Latest issue of Moonshine Arts Magazine is here

Why use Twitter (and why I twitter)

Some time ago, I gave up on the notion that I could be an artist and have a completely private life. The thing with being an artist (musician, writer, painter, director, actor, etc...) is that you need fans. You need supporters. You need people to know about your artwork and support your artwork (both financially and intellectually). So, unless you have an agent working for you, you have to do this yourself.
I think the same applies to organizations, businesses, etc. How do you stand out in a crowd? One way is to use social media to build a fan base (or user community or support network or ... )

I twitter for 3 reasons: to get up to date info/links/buzz about technology through people I follow, to build a network of followers who I might not want to facebook (facebook is more personal to me although there is some overlap on fb) or those that might not want to facebook with me, and to post news/announcements relating to artwork or my writings (in other words, straight up PR).

There are of course, other reasons to use twitter. If you are confused about twitter, I suggest you take a look at this great post. It explains what twitter is, how to use it and why it is useful, especially as relates to organizations.

on nurturing creativity

Three cheers for this ted talk.

Facebook and Friendfinder -- what you need to know

Interesting post about how facebook uses your email address to connect you to people through friendfinder

Delete your info here


...which all just goes to show, we all need to stay on top of what information we put out there. I don't use friendfinder, but apparently my email address was harvested from a couple of mailing lists by people who DO use friendfinder via facebook.

...and don't friend me on facebook, if we are not in the same professional circles -- especially, if we've never met or had a conversation (either f2f or online) because I won't friend you back unless you WRITE A REALLY REALLY GOOD MESSAGE EXPLAINING WHY YOU ARE APPROACHING PEOPLE ONLINE THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW.... AND EVEN THEN, PROBABLY NOT. GOT IT?

visual tweet

Okay, I haven't quite figured out how useful this, but whoa, is it nifty, cool and kind of addictive.
Friendbrowser

social media fad or cultural shift?

This has been making the rounds of the 'net world and I think it is pretty well done. My vote is cultural shift. Sure, a new technology will come along but the behaviors and ways of INTERACTING with media have changed.

12 worst kinds of facebookers

From CNN (the short version)...

1. The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Bore.
2. The Self-Promoter.
3. The Friend Padder
4. The Town Crier
5. The TMIer
   
6. The Bad Grammarian.
7. The Sympathy Baiter
8. The Lurker.
9. The Crank.
10. The Paparazzo.
11. The Maddening Obscurist.
12. The Chronic Inviter

Okay, I think I might have committed all of these offenses at some time ... except for the Paparazzo and the Friend Padder. I surely hope I am not the TMIer (ick, we all have one of those in our friends' list, right?)

for more detail read the article here

Obsolete technologies: the losers

Today's post is all about obsolete technologies.

Contrary to the what?s next people, I do not believe libraries are going anywhere. I do think libraries will continue to evolve as community space and that more of our products and services will be digitally based (especially if kindle continues to catch on), but considering most libraries are free, we fit perfectly into the economy of free! Also, one of the trends what?snext is predicting for 2010 is back to basics, which includes a re-interest in analog. Sooo.... all of you people who suddenly decide you want to read a real book instead of your kindle? I know where you can find one or two, or several thousand. ;-)




PCWorld lists among its 40 losers (I'm not listing them all here):

1. Playing Video Games at the Arcade (I think there will still be arcades around for a while, but they will be big megaplexes aimed at families, kids parties, events, etc., which we have already started to see.)

2. Running out of Hard Drive Space (LOL, I wish this was obsolete and with cloud based services, it may very well be... but honestly, our devices like digital cameras create bigger files, so I will be surprised if I ever get to the point where I feel I will NEVER run out of space.... LOL)

10. Taking Polaroids (sigh, I keep hoping that someone will continue to make the film -- there is a market)

11. Waiting for pictures to develop (among the general photographers I can see film dying, but a niche community is already rallied behind film, just as LPs have continued to be popular.)

16. Enjoying complete privacy (sigh, unfortunately, I agree, that this is on the way out -- between GPS and cameras most everywhere, there are few places on earth that are truly private

18. Wearing a calculator watch (I would add, wearing any watch... Watches are done, except as either fashion statements or as worn by those who explicitly need a watch visible on their arm, such as divers....)

27. Holding up a lighter at a concert (if you've been to any concert in the last few years, what do you see? Cell phones, no lighters.... I can't believe this made the list of obsolete technologies, though)

29. Using proper grammar and pronunciation (As English is an evolving language, I am really not sure what this means. If it means standard grammar as was taught in the early part of the century, then yes, it is changing. Who uses dreamt anymore?)

31. Flipping on an incandescent light bulb (I surely hope we do not end up as a fluorescent world, fluorescent bulbs are terrible for people with migraines.)

38. Faxing (people still do that? LOL)


Off of the top of my head, here are the things that I see as going the way of the dinosaur: travel agents (but not tour guides), video rental stores, the mp3 player as mp3 player only (wifi/web enabled mp3 will stay for a good long while), digital video cameras (every digital camera will shoot video or every video camera will capture stills, so one device), watches (who wears a watch now besides people without a cell phone or those who need a device on their arm (divers, runners, etc.), and we'll continue to move to one mobile device for everything.

