Question of the Day: Alt tags and EXIF data (images)

Q: Do alt tags for images really matter? Does EXIF data really matter? What is EXIF data?

A: A group of us on facebook had an interesting discussion about EXIF data.

yes, alt tags are important, especially for reading machines for visually impaired and other technology that translates websites (esp. for 508 compliance), but I agree that spending alot of time fixing them is probably not worth it for what you do.
I think the jury is still out on blogger being a bad thing. When google first bought blogger, ... See Moreindividual posts were skewing higher than the actual websites... google looks after its own, so using blogger is probably a good thing in the long run.
Plus, it is becoming more and more about a collective approach, being everywhere, but not concentrating results anywhere. I'd say if all of your content was on your own domain that would be much worse in the long run. Wes, there is no need to worry with SEO (don't throw things at me, my SEO friends) because google changes its algorithms regularly.... and google is not the only browser is se land. Having good content that is relevant, have established presences on the web both in a namesake and social media (one of google's ranking algorithms at one point WAS length of domain presence), and making a reasonable use of metadata (exif, description, admin/rights, etc.) is probably the most important. We are moving towards RDF/semantic and tailored results, so one day ranking will be completely personalized and this notion of ranking as we know it will no longer exist. Of course, then the metadata will become even more important... but the tools have to get better first. Just my thoughts... ;-P

Secrets of library databases

Ah, ha, did I get you with the secrets part? I'll be honest, I'm not giving away any SECRET secrets, but for those who don't know how library catalog (databases) work, maybe this post will be of some interest.

Anyhow, this post came out of a twitter post (tweet) yesterday. I posted about how much I hate Microsoft Access and somehow asked why. The truth is I don't really HATE Microsoft Access; it works the way it is supposed to (ok, sort of) but when working with large database tables, things get complicated. So, it's not the product so much, as what I have to work with, with the product. Does that make sense?

Ok, so back to the library catalog database.
In order to understand a little about how complicated data in a library catalog database gets, you probably need to understand a little about what you see when you are searching a library catalog.

So, when you look at a record in the library catalog for a book (or movie or e book or whatever), you are actually seeing 3 pieces of 3 different records, which are related and hierarchical (generally, not all library catalogs are hierarchical and not all split their records into 3 parts, but a good majority do). These records of course, are populated by fields in the database itself. For those of you who understand databases, these are relational databases (you probably figured that out by now, right?)

Have I lost you yet?

A day's work

So, I thought I would just keep a running tab for today:

• Picked up cupcakes and a graduation card for our student worker who is graduating
• Logged into to gmail/email/twitter (later fb) which will stay on all day regardless if I am really there or not ;-)
  
• Sent out several emails soliciting nominations for a peer staff recognition program (I'm on the committee)
• Working my way through email, discarding, responding and filing as I go
  
• Sent out a revised workflow document w/ workflow diagrams to a project group (public interface to a new database)
  
• Sent out icons for use (public interface proj)
  
• Finished writing up project group notes and sent those out (public interface proj)
• 11AM meeting to discuss and review social media training program and discuss evaluation of program; also discussed extending programming to campus-at-large
  
• Answered several cataloging related questions.
  
• Put my todo list together for the rest of the afternoon.
• Resolved a couple of problems with special collections materials
• 12:46 smoothie shake break
• 3PM -- Head to Enviro Design Lib to finish out the day cataloging regional historic & architectural design guidelines
  

Drupal migrating to openpublish

So, I downloaded my existing drupal db thinking I would do a clean install with openpublish, since I couldn't find much in the way of migration help. Alas, it was not to be. I met the system requirements, everything seemed well, and then ... lots of error messages. I tried changing the timeout in php.ini, I tried all of the tricks at the drupal forums. Finally, gave up, doing what I planned to begin with -- migration.

Here are my thoughts based upon a current Drupal installation with core modules.

