Somewhere between the "some people have too much time on their hands" videos and the "let's see if we can get away with this copyright violation" videos, there's a place on YouTube for videos that can actually be useful. Here is an example of a video (which is also embedded on our Library's Web site) from one of our library programs:
We've also used it for posting things like Summer Reading promos, and are looking at the possibility of putting up video tutorials. Certainly it's easier to post a video to YouTube and embed it than to configure our own server for streaming. But we may need to modify the release form we ask people to sign before we post videos we create: there's a difference (at least in perception, if not in substance) between putting something on our own site and putting it out on the wilds of YouTube.
But my biggest concern with using YouTube is actually the bandwidth demands. Even with a fast connection, it's been rare in my experience for a video to stream without some interruptions (depending on the time of day and so forth), and on my DSL connection at home it's out of the question: I have to let the video download completely before trying to watch it. Maybe someday these issues will be resolved, but for the time being it's of limited usefulness for anyone with less than the fastest available connection.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Thing #20: Discovering Web 2.0 tools: Pandora
Let's talk about Pandora (2nd place in SEOmoz's music category). Pandora provides streaming audio, and allows you to create customized "stations" that will (theoretically) play only music you like.
Here's how it works: start by entering the name of an artist you enjoy (or you can select one of their existing "genre" stations). Pandora will start playing music by that artist, and also by other artists who have (in their view) similar musical characteristics. As each song plays, you have the opportunity to give it a "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down". If you give a song a thumbs-up, Pandora uses that information to refine the selection of music your station plays; if you give it a thumbs-down, Pandora will remove it from your playlist. (If you're tired of a particular song but don't want it permanently removed, you can tell Pandora to skip it, and the song will be removed from you playlist for a month. There is a limit, however, to how many songs you can skip in a day.) Information about the individual songs and the CD's they are taken from is available; you can buy individual songs from iTunes or Amazon, or order the complete CD from Amazon.
How well does it work? Fairly well. The "listen-alike" selections seem to work best (predictably) for artists whose sound is not really unique, and it can take awhile to refine your playlists to be what you really want. Some artists seem to be represented by only a few songs, so you may hear a lot of repetition. On the other hand, I've discovered some interesting artists whose work I didn't know before.
Like any streaming media, Pandora takes a fairly fast Internet connection to work well. It also will sometimes suddenly stop streaming mid-song for no apparent reason; sometimes it will then skip to another song, but sometimes it just stops streaming for an extended period. (This latter problem could possibly be due to something elsewhere in the chain, rather than Pandora itself.)
The concept is good: customizable, commercial-free Internet radio. The execution is not perfect, but is good enough to keep me coming back. I'm not sure about its library usefulness, I must admit, though it could be a site to recommend to patrons looking for new music.
Here's how it works: start by entering the name of an artist you enjoy (or you can select one of their existing "genre" stations). Pandora will start playing music by that artist, and also by other artists who have (in their view) similar musical characteristics. As each song plays, you have the opportunity to give it a "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down". If you give a song a thumbs-up, Pandora uses that information to refine the selection of music your station plays; if you give it a thumbs-down, Pandora will remove it from your playlist. (If you're tired of a particular song but don't want it permanently removed, you can tell Pandora to skip it, and the song will be removed from you playlist for a month. There is a limit, however, to how many songs you can skip in a day.) Information about the individual songs and the CD's they are taken from is available; you can buy individual songs from iTunes or Amazon, or order the complete CD from Amazon.
How well does it work? Fairly well. The "listen-alike" selections seem to work best (predictably) for artists whose sound is not really unique, and it can take awhile to refine your playlists to be what you really want. Some artists seem to be represented by only a few songs, so you may hear a lot of repetition. On the other hand, I've discovered some interesting artists whose work I didn't know before.
Like any streaming media, Pandora takes a fairly fast Internet connection to work well. It also will sometimes suddenly stop streaming mid-song for no apparent reason; sometimes it will then skip to another song, but sometimes it just stops streaming for an extended period. (This latter problem could possibly be due to something elsewhere in the chain, rather than Pandora itself.)
The concept is good: customizable, commercial-free Internet radio. The execution is not perfect, but is good enough to keep me coming back. I'm not sure about its library usefulness, I must admit, though it could be a site to recommend to patrons looking for new music.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Thing #19: Online apps
OK, I'm composing this post in Google Docs. I can certainly see some advantages to using online apps: not having documents tied to a particular PC, not having to wonder whether a shared computer will have the right software, being able to share files, etc. And there are some possible uses for libraries. For example, staff throughout our system use Google Docs spreadsheets for scheduling; supervisors have editing access, while other staff can view the schedule from wherever they happen to be (including checking it from home if need be).
I also tried out Google Docs form creator, which was very interesting; here is the result (I had to add this in Blogger after sending the post from Google Docs):
(Mind, I'm not sure yet what becomes of this information after someone clicks "Submit"; I'll post a follow-up when I know more.)
There are, however, a few drawbacks or limitations as well. If all of your schedules are on Google Docs, a loss of Internet access (which does happen from time to time) can become a significant problem instead of a minor inconvenience. Forgetting to log out of your account on a shared computer opens up security and privacy issues. Less important, users who like to use a variety of fonts in their documents are now likely to be satisfied with the limited number of fonts available in Google Docs.
So while online apps can be very useful, I don't think I'm quite ready to give up my desktop apps just yet.
