Collaborative Document Editing

Here's a screen shot of a recommendation by Mark Brumley:

Crocdoc – Collaborative Document Editing | Mark Brumley via kwout

I do love using kwout which allows embedding clickable screen shots!

Goodnight, iPad

To enjoy at the end of a long day:

17,849 and counting

17,489 -- that is the number of petitions submitted to the Obama administration's "We the People" project. It is also roughly the number (slightly over 17,000) of signatures needed for the petition titled "Ensure all school libraries are properly staffed, open, and available for children every day."

Read Joyce Valenza’s plea for action, noting support from Library Journal, School Library Journal, and Horn Book – if you decide on signing a petition, it involves creating an account (simply supplying first and last name, email account and zip code) and then activating the account (to ensure that the email is a live address); a relatively easy task for important subjects such as this. The White House is promising relatively quick responses if the goal of 25,000 signatures are reached. According to the Wall Street Journal, 81 petitions have received that required number of signatures, with 15 new petitions being received every hour.

That’s an active democratic society and leads me to also refer to an inspiring presentation given last week by Dave Lankes at CARLI (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois). He spoke about becoming more vital to the community and how librarianship is about improving society in “Expect More: Service is Proactive”. Take a few moments to read his blog post which has links to his slides and audio presentation.

Michael Stephens Keynote: Hyperlinked Library Services @Library 2.011

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennx/2513840755 used by Michael Stephens 

I didn't expect the Michael Stephens' keynote to have such emphasis on kindness, heart, connecting to patrons, trust, and breaking down behaviors.  We really need to look at our own behaviors instead of always judging our patron behaviors.  "Let the heart drive change".  Check it out for yourself as you contemplate library innovation.  It's really all about what it's always been about: "Be Kind".

There are technologies that are definitely game changers.  But there is nothing new under the sun about human behavior.

Kindle Lending Library details = limitations

It was exciting to hear about what some have called "Lendle", a Kindle Lending library, until I read many more details about the various limitations (need to be a member of Amazon Prime, one book per month and only one at a time, 5000 titles, none from the biggest publishers....). Here is an excellent overview posted by Sue Polanka at No Shelf Required.

Stephen Abram's Keynote: How do we move to the next step? @ Library2.011

Notes from the Keynote: @ Library 2.011 Thursday, November 3, 2011

Libraries cannot afford to just be descriptive and market themselves as only books/database articles.
Patrons want "to love" something.  How do we re-position ourselves as knowing stuff that will help their real lives?

Librarians need to stand up to the challenge and have "help" sessions to enable patrons and prepare them for web 2.0 and mobile apps.  Otherwise, we'll have problems sustaining libraries in the future.

How do we make books social on a learning level? What programs do we need to create so that we may exceed the walls of our physical spaces?  Can we get it to the next level?  We cannot hide behind the book; we cannot hide behind the computer either.

Libraries are fundamentally about framing questions.  We are experts at improving the quality of the questions.

We need to move beyond transactions and move toward transformation.  The book is evolving.  Our profession needs to evolve re: perception of books. There are more saavy users and devices are moving into 'almost free'.  Sharing/collaborating is now social. Learning is social.  We know about our customers more than ever before with web 2.0.  Now we are able to support social context.

The challenge is to how to teach people what content is right/wrong or correct/incorrect on the web. What we learned from Amazon is that it's an environment for sharing information/reviews about books.  There is a new Google lending environment. Book borrowing will go to the web, engaging not only with the books but with others, with the author, with the videos.  eBooks allow for sharing notes while reading; this social nature challenges how libraries address patron confidentiality.

Why do people read?  See Stephen's notes:  to learn, to interact with others, to teach, etc
What is the role of books which are shared collectively/collaboratively?  The platform (ebooks) is not what changes things; it's in deciding how others can engage with the ebooks.  The social tools embedded in the devices is what will ultimately matter.  Sharing is what will matter.  This is why we belong to groups/communities.  The regulatory world is changing. We are moving way beyond the print environment.   Librarians know there are rights beyond copyright involved in the social act of reading. The reader experience is altered by geo-tagging; it can also manipulate what you are reading within the Google search engine.  We need to understand search engine optimization (SEO).  We are Google's product --one they are serving up to advertisers.  In some cases, it improves the user experience.  In other cases, the information "filter bubble" can manipulate what you are reading.

Evolution of answers: these are issues of confusion and sense-making.  Librarians need to provide people with tools to teach them to make sense of the information.  We can find "good enough" answers in many areas, but these good enough answers are not enough when doing important research such as health/wellness or divorce. The process of extracting articles from books is what databases do; podcasts, charts, video, and social web can build the "enhanced" book on any given topic.

Will libraries become publishers for their communities? 
Libraries are for learning, research and discovery, for helping society progress, for curation, and to have an impact on the community.  We have to understand and provide for our community needs.

Mobility is a game changer.  Where is the social help and how do I get the help where I am? 
We need to embed librarian 'goodness' into the user experience. All the tools we know and use will ultimately change sooner rather than later.

TEDxNYED with Will Richardson: What is Your Definition of Better?

A great time to be a learner; not such a great time to be a teacher:  Why Race to the Top and aligning teachers evaluations to student "achievement" won't work.  Why teaching to the tests won't work.



We need "life prep" not "test prep".  Test prep and learning are two very different things.  We have to "stop talking about better and start talking about different"....AMEN.

Library 2.011 Virtual Conference

Do not forget about this important information from Steve Hargadon:

• The Library 2.011 worldwide virtual conference is this Wednesday and Thursday, November 2 - 4, all online, all free. As of today, we have 5,000 registrations for the conference from 151 countries! Amazing! The conference schedule is also now online, with all 160+ sessions, and an individual hour-by-hour schedule calendar for each of 36 different time zones--and the live links to the session rooms will go up later today and tomorrow. Be sure to register by joining the site at the link above.

Keynote speakers, including Sandra Hirsch and Steve Abram, are profiled here. Topics include:

• New Career Pathways for Information Professionals in a Library 2.0 World 11/2, 9am CDT
• Participatory Libraries as Enabling Spaces for Creative Practices, 11/2 10am CDT
• Hyperlinked Library Services for Everyone: Exploring what a connected world of continuous computing means for twenty- first century library service. 11/2, 8pm CDT
• The experience of information literacy and learning: reflections on social media 11/3 5am (from Australia) CDT
• New paradigms for higher education libraries 11/3 8am CDT
• The New Normal: Social Institutions and the Social Web Is there still life in web tools for library strategies? 2pm, CDT
  

Many, many other sessions are available over the 2 day conference time.

And coming soon:

• The 2011 Global Education Conference is November 14 - 18.

Mother Nature and College Applications

Like other New Trier teachers, I have been talking with students over the last few weeks about their college essays and November 1 was a big deadline. With 2 to 3 million households without electricity on the East Coast, the entire process has been impacted. Here's the text of a recent email from Common Application:

October 31, 2011

The Common Application Board of Directors has asked all member colleges with imminent deadlines to be sensitive to the adverse conditions affecting schools and students in the northeast. The Common App system allows counselors and teachers to submit school forms at any time, regardless of deadline. Students and counselors with questions about application deadlines at individual institutions should contact those colleges directly.We wish a quick return to the normal fall routine for all affected colleagues and students.