• Usual advice, backup, archive, etc. all content, custom themes, mods, well -- everything.
• Turn off all modules that you can -- you want to start with a close to as an out-of-box / vanilla drupal site as you can.
• Your mileage may vary (i.e., what worked for me, may not work for you).
  

What works for migration:

• Download a copy of openpublish to your desktop; unzip it so that you can pull out the modules. You will not be overwriting your entire drupal site -- the openpublish install package has to install into an empty database, so you don't want to do that!
  
• rubik theme
• the modules
• Follow the openpublish module setup
• Calais
• You need to get an API Key to use Calais which is a separate process

What won't work for migration:

• the openpublish theme
• create content types for openpublish
  

sabotauers, micromanagers, and other management types

A few months ago, I got together with several long term friends who are all professionals. We've known each other for a very long time. Some of us worked together at one point; others never. At some point in the conversation, our discussion turned to work. Someone asked, "what is the worst boss you've ever had [no names] and why?" "Who is the best and why?"


For the sake of the group (who know who they are), I agreed to write up our thoughts. I haven't worked for all of these types but I thought it was a fascinating discussion to hear real stories about some of the dreaded supervisor types.

•  sabotaeur
• micromanager
• storm
• spy
• wet blanket
• the passive aggressive 

A culture of learning, a culture of innovation (& who you should fire?)

The article, 3 types of people you should fire immediately,  (seriously, immediately?) came across my desk recently. Now before the title scares you away, there are some interesting little tidbits in it, especially when viewed through the lens of librarianship and information fields. It is true that libraries are in flux and changing from the formats of materials to the services that offer (as evidenced from this 2001 article in addition to many others), but many libraries are so mired in the past that they can't find a way to the future that many can see.

Librarianship is a profession based upon knowledge; traditionally we have relied on our expertise and "being the experts" (aka know-it-alls). Traditionally, libraries are not only the keepers of culture (resources, materials, etc.) but also of knowledge, which makes those who work in libraries also keepers of culture and knowledge (notice I said "keepers" not "sharers"). Although libraries are a place of education and sharing of information, it seems that in the past, the balance tilted more heavily on keeping than sharing which was mostly okay with our users. Now our users (customers, consumers, patrons, people who walk in the door - or don't) want services (and resources) that go far beyond "keeping" - sure they still want the "stuff" but they want it delivered to them in a way that works best for them (customer service). There are alot of reasons why relationships with organizations, institutions, and yes, even corporations have changed, but some of this undoubtedly has been driven by the internet and our ability to create content - reviews, user opinions, emails, etc.

Given that many librarians in this greying profession (who aren't retiring by the way even if in years, they could)  began their career when roles (and yes, sometimes even rules) were more clearly defined and heavily tied to actual materials, moving more towards a service based and user centered view  is a huge shift ... and it's not paying lip service to service by saying "everything is a service" because although to a certain extent that is true (it's very hard to find an item without some kind of a record of it for example), service does not end. 
I could say the same about feeding my dog - well, she eats puppy food because that is what the vet told me to feed her when she was a puppy - so it must be good for her.

but relying on expertise can sometimes lead to a lack of innovation, a fear of change (if you're the expert, do you want to have to learn something new?)

To tenure or not - reflections on professional activities and librarianshipv

I recently read the post Teaching Like a Motherf@#%er: Finding My Mid-Career Mojo which got me thinking about tenure, professional activities and professional responsibilities in librarianship.

 http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/education-oronte-churm/teaching-motherfer-finding-my-mid-career-mojo#ixzz1ywmWyqFe

This freedom has been excellent for my career. By being able to write and publish whatever is interesting to me at the time, I end up writing better and publishing more, which in turn provides additional income, which eases the pressure of somehow needing to find a tenure-track job, which creates even more space for freedom, and so on and so on, etc, etc.

My hunch is that pursuit of tenure is a significant constraint on academics when it comes to producing their best and most-interesting work. Fear and self-censorship are not proper ingredients for excellence. It makes me think of some good advice that I do my best to remember.

