. "Our Choice" is a multimedia e-book that feels more like reading a slick print book with useful media added throughout.

As The New York Times Technology writer, David Pogue stated about Push Pop Press "...it didn’t create just “Our Choice.” It simultaneously created a platform, a technology, that will permit them and others to publish subsequent immersive book-apps much faster and more easily." That's what has me excited about this book-app.

Though "Our Choice" is without features available with less interactive ebooks (search, highlight, annotate, share, hyperlink, etc.), it's engaging and had me quickly engrossed. And I can only see the work being done by Push Pop Press, Inc. and others improving.

Learn more about the "Our Choice" book-app by watching the short 4min TED Talks below by Push Pop Press co-founder, Mike Matas. Then scroll down to view the 2min "Our Choice" video trailer and see what you think.

I'm not sure how popular books in apps like this will become, it seems they're best suited for certain types of books, but it should be interesting to follow as they and other e-books evolve.

"The Next Generation of Digital Books" from Push Pop Press, Inc.:

Our Choice will change the way we read books. And quite possibly change the world. In this interactive app, Al Gore surveys the causes of global warming and presents groundbreaking insights and solutions already under study and underway that can help stop the unfolding disaster of global warming. Our Choice melds the vice president's narrative with photography, interactive graphics, animations, and more than an hour of engrossing documentary footage. A new, groundbreaking multi-touch interface allows you to experience that content seamlessly. Pick up and explore anything you see in the book; zoom out to the visual table of contents and quickly browse though the chapters; reach in and explore data-rich interactive graphics.

Below is the Vimeo video trailer for "Our Choice"

Al Gore's Our Choice from Push Pop Press on Vimeo.

Google's New Think Quarterly > Think Data > Read Mobile

2011-04-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

Data (and QR codes) done right, it's a beautiful thing:

Open publication - Free publishing - More data

Click above image to enlarge & scan QR codes to read each article on your mobile device. Get Think Quarterly 01 for eReaders and other devices by visiting this site to download EPUB or PDF versions.

QR Codes and The Academy

2011-03-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

(click image for clarity)

A while back I read a post titled "QR Codes Everywhere But Higher Ed?" by Mike Richwalsky (@mrichwalsky). I noticed Mr. Richwalsky also wrote a post back in February 2009 titled "QR Codes: Is it Time?" so he's been tracking these codes for a while.

I've had similar thoughts about QR Codes. And, like others, we've been slowly implementing the codes in our university library. Recently our marketing department created a nice promotional card for our new mobile library site, which included a QR Code for easy access (incl in flickr set below). Overall, higher ed has been slow to adopt QR codes, but based on the number of conferences and presentations featuring this simple technology, that may be changing.

I've seen QR codes in our Best Buy and a few other stores, and there is a definite increase in our local newspapers and mailers, but QR codes are still not a mainstream technology in Portland, Oregon USA. I'm not sure why, though I have some theories (another post). And the majority of people I know (other than early adopter librarians and techies) still don't know what they are.

At times I wonder if QR codes will ever mainstream in North America, and lately I've decided that for some purposes, I don't think that it matters.

Institutions of higher education and libraries (public and academic) are places that I believe can benefit from using QR codes even if they never mainstream, at least for now. Simply put, they are a low threshold technology that provide a lot of bang for the buck. In some cases I think we could ask ourselves why we wouldn't use a QR code. I'm not saying let's start blanketing our libraries and campuses with QR codes, but a QR code on a mobile website promotional card, in a university brochure, and various other places just makes sense to me.

I've embedded my most recent presentation on QR codes below. The presentation includes examples of how QR codes are being used in libraries, with publishers, vendors, retailers, and popular culture.

QR Codes: What, Why, How & Where

View more presentations from Robin Ashford

An article titled "7 ways higher education can use QR codes to connect with current and prospective students" has ideas to assist those in higher ed in getting started.

The Arboretum - Next Generation of Learning blog from the University of Oregon has a number of QR code posts worth reading by Robert Hill Long (who recently found and kindly posted my QR code article). Mr. Long has some great ideas for implementing QR codes in higher ed, and I suspect there will be more posts to come.

Below is a YouTube video on QR Codes at the University of Guelph:

I've embedded a new flickr set dedicated to QR codes and the academy which I'll be adding to as I discover more:

And finally, A press release on the journal NEUROSURGERY® titled "Medical Journal Using QR Codes to Link Print and Digital Video" includes a QR code (which is also on the cover of their April 2011, Vol 68, issue 4 publication). When scanned or photographed, that particular QR code takes users to one of the clearest QR Code tutorials I've seen yet. For those who don't yet use QR codes, I'll include the youtube video of the tutorial below:

I'd love to gather more examples of QR codes related to higher education. Please feel free to recommend links to information or images in comments.

Mobile Information Literacy & Mobile Trends

2011-03-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

I've attended two of the four Handheld Librarian Conferences (#HHLIB on twitter), and hope to attend many more. This was one of the most relevant conferences I've attended in a while, and one I recommend others consider in the future. It's affordable and as an online conference, accessible to most. (And the archives from years prior are accessible to all.)

I also appreciate that the conference has a good sized international group of attendees/participants. The US is often lagging when it comes to mobile and much can be learned from those outside our country with more experience.

I've embedded the slides here from my Handheld Librarian IV presentation (including links to videos shown during the presentation)
Newer technologies, like those I and others shared, can be fun and useful. However, there were meatier presentations as well, many given by excellent keynote speakers. I discuss one of those presentation below my slides.

Handheld librarian IV Feb 23, 2011 - QR Codes & Augmented Reality For Mobile Library Users

View more presentations from Robin Ashford

There were many valuable sessions during the two day conference, but for me there was one session, a keynote, that stood out - Presented by Andrew Walsh, University of Huddersfield:
"Handheld Information Literacy: Mobilising Existing Models?" Here is a link to the PDF of the presentation.

Research data (cited in the Walsh presentation, my presentation's first video link, and any Google search) confirms that mobile is of huge importance. Many industries are currently hyper-focused on mobile. I don't think most expected the level of exponential growth of mobile we've experienced quite so quickly. Even Google was off with mobile predictions. I know the recent Educause ECAR report on mobile undergraduate use caught me off-guard and I suspect most in higher education are still unaware of those statistics, no less thinking about the teaching and learning implications.

Libraries have been having mobile conversations for a while and many have created mobile sites or mobile library apps. Early adopters within libraries have been implementing simple mobile technologies like QR codes, and soon I expect we'll see more practical and location-based augmented reality used in libraries as well. However, few have begun to think about the larger implications of mobile and it's impact on libraries and educational institutions.

Those attending the Andrew Walsh presentation linked above were challenged to think deeper. The big questions he addressed: "What does all this wonderful technology mean to our users?" and "What does the mobilizing of search and information sources mean to our ideas of information literacy?"

Mr. Walsh presented a brief history of information literacy (IL) including a list of IL attributes fed into standards and models such as the ACRL 2000 standards, the SCONUL 7 Pillars and more. He then compared traditional competency based IL models (fixed IL) to more relational based mobile models and spoke on how mobile IL varies as mobile search can happen anywhere from a range of devices using the mobile web browser or specific apps. Search no longer happens in fixed controlled environments and since people are increasingly attempting to meet their information needs via handheld devices, IL is drastically changed. We need new models to reflect this change. What will it mean to libraries if most information needs are met while on the move?

A lot of food for thought was provided by the Walsh presentation along with Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, keynote on "The State of Mobile Connectivity" earlier in the day.

More questions than answers are apparent to me at this time, such as: How will mobile change our roles as librarians? What about mobile learning in the classroom and beyond? Will librarians eventually move from being embedded in classrooms and Learning Management Systems to provide more services via twitter and other mobile apps? What other services might we provide? Will librarians, many still expected to fill traditional librarian roles, be free of some of those responsibilities so they can begin to consider the impact of mobile within their organizations and work towards supporting mobile users?

Libraries and librarians are currently working hard to keep up with the digital revolution and the move from print to electronic. The move to mobile is yet another shift, which could further drastically change our traditional roles. How will librarians and libraries keep up and be able to support the needs of our unconnected users as well as our connected and increasingly mobile users? Will we receive the needed buy-in and support from administrators? Or will we be caught off-guard and in outdated librarian roles be seen as no longer relevant?

I've recently begun working on a collaborative research project with two School of Education professors related to mobile learning in K-20 classrooms and beyond. Naturally mobile learning would have a mobile information literacy component. I've been thinking hard about my role as a librarian and relevance, as is the case with many librarians these days. I'm thankful for librarians like Mr. Walsh and others who follow mobile trends from whom I can continue to learn as libraries and librarians help move their institutions into 21st century literacies.

I'm also glad there are IT leaders in higher ed who are focused in this direction as well. My university's CIO, Greg Smith, recently attended the ACU ConnectEd Summit 2011 and shared some thoughts on his blog and in the video below on "The State of Mobile Learning."

QR Codes, Augmented Reality & Future Realities

2011-02-22T12:54:00.000-08:00

I recently presented on QR codes and augmented reality at a face-to-face conference, Online NW 2011 (#onw11) using video I converted and added to iTunes to tell the story. I added the corresponding youtube links to slides so people who weren't in attendance could view, and I've embedded that slide presentation of links and titles below.

QR Codes & Augmented Reality For Mobile Library Users - Online NW 2011

View more presentations from Robin Ashford.

I will be presenting on the same topic at the Handheld Librarian IV Online Conference (#hhlib) tomorrow.

My slides for the #hhlib conference are more visual as I'll only be able to show four or five videos at most. In the short time since the last conference there have been quite a few developments as QR codes and AR are evolving rapidly. During my last presentation I ended with a concept video from two years ago by Nokia on the future and mixed reality.

Below is another recent commercial concept video that takes us a few steps further. Though I won't be able to show the 5min video during my #hhlib presentation, I've added the link to my slides and I thought I would share the video here. How do you feel about "A Day Made of Glass?" Feel free to share your thoughts in comments.

Mobile Impact - Libraries & Higher Education

2011-02-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

The ECAR (EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research) Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2010 was released in October along with the Key Findings (PDF bottom left).

“The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2010 is a longitudinal extension of the annual 2004 through 2009 studies. It is based on quantitative data from a spring 2010 survey of 36,950 freshmen and seniors at 100 four-year institutions and students at 27 two-year institutions; student focus groups that included input from 84 students at 4 institutions; and review of qualitative data from written responses to open-ended questions.”

In preparation for two upcoming presentations related to mobile technologies in libraries, I've been following statistics on cell phones, feature phones, smartphones, and other handheld devices (i.e., iPod Touch, etc.) in the US and abroad. Page five of the ECAR Study Key Findings contains "Figure 2. Internet-Capable Handheld Device Users, 2009 and 2010," and the statistics clearly indicate exponential growth.

In viewing the charts in Figure 2 of the Key Findings, I found it significant that the percentage of those in the study who own Internet-capable devices jumped from 51.2% in 2009 to 62.7% in 2010. However, what really grabbed my attention were the stats that show the change in how students are using these devices, with 33.1% who own and use the Internet on their device in 2009 to 48.8% in 2010. That 15.7% increase in Internet use, with almost half the students using their handheld devices to access the Internet (likely over 50% by now), is what is bringing us in higher education and libraries to a tipping point. And the momentum is clearly growing outside of higher education as well (see yesterday’s report from Financial Times on smartphone growth).

Every student I’ve asked recently has said they will probably purchase a mobile device with Internet access soon (or have the data plan on their existing phone turned on) because it is finally becoming affordable (along with the allure of apps-see video below). With the fierce competition amongst carriers, data plans are dropping (T-Mobile is aggressively marketing fast 4G and “entry-level data plans that start at $10”). If costs remains low, my guess is that the number of students accessing the Internet on their handheld devices in next year’s ECAR report will show an even greater percentage of increase.

What does this men? What kind of impact will mobile devices have in higher education? I’m still not sure, but I’m paying close attention. As an academic librarian I’m interested in learning how we can leverage the technology available to us to better serve our students with computers in their pockets. As the proliferation of Internet accessible mobile devices continues (remember most US college campuses are completely wireless, and those who can’t afford data plans are often able to purchase the iPod Touch, which on wireless almost equates to an iPhone), I want to be ready.

Forward looking librarians are already on it. Take a look at the upcoming Handheld Librarian Online Conference IV. View the topics and issues being covered, and the ways in which innovative librarians are working to serve their mobile constituents. The program includes trends in mobile technology and features many ways librarians are utilizing mobile, everything from SMS and mobile instruction, to QR codes, augmented reality and more.

I hope to learn a great deal while attending the Handheld Librarian IV conference. Librarian roles are changing, and whether in public or academic libraries, I believe mobile technology and librarians who understand mobile user needs, will become increasingly more important.

Lastly, below is an amazing entertaining video that drives home the fact that indeed “The Times They Are A-Changin”

Futures Thinking for Academic Librarians

2010-10-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

ACRL released a report in June titled, “Futures Thinking for Academic Librarians: Higher Education in 2025.” The goal of the report is "to prompt academic librarians to consider what trends may impact the future of higher education in order to take strategic action now." As a librarian/educator, I wholeheartedly agree that watching trends that may impact our future is important, and I was glad to see this report.

A variety of themes are covered in the report and 26 futuristic scenarios are presented. A survey instrument was developed for the purpose of measuring the probability of a scenario, impact (if the scenario were to occur), speed, and whether a scenario represents a threat or opportunity to academic libraries (for the record, I see most change as an opportunity for academic libraries, just not always business as usual).

One of the four scenarios rated as highest in probability, impact and speed is a scenario titled “Right here with me.” In this scenario students use their handheld devices in almost magical ways. The devices sense information, processes are automated, and more. Reading this reminded me of two newer technologies being used in the US, QR codes and augmented reality, which can seem a bit magical as well. These technologies provide access to information on mobile devices without keying in terms to search.

I’ve been following mobile technology trends for some time (see my first mobile test blog using a simple Motorola RAZR phone and $5. data plan) and I’m a strong believer that the digital revolution we're experiencing will be increasingly mobile. Though I'm uncertain of all that will evolve with mobile technologies in the next 5-15 years, QR codes and augmented reality are two mobile technologies that could have a strong impact in libraries and higher education. In the case of QR codes, I think sooner rather than later as early adopters in the U.S. are currently exploring and implementing this technology in their libraries, on campus, and beyond.

This week I'll attend the ACRL-Oregon & Washington Fall Conference 2010. The title, "If we knew today what we'll know tomorrow: Futures thinking for academic libraries," has me excited about learning from others who value looking forward.

I'll be presenting a five minute lightening talk at the ACRL OR/WA conference using the presentation below. This slideshow compliments an article, which will be available in the November publication of C&RL News on QR codes and mobile users. (Update: C&RL News article is now available.)

Qr Codes & Simple Augmented Reality in Academic Libraries

View more presentations from Robin Ashford.

All posts tagged with "QR Codes"
All posts tagged with "augmented reality"

Exploring Augmented Reality Apps on iPhone 4

2010-10-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

I've been fascinated by augmented reality (AR) for a while and have posted in the past (scroll) on this technology as it relates to education. Many feel the potential of AR is huge, though for various reasons it will take time to mainstream.

The Gartner's 2010 Hype Cycle shows AR has 5-10 years to mainstream adoption. The 2010 Horizon Report, commonly used by educators to scan the landscape of emerging technologies for teaching and learning, has listed Simple Augmented Reality Time-to-Adoption: Two to Three Years.

I've long had an interest in testing AR but my previous iPhone 3 (not 3GS) did not have the built in technology necessary to use AR. In most cases, handheld devices must have a compass and GPS to be able to use AR. The flickr set below shows examples of AR app tests on my iPhone 4, which I've been running mostly in downtown Portland, Oregon, USA. The set and descriptions can also be viewed on flickr

I'm excited about what I'm learning as I test AR apps in the city. I see challenges after using these apps, but the potential has become more clear as well. I'm also encouraged by the fact that there are smart people working on moving this tech forward. O'Reilly radar recently posted a good article titled "How augmented reality apps can catch on" and there are creative thinkers/innovators in higher education working on practical uses for teaching and learning.

For now, my plan is to keep testing and I hope to soon find someone at my university interested enough to collaborate with me on creating an AR tour of our campus and main library. Seems like a good first step. I've seen a few examples of how a handful of higher ed institutions are beginning to use AR. I'd love to learn of more. Comments are most welcome.

An Educational Augmented Reality Project

2010-08-05T08:22:00.000-07:00

Those who follow me know that I'm an early adopter drawn to emerging technologies. As an educator I'm always on the look-out for educational applications of these technologies.

I've been fascinated by augmented reality (AR) for a couple of years now. Many of my AR blog posts have featured AR concepts that may or may not come to pass. A lack of standards and other issues means it will be a while before AR is ready for mainstream.

The video embedded below describes an educational AR project that sounds useful and doable. I also found it personally worth supporting.

One of the things I especially appreciate about this project is that the educators involved realize that not everyone will have heard of AR, and many will not personally possess the required hardware. They are proposing a project that would engage students in valuable learning activities and provide ways to make the technology available to those who have never heard of AR, don't have a device of their own, but who could still benefit.

Read about this kickstarter project, "The Civil War Augmented Reality Project," watch the video, and see if you agree. If you do, please consider supporting if possible.

For those new to AR, below is a two min. video introduction to AR

QR Codes in Libraries

2010-07-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

QR Codes are appearing more frequently in the U.S., though the technology is still largely unknown to the majority and mainstream adoption will take time. Recent developments are raising awareness of QR codes in the country (UPDATE 7/29 more major QR code exposure), and librarians in libraries everywhere are busy experimenting, learning from each other and sharing results.

Below is an introductory flier created to share with students and faculty as we continue to research and brainstorm ways to utilize QR codes in the library and on campus.

QR Codes at the GFU Library

The Portland Center of my university, where I work as a reference librarian, serves primarily graduate and doctoral students. They are busy adults, many with families working full-time jobs while attending graduate school. Any new technology that is introduced must have enough value to warrant their time and effort. Because QR Code technology is very simple to use, I think there is a good chance of seeing this technology utilized IF doing so makes their lives easier (i.e., QR codes on study room doors to take users directly to the room reservation online form can save time and effort). The main undergraduate campus library has also introduced QR codes and it will be interesting to observe usage between the different groups.

The Journal of Information Literacy recently published an article by Andrew Walsh titled, "QR Codes – using mobile phones to deliver library instruction and help at the point of need." From the Abstract:

This article outlines the practical uses we have found for QR codes, gives preliminary results of how those have been received by our library users in our pilot study and highlights the reluctance of many students to engage with this technology, which may need further investigation.

It's a very worthwhile read from which we can learn a great deal, but keep in mind the research was done close to a year ago and there have been significant changes since that time. Many of the same challenges exist today, especially in the U.S. where we are lagging in the use of QR codes and other mobile technologies. However, awareness of QR codes is growing in the US, and QR code technology has developed greatly the last few months in both quantity and quality of apps. I've personally culled a number of apps as better apps have been made available (no longer is taking a picture necessary on some devices as newer apps quickly and accurately scan the codes).

The author also mentions that QR codes are "an easier alternative to full augmented reality," and I agree. However, augmented reality is another technology that has seen significant development over the past few months. I've been experimenting with augmented reality (AR) apps, which I hope to utilize for library tours and other purposes (blog post to come - done and here). At the moment (until the next new technology) I feel that both QR codes and AR will have a place in the library and the university. This post on augmented reality and handheld devices from a year ago highlights the different amazing apps at that time and I expect to continue to see gains in AR and QR code development.

