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Reflection Week 12 – Online Applications

This is my last reflective activity for assignment 1 so I decided to do the following question:

“Discuss how libraries (or a professional setting of your choice) might make use of online applications and productivity tools, and what impact might they have on front-of-house services and behind-the-scenes work?  Talk about the benefits and potential risks”

[Mary Axford and Crystal Renfro]  For libraries to stay relevant in society and with the emergence of Web 2.0 applications, they have to change the way they interact with their clients.  Before Web 2.0, libraries only had to worry about books, papers, magazines and card catalogues.  The emergence of Web 2.0 has caused a wave of new online application and productivity tools so  that now libraries have a role in teaching lecturers, clients and students how they can use the new technologies in their everyday lives.  [Allen Alrich] With the changes in the way we interact with each other, universities and libraries need to move towards the mobile web using smartphones.

APPLICATIONS

Image Hosting & Photo Sharing: [Alan Henry]

Facebook; Flickr;  Photobucket; Picasa and SmugMug:

Benefits:

  • Great way for libraries to store historical photos for future reference
  • Allow photos to be mashup and place in libraries presentations and reports

Mobile To-Do-List Managers: [Alan Henry]

AnyDo; Astrid; Remember the Milk; Toodledo and Wunderlist

Benefits:

  • At meetings you have the list of items that your colleagues like you to ask
  • Your daily tasks are always with you wherever you are
  • Like a diary – will store all your tasks.  This would help you when you need to do a monthly report

Presentation  Creation Tools: [Jason Fitzpatrick]

Beamer; Google Presentations; PowerPoint and Press

Benefits

  • Information Literacy Programs
  • Library Information Slideshows

Real Time Video Chats: [Alan Henry]

AIM/AV by AIM; Google Talk; iChat; ooVoo and Skype

Benefits:

  • Communicate with external students
  • Keep in contact with clients who cannot come to the library
  • Communicate with colleagues in other States

Social Media Managers: [Jason Fitzpatrick]

Digsby; HootSuite; Seesmic; Socialite and TweetDeck

Benefits:

  • Way for a library to manage all their social media sites in one place

Mobile Web

[Alan Aldrich]  With the surge of mobile devices, especially the smartphone, libraries had to change in the way they present their services.  With Smartphones, the Mobile Web came of age.

Benefits:

  • Clients have access to a library catalogue anywhere and at any time.
  • Library staff can contact clients quickly and more efficiently for example, “the book you requested has arrived”

The following graph shows how the clients of the University of Cambridge Library use smartphones to get access to library services:

Note Taking Applications

[Mary Axford and Crystal Renfro]   The Internet is providing more information for clients and librarians than they can handle.  Therefore, note-taking applications were born:

  • Evernote
  • MS Onenote
  • Simplenote
  • Springpad notebooks

Benefits:

  • Able to store answers and question for other colleagues on the reference desk
  • Great way for staff to store information for their research projects
  • Recording information for future events for the Library e.g. journal articles, photos
  • Storing information for Conference presentations
  • You can store information that could be useful for libraries’ collection development

The following YouTube video talks about  Evernote and Libraries:

Risks

  • Security issues with personnel and professional information
  • If Libraries are depended upon computers what happens if the IT system goes down, we still need to have access to pen and paper and books
  • Clients would never personally use the library
  • Library networks are more susceptible to a virus
  • Potentially online applications give managers the ammunition to close libraries down to save money, for example, Campbell Newman has closed down a number of libraries since coming to office.

Online applications and productivity tools will have an impact in the way libraries provide services to their clients and the way library staff perform their duties.  Libraries do provide an important service to society and as Librarians; we have to ensure that online applications and productivity tools do not take away the role of libraries.

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Play Activity-Online Applications-Week 12

For this weeks play activity I decided to use the following online applications:

Polldaddy

Play Activity Week 12 Survey

SurveyMonkey

Click here to take survey

Polldaddy

Pros

  • Easy
  • Lot of design choices
  • Can be use for Surveys and Polls

Cons

  • Only free for the basic applications

SurveyMonkey

Pros

  • Easy
  • Free

Cons

  • Only a basic survey

In professional capacity I would use [Polldaddy]  over [SurveyMonkey]  because you have more scope in way you present your survey.  Also, using [Polidaddy] you can produce polls, quizzes and ratings.

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Reflection Week 11 – Open Data

I decided to do this week’s reflection on the following question:

Open Data is the Future of the Web?

After I read the learning activity for week 11, I asked myself the following questions:

  • What is open data
  • Why is it important

In this reflection, I am going to answer both questions.

Open Data: 

[opendefinition.org] Open data is the content that is found on the Web for everyone to use and copyright does not apply.  [Glenn Tremblay] Another way to describe open data is the sharing of public record for example, government records over the Web in a way that promotes analysing and using the information.

I found the following YouTube video that is great way to start to understand what is open data.

I do believe that the future of the Web is to have access to open data, but the following issues need to be address:

  • Privacy of health records
  • Bank details
  • Copyright issues in regards to music and books

[Glenn Tremoblay]  Having data on the web open to the public would make governments more transparent and this would advance every ones lives.  [Open Knowledge Foundation]  Government records are a largely untapped resource and allowing it to become open date would provide economic and social value to everyone.  The values are:

 
  • Transparency:  allowing you to see how government are spending your money.  In addition, it can stop fraud in government organisations.  Another benefit is that you can see how active your member of parliament is.
  • Better decision making: you will have more information that would allow you make the right decision so that you can become more active in your community.  For example using your local Council website you can find were your local dog parks are.
  • Financial: open data can help households to save money for example on their energy bills for example on their energy bills  Educational institutions and libraries can save money by sharing resources with other people using resources like [Slideshare, Flickr and LibraryHack] to produce information literacy programs for students and users.
  • Efficiency: open data also provides value to governments themselves.  They highlight areas where they can increase efficiency.

Organisations, governments, libraries, and education institutions are starting to see the value of open data access for everyone.  Queensland University of Technology is leading the way with [ePrints].  To have a world were all data is universally accessible would be great but I cannot see that happening in my lifetime because of copyright and intellectual property legal rights.

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Play Activity – Gamification – Week 10

 

What is Gamification?

I found the following definitions from [Gamification Wiki]

“The Gamification Wiki defines Gamification as the infusion of game design techniques, game mechanics, and/or game style into anything. This definition is purposely broad to support the many uses of the word outside of the context of business.”

A few other definitions of Gamification are:

  • Gamification is the use of game design techniques and game mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences
  • Simply put, the term refers to incorporating game elements and mechanics into non-gaming websites and software

[Marketing]  Way for educational institutions and libraries to engage with their users on a deeper level.

Gamification to me would be a great way for educational institutions and libraries to interact with children and young adults and bring back the love of libraries and learning. Gamification would be a great tool for information literacy for kids if it is done correctly otherwise parents would be in an uproar!

 

Reference

Huotari, K., & Hamari, J. (2012). “Defining Gamification – A Service Marketing Perspective”. Proceedings of the 16th International Academic MindTrek Conference 2012, Tampere, Finland, October 3–5.

 

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