Yes, I agree - but I also disagree. I'm as high in rank as I can go within my current system. Does that give me a certain sense of freedom in terms of professional activities? To a certain extent, I do feel less pressured to take on committee work or professional obligations for just another "line on my resume" (we had a whole discussion about this very notion at thatcampSE this year. BUT (and this is a huge one) I continue to remain at the same level of professional activity, if not greater AND I continue to build my expertise and knowledge (working on a new Drupal side project). I continue to grow as a professional and to contribute to the profession.

 

 Currently, I am creatively exploring opportunities where I can make the most impact for the least  amount of financial outlay. In other words, where can I contribute the most to the various disciplines I cross (technology, web, cataloging/metadata, social media), further my reputation/network, and enrich my brain. 

 

However... not everyone is like that. Without some sort of reward, mandate, or penalty, there are professionals within the profession who are not professionals... but job holders.  (although they may be perfectly professional in demeanor).

TinyMCE (WYISWYG editor) for Drupal 7 Nuts and Bolts

I finally started working on my site teardown and rebuild from top to bottom. Previously my site was Drupal 6.4(think latest version) but instead of just migrating, I wanted to actually weed and restructure my site a little.  At the time I created my portfolio (2005), my artwork (1997 website start date) was really separate from my namesake domain, plus, I now have content scattered across a ton of social media sites. So, what to do? A complete teardown! My Drupal 6.x site used my mod of the Alexis theme, tinymce, CCK, buy me a beer (paypal donation), Book, and a few other modules. Thankfully, much of CCK is now folded into Drupal7 and Book is, too.... which leaves TinyMCE. Why do I use TinyMCE

Google rolls out Databoard

Google says:

Need some stats for a presentation? You shouldn’t have to go data mining. We’ve created this interactive tool to help you quickly find what you need from our vast archives of industry-leading research. It’ll even help you tell a story from the stats, turning selected charts and data points into infographics that you can share.

The data board is meant to address 3 challenges of research: ease of consumption, shareability, and a cohesive story. It includes data from The New Multi-screen World, Mobile In-store shopper research, Mobile search moments, and more. You can also use it to create infographics like this one:
http://think.withgoogle.com/databoard/#lang=en-us&infographic=2d15cd1bb80fc9c2401e7ae83cf7cee0fccdf8b7

Creating an online portfolio in Merlot

Since I'm screenshoting and testing the Merlot "Content Builder" for creating an academic portfolio, I thought I should write up my notes somewhere (they are also going in a spreadsheet).

• Pros - free for educational community
• Need a separate login (if your institution is not listed, just add it; once you see your institution in the added row; click next...) 
• Templates
• Simple design process
• Can add images including logos   

 Once you have your login, you'll choose an alias. This "alias" is also going to be part of the URL will point people to for your portfolio, so choose carefully. You can not use spaces.

After you finish the alias process, you will be taken to the Content Builder screen. Merlot will encourage you to create a web page, but for an E-Portfolio, you want to "Create a Website".  Choose a "Blank Page" template to get started.

Name your portfolio.

You will see some default pages are loaded in. First we need to change the names of the web pages.
For the purposes of a basic e-portfolio :

•  Statement : bio, career goals and objectives, highlighted activities performed or in progress supporting a career objective
• Resume: education history, employment record, relevant projects, presentations, service experience, awards and recognition; samples of work in competency areas: major design and development projects of interest to employers 
• Supporting documentation (Textual Docs)
• Project work
• Contact 

So, we'll need 5 webpages within our portfolio.

Now click on 1 of the default pages and click on "Rename Web page" (side menu) to change the name.  Type in Resume and click on Save.

Your page is now renamed. Click on Edit to edit it.
If you have a resume in word or another document, you can copy and paste it into this page, but you'll want 
 

•  Copyright info at bottom, date, student name, ATC
• Supports creative commons

Libraries, BibFrame, FRBR, Linked data - oh my

 I think most librarians don't really understand that Linked data isn't *just* BIBFRAME. 

