Blogging Section of SLA-IT

It's almost like being there...

This is a personal musing as much as anything, but as I sit here reading feeds and enjoying a so-so lunch (it's bad when Cheez-its are the highlight of your brown bag), I can't help but be whipped up in the hysteria of what new product Apple's announcing in a few minutes.  I'm really disappointed that I have meetings all afternoon, so it could be hours before I know what this thing is.  I've been following this for days.  A new video iPod?  An iPod boombox?  An Apple tablet(no, but I'm giddy at the thought)

This is just another example of the community we create by utilizing blogs, RSS, and other tools.  What an exciting time it is.  Now I've got to go check Engadget for updates...

Computers in Libraries Conference wiki

Will you be attending the Computers in Libraries Conference in March? Attendee Meredith Farkas, has created a (unofficial) wiki for the conference. Blogger attendees are invited to put their names on the list. Information Today will of course blog the event.

Goodbye to Microsoft FrontPage

While this topic isn't directly related to the blog, I think this news might be relevant to some of us.  Some might even be overjoyed about it.

Article: Finding a home for metadata

The author writes:

Working with data across an enterprise -- especially in an SOA [Service-Oriented Architecture, I think] environment -- requires understanding its context and semantics, not just its format and field attributes. And that means metadata. For developers as well as services to track that metadata, a repository would be useful. Theoretically, they would provide the intermediary services, but with today’s technology, “this is just too ... hard to do,” says Paul Patrick, chief architect at BEA Systems. “No one has assembled the pieces yet.”

Doesn't that just sound like a job for librarians?  Do you think they realize it?

SLA Baltimore Conference Program Now Available

The SLA Baltimore conference online planner is now available.  There are a number of interesting programs lined up for Baltimore (and a little advertising here: I especially encourage you to check out all of the IT division programs--our own Catherine will be teaching a continuing education course, Weblogging for Beginners).

Check it out, and don't forget that conference registration rates increase on May 1.

Article on blogging in Library Issues

I was sent internally at work a photocopy of the latest Library Issues (January 2006) in which Steven Bell discusses library blogs. Bell deplores that library blogs are sometimes not innovative enough and passive instead of proactive. He suggests publishing more creative content (he mentions the Georgia State University Library blogs) and the use of RSS and RSS converter technology (inserting the blog feeds on another web page) to reach students where they are and spruce up traffic.

I find it humorous that the article was sent to me anonymously. I have to admit I sometimes don't update the blog I've created for my library often enough - I'll take it as a gentle nudge to motivate my posting of more and better content.

Article: Yahoo advocates blogging for small businesses

The author of this article writes:

Despite blogging's popularity among individuals, Yahoo Inc. finds that many small companies still require convincing that these online journals can help their business. 

Yahoo in December struck separate partnerships with blog publishing providers Six Apart Ltd. and WordPress to offer their services for free to small businesses that use Yahoo's fee-based Web hosting services.

Although sign-ups have so far exceeded expectations, Yahoo has also run into clients that are unaware of and doubtful about the value of business blogging.

Unaware?  Doubtful?  Wow...sad, but true.  For the rest of the article, go here.

Social networking tools

Tonight I'm talking to the local Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) chapter about blogs and social networking tools. I hope that I'll be preaching to the choir (as the saying goes), but I won't know that until I meet the group.  (Here's the presentation.)

What have I learned as I prepared for this talk?

As background research for this and some of the workshops I'm giving this spring, I have been reading about the Millennials and thinking about how they use technology.  We are surrounded by Millennials, but I suspect that we don't think hard about what their technology-using habits mean to us.  We also "forget" that how they do things is "it."  As the generations grow older and leave this earth, how the Millennials do things -- and the generations that come after them -- will drive how information is searched for and used. 

Although we hope that they will adopt some of our tools, techniques and behaviors, the reality is that the tools, techniques and behaviors of the Millennial will prevail in the long run.  Just as ours prevailed over those of our parents and grandparents.  This, of course, creates incredible challenges and opportunities for us, as well as some frustrations.  The "old dogs" must learn new tricks in order to try to keep pace with the Millennials. 

I hope that we and our libraries are up to the challenge of creating tools and resources that are geared for this generation.  I see that some libraries are adapting and changing.  Hopefully more will so they will remain relevant.

RSS feed reading on a handheld

Interesting discussion at MobileRead today:  Is RSS feed reading on a handheld worthless? 

I think it really depends upon which handheld you are using, what type of data plan you have, and which aggregator you are using.  Thanks to my Sprint Treo 650 and Bloglines, I can usually keep up with my feeds on trips.  It's a huge time saver for me; if I don't read items completely, I'll at least clip things to read when I get back to a computer.

What do you think about RSS reading on a handheld?

CAS has RSS

Chemistry librarians rejoince! CAS is introducing its first RSS feed (2.0 version). Initially, there will be a single feed that will contain all news and updates. More feeds will be created depending on feedback. So, if you like it, give the feed some backup (ok, that was bad).