I do think, at least for a very long time (which in technology terms can be months -- LOL), that there will continue to be a division between professional level products and one device that does everything, but at a lesser quality. So while camera/video phones exist and will get better and better, the professional level products will continue to be more purpose driven (i.e., a camera is just a camera...) and offer higher quality. I do think there will be overlay in the prosumer and pro models, but it will be a long time (if ever) before we see professional video or stills from a phone.

Twitter verified accounts

I dunno, do I need this? I kind of feel like we all need to stake our digital identities firmly NOW, because the 'net is only going to be a more crowded space.

From twitter:

What does it mean?

With this feature, you can easily see which accounts we know are 'real' and authentic. That means we've been in contact with the person or entity the account is representing and verified that it is approved. (This does not mean we have verified who, exactly, is writing the tweets.)

-----
then it goes on to say that it is just for famous (paraphrasing) people or those who have had identity issues. Hmmm.... I think I'll write them anyhow. I have my namesake domain plus a claimid, both of which include a link to my twitter account. It would seem like if you use openid for twitter, it could link all of those together and automatically verify... just saying...
http://twitter.com/help/verified

Millenials and education

Well... for some of us, the traditional education system didn't work so well... regardless of our generation, especially those of us who are visual + creative learners. I am so thankful I was pulled into at least a few nontraditional classes...
Better than standard lecture all of the time, for sure.

Love Michael Wesch's videos...

Evergreen Documentation Group needs your help!

For those interested in Evergreen or opensource library projects....

The Evergreen Documentation Interest Group needs your input to help prioritize its activities for the next few months. Please share the following survey link widely. We are casting a wide net -- we want input from as many roles as possible, from project coordinators to people working the front lines in libraries, and whether you are just thinking about Evergreen or running it since Day 1.

Responses are due no later than 5 p.m. ET Thursday, August 20, 2009. The survey is short and easy to complete.

The survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mDtin8UHNS8VcMUAGg5_2bvA_3d_3d

You are encouraged to forward this to interested communities.

Thanks much on behalf of the Evergreen DIG!

DIG URL: http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=evergreen-docs:dig

Biggest news in social media today --- Facebook + Friendfeed, and a little about Wowd)

If you haven't heard/read (and you don't follow my tweets -- georgiawebgurl@twitter), Friendfeed has been bought by Facebook. Read about it here and here.

On another note, I asked for an invite for Wowd. I am interested to see how this will differ from StumbleUpon. Both seem to be in the popularity contest site recommendation field, but Wowd seems to be actually building a search engine based upon automatic recommendations. Very interesting. I seem spammers and SEO blackhatters having a field day.

Wowd:

Roughly, it works like this.

I'm a member of the Wowd network, and I visit a new web page. My local Wowd client first checks to see if that web page is publically available -- meaning, can other people out there on the web see the same page that I’m seeing.

If I’m visiting a public page, then the site is nominated for inclusion in the Wowd index. No personally identifiable information leaves my machine!

By visiting the site I'm simply and implicitly voting for it. That's all. The indexing of the publically available site is done from another machine in the Wowd network, not mine.

New historical resources

lots of cool stuff.
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The Digital Library of Georgia and its partners have recently released several new digital collections as part of the Georgia HomePLACE initiative:

Milledgeville Historic Newspapers Archive, 1808-1920 http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/milledgeville/

Columbus Enquirer, 1828-1890 http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/enquirer/

Macon Telegraph, 1826-1908 http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/telegraph/

(These newspaper databases require a one-time free plug-in download to view images.)

Georgia State Fair, Macon, 1886-1960 (in partnership with the Middle Georgia Archives, Middle Georgia Regional Library) http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/gastatefair/

African American Funeral Programs from the East Central Georgia Regional Library (in partnership with ECGRL) http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/funeral/

Also, reintroducing:

Hall County Georgia Historical Photograph Collection (in partnership with Hall County Public Library) http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/CollectionsA-Z/hchp_search.html

Black History Society Photograph Collection (in partnership with Hall County Public Library) http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/CollectionsA-Z/bhsp_search.html

Georgia HomePLACE is supported with federal LSTA funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.

The Digital Library of Georgia is a GALILEO initiative based at the University of Georgia Libraries (http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu).

Facebook Commandments

A colleague and I were having an interesting chat about facebook in the workplace. I have my own rules (and practices) for facebook, given that my "friends" are a diverse mix of colleagues, friends + family (some even cross those lines) and drawn from the various areas and interests in my life.

Given that I've articulated these verbally many times, I thought it might be worth a blog post... and these are subject to change at any time. ;-) I realize not everyone is going to agree with me and it does involve some level of self-editing (some might also call it censorship). However, I consider it all to be building my digital identity, the digital identity I want, the one I am crafting everyday. Because those of you who know me, know what I say ALOT "If you are not building your digital identity, someone will build it for you!"