Lastly, this past Friday I discovered (via a tweet to a flickr screen shot) that Alexander Street Press (ASP) had made QR codes available in their Music Online database. I immediately logged into our subscription database, picked an album, found the code, scanned it and was listening to music via a beautiful ASP player on my iPhone 4 in less than two seconds. Below is a screen shot I took to share (with an expired QR code (explanation below), so no legal worries :) ).

I was in my office on our university's wireless system at the time I had logged-in and assumed the music would stop working on my iPhone once I left the office, but that was not the case. After arriving home, I found that I could still listen to the music on my iPhone and at that point I was perplexed as this music was from a subscription database. I continued to experiment with the music database QR codes throughout the weekend.

On Sunday I was searching for information on how the Music Online codes worked when I came upon this Library Journal post"Alexander Street Press, Mobile Streaming Audio, and QR Codes" The article explains that a specific collection of music was being made freely available to all until August 15h. However, the music I chose was not from the free collection and though the article was indeed great exciting news, it did not answer my questions on how/why I could access the subscription databases on my phone without being logged in.

After further searching I found this Alexander Street Press link to a page titled "Using Your Mobile Device" from their Music Online database. Included here is the statement "Mobile shortlinks (used to create the QR code) allow you to listen even when outside of institution network, allowing you to listen from your own home. Please note that shortlinks cannot be used outside of your institution network after 48 hours, but will still be usable within it." I verified today that all the links to music I had bookmarked on my iPhone on Friday have indeed expired. I was also able to easily login as a remote user from my home yesterday and once again added a number of album selections to my IPhone.

I'm very pleased and believe that what Alexander Street Press has done with Music Online and QR codes is the type of development that will drive mainstream adoption in libraries. I'm looking forward to what publishers and database vendors and others (including librarians!) will be doing to help make using library content on the go even more feasible and exciting.

How is your library using QR codes? Comments are welcome.

BTW - The QR Code generator I've been using is Kaywa and my current favorite free QR code reader app for iPhone, iPod Touch, Android devices and many more is the i-nigma reader.

#oilspill

2010-05-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

Making a statement (not my typical blog post).

Yesterday PBS Newshour posted Gulf Coast Oil Leak: What Are Your Suggestions? Their ongoing coverage of the Gulf disaster is worth following.

I suppose I could be over-reacting but this seems huge to me. After reading and viewing this photo blog from the Boston Globe yesterday and thinking of long-term ramifications--the human, animal and environmental impact...well, I don't have words to adequately describe my feelings.

More than anything, I'm hoping we can learn from this man-made disaster and take steps toward a future where we refuse to implement technologies with the potential for this type of destruction without a proven plan in place to address problems or what some refer to as "a mistake." Humans make mistakes, we all know that. IMHO we are all responsible for this one.

Update 6/11/10: others feeling responsible...

Google News: The Live Feed for gulf oil spill

(The #oilspill in the title is the twitter hashtag many are using in posts on the oil spill, for those unfamiliar with social media.) Update 6/2010: Many on twitter have switched to #oildisaster Click either for real-time results from those tags on twitter.

My SL and twitter friend @SunnThunders shared this article and I decided to embed the video below. Not sure it's possible for us to reverse our reliance on oil in this country or our world, I'll at least try to do my part in minimizing usage. At this point, it just doesn't feel like enough. Warning: the video is pretty shocking.

Watch full-screen on YouTube

Photo blog UPDATE 6/4/2010: Caught in the Oil (if the first set of photos were too disturbing do NOT click on this link).

Sorry, but feel it's important to add yet another update -
Photo blog UPDATE 6/11/2010: Scenes from the Gulf of Mexico

My final update on this post is the NYTimes "Tracking the Oil Spill in the Gulf." An interactive map (click "play" button upper left of map) and estimates of oil spilled in this disaster.

Why I Want An iPad Anyway

2010-04-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

I was both excited and disappointed when I watched the Steve Jobs iPad demonstration along with zillions of others via live blogs and tweets. I thought they were mistaken when I first heard "no flash" and then "no camera" on a live blog. I tweeted "no flash, did I understand that correctly?" and several others said they were sure that couldn't be and were trying to confirm.

It didn't take long to figure out this gorgeous device was primarily for consuming content. As an educator I found this especially disturbing. Surely everyone knows we're a participatory culture now (no, not everyone, actually) - how will we upload our videos to YouTube?!

Since then I've followed the iPad hype on twitter, read many articles and blog posts, and watched plenty of videos about the iPad and iPad content. People are definitely passionate about this device. Some reviews have been critical, others say it's going to change the world.

After stepping back from my self and my personal technology habits, I'm in the camp that this device will be a game changer. I see it as the beginning of a new era. A move from files and folders to apps and the cloud. This makes sense to me as I've had most of my data in the cloud since the first Google Apps existed and I'm a believer. And the Apps! iPhone apps have been blowing my mind lately, I can only imagine the amazing developments to come in new iPad apps within the year.

PCMag: Apple iPad video review from PCMag.com Reviews on Vimeo.

It's not yet an ideal device for someone like myself, not a techie but an early adopter who likes to create, but a game changer nonetheless.

I'm planning to wait until V2 of the iPad for myself, when I'm pretty sure the camera situation and a few other things will have changed (ability to create and edit google docs please!). I'll have plenty of opportunities to get my hands on iPads before then, and I believe I've convinced my library director to let me pick one up to run e-book tests on very soon. BTW - the iBook demo in the video is nice and I expect there will be some truly innovative apps developed along these lines: iPad iMagineering-Penguin Books-DK Yep, exciting times ahead.

A Consumer Health Librarian's National Library of Medicine Grant Funded Project in Second Life

2010-03-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

The NLM grant funding this project ends on May 1, 2010 and I felt it was important to document my experience. It's been a truly remarkable journey. My hope is that this presentation (and speaker notes) will provide viewers a sense of what working as a Consumer Health Librarian in Second Life entails, will enlighten those who are not familiar with virtual worlds and Second Life, and will be found interesting and informative to those of you who are already conversant with the technology and culture.

Below is the link to view the full presentation or click the "Menu" button above (on the bottom left of the full presentation is an "Actions" drop down menu which will allow you to choose "Show Speaker Notes" to view further info for each slide)
http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dd9g7wzv_783gtqsdrf7

Also uploaded this presentation to Slideshare.

Update: A twitter bud, Dr. Kent Bottles, wrote a great post (and not just because he mentions me :) ) titled "Second Life & Twitter: Expanding My Understanding of Health Care Innovation"

I'm looking forward to presenting on May 5, at the 13th Annual ICSI/IHI Colloquium On Health Care Transformation in St. Paul, MN. My presentation is titled "How Doctors, Nurses, Allied Health Professionals and Patients Use Second Life"- Join us!

PBS Frontline presents Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier

2010-01-30T20:16:00.001-08:00

Below is the trailer to an important film. "The film is the product of a unique collaboration with visitors to the Digital Nation Web site, who for the past year have been able to react to the work in progress and post their own stories online." The film is available online and will also be aired Feb 2nd. From the press release:

In Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier, airing Tuesday, Feb. 2, from 9 to 10:30 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings), FRONTLINE presents an in-depth exploration of what it means to be human in a 21st-century digital world. Continuing a line of investigation she began with the 2008 FRONTLINE report Growing Up Online, award-winning producer Rachel Dretzin embarks on a journey to understand the implications of living in a world consumed by technology and the impact that this constant connectivity may have on future generations.

The full press release is worth reading. I know there are challenges; technology can consume us and we must find balance. The film addresses the topic of schools and institutions of higher education using technology for learning. Parents and educators are challenged to keep children safe and to find ways to utilize technologies that are truly beneficial. Many believe those challenges must be addressed because there is so much potential for learning about ourselves and our world.

It's obvious to educators that technology is transforming us and the way we learn. There is little doubt that technology can and should be used to further learning in schools and in institutions of higher education (how, is less known). This post by a UK educator is an example of how easily children adopt and benefit from new technologies "What happens when you give a class of 8 year old children an iPod touch each?" And this post by Abby, a 4th grader, who recently posted on pandas, which her father, an educator himself, tweeted about to share. They were pleasantly surprised as comments from around the world were submitted on her blog.

Can you imagine children like Abby and the 8-year-olds in the UK post video and others like them in high-school or college? Will sitting and listening to lectures, writing papers and taking tests meet their expectation for learning? They are already creators of content, they are participators in a globally connected world. Can our education system build on that? Would society benefit if it did?

As an academic librarian I believe it's important that institutions of higher education understand that most college/university students of the near future will have grown up immersed in technology. And though there are challenges, the expectation for learning with these tools should be understood and technologies utilized when and where appropriate. I'm hopeful this program will help us understand the pros and cons of this digital revolution so we can better prepare. Again, one can view the program online here.

Update 3/2010: I'm including a link to a blog post that many feel is a fair criticism of the Digital Nation program speaking primarily to the segment on Second Life.

Lastly, a twitter buddy, @raymondpirouz, wrote a short blog post and alerted me to a response video by educators who felt that "Digital Nation" left out much of the incredible work related to education in Second Life. I agree (fairly typical of SL media reports) and am embedding the short response video below.

An Early Adopter Librarian's "New Technology for Higher Education" Post

2010-01-23T13:16:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to write a post that looks back on some of the technologies I've been following and involved with the past year. This week my university's CIO, Greg Smith, sent out this invitation to a Google Wave:

New Technology for Higher Education:
I am starting a new Wave to gain feedback for my upcoming Lunch & Learn presentation on what is new in Technology. A side benefit of this Wave will be to give a quick glimpse of what Google Wave is. So please respond with your short lists of what you think is important or innovative Technology in Higher Education.

I figured this would work for both purposes. I enjoyed participating in that Wave (seemed a good practical use of Wave) and was hoping to easily embed that in my blog but alas Google Wave, which I think has great potential, is still in the early stages of development. The options for embedding into this blog are not currently very simple, instead I will copy and paste what I wrote, including my short intro, and redo the links and embeded videos below:

Remember I'm not a techie, just an early adopter (and a librarian) who often finds herself in over her head. Also Greg, you state to list what we think is "important or innovative," you didn't state necessarily practical or useful at the moment. Since I tend to feel most passionate about newer technologies that may or may not make it into the mainstream, I'll focus some on those as well (don't worry, I'll leave the really "out there" things out for now).

My practical happening now list:

* ebooks (we've been purchasing and leasing thousands at the GFU library)
* eReaders and, more importantly, ebook reading software for any/every device
* mobile (handheld device) access to everything
* video, video, and more video! And streaming live video like Ustream, Mogulus, etc.
* screencasts
* google apps and all things google
* web-based everything
* our work is in the cloud
* digital repositories
* open access, open source, open education, open content of all kinds
* social networks of all kinds (though these have been around a long time, there are new networks being created regularly and older networks are still evolving. It does appear facebook is used most in higher ed but seems to me more for social purposes than educational. The social network that has been most impactful for me is twitter, though like many things, it's all in how you use the tool.)

Past innovations I use regularly (some considered mainstream and some still not and maybe never will be but still quite useful to me):

* blogs and wikis
* google apps & all things google (google docs, gmail, Sites, analytics, iGoogle, Calendar, YouTube, Wave, mobile, alerts, etc.)
* virtual worlds
* aggregators of all kinds (from social networking aggregators like FriendFeed to RSS news feeds, to iGoogle, netvibe, etc.)
* delicious, diigo or other kinds of social bookmarking sites

The Future (some near, some not too soon and some maybe never :) )

* augmented reality (AR) (already happening but more useful educational application still to come).
Here's a concept video I like on this:

* augmented reality and handheld devices - here's a blog post I wrote on that with several video examples (back before Apple allowed AR apps on their devices, many more avail. now) titled, "Augmented Reality and Handheld Devices-Finally Ready for Mainstream?"
* QR Codes - I believe QR (quick response) codes will soon take off in the USA though they've had a slow start. (Look for QR codes in the library this summer. Here's a photo of a QR code I generated for use in the library to give an idea of just one way these codes can be used (there are many amazing ways, really). This short video on google favorite places shows another use.
* Mixed reality
* browser based virtual worlds for adults (happening now but just barely)
* immersive learning environments of all kinds
* gesture recognition systems (some like project natal below will work on handhelds like Xbox 360)
* project natal (be sure to meet milo if you haven't already)

* spimes and "The Internet of Things"
Here's a ReadWriteWeb article on this "IBM and The Internet of Things"
And here's a recent set of posts by RWW on "Mobile Web Meets Internet of Things"

* One more concept video via Nokia "allows to you to experience immersion and effortless navigation in new ways"

* And something and someone to watch as this sort of technology if/when developed could turn everything upside down:

All for now but much more to come because we're in the midst of a digital revolution! Exciting times :)

Learning in WoW & Second Life (Simultaneously!)

2010-01-06T11:14:00.001-08:00

Very interesting morning learning World of Warcraft. Had to leave WoW to work my reference desk shift in the Karuna Resource Center in Second Life (SL) in my position as Consumer Health Librarian. I spent a few minutes in both simultaneously and that's what this screenshot shows (shocked it didn't crash my computer to run both).

Also posted a screenshot of my first hour in WoW on flickr here:
The following explains a little about what I'm doing & why:
A bit of an experiment - was asked by a faculty member teaching at UCSD to assist with a research component for his course being taught primarily in WoW with some parts in SL. As an academic librarian working in SL, how could I say no?

ICAM 120 Virtual Environments
Winter 2010, Visual Arts Dept., University of California San Diego
Lecturer: James Morgan / Rubaiyat Shatner (Second Life)

So as in SL, I am a blue female in WoW (albeit a troll). Should be interesting comparing these two environments. I have a fair amount of experience teaching and learning in SL for my university and have been involved and following educational developments in SL, including the work and roles of librarians, for some time. I'm interested in learning how the WoW environment is being used for educational purposes. And of course, where does the librarian fit when courses are being taught in these environments. What is our role? More to come as I explore and learn in WOW.

Update: Jan. 9, 2009 -
I'm only at the beginning of my research on WoW but for anyone wondering about educational applications, I recently found a blog by an Open University faculty member, titled, E1n1verse – WoW, Learning, and Teaching by Michelle A. Hoyle. I especially enjoyed reading this post on why she plays World of Warcraft and the excellent references and links she included.

Final Update-Jan 22, 2010: Great group of students in the ICAM 120 Course, I enjoyed presenting on grant writing tips and researching a few articles for them. I observed one of their three hour-long classes and found it pretty fascinating. We all started in SL with introductions and then my presentation then took a short break and afterwards the instructor facilitated an interesting discussion on their reading for that week, Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulations. After the discussion everyone headed over to WoW. A lot accomplished in one class really especially since some had never been in SL before and a few were also new to WoW. Here are a couple of snapshots I put up on flickr.

World of Warcraft is something I would be interested in investigating further if I had more time. I just don't at the moment so unfortunately I can not continue on with the group. Even though I was only in WoW four times, I think I understand why some in higher education are using this platform with their students. I also think you would need creative faculty advanced in using the program to be successful. UCSD has a talented faculty member teaching this course in James Morgan. I was impressed with the level of engagement and discourse he managed with a class of 18 students participating in this adventure. I expect they will learn a great deal.

Another little nugget I learned about was something we all used for voice called Ventrilo(kind of like Skype but more stable with larger groups), it worked very well and really helped make the process between SL and WoW more seamless.

Posted via email from Robin Ashford's Posterous

What Matters Now - Excellent Free Ebook

2009-12-17T10:24:00.000-08:00

Many extraordinary authors and thinkers contributed to this ebook. It's a quick read but I've been purposefully reading slowly, trying to assimilate the nuggets of wisdom within the pixels. It's inspiring, helping me to think and gain perspective. This free ebook has been organized by the always inspirational, Seth Godin, here's his blog post on this. It's worth sharing so for those of you not following me on twitter I've embedded it below and include the download link.

What Matters Now

University of Edinburgh librarians lead discussion on Infolit iSchool Island in Second Life

2009-12-07T12:36:00.001-08:00

Edinburgh University librarians lead discussion on Infolit iSchool Island in Second Life

Information Services for learners in Second Life is the topic of today's discussion.
Sheila Yoshikawa who blogs here and here graciously hosts regular discussions on her University of Sheffield, Infolit iSchool Island. It's a packed house today and time now to head out front to check out the van they've been using to reach their distance learners in Second Life. Click here to see the van we visited after the presentation (will take you to my posterous blog where I post primarily on my Second Life work).
Find out more about the Virtual University of Edinburgh in Second Life.

Visit Infolit iSchool (125, 249, 24)

Posted via email from robinashford's posterous

IBM World Community Grid Live in Second Life

2009-12-01T15:10:00.001-08:00

IBM World Community Grid Presentation Live Now in Second Life

Great group from IBM World Community Grid (WCG) presenting live here on the rooftop of the Karuna Resource Center on their FightAIDS@Home project. The group in attendance was from around the globe...this is what Second Life does best. How else could people connect and share like this (don't even mention web conferencing programs as they simply do not compare-read on to understand).
After the short presentation and Q&A time, the IBM representative mentioned in my previous post on the World Community Grid, Bettina Cutler (Skippy Leafblower in SL) and I took all who were interested inside the Karuna Resource Center to tour the World Community Grid exhibit on the second floor. People appeared to enjoy the tour and Bettina somehow managed to get everyone together for a group snapshot. After our time in the IBM exhibit room an interested group headed out to the back deck to look over the Facing AIDS exhibit created for AIDS.gov, which I posted on earlier here.
It was an informative presentation and a good time. I look forward to continued collaboration with folks from the IBM WCG, many of whom had not been in Second Life before this World AIDS Day event.

Visit Karuna (32, 48, 35)

Posted via email from robinashford's posterous

IBM World Community Grid: FightAIDS@Home presentation in Second Life for World AIDS DAY

2009-11-30T13:16:00.001-08:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, December 1, 2009 is World AIDS Day 09 (WAD09). And as stated earlier, in Second Life (SL), as in other worlds, we are busy preparing Karuna Island for this major annual event. In this post I'll share about another Karuna partner, The IBM World Community Grid (WCG) and more specifically, The World Community Grid FightAIDS@Home project.

As stated on their site, "World Community Grid brings together people from across the globe who donate their idle computer time to create the largest volunteer computing grid benefiting humanity."

The Karuna Resource Center houses a permanent World Community Grid FightAIDS@Home exhibit in an upstairs room of the Center that people are free to visit anytime. This was one of the first exhibits I put together (with Bettina, our IBM reps great inworld help) after accepting the National Library of Medicine grant funded position as Karuna Consumer Health Librarian. I strongly believe in this project and have participated by contributing my idle computer time since first learning about the wonderful work being done by this organization.

As part of the Karuna Island World AIDS Day events taking place in Second Life tomorrow, our IBM representative, Bettina Cutler, Program Manager, Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs, IBM Asia Pacific, has arranged to have an IBM WCG representative along with herself give a presentation on the rooftop of the Karuna Resource Center in Second Life from 3-3:30 PM PT (SLT). We will also have a short 3 min. FightAIDS@Home video available for viewing on the rooftop throughout the day.

