Graphics make everything exciting

 

Wouldn’t an interesting image like this grab your audience’s attention? 

I certainly think so.  According to this article about effective PowerPoint presentations, clip art is the devil and should be avoided at all costs.  I agree.  Some of the best presentations I have seen included images that got me thinking, “Where on earth did they find that great picture!”  When the captured scene is the perfect illustration for the speaker’s ideas, it creates a memorable experience for the viewer.  I’m still learning the art of locating great images, but ImageChef is an interesting one for customizing graphics (like the one above).

WordPress assistance

What a nice surprise in my RSS reader this morning! 

If you would like an introduction to WordPress, here are links to over a hundred online tutorials.  I haven’t had a chance to look through them yet, but I will highlight my favorites in the near future.

SLIC Manual Wiki Update–Lessons

For the past month or so, I have been working with another librarian to create a policy/procedure wiki for the New Jersey State Library.  As excited as I was at the prospect of employing Web 2.0 technology in the workplace, I was not prepared for the labor involved.  Maybe if I keep you updated on the progress, you can be saved some of the trouble that I experienced when you are creating your own wiki.

Here are my lessons thus far:

1. Know your program.  I was familiar with wikis when I started the project, but I had been using WikiSpaces rather than PBwiki.  There are definite differences when moving from one provider to another, so take all of the tutorials and read the help sections thoroughly.
2. Formatting is a pain!  The old form of the SLIC manual included pages of PDFs that were converted to Word documents.  Copying and pasting from Word carries a lot of source code that can make formatting in your wiki nearly impossible.  The easiest way to solve this problem is to save your text in Notepad, which does not save font, size, or anything else.  Then you can copy and paste with ease.
3. Find your code.  If you have already copy and pasted all of that text from Word, you’re stuck with the formatting.  Many wiki and blog applications have options where you can see the source code (in Word Press, it says “HTML,” and in PBwiki, it says, “Source”).  When you click on that, you’ll see the xhtml language used to format the text (it will look like this <p style=”text-align: center”><strong>).  Delete everything that is not the text, and when you go back to the normal view, you can start your formatting from scratch.
4. Know your code.  Sometimes the applications won’t let you do what you want, but you can circumvent this snag by using some code.  There are plenty of websites and books with simple coding instructions that may be helpful.
5. Stay organized.  PBwiki is really great for options that keep your pages organized.  Keep items in folders and give pages titles that are clear.  It may help to map out your hierarchy before you begin to give yourself a plan of action.
6. Break it up.  People interact with websites much differently than with paper.  Five pages of policy on paper may be bad, but one looooong page of policy on the computer screen is terrible.  Unless you want your users to hate you, your wiki, and your content, keep it simple.  Break your content into chunks, guide users to the next section with clear hyperlinks, and make the page aesthetically pleasing.

Will there be more lessons?  Oh yes.  Stay posted…

Training from your desk

This presentation from a seminar in Australia gives some interesting pointers for discovering and applying new technology. Kathryn Greenhill makes the process of learning about Web 2.0 a little less scary and provides many practical suggestions for getting others on board for experimenting.

Now that I am highly skilled at embedding, I’ll include the slides and audio right here!

Embedding Web 2.0

Remember the link?  So useful and cute, it was the easy way to direct people to information on another website.  When I first started this blog (oh, four posts ago), I had to remind myself to link.  “That’s a dynamic blog if you link,” I said to me. 

Now it’s all about embedding.  “Check out this great YouTube video?”  Nope…gotta embed it in here because I know I’ll lose you if I send you off to YouTube, even with explicit directions. 

If you missed Greg Notess webinar, “Web 2.0 Software and the Embeddable Web,” you may not be aware of the posibilities offered by new online products.  While many of these could be embedded into websites, blogs or wikis, the main emphasis of the presentation was beautiful online collaboration.  How can you share ideas or get feedback easily?  Here are three websites that he mentioned and how they can help you to share information:

1.  Kwout:  allows you to take a screenshot of a webpage, then crop it so you have only the necessary information.  Embed it, email it, save it with clickable links included. 
2.  A.nnotate.com: share documents with others to get comments and feedback the easy way. 
3.  Bubbl.us: brainstorm by yourself or with others using this tool.  Easy to manipulate and share.

