What have you personally learned from this program?
Well it has been an eye-opener as to the range and volume of emerging technologies out there plus not forgetting the terminology. Some are in concept similar & therefore need close scrutiny to help with understanding and “compartmentalising”. Must admit most try to make the use as intuitive as possible …on screen instructions etc but they tend to be busy screens more so if free and therefore reliant on the advertising etc. It has…helped me organize my personal finds, allowed me to explore without feeling guilty about other work priorities, confirmed that the wide world is so willing to contribute and share and I too can and should participate.
What have you learned about yourself, others and the organisation in which you work?That I need not be concerned about messing up a whole system just by clicking the wrong button….most have a recovery mechanism. Although early in the piece I did lose some content thereon I followed the advice we often give i.e. back up what you do! Discovery approach is appropriate for these new technologies as with so many around, each person needs to be able to work at their own pace and even re-do exercises etc. Certainly a pilot team was a good setting as everyone was starting new and support was just great…on a personal level being the only one on my campus did make me feel a tiny isolated…thankfully the phone helped!
What was the most important skill you have learned and why
Creating and organizing my own space so to say with feeds etc was good as I had earlier on done this and had forgotten so this provided the opportunity to reinforce and put it through its paces. I think for me and perhaps for most blogging is possibly the one I think has the most potential. It seems an extension of our current communication style and just lends itself to keeping communication channels for categories of contacts; topics etc. I’ve noticed that recently students are being asked to maintain reflective journals, and I think blogging certainly could be utilized for this….in fact wasn’t our little blogs for this project our journals?
What action will you now take if any?
Wiki for the guides perhaps and a blog for students to get to the team
Certainly include in information literacy sessions wherever appropriate and relevant the value of RSS feeds.
Investigate & develop a session for academics and maybe higher degree students on RSS as an extension/adjunct to the alerting services available within our subscription databases
Would students use these technologies as part of the library’s online environment?
To remain important and relevant the Library has got to take approaches and employ tools that students are familiar with. It does not mean just complete overhaul but rather the introduction of options that use such technologies…so give our users the option to communicate with us via e-mail, SMS, Blogs, the phone, letter, face to face. If we move into establishing “second life” we may need to consider the issue of “rostered time” being out to the norm as the users may not use set times.
Is there some specific technology that you would like to see the library adopt?
Manager has indicated establishing a blog to disseminate information. Wikis and/or blogs for library projects (the Wikipedia entry on the Library). Publicity and photos perhaps into a “world” setting using maybe Flickr… Podcasts and some with visuals using camtasia maybe!