I'm looking forward to this event and want to encourage anyone with a Second Life account to attend. This SLurl (Second Life URL) will take you directly to the grassy Karuna Resource Center rooftop. Of course Karuna Island is open to the public 24/7 so feel free to stop by anytime. Events will be taking place throughout the day for World AIDS Day, and there are always interesting places to explore, fun activities, and information resources.

Update: A Linden Labs blog post with new video has just been published further highlighting the days events.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from robinashford's posterous

Karuna Resource Center in Second Life-Facing AIDS Display for World AIDS Day 09

2009-11-29T13:08:00.001-08:00

December 1, 2009 is World AIDS Day 09 (WAD09). In Second Life (SL), as in other worlds, we are busy preparing Karuna Island for this major annual event. This year promises to be extraordinary. Click this link to learn more about the event: http://www.tvwsp.com/home.html

As the Karuna Consumer Health Librarian and the person responsible for the Karuna Resource Center on Karuna Island, I work to meet the objectives of the information resources section of our National Library of Medicine (NLM) funded grant. For WAD09 I worked closely with two organizations to prepare something to compliment and extend awareness of their work inworld (inside SL).

The project I'm showcasing in this post was coordinated with our AIDS.gov representative, Michelle Samplin-Salgado. Michelle and I met inworld and she shared about the AIDS.gov Facing AIDS Campaign. After reading about the campaign, I went about creating a type of inworld equivalent on the back deck of the Karuna Resource Center. An earlier display I'd created on WAD09 already out there would compliment this one nicely.

The snapshots here show the display, which is open to anyone with a Second Life account. There is a notecard with step-by-step instructions embedded in a couple of the signs for visitors. The instructions include steps on how an avatar can choose to "wear" one of the signs on the table and then on how to take a snapshot and drag it onto the photoboard. The outside world equivalent can be found here on flickr.(Michelle and I included our snapshots in both inworld and outworld locations :) )

Below is the SLurl (for those who use SL) to the Facing AIDS display on the back deck of the Karuna Resource Center (feel free to explore inside the resource center and the rest of the Karuna Island as well!).
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Karuna/24/5/23

Please IM Robin Mochi inworld with any questions/comments or if you need assistance. Comments welcome here as well.

Update: A Linden Labs blog post with new video has just been published further highlighting the days events.

Here is a flickr link to additional snapshots including those taken during World AIDS Day activities on Karuna Island.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from robinashford's posterous

Why "Clay Shirky: The Social Media Revolution" Matters for Academic Libraries

2009-11-13T08:25:00.000-08:00

Below is a recent interview with Clay Shirky I want to share. It's 23 min. long and worth the time. He starts off talking about twitter and why it's important and how it's evolving. There are some direct references to ebooks, bookstores, libraries etc. but it's not really about that. It's about what's happening in the world of social media and about what may come. Important stuff for academic librarians and others in higher education to consider these days.

Clay Shirky's 2005 article "Ontology is Overrated: Categories, Links, and Tags" had an impact on me back in the earlier Web 2.0 days. I was a newer librarian and folks in the library profession were beginning to understand our profession would be experiencing significant change. Librarians began to wrestle with folksonomy vs. taxonomy and more, much more, and at an increasingly rapid pace.

I've continued to follow Shirky's writings on the Internet and disruptive technologies because...well, because there's a digital revolution taking place and these things are of critical importance to libraries.

I was also glad to see a tweet a couple of days ago pointing me to a new publication by OCLC Research. The "Call to Action" section in the two page PDF below is about how librarians need to keep up on what's happening in the field of scholarly research and publishing and adapt our practices to the changing needs of researchers. It also states, "Developments such as cloud computing, open access publishing and online social networking are affecting research practices." The report includes a citation and link to Clay Shirky's post "Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable," which is valuable reading as well.

I've put these two things together in this blog post because I've found as an academic librarian, at this time in history, it's more important than ever to follow and understand what is happening in this social media/digital revolution. I'm not sure I could really feel prepared to play a central role in support of scholarly research and publishing at my institution otherwise.

An Academic Library Manifesto
OCLC original PDF: Chris Bourg, et al., for OCLC Research

The Social Web-Living Statistics

2009-11-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

Gary Hayes has done it again. One can't look at his dynamic social media counter below and not wonder about the significance of the live web--how it's impacting our world, our lives.

(Note: click the small red "mobile" and the yellow "games"tab)
In a blog post last week my reflections were on how to live a healthy balanced life (in the midst of all this connectedness) in order to have a more positive impact in our world. I'll continue to seek understanding and balance in this area. But staring at this social media counter I am amazed (and perplexed) over what this will mean five years from now. The digital social revolution we are a part of is truly changing our world. It's not something one can dismiss as insignificant any longer.

We Are All Connected-There's Much To Be Learned

2009-10-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

The video below really grabbed me this morning. Partly it's the passion and statements made by Sagan and others such as:

"I find it elevating and exhilarating
To discover that we live in a universe
Which permits the evolution of molecular machines
As intricate and subtle as we"

I'm in a rare introspective mood at the moment. I spent an exhilarating two hours learning via twitter early this morning. I'm excited by simple discoveries and derive pleasure in finding things out. But in this moment, I'm wondering about the impact of my discoveries, my connections, my learning, etc. Am I doing anything to make the world a better place? Could my time be better spent volunteering in a homeless shelter or assisting with numerous other face to face needs? I guess that depends.

I was going to use the video above to segue into another post on connections and why I love twitter, connectivism, social media, our exciting new participatory culture, etc. I'm fascinated by these tools and concepts and sometimes wonder why. Mostly, for myself, I think it has to do with a sense of empowerment.

Since discovering what used to be called Web 2.0 back in 2004, and what seems now to just be the Internet, I've been pretty caught up in social media of all kinds. As Seth Godin explains ordinary people now have the power to lead and make big change. He urges us to do so. But, again, I'm wondering how much positive change, if any, I'm making.

This NY Times Magazine article from last week really hit home, especially this last paragraph:

I’m not wishing the Internet away. It has become so integral to my work — to my life — that I honestly can’t recall what I did without it. But it has allowed us to reflexively indulge every passing interest, to expect answers to every fleeting question, to believe that if we search long enough, surf a little further, we can hit the dry land of knowing “everything that happens” and that such knowledge is both possible and desirable. In the end, though, there is just more sea, and as alluring as we can find the perpetual pursuit of little thoughts, the net result may only be to prevent us from forming the big ones.

And I've been realizing that though I'm a very connected person, and I know a little about a lot of things in a few areas, my learning is not as deep as it should be. Nor are my connections. I'm feeling a need to live a more balanced life and to make my life matter more (yes, I'm a baby boomer).

Finding balance has been a lifelong struggle. But I think I'm ready to try again as I suspect balance could be key to my living a healthier and more impactful life. I was encouraged recently by this blog post by @KentBottles (a twitter bud) titled, "What Have I Learned About Keeping Myself Healthy, Happy and Well."

It also helps me to remember, as stated in the video above by Nye, "really, I'm just a speck." Not that each little speck can't make some difference.

Graduate LIS Class from University of Hawaii Visits the Karuna Resource Center in Second Life

2009-09-07T07:05:00.001-07:00

Professor Diane Nahl (aka Adra Letov in SL) and seven of her graduate Library and Information Science (LIS) students visited the Karuna Resource Center this past week to see the types of resources and displays being featured and to speak with me about my role as the Karuna Consumer Health Librarian. We also discussed the evolving work of librarians in virtual worlds.

I welcomed the group at the front entrance and enjoyed chatting with Diane while watching her students clicking on the displays and touring the building. After exploring, the students began asking questions. I had them get comfortable on the couches and chairs and did my best to answer. They were an astute group and it was good to see and hear from future librarians who seek to understand the changing roles of information professionals.

We discussed the resources and presentations I included in the resource center and how they meet the outcomes of the National Library of Medicine grant that funds Karuna Island. We also discussed the benefits and challenges for librarians working in virtual worlds, how statistics are gathered, and more.

After Diane and her graduate students left, I reflected on my own experience in graduate school. I attended the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the Unviersity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC GSLIS) not all that long ago, graduating in December 2003. It was a very positive experience and I am thankful to have attended an institution where I was pushed towards newer technologies. From learning basic html during my orientation to courses on web usability, online information literacy and more, I felt fortunate to be learning in a place that valued what was relevant and important for future librarians.

Professor Nahl's students, and many other LIS students from several universities who are offering courses in SL, are fortunate to have the opportunity to learn about librarianship in Second Life. Virtual Worlds (VW) are here to stay, and as VWs develop and more of our constituents use VWs, the information needs in these places will grow. These LIS students will be better prepared than those without this exposure. It really is an exciting time to be a librarian.

The Karuna Island in Second Life is funded via a National Library of Medicine grant to provide support and information resources for HIV/AIDS individuals, family, friends, allied health professionals, librarians and the public. Jena Ball, (aka SL Jenaia Morane) is the Project Coordinator for Karuna and I am the Karuna Consumer Health Librarian. In first life I am an academic librarian at a small private university in Portland, Oregon USA.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from robinashford's posterous

Ebooks, Ebook Readers, Mobile Devices and Academic Libraries-Part 2

2009-08-17T00:09:00.000-07:00

In Part 1 of this post I answered questions and gave my perspective as a an academic librarian who has been following ebook developments. In this post I'll highlight some fun technologies which may further influence these markets.

In the Wired Magazine post, "Clive Thompson on the Future of Reading in a Digital World," the author states "We need to stop thinking about the future of publishing and think instead about the future of reading."

This NPR broadcast with transcript and podcast "Chat While Reading: The Future of Books?" includes a link to Book Glutton (in beta, good concept and has potential for higher education).

Personally, I'm waiting and expecting a lot from new devices being released this year. Basically, I want a reader that is an "everything device." I would be satisfied for now with any of the devices in the Editis video below :)

Descrption: The french publishing group Editis's short fictional video is about the likely future of books. This video does not represent Editis's digital strategy regarding the epublishing market. However, it does hope to open discussions on the different economic models and the functionalities of future ebook readers. Filmed in 2007, this is the latest version with english subtitles. (Note: the first minute is blank and has been reported.).

Link to YouTube version

Another technology which could have a significant effect on books, ebooks and ubiquitous information access is Augmented Reality (AR). AR has been around since the mid 70s but only recently began seeing mainstream adoption mainly due to mobile devices as shared in a prior post with videos.

Link to YouTube version

I'm excited over what new technologies we'll see next. I'm ready to hear the full story on the rumored new Apple Tablet/Touch/iPad/? device due to be announced soon. I'm hopeful it will include a very nice built in ebook reader or else a wonderful app with which I can view my ebooks along with full computer functions and remember the etextbooks too.

Lastly, academic librarians are acutely aware of how quickly technology is changing and the effect that has on information access. It's difficult to predict how things will evolve. I'm adding a couple of links below to movements I'm following and believe could impact future information access directions.

Perhaps someday a mobile device won't be important: Article on MIT's Sixth Sense and on TED

The Living Book: The book written entirely in QR codes

Ebooks, Ebook Readers, Mobile Devices and Academic Libraries-Part 1

2009-08-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

Librarians at my university have been closely following developments related to the ebook industry, ebook readers and mobile devices in higher education. The library director and I were recently conversing on this topic via email and the bolded questions below were posed. Discussions on this topic are being held in academic libraries around the globe. My responses to the questions (my best guess, really) are posted here to share with colleagues and others in academic libraries who may want to join in the discussion. Comments welcome.

Will our constituents "soon" be willing to read many of their books on MOBILE DEVICES (meaning cell phones & smartphones)?

I do NOT think reading ebooks on small cell phone devices (non-smartphone type) will have a large following amongst our constituents (and not for most of us in this country, though I understand it's quite popular in Japan and some other countries). Smartphones, on the other hand, (iPhones, Palm Pre, Blackberry, Android devices, etc.) are another story.

I believe that young people (undergraduate students) WILL soon be willing to read many books on quality smartphone devices. For many undergrads there is a compelling convenience factor. Students are mobile and most always have their smartphone device with them. During a spare moment they can easily fit in some reading. However, I also think reading on a larger computer or reader device and print reading will continue as well for some time for all age groups. Older graduate students and faculty, I suspect, would be less willing to read many of their books on current smartphone devices.

Many baby boomers, like myself, might choose to read ebooks occasionally on their current smartphone devices. For example, I have downloaded a couple of ebooks (using stanza and the kindle iPhone app) so that if I'm ever stuck somewhere and have to wait for whatever reason I can pull out my iPhone and read a chapter of an ebook. I don't do this often and instead usually choose to read a NYTimes article on my NYTimes iPhone app. I would never choose to pull out my current iPhone to read an ebook if I was home and had access to a larger device for reading or my laptop (simply too hard on aging eyes).

Will our constituents "soon" be reading most of their books on any electronic device (in this I include Kindle, the new Mac netbook, etc., etc.)?

That depends on what is meant by "soon." If it means within the next 12 months, I would guess that our constituents will NOT be reading "most" (but possibly many) of their books on an electronic device. And I also doubt "most" academic books will be available in electronic format within the next 12 months (that partly depends on publishers and effective cost models, etc. and it's complicated as this article explains).

My guess would be that within two-three years many, and possibly the majority, of undergrads, grads and faculty will be reading most of their academic books (textbooks and monographs) on an electronic device of some kind (it really depends on how quickly some of the technology is brought to market and the availability of academic books in ebook format).

One of our grad student recently shared with me that in her undergraduate program at another university, which she finished almost a year ago, all of her textbooks were provided for each class in electronic format. Students in her program were required to pay a flat $75 book fee for each class in which they enrolled and the books were delivered electronically. That practice, if widely adopted, could significantly propel ebook use forward.

Will our constituents still prefer reading books in print (paper) format but likely will accept/prefer books on demand (printed from electronic)?

I think there will be a continued demand for print books (how much that will decrease due to ebooks, I'm not sure). I'm not very familiar with books on demand, and may not know enough to really answer this properly. I looked into books on demand/print on demand while working for one year at a public library a few years ago. I recently took a quick look at more recent information on this topic. NPR has a good broadcast available (transcript and podcast) titled "Company's 'ATM For Books' Prints On Demand."

The company, On Demand Books, makes a remarkable claim on their site. I've also read many articles and posts regarding ebooks and the coming revolution. Time will tell, but for academic books it seems ebooks make more sense (easier to search, annotate, hyperlinks in some cases, etc.). The makers of the Espresso book machines point out that print is still widely more popular than electronic and of course that is true at the moment. However, I believe that could and is rapidly changing (even with the industry challenges).

Will most academic books (even copyrighted) really be available as a download either free or at a very low cost (5 to 10 dollars each) "soon?"

I don't know this answer. Although if "soon" means within the next 12 months my guess would be, no. I think if things continue to move forward as they have in the last year, and effective cost models are brokered (which I believe will happen but, again, timing is difficult), that we will then see most academic books available electronically. (I don't know enough about free or low cost academic ebooks to comment on price.)

How will any or all of the above impact us as a library, and our collection development?

Heh, the answer to that question is a book of its own (or maybe a giant collaborative wiki :) ). I don't think any one person or organization has the answers at this time. Things are evolving and we will have to wait and see what happens with digitization projects, what types of devices hit the market within the next 12 months, what develops related to copyright and DRM, what other new technologies develop, and so much more. I am glad these questions are being asked by academic libraries globally. Many organizations are taking serious steps to discuss and debate the future of libraries as I shared in my prior post "Libraries of the Future" (see video)

I believe ebooks will become an increasingly important part of academic library collections. From a 2008 Springer survey:

eBooks are particularly effective when doing research because they are "convenient, easily accessible" and they offer "enhanced functions" when compared with traditional printed literature. In addition to the fact that no storage space is required, the eBook (because it is electronic) it is easily searchable and for research this fact is key.

Part 2 will include videos of current and future technologies that could add to the appeal of ebooks in academic libraries.

Libraries of the Future-Debate, Discussions, Podcasts, Videos & More

2009-08-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

"'Libraries of the Future' is all about debate and involvement, and JISC invites you to take part - both online and in person – in events and debates, to read and respond to publications, podcasts, sponsored supplements, and much more."

The Libraries of the Future site is a wonderful resource, one that librarians and administrators in the USA can harvest to learn and help spur discussions as we, too, work to understand the changing needs of our students, faculty and staff.

It's an exciting time to be an academic librarian. I'm not sure what the academic library will look like 10 years from now but I'm optimistic. The technologies that challenge us will also continue to help us to connect and grow in new ways.

In April I had the privilege to attend the Library of the Future Debate as it was streamed live into Second Life (SL), (which enabled me to participate and view with others from around the globe) from Martin Wood Lecture Theatre, Oxford University, Oxford.

The Libraries of the Future short documentary was recently released and "showcases interviews with leaders from JISC, Oxford University and LSE as well as students and academics who discuss what the library of the future will look like."

The Libraries of the Future publication below "explores the issues surrounding Libraries of the Future, showcases the events and activities of the campaign and looks forward to some possible solutions."

JISC - Libraries of the Future

First and Second Life Presentation for Guangdong University of Foreign Studies Delegation

2009-08-05T17:22:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow morning I present before a delegation of 25 administrators from The Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in China. My presentation is on our experience with teaching and learning in Second Life (SL) and is being hosted by The George Fox University (GFU) School of Education.

The presentation will take place in real life and part of the session will involve a live demo/tour in Second Life. I plan to use flickr slideshows of the work we've done with graduate education students. I also plan to meet inworld (inside SL) with Scot Headley, GFU Professor of Education, with whom I've been collaborating over the last year (as reference librarian and adjunct instructor for GFU). We'll take a tour of our university skydeck, Karuna Island and Resource Center, The Monash University China Incountry program, and the 3J Chinese Language School.

I'll also share about my new grant funded position as the Karuna Island Consumer Health Librarian. The Karuna Resource Center (RC), which I've posted about on posterous. The RC is a place where I've carefully chosen information resources that meet the outcomes of the National Library of Medicine grant that funds my work. The Karuna RC is a good example of one of the main affordances of virtual worlds (VW), which is the many informal learning opportunities.

Here is a link to a Guangdong University news article on the first visit from the GFU delegation to Guangdong University in 2007. "On April 16, a delegation of George Fox University (GFU) of the USA led by President David Brandt paid a visit to our university for discussions on exchange and cooperation programs." Since that time there have been further exchanges with the new GFU president, Dean of the School of Education, School of Management, etc.

This is the first time GFU is hosting the delegation from Guangdong University. I'm hopeful exchange programs and the relationship between our universities will continue to develop. There is much we can learn from other cultures and I'm glad to be a part.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from robinashford's posterous

Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & Mixed/Cross Reality-A View from 2028

2009-07-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

Somehow I missed this great video when posted in November 2008. I've been a longtime subscriber to the Gary Hayes YouTube channel, which I hesitate to add here because if your interests are similar to mine you will lose huge chunks of time and have to be torn away from these videos. Gary's website is a must read as well.

Gary is ahead of his time on this video (heh, about 20 years actually, not unusual for him).

This video is a compilation of work used to create a video ala the famous Epic 2014 Googlezon video. For those not at all familiar with Epic 2014, please understand that this video is "A video archive from 2008 compiled & written by GARY HAYES in 2028 :)"
(I have to admit I often wonder how we will look back at this time in 20 years, in 10 years even. The technological developments we're witnessing really are mind boggling these days.)