Greg’s website categorizes Web 2.0 tools so that they are easier to discover, and he also recommends visiting Phil Bradley’s site. 

If you want to learn more about Google Docs (awe-inspiring to many in the webinar) stay tuned for my upcoming Google Tools for Librarians presentation!

Mid-Day Training

Sign up now to attend training sessions at the New Jersey State Library!

Also, there will be CINAHL training for librarians on November 12 from 9:30-10:30.  Participants will be given an overview of the database and have the opportunity to ask an EBSCO representative about the new EBSCO upgrades.

Wanna wiki?

Now I know what you’re thinking: Wikipedia. 

Let’s just forget the most popular use for wiki technology and consider instead that wikis are a great tool for collaboration.  They are easy to create and maintain for a variety of purposes, and have proven successful for many libraries.  While they may not work in every situation or work culture (are you a hoarder or a sharer?), they have great potential for connecting individuals, encouraging interaction, and constructing information in an open environment.

If you missed Darlene Fichter’s webinar on Sept. 11, 2008 but would like to learn more, she has a terrific website with links to presentations, wiki-related websites, and other information.  She mostly discussed the advantages of wikis and outlined the “best practices” for ensuring success when employing a wiki.

The NJSL is putting together a wiki for library policies, so I will have more to share as I become a bona fide wiki-er.

Blogging: Let’s go over the basics

As previously mentioned, I am a novice when it comes to blogging.  The benefit is that I’ll go nice and slow for you because that will help me to understand everything better for my own endeavors. 

Before we begin, what is a blog?  Think of a “weblog” as a journal that other people can read with the added benefit that they can respond to your posts.  Now, “other people” can refer to “only people with permission” or “anyone in the world” depending on the hosting service that you select and how you manage your options.  If the phrase, ”they can respond to your posts” makes you worried, keep in mind that it is possible to monitor comments before they appear as well as delete anything unwanted.  However, if the entire concept of your post causing a discussion makes you nervous, perhaps a blog isn’t for you.  There are other ways to share information after all, and I will touch on them in later blog posts (stay tuned!). 

Now, how do you start?  Probably most important is to choose a hosting service that works for you.  I will be providing information about Word Press because it is what I am using now, but there are plenty of other options.  Also important is naming your blog: keep in mind that other people will see it and you might be stuck with it (ask me about the name “Shady Librarian”).

The following steps will guide you through creating an account:
1) Start at the WordPress website and click on the link for “Sign Up Now!”
2) Fill out the form, making sure to choose a username without spaces or symbols
3) At the bottom of the page, you have an option to create an account or a blog.  So, do you want the username you entered to be the name of your blog?  Do you want people to identify that name with all of the blogs you create?  If yes, then click the option to create the blog.  If not, check the option to create an account and make your blog later.
4) After you submit the information, you can change or enhance the information you supplied.  Check your email for a confirmation message, and click on the link provided.
5) Log in…Congratulations on your new account!

For details about how to write or edit posts and manage your blog, I recommend watching the video tutorials from iThemes.  Not only does the instructor have a Southern accent, but he is just super excited about the new features in WordPress!  Also helpful are WordPress FAQs which include some screencasts, and I will touch on “advanced topics” in blogging in the near future.

Happy Blogging!

Welcome to Shady Librarian!

In spite of my being a Millennial, this is my first foray into the blogosphere, partly because I never had anything to say before and mostly because I didn’t think anyone would be interested anyway.  Now that I have a Word Press account, courtesy of Nancy Dowd’s blogging class, I feel it is my duty to do something with my segment of the Internet. 

So welcome to Shady Librarian, your sneaky source for Web 2.0!  This blog will include information on training sessions at the NJ State Library that you may have missed or attended but cannot remember what was said.  I suppose that’s how we’ll start and things will probably evolve along the way.

Please feel free to comment with questions, suggestions, or anything else you’d like to add!