Well, that was a little adventure! I tried out 2 of the Zoho office web apps (see the preceding post below). As with anything else, I think they would take some getting used to, but it's pretty neat to be able to publish and share documents so easily. I'd think twice before using these things for group projects in school, though. Maybe I'm just a scaredy-cat ;-) You can keep track of versions and changes, after all...
I did have some trouble when I tried to enter ISBNs in the spreadsheet. It left off the leading zeros.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Trying out Zoho Writer
Will Shortz makes my head hurt with his puzzles.
New web apps make me feel old fashioned.
And here's a Zoho spreadsheet!
New web apps make me feel old fashioned.
| Here is a little table. | Isn't it cute?  |
| Look, Mom, no hand-coding HTML! | The last cell was empty, but now it's not. |
And here's a Zoho spreadsheet!
A "wiki wiki" wiki post
I think wikis are a great way to gather and share information, though they are certainly not for every occasion. I noticed at least one wiki which the founder had abandoned in favor of a blog in order to have more control and escape the avalanche of spam.
Wikis can work well as tools for generating collective pathfinders on one or more topics (though there is of course the question of authority), and I could see them working for planning large events involving people in geographically diverse locations (ALA meetings being a case in point). My family recently threw a small surprise birthday party for my mom. Had the party and the family been bigger than it was, I think a wiki would have been immensely helpful for communicating about invitations, decorations, etc.
I'm not sure how I feel about wikis in a library setting, however. Perhaps they could be useful for sharing information and experiences among library staff. Using them as a collaborative tool between library staff and library users might be too unpredictable and volatile to be successful. Could you create one for the purpose of "cultural exchange" between patrons and librarians? I don't know. Might be beneficial for obtaining user feedback, but as with any such feedback generating device, how could you ensure that people would use it and that the feedback you got was representative of the whole user population?
Wikis can work well as tools for generating collective pathfinders on one or more topics (though there is of course the question of authority), and I could see them working for planning large events involving people in geographically diverse locations (ALA meetings being a case in point). My family recently threw a small surprise birthday party for my mom. Had the party and the family been bigger than it was, I think a wiki would have been immensely helpful for communicating about invitations, decorations, etc.
I'm not sure how I feel about wikis in a library setting, however. Perhaps they could be useful for sharing information and experiences among library staff. Using them as a collaborative tool between library staff and library users might be too unpredictable and volatile to be successful. Could you create one for the purpose of "cultural exchange" between patrons and librarians? I don't know. Might be beneficial for obtaining user feedback, but as with any such feedback generating device, how could you ensure that people would use it and that the feedback you got was representative of the whole user population?
Friday, December 21, 2007
Library 2.0
Oops! I did it again ;-) I read several of the articles suggested in Thing #15 a couple of weeks ago and then forgot to blog about it.
Here are my thoughts/reactions:
Rick Anderson's "Away from the 'icebergs'"
-I'm all for making resources more accessible and easier for patrons to use. However, just because we cannot sit each individual patron down for some good old fashioned instruction, doesn't mean that teaching has no place in today's (or tomorrow's) library. As much as we all would like a one-click solution to our information needs (and as hard as we work to increase patron independence), I think it is very important to provide some kind of assistance/education.
-Though we are no longer in an exclusively print-based environment, I wouldn't call this the "post-print era;" the world has been come more digital, but it's not completely digital.
-I do think it's a very good idea to "integrat[e] our services into [patrons'] daily patterns of work, study and play." If we don't seek to become an integral part of our patrons' lives, we'll be brushed aside and forgotten.
Michael Stephens' "Into a new world of librarianship"
-"Librarian 2.0 controls technolust" and "does not buy technology for the sake of technology" but seeks to improve the user's experience by exploring new technologies and implementing them when and where they will be most useful. Hooray!
-"Perpetual beta." Hmm, this feels a little more uncomfortable. I agree that the library cannot remain static, but staying in temporary/experimental mode doesn't sound especially tenable either.
-I agree that the library is not an isolated entity and that "Librarian 2.0" needs to stay aware of shifting external landscapes in order to plan the internal transformations that happen in the library.
John J. Riemer's "To better bibliographic services"
-Oh how I look forward to the "comprehensive menu of choices [for finding and obtaining materials] in a single place"! That is currently (in my opinion) one of the most frustrating aspects of using a library (and I work in one and have an MLS!).
-I'm not sure how excited I am about the "tagging" phenomenon, but perhaps if we can integrate less structured forms with more structured forms of metadata the result will be beneficial...
Here are my thoughts/reactions:
Rick Anderson's "Away from the 'icebergs'"
-I'm all for making resources more accessible and easier for patrons to use. However, just because we cannot sit each individual patron down for some good old fashioned instruction, doesn't mean that teaching has no place in today's (or tomorrow's) library. As much as we all would like a one-click solution to our information needs (and as hard as we work to increase patron independence), I think it is very important to provide some kind of assistance/education.
-Though we are no longer in an exclusively print-based environment, I wouldn't call this the "post-print era;" the world has been come more digital, but it's not completely digital.
-I do think it's a very good idea to "integrat[e] our services into [patrons'] daily patterns of work, study and play." If we don't seek to become an integral part of our patrons' lives, we'll be brushed aside and forgotten.
Michael Stephens' "Into a new world of librarianship"
-"Librarian 2.0 controls technolust" and "does not buy technology for the sake of technology" but seeks to improve the user's experience by exploring new technologies and implementing them when and where they will be most useful. Hooray!
-"Perpetual beta." Hmm, this feels a little more uncomfortable. I agree that the library cannot remain static, but staying in temporary/experimental mode doesn't sound especially tenable either.
-I agree that the library is not an isolated entity and that "Librarian 2.0" needs to stay aware of shifting external landscapes in order to plan the internal transformations that happen in the library.
John J. Riemer's "To better bibliographic services"
-Oh how I look forward to the "comprehensive menu of choices [for finding and obtaining materials] in a single place"! That is currently (in my opinion) one of the most frustrating aspects of using a library (and I work in one and have an MLS!).
-I'm not sure how excited I am about the "tagging" phenomenon, but perhaps if we can integrate less structured forms with more structured forms of metadata the result will be beneficial...
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