(You may want to watch this on youtube where you can click on HQ for better quality or download the MP4 file Gary has made available for download on the right sidebar.) Enjoy!

Augmented Reality & Handheld Devices-Finally Ready for Mainstream?

2009-07-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

I've been following and posting about augmented reality on twitter a fair amount lately. (Click to enlarge photo.)

Augmented reality (AR) has been developing for many years. Now that AR and handheld devices have evolved, we'll be able to benefit from both in new and practical ways. This is an exciting time with wonderful possibilities. This recent New York Times article states (free login), "Once the stuff of science fiction, augmented reality is now also making its way to smartphones, thanks to advances in both hardware and software."

The video below is one of the first examples I saw of practical AR on a handheld device. Here is a recent report on further developments related to the Wikitude app below. Google's Android has been ahead of Apple's iPhone when it comes to AR. I'm hopeful Apple will catch up. There's no shortage of developers working on iPhone apps in this area, that's for sure.

Augmented reality is pretty amazing and I believe this is just the beginning of what we're going to see with AR on handheld devices. The educational applications for this are limitless. And once Apple grants access to the video API, I'm hopeful the iPhone 3GS will catch up.

And soon Layar will be available beyond the Netherlands for phones running on the Android operating system. Again, an iPhone version of this will be a must.

The newest AR iPhone video to hit Youtube has stirred further interest in the U.S.

Yesterday on twitter @loic (Loic Le Meur of Seesmic) claimed this was a fake. Here's his tweet, which was retweeted by a few others.
"augmented reality on your iphone (yeah, it's a fake but watch it anyway) http://bit.ly/BT49Q "

From what I can tell it's not fake, though it's not yet available in the app store. But it may not be all it appears to be, not yet. Here's a review that talks about the good and bad of the app (written after the first London version video was released).

BTW- @angusdav did reply to "@loic why do you think the acrossair apps are fake? they say they're in the app store approval queue. http://bit.ly/rM55I"

I was a bit shocked by the @loic reply "@angusdav is it not a fake? It looks so amazing that I thought it was!!!"

I've just scratched the surface on this topic. Google "augmented reality" and you'll see that there's a ton of info out there and many more exciting developments in the works. Here is a video blogger who does a nice job showing and explaining some of the AR progression. Since that video was done in March 2009 it doesn't contain the work recently released by Georgia Tech (be sure to scroll & watch that video!).

And regarding the Apple iPhone and the API controversy? - I just ran a quick search and found this: Open Letter to Apple: Let us Augment Reality with the iPhone! (Turns out it contains the videos I included here and more!)

One last additional link here-check out this awesome augmented reality business card.

So what do you think, is it time? Will this technology have much impact in our lives?

Lessons Learned-Teaching Adult Students & Faculty in Second Life

2009-06-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

Spring semester 2009 I taught my first course as an adjunct instructor for my university's School of Education. EDFL 625 - "Intro to Second Life for Educators" was offered to graduate/doctoral students and faculty. The class, made up of four students and seven faculty members, would journey together in this strange new land.

The purpose of the course, as stated in the syllabus, is "to acquaint participants with Second Life (SL), a 3D virtual environment. Our intent is to discover the functions, processes and relationships that exist, as well as the potential of virtual worlds (VWs) for educators and education."

In a prior blog post I discuss being asked to assist a prof at my univ with his first SL course as a type of embedded/blended librarian, and I sought feedback on what people thought of librarians in virtual worlds. After that experience I was asked to teach as an adjunct. I've learned a great deal from these experiences. My learning has been broad and includes: becoming more adept using various technologies, gaining a deeper understanding of online teaching & learning, what the immediate needs are to prepare those new to SL so they are ready to learn, learning how best to utilize the 3D environment for teaching & learning purposes, how to play and have fun in these environments and how that can lead to deeper learning and more.

I've also been privileged to be able to work with two other faculty members on publications and presentations related to these efforts. Scot Headley, Professor of education, George Fox University and Anita Zijdemans-Boudreau, Assistant Professor of Education, Pacific University.

Being a part of this team has been a huge learning experience for me and one for which I'm most appreciative. It has greatly expanded my understanding of the publication process. We continue to build on our work. From 2008 to present I've had a number of opportunities to co-present at juried/peer reviewed/invitation events and publcations directly related to our work with teaching and learning in SL. Some of those include, a poster session at EDUCAUSE Learning Institute 2009, a presentation/publication for (SITE) Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2009, Presentation at TCC Worldwide Online Conference 2009 and our newly accepted poster session and paper presentation for the upcoming E-Learn 2009 World Conference. (12/09 Updated presentations listed here.)

What I will share below here is a set of questions presented to me by my two team members for reflection. They felt answers to the following questions would be useful for the final draft of our upcoming E-Learn 2009 paper presentation. This will also help me as I reflect on what worked, what didn't and how I can make this course better for the next semester.

What were some satisfying elements about the Spring 09 course?
The most satisfying elements were related to seeing growth in everyone, including myself. Watching the lights go on regarding the possibilities of virtual worlds and education. Experiencing the excitement that comes from being so fully engaged in learning. Learning from each other, what was working, what wasn't and why. Since all in the class were educators, the reflections on our course wiki were in the context of education, which was most helpful. We were able to have rich discussions both synchronous (inworld) and asynchronously (on wiki and email) in which we could all participate and learn from each other.

What were some unsatisfying elements or detractors?
The technology itself was, at times, a cause for frustration. This was especially the case for a couple of people with computers which did not meet the Linden Labs recommended system requirements to run Second Life and/or strong broadband connections. This is an ongoing problem with SL and one which must be addressed before SL will be able to become a mainstream teaching and learning environment.

What are some adjustments that you want to make in the upcoming fall course and why?
There will be three main adjustments -
1) Continue to require a mandatory orientation before the first live SL class but I'll add an assessment to that so I am sure all students are closer to the same minimum level of adeptness in using SL before our group classes begin. Second Life is complex with a fairly steep learning curve. It's not difficult to learn, however, time must be invested in learning the basics before one can fully benefit from the learning environment.

2) Second Life is a playful environment, which concerns some educators. I plan to make better use of this fact. I experienced an aha moment during one live class where everyone met on the skydeck to create a t-shirt together. I had a power point display there and also walked students through the steps, watching as I saw the new t-shirts appear on each avatar and the delight expressed at accomplishing this task. Some lost their shirts completely and others made jokes about no nudity, etc. I saw that they were having fun while almost unknowingly learning some valuable skills.

The second half of that class was dedicated to a trip to a sandbox (practice area) where an advanced student led the class in a demonstration of his building/scripting skills. It was a wonderful time with others chiming in on what they had learned and sharing objects with each other. Many students stayed well after the class was over. I saw the benefit of having students lead and of allowing students to share more of their own learning. The wiki had been used as a place for sharing the learning that was taking place by each participant. I realized during that class that I was missing an opportunity to more fully utilize the SL environment for student learning as well. I'm looking forward to this change during our next course.

3) For the next course there will be more required participation in live SL events during the one hour weekly assignment students complete on their own time. Students were somewhat reluctant to really become involved in this way and I'm still assessing why. I want educators to understand the value of connecting with others and with the many professional organizations in SL. Informal adult learning of this nature is one of the greatest values afforded by virtual world environments. This is something that may have to be experienced to be appreciated.

And one last important comment- This past semester, I realized the importance of the avatar (and continue to reflect and attempt to understand this phenomena). There will be more to come on this topic.

How specifically might you implement these adjustments?
1) For the orientation assessment piece I plan to do the following - All those who register for the course will be sent a resource link with instructions on getting started in SL, which will include the mandatory orientation. I will ask each student and faculty member to notify me once they have completed that to arrange a one hour time slot to meet me one-on-one inworld. In that hour I will work with each individual on a couple of areas that are usually problematic or take practice. An example is camera controls. Without a good understanding and some practice using camera controls in SL one can't really experience all the environment has to offer. I have additional information on our skydeck to address challenges of this sort along with opportunities to practice some of those basic skills.

2) I plan to schedule only half the number of full tours next course. At least half of every other class will involve an activity of some kind with students working together to complete a task. This should allow for more interaction and more opportunities for students to take the lead. I also think this will motivate students in further developing SL skills beyond the basic level.

3) I'll spend more time explaining and showing the importance of joining and participating in groups and attending live SL events. I'll also tie more of the weekly assignments to this so it's not optional. Participants will share what they have learned from others while attending events and in doing so, I'm hopeful the value will become apparent.

Now that you have done this a couple of times:
What would you state as important factors in helping educators become proficient in SL?
Second Life is constantly evolving and it's important for educators to continue to spend time interacting and learning in the environment. I believe the most interesting and effective way to do that is to become involved. I recommend that educators join groups inworld like ISTE and others that provide a way to meet, learn and participate with other educators. As relationships build and evolve there will be opportunities for collaboration and/or research. This is a win/win way to continue to grow in proficiency and to grow in understanding the value of using various technologies for teaching & learning.

What are you hoping for as a desired outcome in this work?
My desired outcome for this specific work is that educators will complete the course with a better understanding of how virtual worlds can be used for educational purposes. I also want educators to feel inspired.

As a student growing up in a traditional education system, I didn't have many positive learning experiences. I believe our education system must change and that learning can and should be immersive and engaging. There are global problems to be solved and in virtual worlds we can connect and collaborate with others from around the globe. There are so many possibilities with these platforms that I think it's easier for a person to find their passion. Once that happens, we are much more motivated to learn. And those who might fail under traditional learning models can thrive when engaged and motivated to learn, at least that's been my experience.

Below is a slideshow of snapshots taken during the course. This may also be viewed on flickr (click "Show Info" for additional information).

Should Academic Librarians Assist in Virtual Worlds?

2009-04-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

About a year ago I was asked by Professor Scot Headley, from our School of Edcation, to assist with a course he was preparing to teach that summer in Second Life (SL), an online 3D virtual world (VW) environment. I was honored to be asked and looked forward to the faculty/librarian collaboration. I also felt it fit my job description as Reference & Distance Services Librarian, and perfectly fit our library mission:

The mission of the George Fox University library is to support the instructional programs and research activities of the institution by providing access to recorded information in a variety of formats, and to provide instruction in the use of traditional and new information resources and technologies.

Having already been in SL for some time (mainly learning, networking for professional development purposes with other librarians/educators), I felt ready for the challenge of serving as a "SLibrarian." My prior interest/preparation stemmed from my belief that teaching & learning would continue to grow in VWs and I felt some librarians should be involved. I knew my university had already used SL for one class and thought there would eventually be more.

After meeting with the professor of the course to discuss my role and course needs, I went to work creating resources to address the information needs. I placed those resources along with a librarian office building on the skydeck George Fox University (GFU) leases from New Media Consortium.

The GFU skydeck space was ready before class started and was used for many purposes. Examples of how I assisted in my role as librarian include, helping to orient our graduate/doctoral students who were using SL for the first time by creating "how to" informational posters, attending the one hour per week inworld (inside SL) class to assist as needed, providing one-on-one help with students during inworld office hours or by appt., adding content to the course wiki, creating inworld subject guides, and meeting occasionally with the prof to discuss/assess learning outcomes related to the course assignments.

The professor and I continued to collaborate throughout the course and I learned a great deal working in the role I saw as a type of embedded librarian in Second Life. Or maybe I should say a blended librarian or a combination of both? Here is a flickr slideshow link of the class from last summer (click "show info").

This semester I was asked to teach my own SL course as an adjunct instructor for our School of Education (SOE) EDFL program. The one credit hour graduate level edtech course, "Intro to Second Life for Educators," has progressed nicely and has been quite the learning experience for all involved. This time I've really taken on two roles, one as the instructor and the other as the librarian. I created a course wiki where I link to many different types of information resources. Everything from blog posts to online news articles to shared links of searches I ran for scholarly peer reviewed articles in our Ebsco databases, and I've continued developing inworld subject guides.

As part of last week's inworld asynchronous assignment, I asked the class to watch the short YouTube video I created below on using Sloog for inworld subject guides (meaning subject guides of places in SL). (The assignment this past week was to use the Sloog website beginning with my Sloog user page in the way I describe in the video to visit Genome Island, explore and then write a reflection on our course wiki about their experience.)

(Click this link to view in larger format on YouTube site.)

Subject guide (sometimes known as resource guide, etc.) creation is seen as a fairly standard task amongst academic librarians. We create guides which include links to books in our catalogs, article databases, websites we've evaluated and feel may be useful, etc. Some librarians have also begun pointing out valuable Web 2.0 resources in their subject areas.

Virtual worlds (VW) are another platform containing new formats of information. There are over 150 VWs and their numbers are increasing rapidly. Those interested in VW growth projections can take a look at this post on Gartner's report and this site which shows large growth in the elementary school age demographic (our not too distant higher ed students).

Some virtual worlds, such as Second Life, are not only a platform in which educators can meet with students at a distance but they also contain what is often referred to as immersive builds. Below is a snapshot showing a number of these places. They are oftentimes interactive, immersive places, which have been designed and/or created by educators to assist students with their learning. As a SL librarian, who has been evaluating inworld immersive learning spaces, I am able to provide students with ways to find and access these places as an additional information resource beyond books, videos, articles and websites.

For those not familiar with VWs and/or SL, this site shows some of the institutions teaching and learning in SL (this is a partial list and many who are still in the exploration stage (such as my univ) are not listed).

Now back to the title of this post and questions for any readers who happen upon it--Should academic librarians provide assistance in virtual worlds?

Does my work as a SL librarian fit the role of an academic librarian? Obviously, I believe it does. I have presented and blogged on the role of the academic librarian in virtual worlds in the past, and belong to the ACRL in SL group where I network with incredibly innovative librarians in SL. I also closely follow the work of the ALA in Second Life and have attended their events when time allows. But I'm interested in what the rest of the academic community thinks. If I'm wrong about this, please comment and tell me why.

I'm not saying every librarian should be conversant in virtual worlds. Academic libraries typically have librarians who specialize in specific areas. Does it make sense to have a librarian who is conversant and able to assist when needed by faculty teaching classes in those worlds? Might some institutions consider this an asset?

Is creating inworld subject guides a role others see as fitting for an academic librarian? Should librarians be leading in this way or should we wait until virtual worlds are more mainstream? If we wait, is there a chance our role will be filled by others such as educational technologists? (I would argue that edtechs have the skills needed to lead as administrators/creators of our institution's spaces in virtual worlds and that librarians should be the main information need providers.)

Many of the library and information science graduate schools now offer classes on virtual worlds. Do academic library directors see the value in that when making hiring decisions?

I am an early adopter of technology (though not a techie) and have learned over the years that sometimes I can be too early, and sometimes I am wrong about a trend. But, I like to think of academic librarians as trailblazers and believe we should be leaders and not afraid to take risks.
There is a digital revolution taking place and it's an exciting time to be a librarian. As we contemplate how the next five years will develop, how we prepare ourselves to remain relevant as academic librarians seems more important than ever. If our constituents are (or will be in the near future) teaching and/or learning in virtual worlds, I feel some librarians should be there.

Comments are welcome.

Why I Really Like Twitter

2009-03-30T22:59:00.000-07:00

I first heard about twitter a couple of years ago and my knee-jerk reaction was that it sounded like something I would never want anything to do with. However, I heard the word enough to warrant a quick look. "What are you doing" are the words above a white box where one can share in a maximum of 140 characters what it is they are doing. My very first thought--Who cares?! Then a flood of thoughts, a rant really, fluttered through my mind--Yagottabekiddinme! I'm a busy person, why would I waste my time finding out what everyone is doing?! Isn't facebook for that? I don't even have time for facebook! Why are people using this?! How narcissistic can we get...what's happening to this world...people are losing their minds, that's what...this whole social networking, microblogging, Web 2.0 stuff is getting completely out of hand--you get the idea.

I vowed never to consider such a waste of time. I had already pared down much of my Web 2.0 arsenol to only those things I felt were most useful because my time was at a premium, twitter wouldn't even be considered. Those were my thoughts two years ago.

It's hard to remember what article or blog post it was that caused me to reconsider. Twitter was being mentioned regularly by all kinds of media and I noticed that many of the authors from blog and news feeds I subscribed to were using twitter. These were bloggers and journalists I respected, they were busy and productive people. I knew I had to take another look. This time I created a twitter account. That was over a year ago. Now twitter is one of my favorite and most useful tools, which is hard to believe given my initial impression.

So what is it about twitter that makes it so useful to me? Well, I'm a bit of an information junkie and an early adopter of technology. I'm interested in new information relevant to my job and my interests (much is related to emerging technologies). I look for Web 2.0 and beyond technologies that will serve a need and will provide me with maximum value for my time and effort. Twitter is quick and easy to use and enables me to find people to follow who talk about and provide links to information that I find very useful. And that information tends to be very new, and very now and oftentimes includes a short commentary by the tweeter. Twitter also saves me time as I no longer have to read all my feeds for the majority of my information needs. In return I provide information and links to the twitterverse and those who find what I share of interest can choose to become my followers.

There's also additional value I receive from twitter, which was not apparent to me in my early days. I can tap the resources and expertise of my followers. At times I've been shocked by the value of the service that's been provided. More than once I felt I should send a check to a person for "twitter services rendered." An example is the time I sent out a tweet that I had made changes to the course wiki I had set up in an attempt to make it look good on all platforms with all main browsers. In short order I received a tweet with an offer to take a look (by a helpful smart techie prof, at that!). I sent the wiki link in a tweet and quickly received word that it looked good using XP/FF3 and then an offer to look at it using other browsers. In no time at all I was told my wiki was "reasonably consistent across FF3, Safari, Chrome, Opera and IE!" This is just one example.

I should also mention that how I use twitter can be very different from how others use twitter. There is no right or wrong way to use this tool, it's up to the user to decide.
BTW-I do not agree with the twitter home page where it states "What" twitter is - "Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" It certainly can be and is used for that purpose, but there are many who, like myself, use twitter for very different purposes.

With so many very social social networks along the lines of facebook, I appreciate having a tool where I don't feel I have to be social. I can simply use this tool to my advantage and share in return and maybe along the way make a handful of connections, but that's not my main purpose in using twitter. I follow only a small handful of friends, family and/or co-workers and vice versa (I'll never "connect" with the vast majority of those I follow). And now that facebook has incorporated some big twitter like changes, I would think most using twitter for the purpose described on the twitter home page will perhaps end up using facebook instead.

For a good understanding of why facebook, twitter and a slew of other microblogging and social networks are so popular start with this excellent Sept 2008 NYTimes article "Brave New World of Digital Intimacy"(log in-free)

(I decided to add this newly published post "Trouble with Twitterers? Depends who you ask…" The educator who wrote it uses twitter in similar ways and does a great job of explaining the process he uses to decide who he follows.)

Following are useful links helpful to further understanding twitter:
What Twitter brings to the party
NYTimes Twitter? It’s What You Make It
Sixteen Great Twitter Moments
Facebook & social networks vs. twitter and microblogging

Twitter is Killing my Blog

2009-03-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's true, it's been almost two months since my last post. But I'm fighting back. I'm taking stock of what's most important to my learning and for me it's reflecting.