I also tried out Google Docs form creator, which was very interesting; here is the result (I had to add this in Blogger after sending the post from Google Docs):
(Mind, I'm not sure yet what becomes of this information after someone clicks "Submit"; I'll post a follow-up when I know more.)
There are, however, a few drawbacks or limitations as well. If all of your schedules are on Google Docs, a loss of Internet access (which does happen from time to time) can become a significant problem instead of a minor inconvenience. Forgetting to log out of your account on a shared computer opens up security and privacy issues. Less important, users who like to use a variety of fonts in their documents are now likely to be satisfied with the limited number of fonts available in Google Docs.
So while online apps can be very useful, I don't think I'm quite ready to give up my desktop apps just yet.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Thing #18: PBwiki
OK, I've added a few links to the "Favorite Music" and "Favorite Restaurants" pages, and listed this blog.
But as the wikis we use at the library (see my last post) are all hosted on PBwiki, this is nothing new. I've never been wild about their graphical editor, and their new version doesn't seem all that different. But it does get the job done if you're not too picky.
(A side note - I'm getting a little ahead on this now, so that I can concentrate on other things during the end-of-the-month rush that will be coming in a couple of weeks.)
But as the wikis we use at the library (see my last post) are all hosted on PBwiki, this is nothing new. I've never been wild about their graphical editor, and their new version doesn't seem all that different. But it does get the job done if you're not too picky.
(A side note - I'm getting a little ahead on this now, so that I can concentrate on other things during the end-of-the-month rush that will be coming in a couple of weeks.)
Thing #17: Wikis
We've been using wikis for library staff for some time. We started by taking a set of "useful Web links" pages and turning them into a wiki so that staff wouldn't have to wait for me to get around to editing the Web pages in order to link to useful sites. Some other uses of the wiki that have been added since include:
One further observation: sometimes it's hard to decide whether a blog or a wiki is the best approach for a particular function. In many cases, arguments can be made both ways.
- a missing holds wiki, to help staff throughout our multi-branch system track down holds that get misdirected
- a "TechTime Share" wiki, where items demonstrated at an informal monthly tech-oriented training session are posted
- a discussion wiki for the book Wikinomics, which was chosen for a "one book, one staff" reading program earlier this year (this will be replaced with a new one in 2009)
- a wiki where staff who are participating in Nebraska Learns 2.0 can post links to their blogs
One further observation: sometimes it's hard to decide whether a blog or a wiki is the best approach for a particular function. In many cases, arguments can be made both ways.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Thing #16: Library 2.0
There are lots of good observations in the various articles that were posted. The article that resonated with me most was John Blyberg's. Web 2.0 tools are like any of the other tools in our professional kit: implementing them without a clear idea of why we're doing so is counter-productive. This is especially true in a time of shrinking budgets, when library staff are continually being asked to do more with fewer resources, and especially with fewer human resources.
Properly implemented, these tools should help us be more effective and efficient in what we do. A book talk presented to a half-dozen patrons is an expensive use of staff resources; record that talk and put it out as a podcast, and you have the potential to reach a large number of patrons for just a little more investment in staff time. Provide a way for readers to enhance your catalog with their own ratings and reviews, and hopefully you'll strengthen their connection to the library as well as provide a useful readers' advisory resource.
But there is a cost to implementing these tools, especially in terms of staff time, and so it becomes especially important to carefully choose what we do. Implementing change purely for the sake of changing is more likely to annoy the users we already have than to attract new ones. Providing a true enhancement to an existing service can improve the experience for existing patrons and attract new ones.
Properly implemented, these tools should help us be more effective and efficient in what we do. A book talk presented to a half-dozen patrons is an expensive use of staff resources; record that talk and put it out as a podcast, and you have the potential to reach a large number of patrons for just a little more investment in staff time. Provide a way for readers to enhance your catalog with their own ratings and reviews, and hopefully you'll strengthen their connection to the library as well as provide a useful readers' advisory resource.
But there is a cost to implementing these tools, especially in terms of staff time, and so it becomes especially important to carefully choose what we do. Implementing change purely for the sake of changing is more likely to annoy the users we already have than to attract new ones. Providing a true enhancement to an existing service can improve the experience for existing patrons and attract new ones.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Thing #15 - SlideShare
OK, I've set up a SlideShare account; I left a comment on one of Michael's slideshows and found a presentation on Kubuntu Linux (see below) to add as a "favorite." I can see where SlideShare would be useful; the ability to embed slideshows into a Web page could be especially handy (though I don't have anything currently that I would use this for).
But I encountered a few "issues" in getting started with this. First, the embedded slideshow on the page for this "Thing" never did work for me, either in IE or in Firefox. Second, the captcha on the signup page would not work for me in IE, though I had no problem with it in Firefox. And third (though this is more a problem with slideshow presentations themselves than with SlideShare), a lot of the presentations I looked at just didn't work well without something else to accompany them.
I keep this in mind for possible future use.
But I encountered a few "issues" in getting started with this. First, the embedded slideshow on the page for this "Thing" never did work for me, either in IE or in Firefox. Second, the captcha on the signup page would not work for me in IE, though I had no problem with it in Firefox. And third (though this is more a problem with slideshow presentations themselves than with SlideShare), a lot of the presentations I looked at just didn't work well without something else to accompany them.
I keep this in mind for possible future use.
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