With that thought in mind, here are my 14 rules and practices for Facebook use:

1. You can control who sees your news feeds; however, I decided if I didn't want people to read my feeds, then I shouldn't "friend" them.
2. I keep part of profile public, so that those I meet at conferences or events can find me. I am careful about what displays as my public information, though.
   
3. I don't 'friend' anyone I supervise or any students from one of my workshops/presentations, but if they friend me, I accept the friendship.
4. I do think about what I write and if I wouldn't say it in public, it doesn't go on Facebook.
5. I don't friend (or accept friend requests) from strangers unless they have a very good reason (which they explain) for friending me.
6. I mostly watch my language. If I don't want my mom to read it (and she does), then it doesn't go on Facebook.
7. Only a few people can see my family photos and some notes. Everyone can see my artwork, blog posts, the majority of my notes.
8. I do not post any photos or video of my family without permission. I expect them to do the same.
9. I use Facebook for networking, promotional, and professional development. I push out technology posts and art updates. I follow several colleagues and artists who send me wonderful links and readings through facebook.
10. I don't spy using facebook.
    
11. I accept that my family, friends & colleagues use Facebook and unless they post something really inappropriate (like they were going to bring a gun to work tomorrow or they enjoy stealing from the company), then I wouldn't call them out on it. I may not agree with their politics or personal beliefs or work habits, but I understand that we are all human and have the right to our thoughts. It is really about respect. However, if I discovered that anyone I knew were abusing the internet (regardless of website), then I would question that.
12. I use it in place of email for almost all non-official email. There, I confess. I did a presentation with a group of freshman just a few months ago, and I discovered that about all they do on the 'net these days is facebook. No youtube, no delicious, no IM, no flickr -- everything is done via facebook and for several in the group, via their cell phones. If I need to archive or I need the email to represent me in an official capacity, then I use an "official" email address.
13. I don't let it interfere with my work, be it at home or here at the library. The web (regardless of what is it) can be a terrible time suck. The web is part of my work, so I am online an awfully lot (if you didn't notice). LOL
14. I turn off the services I don't use in Facebook, like IM. Sorry, message or email me instead. IM is too disruptive to me when I working, especially if it involves reading on the web, video editing, or coding (in other words, things which take a lot of brain power!)

Free tools

A few free web tools:
http://freetools.edublogs.org/

1million + in damages -- Library flooding in Louisville, KY

“I’d have to say we probably lost books in the numbers of tens of thousands. There are three main book areas in that part of the library...all of those are completely under water....”

Officials say the floodwaters caused at least $1 million in damage to the library main branch.

Recovery fund donations:
The Library Foundation
301 York Street
Louisville, KY 40203

http://www.wfpl.org/2009/08/04/library-damage-at-least-1-million/

Open Library project update

The final report of the Open Library Environment project is available for reading. ♥ this project with its focus on the behind the scenes... because if the behind the scenes (processing system/database/data) doesn't work very well, the public interface is not going to work very well. I am definitely keeping an eye on this project and I hope to be able to contribute in some way in the future.

A few points of interest (amongst many....)

• The project planners chose to define a system that supports libraries as a central player in the research process.
• Libraries need to be able to leverage a dynamic information environment to support the research and educational mission of their institutions.
• Libraries must respond to the dynamic information environment by re-engineering its organization and the workflows carried out by its personnel.
  

I don't know if these statements are Yays or DUHs, because they seem so obvious, yet some do not grasp that simple reality of library catalog software and library information silos such as databases, websites, etc.

And then the key features:

• Flexibility
• Community ownership
• Service Orientation
• Enterprise-Level Integration
• Efficiency
• Sustainability
  

-----------------
Reposting:
The Open Library Environment (OLE) Project has posted a draft of its final report. We are excited to offer this report publicly to the community and welcome your comments. As a community-source project, your input is vital to the future and success of the OLE Project. You can access the report at this address:
http://oleproject.org/final-ole-project-report/

About the Open Library Environment Project:
With support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a multinational group of libraries is developing the design for an Open Library Environment (OLE), an alternative to the current model of an Integrated Library System. The goal is to produce a design document to inform open source library system development efforts, to guide future library system
implementations, and to influence current Integrated Library System vendor products.

ALA Emerging leaders deadline extended

The deadline for submitting applications to the ALA Emerging Leaders program has been EXTENDED to August 7, 2009. The original due date was this Friday, July 31, 2009.

Details on the program can be found on the ALA web site at
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/hrdr/abouthrdr/emergingleaders.cfm

New social networking site for genealogists

This is for my mom ;-)

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GenealogyWise.com is a brand new social networking site, similar to Facebook, but dedicated to genealogists. In fact, it was officially announced the first part of July.

GenealogyWise.com is a site with forums, blogs, videos, RSS feeds and more - again, all related to genealogy. Developed by WorldVitalRecords.com, it looks to be a great tool to help us stay and
get connected with other researchers.

Another library related video (budget theme)