I recently reread this article by Alan Levine who was responding to an article from Wired Magazine where the author suggests the blog is dead. I completely agree with Mr. Levine. As an active twitter user and an early adopter of many Web 2.0 technologies, it's most important that I take the time to reflect. I just don't learn as well if I don't, and what I do learn doesn't seem to stick unless I take the time to synthesize the information. Taking the final step to share my thoughts on this blog in a somewhat organized and logical manner is another challenge in the process. Writing has always been a difficult task for me. Someday I'll take a class, but for now I'll blog and hope I improve and learn with practice.

I resolve (to myself) to post more often on my blog. If anyone benefits from anything I have to share here that's great, but really this blog is for me and my learning first and foremost.

I started out today thinking I was going to blog about twitter and I will, but I think I'll make that a post on its own thereby writing two posts today to make up for the fact that I've barely posted in two months. Although, in my defense, I have been teaching my first course as an adjunct instructor this semester in Second Life (along with my regular full-time job as an academic librarian and keeping up with emerging technologies (mostly via twitter now), etc. This included creating a course wiki where regular reflections were required by all participants, including myself. Once the course is over I'll reflect on lessons learned and share that here as well.

Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds

2009-02-02T15:36:00.000-08:00

Second Life (SL) has been a part of my life for some time now and I've been reflecting on my experiences. I evaluate the use of this technology more critically than most people who know me may realize. Regularly questioning the benefits and challenges of virtual world technologies to find where the value lies is an ongoing project. Is the cost/benefit worthwhile?

Virtual worlds are growing at an exponential rate. As a librarian/educator I follow virtual world developments seeking to understand this phenomena and how these technologies are affecting education and educators worldwide.

For now I'll say this- If virtual worlds were used for nothing more than the purpose of enabling people to connect and communicate in ways not possible or extremely difficult in real life, then they would be worthwhile for that reason alone.

There are some amazing educational builds of truly immersive learning spaces in SL. I would have loved that type of engagement as a student. Many, but not all, may agree with me on their value. But no one can disagree with my experiences.

I've made some wonderful connections inworld and I'm building relationships on a global level. This is most valuable. I do not have the time nor the resources to travel the world. And I'm not sure I could create the type of bond with others made possible by virtual worlds. This may partly be due to their anonymity aspect.

The culture of Second Life is one in which there is a sense of being there for each other, at least amongst educators and those in SL desiring to grow, learn and give. The kindness and helpfulness I've seen demonstrated inworld has been heartwarming. There is much I've learned and will continue to learn from others in SL.

Second Life has enabled me to lead discussions on Infolit iSchool Island founded by a faculty member from the University of Sheffield, Sheila Webber. In three weeks the class I'm teaching as an adjunct instructor will tour that island and interview Sheila. A week later we will tour International Schools Island in SL and interview another educator in Thailand. Next week we'll interview a medical professor from Ohio State University and examine an amazing build he created. Library Science graduate students have interviewed me and in two weeks a class from the Univ of Hawaii will visit my university's skydeck to explore what's been created there and ask questions. I'm collaborating on a project with their professor, whom I met while presenting on virtual world librarianship. These are just a few examples.

My experiences are not nearly as profound as those depicted in the video below. Hopefully the examples and the videos will help in understanding the potential of virtual worlds for education, community building and more.

"Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds:
Collaboration, Culture and Community"

For further information on this project please see The Understanding Island Through Virtual Worlds Program website by The Carnegie Council.

And lastly, here is a related video titled, Dancing Ink TV: Understanding Islam, The Imagination Age

About Connectivism

2008-12-15T20:18:00.000-08:00

The simple Common Craft style video below provides a clear explanation of connectivism. I believe it's an important learning theory for educators everywhere to understand in this digital age. I first heard the term some time ago and remember googling and reading the wikipedia entry. Then I read this article by George Siemens titled "Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. The quote below is from a paragraph in the conclusion of the article.

Connectivism presents a model of learning that acknowledges the tectonic shifts in society where learning is no longer an internal, individualistic activity. How people work and function is altered when new tools are utilized. The field of education has been slow to recognize both the impact of new learning tools and the environmental changes in what it means to learn. Connectivism provides insight into learning skills and tasks needed for learners to flourish in a digital era.

And here is an ELI Podcast session from Jan 2008 titled "Connectivism" presented by George Siemens. Would love to see comments on this. How important is this theory? How valid?

The Networked Student

TED Talks: Philip Rosedale: Second Life, where anything is possible

2008-12-09T06:54:00.000-08:00

This video from TED Talks is worthwhile for those wanting to better understand Second Life and virtual worlds. I'm linking to it rather than embedding it here because the comments on the TED Talks page are worth reading.

Rosedale makes some strong statements at the end of the video on how he believes that virtual worlds are the future of the Internet. That's still difficult for most of us to imagine. Research reports projecting significant growth in virtual worlds over the next few years have been published by Strategy Analytics and Gartner . This blog post "The Future of Internet Is Virtual Worlds. Or Is It?" takes an opposing viewpoint.

I personally don't know whether virtual worlds will be the future of the Internet. Seems it would be awfully difficult to predict with how quickly technology is developing/changing. But I do believe virtual worlds will have an important part in the future of education. Those in higher education can take a look at my post on the Sept/Oct 2008 issue of Educause on virtual worlds.

An Interview with UIUC GSLIS Student on Librarians and Second Life

2008-11-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

A UIUC graduate student, Sue Bergren (Sue Karillion in SL), wrote yesterday asking if she could interview me for a paper she was writing as part of a practicum in SL this semester. She explained that she had attended my online presentation at the Virtual Librarian Conference , was reading my blog and had some questions. I was glad to answer as it caused me to reflect on what I've been doing and where I'm headed. Thanks, Sue!

How can librarians provide value in a virtual world? - As a librarian, what do you do in SL? - Would you give me some examples of what you do?
I think we need to keep our eyes on the mission of our libraries and work to that end while in Second Life (SL), and by doing so we will provide value.

I am an academic librarian and according to my library's mission statement we are "to support the instructional programs and research activities of our institutions by providing access to information in a variety of formats, and to provide instruction in the use of traditional and new information resources and technologies." I see SL as many things, including another format of information. Most everything I do as a librarian in SL lines up with my library's mission statement.

As a librarian I do a variety of things in SL. This past summer I assisted a professor from my institution in teaching his first class in SL. I researched the best resources for helping his students to get started in SL and then included those in a wiki we developed for his class. I was given a skydeck to develop above some land we leased and went about setting up an office building with resources I felt would be helpful for his students. I created tutorial posters and an informational display on education in SL. Most importantly, I assisted students with their information needs in much the same way I assist students needing help with library databases. I met with students and the professor inworld when requested and built strong relationships with all.

Finally, I collaborate with other librarians inworld and volunteer on the reference desk at Info Island International once per week. The professional development and networking potential (global networking at that!) was something I did not immediately value and which I now find to be incredibley valuable. A whole new world has opened up for me. I've always wanted to travel and meet others from around the country and the world. Not only do I do that in SL, but we share and collaborate in ways that simply are not possible in 1st life. I attend information literacy discussions 2-3 times a month on Infolit iSchool Island hosted by Univ of Sheffield faculty/lecturer, Sheila Webber. I attend professional association meetings without putting a dent in my university's travel budget. I meet, work and play with librarians and educators from around the world on a regular basis. Sometimes when I leave these meetings I walk away (well...fly or teleport usually) and think about events I've attended in 1st life. Events/conferences for which I spent money for travel and paid to attend, and I marvel that my experiences attending events inworld tend to be as good and many times better. I learn and grow in Second Life.
(Click the small square w/arrows in right corner to enlarge & see descriptive info and again to go back.)

How long have you been using SL? - Why did you choose SL over some of the other virtual worlds?
I have been in SL since June 2006, but was not very active at all during my first year. SL was less developed at that time, there were fewer orientation options, and I struggled with learning the technology. I did, however, see the potential and as an early adopter I kept going back until I eventually became comfortable.

I chose SL over other virtual worlds because it is currently the most developed, especially in the area of education. This may change with the many VWs in development. I explore other VWs at times and work to keep abreast of VW developments.

What are your plans for the future?
Now that I'm known at my university as the "SLibrarian," I am the go-to person for anyone who has questions on SL from profs to students to administrators. I will continue to do my best to assist with any questions/needs they may have regarding this newer technology.

I am also working in SL with other librarians on ways we can best work to serve others and each other in SL. I belong to the American Librarian Association (ALA) group in SL as well as the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) group in SL.

I am currently working on a project that involves creating inworld educational subject guides using an inworld/outworld tool called Sloog. In the same way that librarians create subject guides for web resources, there is a growing need for such guides inworld. I hope to share about this project at an ACRL in SL meeting in the near future and recently lead a discussion on Infolit iSchool Island on this topic.

Lastly, I am working on a couple of other non-profit ventures in SL. There are so many opportunities to be involved inworld, I find it can be difficult to say no to some of them. SL is an excellent way for early adopter librarians to keep abreast of emerging technologies and to take a lead role in the brave new vitual worlds of our future.

Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education

2008-11-12T09:52:00.000-08:00

An early morning tweet led me to this and it's really worth a look.
From the Center for Social Media website The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education

This guide identifies five principles that represent the media literacy education community’s current consensus about acceptable practices for the fair use of copyrighted materials, wherever and however it occurs: in K–12 education, in higher education, in nonprofit organizations that offer programs for children and youth, and in adult education.

And here is yesterday's Chronicle post on this. It will be interesting to see how folks respond. I've only scanned the guide but I think the info shared in the video below makes a lot of sense. Though it sure can be difficult to make everyone happy when it comes to copyright & fair-use...

Digital Storytelling? Look to Second Life

2008-11-03T13:21:00.000-08:00

Today is my day off and I have a long to-do list (and this blog post was not on it). Included on my list was to attend a Metanomics Series interview at NMC campus in Second Life from noon-1pm. I did that and for the first part a woman named Alanagh Recreant shared about UTHANGO Social Investments and Virtual Africa in Second Life.

Of course links were shared to further information on Virtual Africa, which I decided to check out. One thing led to another and before long I found this video which I feel compelled to share. There is a 2 plus minute segment in this video on Virtual Africa. But that's not why I'm sharing this, though worthwhile. I'm sharing because this video is very well done and an example of yet another educational use of virtual worlds. From the website:

"Life on Life" is a 13-minute docu-narrative produced inside the virtual reality platform SecondLife, composed of vignettes narrating one avatar's path through her first year in the metaverse. From magical safaris and artificial lifeforms to hackers and virtual suicide bombers, the real world plays itself out around her in virtual space, and Life passes through with hope and wonder intact! The film explores an intersection of the first and virtual worlds--the drawbacks and the potential.
"Life on Life" has been accepted to the Cambridge Int'l Film Festival, UK, had a scene screened on CNN.com, and has been promoted by the virtual worlds projects and presses: Orange (France Telecom), Dancing Ink Productions, Babel News, Koinup, Rockcliff University, New World Notes and massively.com. Thank you to each of these!

I've been interested in digital storytelling since attending the SLEDCC 2008 Conference in Second Life (SL) this past September. The session where I was introduced to digital storytelling in SL was related to work being done by Peggy Sheehy (SL: Maggie Marat) and others with teens in Teen SL. Their work incorporates a broader array of media than the narrative video above. I never did blog about this experience, partly because I couldn't quite figure out how to articulate the impact it had on me. It turns out she and others presented at other conferences during the past summer and a blogger (and SL friend of mine) Chris (SL Topher Zwiers) wrote an excellent post on this on his MUVE Forward blog titled "Ramapo Islands: Quality Learning in Second Life."

The ALA, Libraries and Second Life

2008-11-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

The American Library Association Virtual Communities and Libraries Membership Initiative Group (ALA VCL MIG) is pleased to announce its first ALA SLymposium to be held in the virtual world of Second Life(SL) on ALA island on Saturday November 8. There is no charge for the event. I'm posting here to encourage library workers to register and attend.

The recent growth and development by the global public and education community in SL means that our roles as library workers may be evolving. There are information needs in virtual worlds (VWs) that parallel those needs in real life. As an academic librarian, who is active in SL by both supporting faculty from my university who teach in SL as well as volunteering weekly on the Info Island International reference desk, I feel I benefit greatly from my involvement (as do those I serve). Here is a link to the ALA in Virtual Worlds wiki which includes additional links to information.

In future blog posts I'll also be writing on the activities of the ACRL (Association of College & Research Libraries) in SL Group, of which I am a member.

The ALA island was developed in 2007 and there are events and discussions held regularly. The photo included here is from a recent discussion on ALA Island. Oberon Octagon, ALA Island Manager (the tiger avatar in the closeup photo), talked about ALA Island and what it can do for us. One new project the ALA is working on involves assisting those library workers who are new to SL with orientation needs. Proper SL orientation is important for all newcomers and I was glad to hear this.

For those who may be wondering how committed ALA is to SL, here is info I copied from the ALA Staff in SL Group Charter

The American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 65,000 members. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information.

Our presence in Second Life marks a commitment to virtual membership by the members of ALA Staff.

This island was made possible through a donation by San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science.

I'm glad to see the ALA is following the virtual worlds movement and willing to support library workers on the cutting edge. Time will tell just how successful SL will be. For now it is by far the most developed VW with the largest presence of library workers. As more library workers become involved in SL, more ALA staff involvement/support will be supplied. Attend the ALA Slymposium if you possibly can and see for yourself what is happening with libraries/library staff and Second Life.

Augmented Reality-Closer to Mainstream?

2008-10-24T06:11:00.000-07:00

Augmented reality has been around for some time, but Bruno Uzzan, from Total Immersion makes statements in the video below that cause me to think we could begin to see this technology in the main sooner rather than later. Be sure to watch the entire video, it gets even more interesting towards the end.

I'm still processing ways in which virtual world technologies can and are being used in higher education, and the timing of that phenomena. As the video above shows, augmented reality & virtual wolds work well together. The combined technologies could be used in a number of creative ways in higher education and in our every day lives. What do you think?

The Virtual Librarian Conference October 2008

2008-10-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

October 1-2, 2008, I attended and presented at The Virtual Librarian Conference. The conference was held online and delivered via Adobe Connect.

My presentation was on the role of the academic librarian in virtual worlds. The focus was on my experiences as my university's main academic librarian in SL. I will embed my updated slideshare presentation here for those who are interested. My original presentation was 14 slides. Since it involved application sharing of a flickr slideshow I had to turn some of those snapshots into ppt slides so the presentation would work without the app sharing. Hopefully this will make sense to viewers of my Slideshare presentation. (If you see formatting problems in the embedded ppt below, please click the title link to watch on the Slideshare site.)

Academic Librarian In Second Life

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: worlds life)

My Session took place on Day 2 of the conference and though I have attended many webinars using Adobe Connect, Elluminate, etc., I had never presented using one of these programs. That alone was a good learning experience for me. Since I decided I wanted to use application sharing in the middle of my presentation, I was stretched a little further by learning how to use some advanced features.

The conference attendees were made up of a little over 80% librarians along with a few educational technologists, etc. Many attendees freely participated in the discussion via comments and questions using chat which always adds value to the presentations.

There were four separate sessions each day including a panel discussion during day 1 made up of four people including Barbara A. Galik, Executive Director, Cullom-Davis Library, Bradley University (aka Puglet Dancer in SL). I was glad to see this and I enjoyed hearing the different viewpoints on the panel.

I recently interviewed Barbara Galik (Puglet Dancer, as the interview took place in SL) regarding her role as an academic librarian in Second Life. At the time I did not know she was the Bradley Univ library director or that she was the main person responsible for the Bradley University presence in SL (things I discovered during the interview). I find that I learn much by following trailblazers like Barbara, Lori Bell and others who presented and contributed during the conference.

It was helpful to learn more about the history of the Alliance Virtual Library during day 1 of the conference from those who founded the project and were involved from the beginning. Lori Bell and Abbey/Rhonda Trueman did a nice job explaining how this amazing project came about and how it is progressing. Joe Sanchez gave an interesting talk about librarianship in virtual worlds and the work he is doing in SL with students from the University of Texas at Austin. Here is a blog link for Joe on the Educators Coop in SL, which I have visited in SL and will continue to follow.

Day 2 of the conference was equally valuable. Jeremy Kemp of SJSU has considerable experience teaching and learning in SL and has accomplished excellent work inworld. From Sonja Plummer-Morgan, a public library director from Northern Maine, I learned about some of the administrative issues around building a library presence in SL and the great work she is doing with her library and as a volunteer for other organizations. And finally the conference ended with Matt Krull's presentation on "Creating Educational Tools in Second Life for Libraries.” Matt is a creative and talented individual. Educators in SL would be in trouble without people like Matt- people who understand the potential of virtual worlds and have the know-how to develop tools to help us fully utilize all VWs have to offer.

Educause Review - Sept/Oct 2008 Virtual Worlds - Must Read For Those In Higher Education

2008-09-17T08:52:00.000-07:00

I've barely finished reading half of this Educause Review volume, but felt I had to post something here to get this out there.

If you work in higher education, whether you're staff, faculty or administrator - it's important that you read the articles in this volume. It's important for the present and the future of higher education.

I regularly run into people in higher ed who have not heard of the phrase "virtual worlds." I just don't think we can afford to not know any longer. In the past I've considered what others in higher ed have said to me about how Second Life is not for everyone. And it may not be. But the fact is, virtual worlds will be an important part of the future of higher education.

My university and many others regularly talk about how we need to engage students in the teaching and learning process. Virtual worlds are an excellent tool for this purpose.

Virtual Worlds and the Future of Business Education

2008-09-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

I attended an informative 3.5 hr conference yesterday in Second Life (SL) titled "Virtual Worlds and the Future of Business Education." I was curious because I've been seeing more signs on campuses in SL lately for MBA programs. Here's the link - it was a very good conference, well worth my time (day off). The speakers were excellent and the backchat and tweets were valuable too. There were 80 inworld avatars attending and the conference was also streamed live on the 2D web.

Pathfinder Linden (of Linden Labs, the company behind SL) even answered a question I asked on when SL will allow for shared applications (it's coming!). As a librarian this would increase the usefulness of using SL with students. Not all educators see why this request is important but for librarians it can matter as we demonstrate to students how to use specific databases. If you are a prof who is using SL to teach students it probably wouldn't be important as SL already allows for collaborative work using Google docs inworld.

A couple of points that stood out for me were by Anne Massey, Dean's Research Professor and Professor of IS at Kelley. One was on the hype cycle and where SL is now and if you click the snapshots here to enlarge you will see the chart. I recently read an article on this, which came to the same conclusion. The other point was on the seven sensibilities of SL. Things that all who spend time in SL understand, but which can be difficult to explain to those who have not experienced SL much themselves. Briefly the 7 sensibilities in which she referred - sense of self, death of distance, power of presence, sense of space, capability to co-create, pervasiveness of practice and enrichment of experience.

Another point made by Anne Massey and Sarah Robbins (aka Intellagirl) had to do with how the usefulness of SL is what's going to drive adoption and what will get people over the ease of use hump. That really resonated with me as in my early days of SL my realization of how powerful of a tool this virtual world could be, especially for higher education, was what kept me going at times. And of course the usefulness of SL is growing almost daily. This is partly due to the innovative work being done in SL by very creative and talented educators and technologists.

Of course there was specific focus on business education here, though I found most of what was shared would be applicable to many disciplines. One reason I heard that business education makes sense in SL is because of the need to connect globally and the ease in which people can do that in virtual worlds. Also businesses are finally figuring out how to use virtual worlds. Here's a link to a 2008 O'Reilly Radar Report titled "Virtual Wordls: A Business Guide" for those who are interested.