Bibframe's WII model is much better than FRBR/WEMI model, but it does take the WEMI model and map it to WII. So, we are not abandoning FRBR, but instead moving it forward. 

Linked data can be used by a lot of different systems. I will share more thoughts on this later along with some resources. 

Internet of things

http://smartthings-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Iot-101.jpg
http://blog.smartthings.com/iot101/what-is-the-internet/

http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blog/internet-of-things-six-key-characteristics.html

Technology finding the time and how to stop flying by the seat of your pants

 So a discussion came up at Facebook at how IT staff can find the time to get it all done, and  stop flying by the seat of their pants and do things the "right" way. 

I've thought about this a bit and here are my thoughts to strategic planning for technology:
 

• Tech survey - what are the trends? What are others doing?
• Prioritize based upon need - what need does the technology address? Is it a solution? A stopgap? Is the need immediate or critical? We "park" good items that we don't have time/immediate need (see the whiteboard example above).
• What resources are needed? How long will it take? How much will cost (staff time is money, too!) Are there opportunities for collaboration?What is the projected ROI? 
• Maximize existing technology - look for tools to help manage and streamline work - especially work that has a lower ROI - for example if your Facebook page is not a big part of the web presence consider using some crossposting tools vs. spending time doing it manually; another tool maybe moving to a CMS for the website. You might also look to a ticketing system or virtual office hours to help address needs.
• Analyze - what is working? what is not? For the things which are not working do they meet a need ? If so, how and to what extent? There are some technologies that are very hard to abandon because they have such a loyal following. For those, you may want to capitalize on that to exploit potential. If you abandon technologies, what is impact? Can you scale back some technologies with minimal impact?

DRMC - Digital Repository for Museum Collections

Introducing the Digital Repository for Museum Collections (DRMC) from Artefactual Systems - AtoM

Social media & crime [infographic]

Stats and thoughts on social media related crime. It's getting to be vacation season - stay safe!

New books vs. Old books - What's up with the smell of old books?

Every wonder about the smell of old books? Here is what is happening.

Evolution of portable music [infographic]

Really interesting - how far we've come!

BIBFRAME / Linkeddata survey - Heads up catalogers & metadata librarians

Survey from LC-PCC:

On June 20, 2014, the Library of Congress announced its desire to collaborate with the Program for Cooperative Cataloging in the endorsement and support of BIBFRAME as the model to help the library community move into the Linked Data environment.
PCC and LC strongly encourage the PCC membership and the broader library community to become more knowledgeable and attuned to the development and rollout of BIBFRAME and how it fits within libraries and the larger Linked Data sphere.
The PCC Secretariat has created a BIBFRAME survey that aims to assess the current level of understanding of BIBFRAME within the PCC community and the wider information community. The survey also asks for ways in which information and announcements on BIBFRAME can be shared more widely within the communities.
The PCC Secretariat encourages all PCC members to take the survey, and requests that PCC members share the survey widely with colleagues in all spheres of library work – vendors, systems, acquisitions, and other areas.
You do not need to be a PCC member in order to take the survey!
The survey should take approximately 10 minutes or less to complete, and you may remain anonymous if you wish.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PCC-BIBFRAME-2014
The survey will close on Monday, July 14, 2014.

Digital landmarks [infographic]

Sir Isaac Newton (Weird Al Yankovic) vs. Bill Nye in Epic Rap Battles of History #woot4science #awesomesauce

Yay for Science! 

 Oh and check out this page for behind the scenes
http://laughingsquid.com/sir-isaac-newton-weird-al-yankovic-vs-bill-nye-in-epic-rap-battles-of-history/

"Physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton, played by “Weird Al” Yankovic, and science educator Bill Nye face off in a new episode of Epic Rap Battles of History"