Bottom line, Second Life and other virtual worlds are here to stay. Forward thinking universities and colleges who understand this will reap the benefits of being early adopters of these platforms. Especially institutions that are struggling with tight budgets, this a way to benefit greatly for minimal cost.

Remembering

2008-09-11T06:26:00.000-07:00

Second Life Education Community Conference - SLEDcc 2008 - Friday, Sept 5 Highlights

2008-09-09T07:05:00.000-07:00

I attended as much as I could of the SLEDcc 2008 conference in Second Life (SL) this past weekend. I'm still processing what I learned, how I was impacted, and finding it difficult in some ways to put into words. Mainly I'm afraid I won't do justice to some of what I want to share. I'll try to give a brief acct. of the highlights for each day on what I was able to attend, and I'll write a separate post on one session that had an emotional impact on me. I'll post once for each day.

Friday - Due to my work schedule, I was only able to attend two events this day - First, the opening session: Education in Second Life with presenters Claudia Linden and Pathfinder Linden, the two main Lindens (from Linden Labs (LL), an American company and creator of Second Life) who are assigned to education/educators in SL.

The opening session keynote was streamed to three locations inworld. And the streaming video did not work - huge disappointment and rough start to the conference, which had me more than a little worried about how things would play out the rest of the weekend. We were quickly provided with Ustream and Veodia channels to watch the keynote live on the web. But of course, those of us who spend time in SL all know that that is not the same as being with a group of avatars in SL watching streaming video all together. Having said that, the content was there - Folks from around the globe heard that LL very much desires to work with educators, to do whatever they can to make SL a place where schools, colleges and unviersities can truly thrive. Both presenters assured us that LL is committed to listening to our concerns, prioritizing them based on our most pressing needs, and doing all they can to make SL an excellent teaching and learning environment. They also flattered us - pointing out that much of the most creative and innovative work taking place in SL is being done by the education community. I know this to be true.

The second presentation I attended Friday was by Sheila Webber aka SL Sheila Yoshikawa. Sheila is a faculty member from the Univ of Sheffield and someone I have been getting to know in SL and admire. She is an expert on information literacy, is widely published, blogs regularly here and here, and has created a beautiful island in SL filled with valuable resources, which she willingly shares with all. On top of that she offers discussions open to all almost weekly on her island, which I greatly benefit from professionally. Here is a link to Sheila's slides from her SLEDcc 2008 presentation, which she uploaded for us to slideshare. Her presentation was excellent and her research is always interesting so take a look.

Tomorrow I'll blog on the poster session I presented at the conference as part of the "Best Practices in Education" session held for three hours Saturday morning.

Here is a link to the wiki page for this conference, which now includes links to photos and volunteer videos of some of the RL sessions. I am hoping that someone was assigned to create a machinima of some of the inworld events, I'll keep an eye on YouTube for that.

Second Life - PINK FLOYD THE WALL

2008-08-31T18:37:00.000-07:00

I am continually amazed by the levels of creativity I see in Second Life. It doesn't matter whether you love or hate Pink Floyd or the message here. What matters to me is that Second Life is a platform where this form of expression can take place. And it will only get better. I am so glad that I can be a part. Incredible that some still do not see...

Thanks to all who contributed. And thanks for the machinimatography, editing, and sharing, Gary Hazlitt/Hayes. Wonderful work by all, I can't stop watching it...looking forward to the long version.

Second Life and iPhone - Gotta Get One of These!

2008-08-13T20:49:00.001-07:00

Well I was really wanting to wait until Android devices were released so I could check them out before I went out and bought an iPhone. And especially when I found out here that the brand new iPhone will still not allow copy and pasting of links, and still does not allow one to edit Google docs. What kind of Blackberry killer is that if it won't do those basics tasks?

But now...now it's going to be difficult to hold out much longer. Unless I hear of a great Android device being released by this weekend, I may very well have to head to my favorite Apple store and purchase an iPhone. Because today I found out that Second Life (SL) runs nicely on the iPhone using a new Teleport app made available recently through iTunes. And it's no longer just a prototype thing I saw a few months ago, it appears to be the real deal.

Check out Dr. Barbara McLain, Professor University of Hawaii-Manoa blog post on this from yesterday complete with photos.

Not only that, I just watched this YouTube video (not best quality and dry, but it's informative) on how the app works to remotely connect and access your desktop anywhere via WiFi or EDGE/3G. It appears I can access everything on my desktop using this app because it's a VNC client! Can't wait to see what other amazing apps are developed for that thing. I think Google really blew it by taking too long to get Android devices on the market...too bad, really.

Another Creative Educational Use of Second Life

2008-08-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

This video is a 2008 Atom Award finalist. It's about the journey of a property from book to stage to film to Second Life. And the value of each medium is clear.

This documentary devised and edited by Gary Hayes and co-produced with Physical TV.

Title of this 9 min. mini-documentary: SECOND LIFE -Best Multi-Modal Production Thursday's Fictions

From the YouTube More Info:
"Thursday's Fictions is a fantastical parable about reincarnation by Australian writer Richard James Allen which has evolved over almost twenty years to become a cross media work for the stage, the page, the screen and most recently the new media creative platforms of Second Life (a 3D online immersive interactive story world) and machinima (cinema made inside a games engine)."

The Future of the Internet - Lawrence Lessig, Joichi Ito and Phil Rosedale

2008-08-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

This video is not the best quality. However, there are some important topics being discussed in this 19 minute clip. I have heard all three of these men before and respect their opinions and find them knowledgeable in their fields. In this video they discuss things like copyright, Creative Commons, Second life, Virtual worlds, 3D, mobile devices, government, the Patriot Act, spectrum, etc.

I decided to post it because these topics are tied together in so many ways and are definitely important to the future of the Internet. Since watching I have a somewhat better understanding of the big picture than I did before. It also left me feeling a bit more unsettled about the future of the Internet.

And I am still fuzzy on the whole wireless spectrum topic and not sure I will ever understand even though I've read many articles. It's a bit too geeky for me. For this topic, I would have liked each person to have had a little more time to speak and provide more in-depth explanations.

Over 50 Virtual Worlds - 7 Minute Video Overview

2008-08-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

I am always surprised when someone tells me they have never heard the phrase "virtual worlds (VW)" or "Second Life (SL)." At the rate these worlds are being developed, I expect that most people will have heard within the next year. And of course if the projections are correct, there will be close to a billion virtual world users by 2018.

Gary Hayes presents a nice (very short intro) overview in this video. The quotes used are great, and notice how many of these VWs are targeted to preschool and elementary school age children, currently the fastest growing segment.

2008 METAVERSE TOUR-The 'Social Virtual' World's A Stage - A Film by Gary Hayes © Personalizemedia 2008

From the publisher's "More Info" link:
"Over 50 virtual worlds featured including:
Second Life, HiPiHi, Kaneva, Twinity, ActiveWorlds, LagunaBeach vMTV. There.com, Habbo, Google Lively, FootballSuperstars, Weblin, AmazingWorlds, CyWorld, Whyville, Gaia Online, RocketOn, Club Penguin, YoVille, Webkinz, BarbieGirls, Prototerra, IMVU, Spore, vSide, Tale in the Desert, SpineWorld, Stardoll, The Manor, There.com, ExitReality, Vastpark, Qwaq, PS3Home, GoSupermodel, Grockit, Croquet, Metaplace, Coke Studios, Dreamville, Dubit, Mokitown, Moove, Muse, The Palace, Playdo, Sora City, Voodoo Chat, TowerChat, Traveler, Virtual Ibiza"

An anthropological introduction to YouTube - Michael Wesch does it again

2008-08-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

I've been a fan of Michael Wesch and his work since his first Web 2.0 video over a year and a half ago. He presented this at the Library of Congress, June 23rd 2008. I was shocked when I saw that it was 55 minutes long since most of his videos are under 5 minutes. But you know, some things are worth the time, and this is one of them.

If you work in education I think it's especially important to understand that there is a digital revolution taking place. The participatory culture that so many have embraced has changed and will continue to change how we live, work, learn, etc. Watch his video below to see if you agree.

Second Life, YouTube, Podcasts & Online Learning

2008-08-01T06:35:00.000-07:00

This morning I took a survey on Second Life (SL). The survey is for research which has been approved by the University Review Board at East Carolina University. When the survey was finished, I was taken to what I felt was a valuable website and video worth sharing. The information here will be most valuable to those in education who are involved with, or considering, online education in any form.

As the reference & distance services librarian at my university, I have been heavily involved the last few months in developing a presence in Second Life. This week I completed a course from Boise State University titled "Teaching & Learning in Second Life." And I am currently assisting a professor from my university with a group of doctoral students who are using SL to learn about the religious and educational communities in this virtual world. I have learned a great deal the last few months and will reflect on my experiences further soon.

For now, I'll just say that I believe East Carolina University is on the right track.

I'll also add that I believe more than ever, based on my recent experiences, that virtual worlds will be an important component of the future of online learning.

Today's Second Life CEO Post & Education

2008-07-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

I have been too busy to blog lately so I've been keeping a Google doc of links to some excellent news stories published recently on SL. I'm linking to this post today because every link I had saved to blog about is included in the post linked here and more.

Today the new CEO of SL, Mark Kingdon, wrote a post titled "My First Two Months at Linden Lab."

Mr. Kingdon makes strong and verifiable comments on education in SL, which I'm happy to share and which confirms what many educators involved in SL believe. Below is the section from the post linked above on education. The entire post is interesting and a worthwhile read. It includes links to some other recent noteable articles on SL including info on the big topic of interoperability from the IBM/Linden Lab partnership. There are plenty of hard facts in this post. Yes, he shares his enthusiasm and some will say bias as well. But who wouldn't.

Using the virtual meeting environment for education is an even more exciting killer app. Dozens of universities are buying land from us or working with other inworld providers every week and the pace is accelerating. Seventeen of the top twenty universities in the US have land in Second Life.

To keep track with what’s happening in education in Second Life, check out the SLED Blog. A list of recent news stories are below

* The Christian Science Monitor discusses how students from all over the world are able to study abroad through Second Life.
* Government Executive.com writes how government agencies like the center for Disease Control and Prevention are increasing their presence in Second Life to increase public awareness.
* CNET reports that the San Francisco Exploratorium will be streaming live footage of a Solar Eclipse in Second Life expected on August 1st.
* The Industry Standard reports that Cigna will try to make health education more accessible by creating its own island in Second Life.
* ComputerWeekly.com discusses how the British Computer Society has launched an e-learning specialist group in Second Life.
* The Dallas Morning News presents an article on using Second Life for higher education.

What makes Second Life so amazing for these things is the interaction between students and between universities. Voice is the key enabler. With a headset, residents can talk with other residents just as they would in the real world. With the 3D spatial voice in Second Life, residents can walk from one conversation to another as if they were actually hanging out before or after class. Serendipitous conversations just aren’t possible with other forms of online learning, teleconferences or videoconferences.

And since I'm highlighting the education/educators section of this post, I'll go ahead and include a snapshot of one thing that's been keeping me so busy these days. As explained in the post here, many universities are offering classes to students in SL. This summer I enrolled in a 3 credit hour intensified course from the Boise State University Education Technology program. My course is titled "Teaching and Learning in Second Life." And that's what I've been doing the past few weeks. That along with working full-time and assisting a prof from my own university with a course offered to doctoral students in our university's Education Program. More on that next week after my BSU course if completed.

The snapshot above (click to enlarge) I've included here is from my class fieldtrip today to Monash University in SL. We toured the facility and spoke with the owner/builder responsible for the work they are doing there to teach students the Chinese language and culture. It was one of the best examples I've seen yet of effective use of a virtual environment in teaching and learning.

Educational Spotlight Rountable in Second Life

2008-07-08T06:49:00.000-07:00

I attended this roundtable event in SL yesterday. It was held in ISTE's brand-new four-sim auditorium (click photo).
One official count was 143 attendees (amazing, and the sound was excellent). There was very little notice that this event would be taking place, my understanding was that it was put together in about 24 hrs (try that in real life (RL)!).

It was moderated by Sarah "Intellagirl" Robbins, PhD Candidate, Ball State University and author of Second Life for Dummies.

Panelists included:
Suriawang Dapto (RL: David Warlick) from http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/
Kathy Dryburgh (RL: Kathy Schrock) from http://nausetschools.org/lighthouselearning/
Maggie Marat (RL: Peggy Sheehy) from http://ramapoislands.edublogs.org
Bernajean Pinazzo (RL: Bernajean Porter) from http://www.digitales.us
Eric Reuters (RL: Eric Krangel) from the Reuters bureau in Second Life
Westley Streeter (RL: Westley Field) from http://www.skoolaborate.com/

Sarah posed the following questions, which panelists answered and discussed with the audience:

* What is the biggest change in education you would attribute to technology?
* What is the biggest change in your own work that has been influenced by technology?
* How has technology changed the way you define "learning and teaching"?
* How has Second Life changed the way you teach and/or learn?
* What one tech innovation would you wish for? How would it change education?

This event was interesting, informative, and well run. And it was also encouraging for someone like myself and others like me. Folks who see the potential of virtual worlds. People who are excited/stimulated/encouraged by what is taking place in Second Life, especially related to education and educators. People who see Second Life not only as another teaching tool, but something more. Something that allows us to connect in ways we have never been able to connect before - globally, quickly (as occurred here) - a way not only to enrich our experiences with immersive learning opportunities, but a way to collaborate with others on a deeper more immersive level.

It can be difficult to explain. Social networks are nice, and learning management systems can be useful, but SL goes beyond, far beyond. It allows us to socialize and work/create together - to produce things which in turn others can benefit from and build upon.

Second Life is not perfect. There are issues related to stability, ease of use, and the ability to run SL on light weight machines (cell phones/handheld devices, inexpensive computers, etc.). These issues are being addressed. I have learned to be more patient, and I have learned that SL is worth it. I left this presentation feeling hopeful and excited about the future of virtual worlds. They truly can have a positive impact on our world (and for me, they already have).

Second Life for Augmented Reality - Wow!

2008-06-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

Just when I think I have a clue about what's happening with technology, I see something like this and realize I have no idea how technology will change our lives in the next 5-10 years.

For more info on this research project visit AR Second Life.

Sun Microsystem’s Project Wonderland and Immersive Education

2008-06-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

The event was packed and many educators, myself included, could not get in to Sun's build for this launch. Instead SL sent us to nearby regions. A bunch of us from the Immersive Education Group, were sending IMs to each other trying to figure out ways to fly around and get in some other way. Someone who was able to get in was sending IMs back to us with a play by play account of what was taking place. Kind of like a twitter event feed, and it was definitely better than nothing. I didn't give up though and every five minutes I tried the slurl to the event again. Five minutes before the end of the event, I got in. It was so packed, and so much lag, that I could barely move, but managed to get this snapshot taken.

Here is a link to a good blog post on VirtuED from someone who made it in and was able to then go into Project Wonderland. This post includes snapshots in Project Wonderland so you can get a good idea of what it looks like as well as links to important info.

I'll be following this as it develops, and will eventually post my own thoughts once I have time to check it out further.

Education Grid launches with Project Wonderland in Second Life

2008-06-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to the SLED (second life educator's) calendar event for this meeting in Second Life tomorrow (Fri. 6/20/08). Click on the link for the 1:00 PST event listed there and you will also find the slurl to directly teleport to the event. If you are seriously interested in attending, I would get in a minimum of 15 minutes early, maybe earlier.

For those who are interested in knowing more about Project Wonderland (scroll down to see some good videos & articles on this) - My friend Topher has done an excellent job of providing background info on Project Wonderland on a recent post on his MUVE Forward blog. He also provides a comparison of SL/Project Wonderland. Thanks, Topher/Chris!

Hope to see you in-world at this event tomorrow.

Another Innovative Educator in Second Life

2008-06-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

Steve Dembo is a genius. I won't go into detail about what he did, I'll simply link to his blog post titled, "Cell phone + Web cam + Second Life = Magic" and you can read his explanation and judge for yourself. More of a proof of concept at this point, but it's apparent it can be done and should only get easier.

If you're an educator who has spent much time in Second Life (SL) you'll quickly see the value. As the distance services librarian at my university, I can tell you that the ability to do what Steve accomplished is critical for those of us using SL to work with distance ed students.

IMO, Linden Labs (the company behind Second Life), should pay him for what he came up with, or maybe hire him.

This is another example of the incredible innovation taking place in SL and virtual worlds in general, much of it being lead by educators. It will only get better.

About My Second Life Avatar Gender Identity

2008-06-16T07:17:00.000-07:00

My avatar's gender in Second Life (SL) is male. I look to be in my twenties and my skin is blue. In real life (RL) I am female, caucasian, and a baby boomer. But I didn't start out with a male avatar in SL, I started as a female. So what happened? And why do I remain a male avatar?

My first avatar was a large overweight female (I had not even considered making it male, though I did think about possibly being a furry (animal like avatars). I made myself large because I had seen videos of anorexic and voluptuous looking female avatars and was not interested in being either. Within my first three months of joining SL, and after spending little time in-world, my female avatar had run into two rather negative incidents. (Note: This was before the advent of private orientation islands, where new SL residents currently can be more safely oriented in SL.)

Simply put, one incident was verbal rudeness from a female avatar and the other incident involved being physically accosted by two creature type characters. Neither incident was major, but they both bothered me. After the second incident, I wondered to myself whether they would have occurred had I been a male avatar. Would I have been treated differently if my avatar's gender was male? This lead me to experimenting with my avatar's gender. What took place after participating in SL as a male avatar (or my perception of that) has led me to remain that way, at least for now.

In my opinion, from my experience thus far, a male avatar is no safer from griefers than a female. But I discovered something along the way during this experiment as a male that I had not anticipated. I began to feel that I was being listened to and treated differently. That what I had to say meant more than it did as a female. I have no data to prove this, it's only a feeling, but as someone who has been around a good many years in a female form, it's a very strong feeling. And since I've never taken on a male identity before in RL or SL, it is unlike anything I've experienced.

A little background on my RL female identity: I am and always have been a bit on the ADHD side (some may say more than a bit). I personally see this as an asset, but the benefits are not apparent to all. One thing I have always had to work on is listening and waiting my turn, especially if I feel passionate about something. As a youngster I was told that my behavior was not appropriate, and at times I was told it "was not lady like." I still remember wondering what exactly that meant.

As a male avatar I have attended and participated in many events - presentations, discussions, and classes in SL (I must admit here that I did little of this as a female in SL. My comparison is more with my RL experiences as a female vs. my SL experience as a male).

At first I just listened and did not participate at all. I had a lot to learn still about SL and about how people interacted in-world. Slowly I began to participate. A question here and there, a comment now and then. Some would bring no response, but others would cause avatars around me to comment or ask me questions. I remember how at first I found that surprising and how, eventually, I began to feel that I had something to say that was worth hearing to some. Eventually I began to receive private IM requests from others to help or to become involved, and even to take the lead in some situations.

This felt foreign to me. It was around this time that I began to feel that I was experiencing things differently and felt it was connected to my avatar being male. And as I began to develop relationships with some of the RL people behind the avatars, I felt more sure than ever that I was being treated differently. With males, I sensed that we were on a more level playing field, there seemed to be a new level of camaraderie, and maybe more respect. With females, I sensed greater acceptance.

I know I have used the words felt or feel a number of times. I know I could be completely wrong in my analyses here. But I know how I feel, and whether my perceptions are skewed or not doesn't really matter.

Posting this info here is partly an attempt to fully disclose my RL self to some in SL whom I have come to know and respect. To attempt to make amends perhaps. I have met some wonderful RL people in SL. Very helpful, smart, and kind people. I never meant to be dishonest about my identity, and I apologize to any reading this who felt I was. I will be linking to this post from my SL profile, under my 1st Life tab, where I also uploaded a RL photo of myself.

Virtual Worlds About To Explode?!

2008-06-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

I ran across something new recently. I've been having trouble believing some of the stats out there on virtual worlds (VW), especially those that show users close to a billion in the near future. Partly it has to do with the definition of VWs.

Check out ExitReality. (Note: if you have a mac computer you will be disappointed to learn that you currently can not run this on a mac.) Take a look at the sites that ExitReality is currently compatible with. I have a mac so could not run this yet on a computer, but I was able to find some flickr screenshots on this as well as what's found on the ExitReality site.

The reason this is of interest to me is because I have been wondering how VWs were going to hit the mainstream. Until I saw ExitReality, I figured the numbers would grow from the growing gaming/virtual world maket. The virtual worlds for kids market is projected to see especially strong growth.

If ExitReality takes off with facebook, bebo, MySpace, etc. users, virtual world user numbers will explode. Or will they? Could new technologies like this, which the ExitReality site calls an "enhanced 3D, multi-user, immersive messaging environment" end up taking away from the heavy duty VWs like SL? Or will VWs become more like these 3D environments. Sort of a Second Life lite version, without all the crashes and steep learning curve? Time will tell.

The other 3D technology I recently discovered is weblin (again, not yet with a mac, though you can visit sites where other weblin avatars are hanging out using weblin lite). Or check out this short YouTube demo. I'm less sure about this, but the fact that one can have their avatar on any website where you meet and interact with other avatars is fascinating to me. I really just discovered this one last night and went from the weblin site to YouTube and watched the weblins hanging out there. I was pretty amazed. Again, I'm talking about this in the context of virtual worlds/avatars (3D) entering the mainstream and eventually becoming ubiquitous.

On the Second Life Educator's Listserve (SLED), there have been more postings recently on interoperability amongst virtual worlds. This will be important for growth in the true VWs. After looking at ExitReality and weblin, I pictured my SL avatar teleporting from SL to Wonderland to Croquet, and maybe sooner than I thought.

What do you think? Are these fads that will disappear? Is this a trend that's here to stay and can we expect even more surprises related to virtual worlds and 3D environments in the near future? I believe we will see some amazing things. I'm not at all sure what virtual worlds (3D) will look like or how they will work in the future, but I believe they are here to stay...in some form or another.

Reflection: An Academic Librarian - Leading My First Discussion In Second Life

2008-06-09T15:46:00.001-07:00

This post is a reflection on my experience leading a discussion on InfoLit Island in Second Life (SL). Here is my original post: "An Academic Librarian-Leading My First Discussion In Second Life."

All in all, the discussion went well. It was well attended and I received positive feedback. Most valuable to me was what I learned from the experience. I had already attended a number of events and discussions in SL so I was familiar with the chat discussion format. I found that attending/participating in a dicussion and leading a discussion using chat are very different experiences. I found it both challenging and rewarding.

I knew I couldn't fully prepare because you never know what will happen in SL. Sometimes there are technical issues (and a couple of attendees did crash during my discussion). And sometimes people show up in the middle of a discussion and want to know what is being discussed (that happened too). But usually there are core folks who attend because they are interested in the topic and really want to learn something. You have an opportunity to share what you know and to learn from others who attend.

So how did I prepare? Well I spent more time than I want to admit researching the main tool I would discuss, the Sloog HUD (an in-world social bookmarking tool much like del.icio.us). I also spent a fair amount of time looking into the Salamander HUD.

Next, I created my notecard in SL and sent that on to Sheila Webber, the island owner, so she could set up the poster, etc. in the building where we would meet (the notecard is what the attendees receive when they touch the poster and is all about the topic I chose titled, "Expanding/Enhancing Information Literacy Using In-World Tools.").

I then wrote some notes that I would share with those who attended using Google docs so that I could copy and paste into the chat text field as I lead the discussion. I figured that would help things move along a little smoother. And it did, but it also hindered some as I had to be sure to keep track of where I was in my notes and keep track of the questions people were asking, and greeting people who arrived late and so forth. I also thought the notes would help me to stay on topic, and they did serve that purpose, though with discussions of this type you also have to follow the attendee questions to a degree. And that's not as easy as one might think.

One of the main problems I had was that I rushed things. I was concerned about not covering everything. I really wish I had allowed more time for people to continue writing where they were from and for questions and input from the attendees.

The biggest mistake I made had to do with timing as well. After about 25 min. into the 1 hr. disucssion, I asked whether the group would like to walk outside to get one of these tools themselves from the vend machines I had brought. I was excited about having them do this (it's always fun to get free things in SL), and I still think it was a great idea, but I really wish I had continued for 20 more minutes and then at the end offered them an opportunity to get a free Sloog and Salamander HUD. It was tricky to get everyone back in the building. I should have known better because if you gave me a new tool in the middle of anything, I too would be playing with it the rest of the time.

Once folks were back in, the questions had a lot to do with how the HUDs worked. This information was included in the help notecard that comes with the HUDs, but of course most had not had time yet to read those. So anyway, I did not really get to cover as much as I would have if I had waited until the end to share the tools.

So now I know I would do some things differently if I ever lead a discussion again. And I also feel I gained confidence in leading this way. The more time I spend in SL actually doing things, the more confident I feel. Even non-techie folk like myself can lead in virtual worlds. It's really a matter of being willing to spend the time to learn how things work. And a willingness to take risks, and maybe make a fool of yourself at times helps. I found that since I could hide a little behind my avatar, that it wasn't quite as nerve wracking as giving a presentation to a group in real life. But it was close. And I feel like I gained confidence through this experience that will help me with real life presentations as well.

Here is a link to the chatlog (transcript) of the discussion. Here is a link to Sheila's blog "Adventures of Yoshikawa" post on my discussion (check out her whole blog by clicking on the home link towards the bottom). A copy of the notecard as a pdf that was handed out from the poster can be found here as well, along with a slurl link to her InfoLit Island in SL (in case you want to visit). This one also contains some good snapshots of the event. I was too busy to take any myself that day. Though I will include one here I took the night before while getting ready.

And here is a link to the Information Literacy Weblog post on my discussion, that Sheils Webber co-authors along with Stuart Boon. I so appreciate all Sheila's hard work in providing a venue for discussions on her island. I've learned a lot from her and recommend her information literacy discussions to all.

Skeptical Educator? Second Life & Education

2008-06-02T10:08:00.001-07:00

“Inside the Lab” Podcast, a Discussion on Education in Second Life" (transcript incl)

I know a lot of educators who are skeptical about Second Life (SL) and virtual worlds (VW) in general. And rightly so. I was one such educator, and I know how the skeptics think. And I still tend to watch with a critical eye as virtual worlds are sprouting from everywhere now, and educational uses of these worlds continue to develop.

VWs like SL are still in the early stages of development, and the technologies being used are newer, so there are tech problems and challenges, which can be frustrating.

Having said that, I have spent enough time, and participated in enough discussions and classes in SL to say that I am convinced virtual worlds are here to stay. And educators as a group are contributing in some of the most innovative ways.

Lastly, I will say this - if you're an educator wondering about SL, I would recommend you take a look at the link I've included above. I would listen to that just released podcast and/or take a look at the transcript (you can get the links to sites that way).

But I wouldn't stop there. I highly recommend you create a Second Life account and then spend some time there, (20-30 hrs. minimum attending educ. events, classes, tutorials, networking, etc.), and then judge for yourself. That part is key. One can not fully understand how teaching and learning in SL is very different from other online forms of teaching/learning without experiencing it yourself. I am more convinced than ever that it is just not possible any other way.

Sloog - A Great Tool for Users of Second Life

2008-05-28T21:18:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will be leading a discussion in Second Life (SL), which I posted earlier here. I'll be talking about a number of in-world tools and ways that information professionals can use these tools to assist with teaching and learning in SL.

I want to share a bit here on one particular tool, the Sloog HUD. For those of you who are familiar with the very popular social bookmarking tool, del.icio.us, Sloog works in a similar way, only it's used for in-world resources - to tag places, and avatars from within SL. Later on, from the Sloog website, you can easily search your saved data based on those tags (keywords). The website can also be accessed from within SL by clicking on the Sloog logo on your SL screen and having the website open up in-world.

I am using this tool for myself in-world in much the same way that I use del.icio.us for all my bookmarks. And as with del.icio.us, there are many ways one can use this tool to assist with teaching and learning. Users of Sloog will soon see connections to others who are tagging the same types of places in-world - users with the same interests, which those familiar with Web 2.0 understand oftentimes lead to opportunities to find people, research and places that one may not have found otherwise.

This summer I will be assisting a prof from my university with his class in Second Life and I intend to create a list of SL in-world resources for his students using a unique tag for his course. So along with the tags I use to describe the places and avatars I recommend or the prof requires the students to visit, I will also include a unique tag of GFUEDFL, which I created based on my university and the course program.

Since most of the students in this class will be new to SL, and since SL takes a while for new people to feel oriented and comfortable, I believe this tool will end up being useful in many ways. When students access the sloog website link I provide them, they will be able to click on the GFUEDFL tag on my Sloog page of SL places, and the entire list of places they need to visit for their course will appear. And there is a nice simple button for them to click on for them to easily and directly teleport to each place within SL.

Now here's the best part- Sloog is still very much under development. Very soon their website is going to be transformed (within 1-2 weeks). It will be much, much better, and will include some very smart features, such as notes and comments. This will allow for a number of other possibilities as students begin to tag their own resources and share and collaborate in new ways. Each user will have a user profile where they will be able to access their tagged places, avatars, comments and much more.

Finally, the Sloog team has been great (btw - Sloog was created by MosiMosi World out of Barcelona). They have been most helpful and seem genuinely interested in working to make Sloog a most useful tool. One of the staff, Anibal Shui, has gone above and beyond in helping me both in-world and via e-mail. Anibal went so far as to travel with me to different regions when I ran into a problem at one point, and helped me to understand more about how SL works and what was happening. I can't tell you how great that was and also how well that demonstrates one of the advantages of SL. As in the real world, the person helping can actually take you there and show you!

I am including here a snapshot I asked the Sloog team to take along with screenshots they kindly provided me to share with others about their, very soon to be made public, new Sloog website. BTW - if you are using SL, the next time you are in-world, you must check out the Mosi Mosi build. That is where the team meets, and where the snapshot of the team was taken, and it's a very cool and wonderful place. And it's where you can obtain the latest copy of the Sloog HUD yourself. So give Sloog a try- grab your Sloog HUD and start slooging!

An Academic Librarian - Leading My First Discussion in Second Life

2008-05-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

Here is the event announcement from the SLED (Second Life Educators) calendar (click to enlarge). I am excited about this opportunity. And though it is an informal discussion, I have been regularly attending these weekly information literacy discussions in SL for some time now and always learn something useful to my work as an academic librarian. And most enlightening for me, in some ways, has been that the majority who attend are not from the USA. These discussions have helped me to consider information literacy with a broader perspective. I'm thankful for that alone.

About Sheila Webber,(the Infolit iSchool Island owner) - She is a Senior lecturer (i.e. a faculty member - most faculty in UK universities aren't called professors!) in the Department of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield, where she has taught since 2000.

Sheila has been a wonderful role model for me and gracious enough to invite me to lead one of her discussions. I am learning a great deal from her - not only about information literacy, but about teaching and learning in Second Life. Here is a link to her shared information literacy blog, and here is a link to a bio, which includes some of her many publications. And that doesn't include her work in SL. You will want to take a look at her "Adventures of Yoshikawa" blog for that.

I do not know how she finds the time to accomplish all that she has. I am inspired by what Sheila has done as both an information professional and a SL resident. She saw the potential in this wonderful virtual world to take teaching and learning to the next level, and she is giving it her all.

Beautiful Music - Akito Kuramoto in Second Life

2008-05-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know much about classical music. And why one would want to attend a live concert in SL may be hard for some to understand. All I know is that it was a wonderful time. The music, the lovely setting, the audience - everything was perfect. I will do this more often.

The program: - Concerto No. 8 in A minor for two violins, by A. Vivaldi (1678-1741)
- Sonata #1 for 2 violins by J-M Leclair (1697-1764)
- Adagio in G minor, by T. Albinoni (1671-1751)

I'm An Official Second Life Librarian!

2008-05-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

On May 11, 2008, I began serving as volunteer reference librarian for the Information Island International reference desk in Second Life. I serve there on Sundays from 7-9:00 A.M.

My first week's shift was pretty quiet. I had a great helper- a veteran on the Info Island ref desk, a nice guy, and major techie from the UK, Karl Nostram.
The next week was busier and quite a learning experience for me. I was on my own most of the first hour and it was pretty quiet. Karl stopped by to see how I was doing and we were having a nice chat when suddenly we had three visitors all with challenging questions. I started working with the first person, an academic from the UK looking for government and non- profit organizations in SL. Karl worked with the second person who had a SL technical question. Karl eventually sent out an IM to our Alliance Library Staff group to get help with a question. In no time at all three more librarians arrived to help. The questions were soon answered, we all visited a bit, and it was time to go.

By the end of my 2nd shift I realized that I have a lot to learn about working with this challenging global population. Working and learning in Second Life has already been a great experience. And quite different from my real life reference librarian experiences. Volunteering here and spending time in SL in general, has motivated me to learn more about the people with whom we share our world. And I know my abilities and understanding in SL will improve as I seek to answer challenging questions.

Stop by and see me if you're ever in-world! I'm Robin Mochi, the tall blue man :-) It really is a whole new virtual world - come join us!

Molotov Alva and His Search for the Creator - Premiers on Cinemax

2008-05-10T23:05:00.000-07:00

A Second Life machinima video titled, "Molotov Alva and His Search for the Creator: A Second Life Odyssey"premieres Thursday, May 15 at 8pm/7C Check this link at Cinemax Reel Life for viewing information.

What's remarkable is that this is creating a fair amount of buzz on the web and I suspect will draw even more mainstream interest in Second Life and other virtual worlds. I can see college students being interested in this series, many who may not yet know what SL is about. We'll see. But these machinima videos are very good and Cinemax has posted their own copy of part 1 and part 2 on YouTube already.

Here is the version of the first episode posted on YouTube in April 2007

Wide-Range View of Second Life/Video & Review

2008-05-09T11:49:00.001-07:00

In my last post I shared a link to CEO Philip Rosedale's congressional presentation video on Second Life (SL), which admittedly shows the very best of SL. I will attempt to present some balance by posting a link to a wider ranging view of SL.

This link is to a Four Corners (Four Corners is Australia's premier television current affairs program) freely available episode on SL, first broadcast in March 2007, titled "You Only Live Twice." This is a quality site with links to additional information.

Note: This film is also available for purchase through Films for the Humanities & Sciences, Films Media Group (FMG) and available on many college campuses titled, "You Only Live Twice: Virtual Reality Meets Real World in Second Life" The FMG version comes with a warning: "Contains mature themes and explicit imagery." (The "sex" section is a small part of the report and was, in my opinion, well done and I thought helpful for people to understand how the "rampant sex" that is often mentioned regarding SL, is a very separate, optional part of the SL experience. If it would offend you to see a cartoon-like penis then you may want to skip this section.)

My review of "You Only Live Twice" - I thought it was well done. The reporter worked hard to present a rounded view of the types of users and activities taking place in SL. However, two areas that were not emphasized much were education and non-profits. Of course this report was produced a little over a year ago and those two areas have seen significant developments during the past 12 months. That brings me to the Clay Shirky interview in this report. I'm a fan of Clay Shirky, and have read many of his publications. His viewpoints on SL were shared by many a year ago. I would be interested in how he feels about SL now, and whether his views have changed any since the number of active SL users has increased since his interview in this video. (I log in daily and can not remember the last time I saw less than 50K logged in simultaneously and as high as 63K. And the number for the last 60 days is always above 1,200,000. Again, it's been over a year since the interview, but definite growth as far as active users is the point.)

What is Second Life?

2008-05-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

Last week two people told me they had never heard of Second Life, nor the phrase "virtual worlds." So for those who are not familiar with Second Life, the link to the video below is the best introduction I have found thus far.

The first-ever Congressional hearing on virtual worlds took place on April 1, 2008 in Washington, D.C. Linden Lab® CEO Philip Rosedale testified before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.

"Second Life®: Making the Real World a Better Place" is the title of this 7 minute professionally produced video that Rosedale showed at the hearing. Some will say Rosedale is idealistic, while others will argue that he sees and understands the potential of innovation and imagination. What do you think?

Future Virtual Worlds - Interoperability, Mobile Devices & Higher Education

2008-04-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

There have been some recent developments regarding virtual worlds related to interoperability and mobile devices, which I believe will eventually impact higher education.

Mobile devices and eLearning is a hot topic amongst educators, and for good reasons. If you aren't familiar with that, please take a look at this post. It will become increasingly important to be able to run virtual worlds on these devices, though this is all in the very early stages.

Below are links to reports that keep me very interested in SL and Virtual Worlds in general. I have mixed feelings about some of these announcements, which may be due to a lack of understanding. I will continue to closely monitor the developments and hopefully gain insight along the way.

On Interoperability - From New Media Consortium, February 26, 2008 - "NMC Launches Open Virtual Worlds Project" "In launching the Open Virtual Worlds project, the NMC will build on its extensive presence in Second Life and add to the services it offers educational institutions with a suite of services aimed at those who need a secure extensible platform or simply prefer an open solution. Open Virtual Worlds will be a new project housed within NMC Virtual Worlds, along with its extensive Second Life project." I'm still trying to figure out exactly what this means. I have concerns over the increasing number of virtual worlds and interoperability seems like it could only be a good thing. But then there are the private/closed versus public/open virtual spaces, and I'm very uncertain over what this may mean in the end.

In this next article, from Virtual Worlds News, January 9, 2008 Interview: Samsung Building Consumer Electronics for Virtual Worlds, the importance of interoperability for mobile devices becomes apparent.

And lastly, below are links to articles on Second Life and virtual worlds running on cell phones/mobile devices. Some of the links include videos of devices that already run SL and I'm sure in 2008/09 there will be many more. This is most important for those universities who have already begun using iPhones or similar devices for eLearning. As educators continue to expand their presence in virtual worlds, it will be important for students who use mobile devices for eLearning to be able to access their virtual world learning environments with those devices as well. Again, eLearning in the US is in the very early stages, but this is an area expected to see much growth in the future.

Samsung Takes Second Life Mobile

Video: Comverse Brings Second Life to iPhones

And here is Second Life streaming to your mobile phone by Vollee

Virginia Tech Memorial in Second Life

2008-04-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

Early this morning, on the anniversary of the tragedy, I visited the Virginia Tech Memorial. I was moved. I was alone at first, then I met someone there who seemed to need to talk. She lived a block away from the campus and her daughter will be a freshman there in the fall. I listened to her. Her avatar stood near my avatar and we looked at the photos of the students together. I told her I was sorry for the tragedy. She thanked me for listening. I felt something that came very close to what I would have felt in real life in the same situation. And to be very honest, I don't think I would have felt comfortable enough in RL to have been there for her in the same way.

Sometimes I find it difficult to articulate how Second Life is different from other technologies. This is the type of experience that may help some to better understand.

Virtual Worlds & Higher Education - Update

2008-04-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

An earlier post, Educators, Second Life, & Higher Education was an attempt to explain my thoughts and progression in Second Life. I've also posted on immersive education and other virtual worlds. I follow these trends as an educator in higher education because I believe they will continue to develop and could play an integral role in higher education, especially for distance learners. As the distance services librarian for my university it is important for me to stay appraised of these developments. And traditional undergrad campuses may also benefit from offering some courses in virtual worlds as an appealing choice for students who prefer to learn in more immersive learning environments.

Many in higher ed are also following the growth of online learning. The Sloan Consortium report, "Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning" is available if interested. Of course online learning has taken place for decades now, but the platform used has typically been various types of learning management systems. These systems have been adequate in the past, but many learners could benefit from the more immersive learning environments available via virtual worlds.

I have been following virtual worlds in general for some time and have wondered which virtual world will end up being best suited to the needs of educators. Sometimes those thoughts have caused me to hesitate when it comes to being more fully engaged in Second Life (SL), currently the most developed virtual world (VW). There are many VWs in the works, some have been in development for many years and still have not publicly launched. A large amount of resources are being used to develop these VWs. Some have a strong focus on education, others on business applications, governments and non-profits, social networking, etc. There is a lot of momentum at the moment, and I believe in the next 1-2 years there will be significant developments. And I could be wrong, but I believe virtual worlds will eventually become commonplace within higher education.

Second Life includes many diverse communities. These communities are being closely monitored by businesses, educators, etc. to learn which are growing and best suited for the SL environment. Though SL was publicly released in 2003, and there was incredible growth for a period of time, it is still being defined and developed by the founders and users alike. Will SL end up being the best platform for higher education? I'm not sure but time will tell. I do know that there is a surge of creative activity taking place at the moment in this area. Educators of all kinds are seeing potential in SL that was not as apparent until recently. Partly this has to do with innovative technologies that have been recently implemented within the SL environment. Developments by Linden Labs like voice, along with third party applications being developed by technologists in higher ed and others has made a difference and should continue to enrich the environment.

I've been visiting islands and educational institutions in SL. If interested here is a link to "My Second Life Adventures" on flickr. I recommend you click "view as slideshow" and be sure to click on the center of the first slide so the description for each slide shows.

There have been other recent developments regarding virtual worlds. Some are considered quite important and significant by many who are tracking the virtual world phenomenon. Later this week I will share links to recent news reports on some of these developments.

Virtual Worlds - Testimony House Subcommittee -Must See!

2008-04-01T23:08:00.000-07:00

This morning New Media Consortium's (NMC) CEO Larry Johnson (aka Larry Pixel) joined CEO Philip Rosedale, Second Life creator and founder of Linden Lab, and other leaders to testify before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, for a hearing on “Online Virtual Worlds: Applications and Avatars in a User-Generated Medium.” This was a significant historical event.

According to this NMC Campus Observer site post "the hearing will explore safety issues and the use of real currency in virtual online worlds, as well as the growing presence of educational institutions, non-profits and other real-world organizations in online virtual worlds."
I just finished watching the testimony and it did exactly that and more.

If you have questions and/or seek a better understanding of virtual worlds, this is well worth watching (note: the first 1-2 min. is blank). It is long - approx 2 hours, and I was never bored. It is quite interesting and informative, a nice presentation of SL by the CEO, and excellent Q & A towards the end. Really, well worth your time. Make some popcorn, sit back and be informed, entertained, and amazed.

Educators, Second Life & Higher Education

2008-03-20T06:20:00.001-07:00

It's taken a while, but I am beginning to see real value in Second Life (SL) for educators. I've been a member of SL since 2006, but at first I spent very little time there. I just wasn't sure about a number of things, and I questioned its potential usefulness in higher education. I didn't want to use the technology just because I could, especially since it wasn't simple or intuitive to use for a nontechie beginner.

There were two main reasons I kept going back in and didn't give up on SL when others in higher ed said I was wasting my time. Number one - it makes a lot of sense economically. In our globally connected digital world more students than ever before are looking to online education. Here is a post with statistics from the Sloan Consortium on growth in online learning.

Using Second Life or other virtual worlds to help facilitate teaching and learning can save universities money while providing students a richer experience than more traditional online learning systems.

How can I confidently make the above statement? I attended graduate school through a hybrid program at UIUC, graduating in 2004. They used what, at the time, was considered cutting edge online technology to deliver courses to the students in my cohort from all over the world. We also met on campus once a semester. I was very satisfied with my experiences through that program and have been using that standard to evaluate my experience with teaching and learning in SL.

And this brings me to the second main reason I believe virtual worlds will take off in higher ed. When comparing my experience in a high quality hybrid graduate program using traditional online systems with my experiences attending discussions and classes in SL, I can now say without hesitation that my experience in SL has been richer. I'm still reflecting on exactly why and how that is so. Partly it's the ability to easily connect with others, and at a potentially deeper level.

Recently, I have been attending discussions/classes on information literacy led by Sheila Yoshikawa (Sheila Webber in RL) from the University of Sheffield. Sheila is Director of the Centre for Information Literacy Research at the university. She publishes and runs workshops on information literacy and on SL as a learning environment. Shelia's group discussions are small (averaging from 7-15 students) and I believe I am the only one from the USA. I am getting to know some of the regulars and Sheila a little better. I am very interested in making global connections of this sort for many reasons. It is helpful to hear the more diverse viewpoints and I believe it can lead to opportunities to expand my research interests. But there is more than that. It is easier to collaborate in various ways. And it feels different. Even though my online hybrid graduate school was in real time, and therefore much like SL in that way, not seeing the other students, not interacting with avatars in the way you can in SL made a difference. It is a richer experience, one that may need to be experienced to fully understand.

I have also attended a few other events and classes where I have been able to see how new technologies are now being implemented within SL in new ways. Ways that better serve educators. Enabling voice in SL a few months ago was important, and others are working to provide ways to incorporate technologies that add value to the learning environment.

In an Educause (ELI) online conference I attended yesterday a prof was demonstrating a tool he developed for his art students, who have posted their art work in a gallery the prof provided for them in SL. This ELI session taught by Michael Connors, Associate Professor, Digital Printmaking, University of Wisconsin-Madison, showed him walking around live in his gallery in SL demonstrating his new tool, Critique_It, which "provides an environment for simulating authentic learning strategies and allowing the possibility for feedback from peers and experts from outside the campus." This is just one example of the types of technologies that educators are bringing into SL to create a learning environment that goes beyond what currently exists. There are many others.

New Media Consortium (NMC) is developing nicely in SL and providing opportunities for educators by offering some free space to get started. An event at NMC in SL on Monday demonstrated new technologies for video in SL that was most impressive. It drew a large audience which included many educators. I believe many educators are only recently beginning to understand the potential that exists within virtual worlds. I do believe they will continue to develop, whether in SL or other immersive education environments.

The snapshot I included here is of me attending a recent Information literacy discussion at the University of Sheffield in SL. For now, I am a male with orange hair in black. I am sitting next to the prof with blue hair. Click image to enlarge.

Google Book Search API & Library Catalogs

2008-03-15T06:56:00.000-07:00

From the Chronicle yesterday - Google Unveils Tools to Integrate Its Digitized Books Into Campus Library Catalogs. I took a look at what the University of Texas did with this and adding the Google Book Search to our catalogs would add value, for sure. I've asked my university library to add this to our catalog and hopefully our unified consortium catalog will do the same. What a real added value service this provides, and the price (free!) can not be beat. Thanks, Google! I can't think of a reason why we would not want to do this.

But I'm still wondering about what this all means. This Lawrence Lessig video titled "Is Google Book Search "Fair-Use?""is an informative video on fair-use, and also explains how 16% of the 18 million books Google plans to digitize are in the public domain (PD). This means that those PD books that have already been scanned by Google are digitally available to our patrons. Having a link from our catalog to those digital books provided by Google will mean that our students will be able to easily find and access those ebooks. That part seems clear to me.

But 75% of the 18 million books are copyrighted, out of print books. And 9% are currently under copyright and in print. So there are three kinds of access Google will grant. Full access to public domain books, the in copyright out of print books will allow at least "snippet" access, and for books which are in copyright and in print, Google will grant as much access as the publishers and authors allow. This is all useful information, and of course more access is always most beneficial.

I'm wondering about other ways in which this might develop. I'm sure that some day these books will all be available to our users digitally, but the economic model is not yet in place and I'm not at all sure how that will end up working (and there's still a lot of digitizing to get done). In the meantime, I'm wondering about other ways that library catalogs might be able to use what Google is providing us with this API.

University Gives Away iPhones & Apple Computers

2008-03-11T06:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted on Abilene Christian University and their plan to give students a choice between an iPhone or an iPod Touch and the teaching/learning applications they hope to implement on these devices. Days later another Chronicle article announced that Oklahoma Christian (OC) University will give away both an iPhone/iPod Touch AND an Apple laptop computer to all incoming freshman this next fall. According to the OC web page regarding mobile learning:

The vision of incorporating instructional technology tools into teaching and learning is critical to our future success and the success of our graduates. We are excited about this new phase of mobile learning at Oklahoma Christian University and will continue to search for ways to enhance teaching and learning.

On March 5, 2008 yet another Chronicle article suggests that giving away gadgets such as these is just a gimmick.

If they were giving away gadgets and computers with no plan in place to incorporate these technologies into the teaching and learning process, then I might agree. But as Phil J. Schubert, executive vice president for Abilene University stated, "What separates us from some of the fads of the past is that this is not a technology initiative, this is a learning initiative." And this is what I feel is important to understand. It doesn't really matter what device is used, what matters is what they will do with that device to add value. Students are already attached to handheld devices of some kind, therefore there is no need to wonder if they will use them. If colleges and universities implement teaching/learning applications that make sense and are easy to use, I believe they will be successful and mobile learning in the U.S. will finally take off.

So once again, if/when this happens, what will it mean to educators (and that includes librarians), in higher education? How might we contribute to this new teaching/learning platform?

iPhone, Mobile Devices & Higher Education

2008-03-10T07:08:00.000-07:00

Abilene Christian University (ACU) plans to give all incoming freshman their choice of an iPhone or an iPod Touch. They recently uploaded two videos to YouTube. Titled "Connected Part 1: Social Uses" and "Connected Part 2: Academic Uses." If you work in U.S. higher education you will benefit from watching these two videos. The videos are fictional day-in-the-life accounts. The ACU vision is to make this a reality and that should be doable. Below is the summary from these videos posted on YouTube and the ACU Mobile Learing website under "A Vision of Convergence in Higher Ed."

What might a university look like with a fully deployed program of converged devices like the iPhone? Connected is one possible vision. This fictional day-in-the-life account highlights some of the potential benefits in a higher education setting when every student, faculty, and staff member is "connected." Though the applications and functions portrayed in the film are purely speculative, they're based on needs and ideas uncovered by our research - and we've already been making strides to transform this vision of mobile learning (mLearning) into reality.

It is good to see the U.S. getting caught up with other nations in the mobile device arena, and especially so within higher education. Many believe that 2008 will bring the most significant developments yet in the mobile device market. The cost for mobile devices has been continually dropping, the functionality has increased to the point that even the least expensive devices have quite a bit of smartphone functionality. Most importantly, young people in the U.S. are finally biting. The marketing has been successful largely due, in my opinion, to Apple's amazing marketing of the iPhone. The latest iPhone ads showing students how easily they can access their facebook accounts appears to have sealed the deal for many. And many devices costing much less than an iPhone will do the same. And don't forget Google's Android, which will be a part of many new devices released in 2008.

This will finally begin to impact U.S. higher education. Although higher ed is typically slow to adopt, once others like ACU implement these devices in the way the videos demonstrate, I'm sure others will follow. If they want to keep up and remain competitive, they may have no choice.

So what might this mean in 2-5 years for higher education? Why does it matter? What will it mean for academic librarians and all educators? How will this change what we do?

Institutional Repositories & Mandated Open Access in the U.S.?

2008-02-14T07:46:00.001-08:00

Hard to believe, and it may take some time before we fully understand the meaning here. But this is exciting news. I first saw this on the Chronicle news blog (be sure to read the comments being posted as they reveal that there is a lot of confusion still over what exactly this means). Then a colleague sent me this New York Times article. If you're interested in this topic, more on this can be found at SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. SPARC, is an excellent resource for keeping up on this topic. Developed by the Association of Research Libraries, it's an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system. Those new to Open Access may want to check out Peter Suber's Overview.

Horizon Report 2008 - Future of Higher Education

2008-02-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

I recently downloaded the 2008 Horizon Report. The report is a collaboration between The New Media Consortium and the eduCause Learning initiative. If you're interested in the future of higher education you will want to read this.

According to EDUCAUSE President Diana Oblinger, “The Horizon Report helps all of us put emerging technologies in perspective—what might be useful, what might be further in the future—and links it to learning."

The six selected areas for 2008: grassroots video, collaboration webs, mobile broadband, data mashups, collective intelligence, and social operating systems.

The 32-page 2008 Horizon Report is free and has been released with a Creative Commons license to facilitate its widespread use, easy duplication, and broad distribution. The report can be accessed along with all five previous Horizon Reports from this great Horizon Project Wiki, 2008 edition.

Librarians and IT workers in higher ed will want to be sure that decision makers at their institutions are aware of this report. In the increasingly competitive higher education environment, keeping abreast of these emerging technologies is more important than ever.

YouTube and Academe

2008-02-07T07:11:00.000-08:00

YouTube seems like a great venue for many purposes. Upon viewing this YouTube video of a biology course from UC Berkeley, I found myself thinking how a simple to execute idea (at no cost!) could have such an impact. Be sure to notice the number of views and mostly positive comments on the site. This is partly what spurred me to begin experimenting with YouTube and uploading videos myself. Soon I'll be creating Camtasia screencasts for supplemental library instruction and I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't want to upload them to YouTube along with adding them on our library website.
This Chronicle article is about how professors are finding new audiences by uploading video of regular class sessions. What a great way for universities to promote themselves. This also fits well with the global movement to provide open education for all. I would love to see my university doing this. Why would we not?

The Cape Town Open Education Declaration - Open Education For All

2008-01-24T06:31:00.000-08:00

Please read and consider signing the Cape Town Open Education Declaration. The quote below describes what has transpired amid the growing open-access, open-source and Web 2.0 movements over the last few years. And, in my opinion and hopefully many others, why the time is now for such a declaration.

The expanding global collection of open educational resources has created fertile ground for this effort. These resources include openly licensed course materials, lesson plans, textbooks, games, software and other materials that support teaching and learning. They contribute to making education more accessible, especially where money for learning materials is scarce. They also nourish the kind of participatory culture of learning, creating, sharing and cooperation that rapidly changing knowledge societies need.

You may be asking why this is so important, bottom line is this:
"Most importantly, we have an opportunity to dramatically improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world through freely available, high-quality, locally relevant educational and learning opportunities."

The declaration lists three strategies to increase the reach and impact of open educational resources. I hope educators everywhere will understand the importance and commit to the pursuit and promotion of open education.

Google & Open-Source Science Data

2008-01-23T07:34:00.000-08:00

Good news for scientists and all who benefit from science, which of course would be everyone. Google will be providing a very large home for open-source scientific datasets. And free access for everyone!
Take a look at this Wired Science post. And the quote I copied below excites me because I believe it's saying that Google will be creating Gapminder like visualizations of the data. I'm a fan of Gapminder because information is displayed visually in a way that is easily understood. If it's anything like the current Gapminder website, it will be quite valuable. And the fact that it will have YouTube like annotating/commenting features is icing on the cake. Another great educational resource for schools and universities everywhere.

"Building on the company's acquisition of the data visualization technology, Trendalyzer, from the oft-lauded, TED presenting Gapminder team, Google will also be offering algorithms for the examination and probing of the information. The new site will have YouTube-style annotating and commenting features."

My Flickr, Library of Congress, Web 2.0 Video

2008-01-21T11:54:00.000-08:00

I just uploaded the short one minute video clip below to YouTube. I'm impressed with this pilot project, as are many others according to the Wired Campus Chronicle post. The Library of Congress' photos on Flickr has been a huge hit, more so than had been anticipated. I expect "The Commons" will continue to develop and will serve as a wonderful resource for educators and general users everywhere.

FYI - All photos used in the video were from the Library of Congress' photos and the tag clouds were created by using the OCLC TagCloud builder and checking the box to cloud a Web page and then inserting the flickr URL for each invidividual photo. I was just experimenting with the technology here. I realize that using only relevant tags would have been better (though more time consuming).

Flickr, Library of Congress, Web 2.0

2008-01-17T21:13:00.000-08:00

Great news from the Library of Congress (LOC) Blog. The article "My Friend Flickr: A Match Made in Photo Heaven" is about a brand-new pilot project between Flickr and the Library of Congress, and people. People everywhere will tag, comment and make notes on the LOC images. This will be a huge benefit to both the community and the collections.

The added value of Web 2.0 and the wisdom of crowds is being more fully understood and it's wonderful to see the implementation of this collaborative project.

Here is the LOC new Flickr page which will include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist.
And that's not all. In addition, The Commons, was also announced:

We’re also very excited that, as part of this pilot, Flickr has created a new publication model for publicly held photographic collections called "The Commons." Flickr hopes—as do we—that the project will eventually capture the imagination and involvement of other public institutions, as well.

I have had great fun tagging the photos, give it a try yourself! What a great resource, kudos to Flickr and the LOC - makes me proud to be a librarian.

The XO Laptop For Needy U.S. Students

2008-01-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

I was getting ready to send out a YouTube video plea to Mr. Negroponte and the OLPC to please bring the XO laptop G1G1 program back to the U.S. when I found this Washington Post story. "OLPC America plans to combat digital divide by distributing low-cost laptops to needy students in the U.S." Here is another link on this story from the BBC.
This is great news. I wish them well. There is definitely a need to close the gap in the digital divide in this country as well. I am hopeful that the original intent of the OLPC, to bring education to children in developing nations, will also continue to move forward.
And once again, I have to ask, are there implications here for higher education? Things that come to my mind: 1) Young students with access to these machines will grow up learning in very collaborative ways and this will have an impact on the types of learners they become. 2) They will have a foundational understanding of technology far beyond todays traditional college students and they will be open source program developers as well as users of these programs. 3) Their expectations regarding learning environments will be much different.
I'm sure there is more. I'm still thinking about this. How about you?

A Librarian Reviews XO Laptop

2008-01-13T16:59:00.000-08:00

I just uploaded the video below to YouTube. It is my attempt to provide an overview of this amazing little machine and its cutting edge technology. I wish all the best for the One Laptop Per Child Foundation. Nicholas Negroponte is a true visionary and I applaud his efforts to help provide an education to children in developing nations. I wonder if he and others working with the OLPC realize how much they are educating adults in this nation as we partner with them to help bridge the gap in the digital divide.